Whereas I have said much about how follow to overcome yourself and to ornament yourself with virtues, I still need to make you aware of some other things.

First. In your desire to acquire virtue, never let yourself be convinced to prefer any spiritual exercise that assigns each day of the week to a particular virtue. Rather, the order of battle and of the exercise should be to make war on those passions which have always done you harm and even now assail and damage you, and to ornament yourself with the virtues that are as perfectly contrary to these passions as possible. Once you acquire these virtues, the rest will follow easily and with little effort whenever the occasion presents itself. Such occasions are never wanting, inasmuch as the virtues are always joined together, so that whoever has the perfection of one virtue will find the rest waiting at the door of his heart.

Second. Do not decide in advance how long it will take to acquire the virtues, be it measured in days, weeks, or years. Always fight and direct yourself toward the height of their perfection, as if you were a newborn babe or a fresh recruit. Do not stop, not even for a minute! By “stopping” I mean that you believe yourself to have acquired the virtue in its entirety and to take little heed of those occasions that call us to new acts of virtue, as well as of our small failings. To stop along the path of virtue and perfection means not to take a breath and recover your strength, but to march backwards, or even to grow more lackluster than before. Therefore be solicitous, fervent, and cognizant that you never miss even the smallest occasion for virtue. Love those occasions that prompt you to virtue and even more those that are difficult to overcome, because the acts we perform to overcome these difficulties set our habits more quickly and deeply. Likewise love those who offer you these opportunities.

Third. Be prudent and discreet in those virtues that can harm the body: for example, afflicting it with discipline, with the cilice, with vasts and vigils, with meditations and other, similar practices. As we explain presently, you must acquire these virtues slowly and gradually. As for the other, completely interior virtues, such as loving God; disdaining the world; humbling oneself in the sight of others; hating sin and the passions of vice; patience and meekness; loving everyone, including those who offend you; and others like them: there is no need to acquire these virtues slowly, nor to ascend gradually to their perfection. Rather, make an effort to perform every act of this sort as perfectly as possible.

Fourth. Let your every thought, desire, and affection think, desire, or crave nothing more than to conquer that passion against which you fight, and to acquire its contrary virtue. Let your entire world, your heaven and earth; let your every treasure and your every other aim be to please God. Whether you eat or fast; whether you labor or rest; whether you sleep or keep vigil; whether you remain at home or go out; whether you engage in devotions or in manual labor: let everything be directed to overcoming and conquering the stated passion and acquiring its contrary virtue.

Fifth. Without exception, make yourself an enemy of earthly pleasures and comforts. For, being weak, you will find yourself assailed by vices whose roots lie in pleasure. When hatred of self cuts off this root, these vices lose their strength and force. For if you think to make war on a vice and the particular pleasure that approach from one direction, while looking towards other earthly pleasures that approach from the other, even though these vices be merely venial and not mortal, the fight will be hard, bloody, and uncertain, and the victory rare. So keep these divine sayings in mind: Sixth. Finally, I advise you that it would be good, and perhaps necessary, to start with a general confession with every appropriate method, to ensure more firmly that you remain in the grace of your Lord, from whom we must expect every grace and victory.