150 THE MEANS OF GRACE 



repair to the best of his ability whatever injury 

 he may have done to others. 



The purpose of amendment which forms part of con- 

 trition is of great importance for the spiritual life be- 

 cause there can be no progress on the way to perfection 

 unless one has a straight purpose and keeps it. Thomas 

 a Kempis says : "According to our resolution the course 

 of our progress shall be ; and he who would advance rap- 

 idly needeth great diligence. For if a man who maketh 

 a firm resolution often faileth, how will he fare who 

 hath seldom or never any fixed purpose ? In many ways, 

 however, we abandon our good resolve; and a slight 

 omission of our exercises seldom passeth without some 

 detriment to our progress. The good resolutions of the 

 just depend not so much on their own wisdom, as on the 

 grace of God, in whom they also ever trust in all their 

 undertakings. For man proposeth, but God disposeth ; 

 and 'the way of a man is not His.' " 9 "Good resolu- 

 tions," says Alban Stolz, "are like blossoms that drop 

 from a tree ; they bring no fruit unless a man employs 

 the means necessary to carry them out." 



Readings. — H. Noldin, S.J., Summa Theol. Mor., Vol. Ill, pp. 

 310 sqq.— Th. Slater, S.J., Manual of Moral Theol, Vol. II, pp. 

 161 sq. — A Lehmkuhl, S.J., Theol. Mor., Vol. II, pp. 231 sqq. — 

 A. Tanquerey, Synopsis Theol. Mor. et Past., Vol. I, 2nd ed., pp. 

 77 sqq. 



9 De Imit. Christi, I, 19 (Opera Edition," by Father Thaddeus, 

 Omnia, ed. Pohl, II, 32 sq.). Our O.F.M., London 1908, pp. 34 sq. 

 translation is that of the "Seraphic 



