In addition to the required exercise of the intellect, you must likewise regulate your will, so that, rather than left to its whims, it will conduct itself in complete conformance with God’s pleasure. Take heed, lest you content yourself only with wanting and procuring things pleasing to God; you must also want and perform them them as if moved by him and only with the aim of pleasing him. Observe the greater difficulty here with our nature than in the matters discussed above: our nature is so inclined towards itself that in all things, even in the good and spiritual ones — indeed, sometimes more so in these than in others — it seeks its own comfort and pleasure: it clings to comfort and feeds avidly on pleasure as though they were untainted food.

In reality, whenever such things are offered to us, we immediately ogle and desire them, not as if moved by God’s will or for the sake of pleasing him alone, but precisely to enjoy the benefit and the pleasure that come from wanting what God desires. The better the object of our desire in itself, the more hidden this desire. Even when desiring God himself we risk the deception of self-love, looking more often to our own interest and the expected benefit than to the will of God, who takes pleasure in his glory alone and wants to be loved, desired and obeyed by us.

To guard yourself from this snare which impedes the path to perfection, and to accustom yourself to desiring and doing everything as if moved by God and with the pure intention of honoring and pleasing him alone (who wishes to be the one beginning and end of our every thought and action), take the following steps. Whenever something God desires presents itself to you, pause before you direct your will to desire it. Rather, raise your mind first to God to see whether it is his will that you desire it, and whether you desire it because he so wishes it, and to please him alone. So moved and drawn by this will, bend your own will to desire that thing as something that God desires, and only for his pleasure and honor. Likewise wishing to decline whatever God does not want, do not refuse something until you first fix your intellect’s gaze on his divine will, which desires that you refuse it in order to please him.

But you must know that the deceptions of our subtle nature are not easily perceived: always seeking itself in hidden ways, it often makes it appear as if our stated motive and end is to please God, when it is not so. Hence it frequently transpires that what we desire or reject for our interest, we believe to desire or reject so as to please God.

To escape this deception, the proper and intrinsic remedy would be purity of heart, which consists in shedding the clothes of the old man and to dress oneself in those of the new (see Col. 3:9-10; Eph. 4:22-23): all of this Combat directs itself to that end. All the same, given that you are full of yourself, you must predispose yourself properly from the beginning of your actions by paying attention to stripping as much as possible of any consideration where you perceive an advantage to yourself. Desire neither to do nor to reject anything unless you first feel yourself moved and pulled by the pure and simple will of God.

If you cannot perceive this motive ever at work in all your actions, and particularly in those interior acts of the soul as well as the exterior ones that pass quickly, content yourself with having it virtually in each, clinging always to your true intention of pleasing your one God in everything. As for those actions that take time, it is good to do more than arouse this motive within yourself from the beginning. Take care to renew it frequently and keep it active to the very end. Otherwise, you run the danger of stumbling into another snare that comes even from our natural love. Inclined and turned more towards itself than to God, with the passage of time it tends to make us change our objectives and intentions without realizing what we’re doing.

The servant of God who does not keep an eye on this will frequently start some activity with the sole aim of pleasing her Lord, but then, little by little and almost without realizing it, she begins likewise to take pleasure in this act with her own senses. Forgetting the divine will, she turns away and, becoming so attached to the tastes of her senses and to the utility and honor she may gain from it, that if God himself were to put some obstacle in its way, through some illness or adversity, or by means of one of his creatures, she would grow disturbed and unhappy. She might fall at times into murmuring about this and that, lest she say them about God himself. This is a very clear sign that her intention was not completely in God, but was born from a root and a foundation broken and corrupt. For anyone who moves oneself as if pushed by God and in order to please him alone does not wish more for one thing than another, but only agrees to receive it if it pleases God that she have it, in whatever manner and hour pleases him. She remains equally peaceful and content whether she receives it or not, since her desire is fulfilled either way, and the goal follows — which was nothing more than pleasing God.

For this reason, remain collected within yourself, attentive to directing your every action toward this perfect end. And if, in this manner, you move yourself to accomplish a good work with the aim either of escaping the punishments of hell or of the hope of paradise — seeking thereby the disposition of your soul — even in this you can propose to yourself the ultimate goal of God’s will and pleasure. For it pleases him not that you go to hell, but rather that you enter his kingdom.

No one can completely understand this motive’s power and efficacy. Though an act be humble or minor, it is worth infinitely more when performed for God’s will and glory, than many others of great esteem and value done without it. A single coin given to a poor man for the sole reason of pleasing the divine Majesty is more pleasing to him than to deprive oneself of all one’s goods, however many they may be, for any other intention, even that of enjoying the goods of heaven — an end not only good but the one most highly to be desired.

This exercise of doing all things with the sole aim of pleasing God may seem arduous at first, but will grow easy, even comfortable with practice, as you desire the same God many times, and as you aspire for him with lively affections of the heart as our most perfect and unique good, who of himself is worthy that all creatures should seek him, should serve him, and should love him above anything else.

The deeper and more frequently we consider God’s infinite merit, the more fervently and frequently we perform the aforementioned acts of the will, the more quickly and easily shall we acquire the habit of performing every work as a sign of respect and love for that Lord who alone deserves them.

In addition to what I have told you, I finally advise you that, in order to follow this divine objective, you need to ask it of God with insistent prayer and consider frequently the uncountable benefits that God has worked for us and still now works for us out of pure love and with no gain to himself.

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untainted food: literally, cibo per niente sospetto, “food free from all suspicion”

consideration: literally mistura, “mixture” or “concoction”, which I briefly considered translating as “ingredient”. I suppose there’s some Italian idiom that I’m unfamiliar with.

keep it present: literally tenerlo desto, “keep it awake”, but that doesn’t sound quite right in English