On this point I will not fail to put the spurs even to those of you who are running so willingly. For I can tell you that you must be constant, both in your studies and in the practice of virtue, if you are to fulfill the expectations which so many entertain of you. Some persons, in both the kingdom of Portugal and in many other countries, considering the helps and advantages of every kind, both interior and exterior, that God gives you, rightly hope for more than ordinary results from you.
No commonplace achievement will satisfy the great obligations you have of excelling. If you consider the nature of your vocation, you will see that what would be thought outstanding in others would not be so in you. For not only has God called you out of darkness into His marvelous light [1 Pet. 2:9], and translated you into the kingdom of His beloved Son [Col. 1:13], as He has done with the rest of the faithful, but because you have better preserved purity and are more united in His service in the love of spiritual things, He thought it good to withdraw you from the perilous sea
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