This heat is an inner fire that must burn and destroy...

This heat is an inner fire that must burn and destroy everything that constitutes an obstacle to man's spiritual self-realization. "Asceticism" in its deepest sense is the sacrifice of the "ego" carried out for the attainment of superior consciousness. The Prophet Isaiah also speaks to us of this fire when he says: "But all of you are kindlers of fire, lighters of firebrands.

Walk in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that you have kindled!" (25) Isaiah tells us that each one of us lights the flames of our own fire when we turn our back on God: when we sin. It is our own sins that stir up the inner fire that burns us and makes us suffer.

Saint Augustine tells us that any man who wants to enter Paradise must pass through fire and water, "whether he is Peter, to whom the keys of heaven were entrusted, or Paul, the chosen vessel of God, or John, to whom the secrets of God were revealed". If we want to know with certainty whether our sufferings are noble and come from God, we only have to see whether this suffering is an unbearable burden for us.

When we suffer knowing that we are suffering for God, that suffering comes from Him for our own good, we feel relief in pain, because we feel that God shares this pain with us and comforts us with his infinite Love.

"God does not burden any soul with more that it can bear: each gains whatever good it has done, and suffer its bad" (26) o Humble of Heart The humble man who loves God above all else knows the reality that surrounds him and accepts it without being deceived by false appearances because he recognises them; he assigns each thing a place and a priority in his heart. He has the virtue of discernment and knows full well what can separate him from God.

He yearns above all else for his purification in order to achieve full closeness to Him. He knows that God is his strength and his consolation, in joy as well as in adversity. For Saint Augustine, the summit of greatest knowledge for man is knowing that, by himself, he is nothing, and that anything whatsoever belongs to God and is for God. He tells us that it is not enough that we acknowledge that what we know and understand comes from God.

In addition, we must avoid extolling ourselves above those who still do not have this knowledge, since they may yet leave us behind once they have received it. "The greatest among you will be your servant.