Life and death of St . Peter of Alcantara
His parents brought up their young son in the fear of God and sowed in him the seeds of virtue; they put him to school where , as he profited in learning , so his obedience toward his parents did likewise increase.Although he was a child, yet he withdrew himself from the common sports of children and sorted himself among men whom he saw inclined to devotion. In these, his tender years, he addicted himself to works of mercy: he applied himself seriously to learn the Christian doctrine; he often visited churches and holy places, he frequented the sacraments and continually employed himself in good works. He excelled his fellow students in science, so he knew that all science was ignorance without the right knowledge of God .
About that time, there was a famous and reformed monastery of Franciscans in the province of St. Gabriel, whither he addressed himself, there to bring his good desires to a joyful period.
He sequestered from the company of men and abstracted from all worldly tumults.
The more you are sequestered from the pleasures of the flattering world, the more you enjoy the freedom of your spirit....
Your soul is now sure not to be defiled with the pitch of evil conversation.....
You find here no snares to entangle you into worldly vanities, no flatterers to applaud you when you offend, or anything else to withdraw your affection from the cross of Christ....
Your beloved spouse has brought you now into this holy desert, to recreate your soul with his heavenly consolations, where , abstracted from all worldly tumults, it may attend only to divine wisdom, and the noise of all temporal cares being hushed and silent, it may be wholly employed in sacred contempation and ravished with eternal pleasures.....
The pleasure of this world is short, but the punishment for it perpetual... a little suffering here and infinite glory hereafter.....
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