50 Maxims on How to be a Saint

If you want to go to heaven, you want to be a saint, which means you want to be perfect in your love of Christ. Here's how to do that.

(This is another post connected to my major post on what to do before starting spiritual direction.)

St. Alphonsus Liguori wrote a list of 50 “Maxims for the Direction of a Soul that Desires to Obtain Perfection in the Love of Jesus Christ”.

Here’s a selection of the 20 most foundational in the spiritual life (perhaps #34 most of all):

1. To desire ardently to increase in the love of Jesus Christ.
2. Often to make acts of love towards Jesus Christ. Immediately on waking, and before going to sleep, to make an act of love, seeking always to unite your own will to the will of Jesus Christ.

6. Often to visit the Most Holy Sacrament.
7. Every morning to receive from the hands of Jesus Christ himself your own cross.

9. Often to speak of the love of Jesus Christ.
10. To accept contradictions for the sake of Jesus Christ.

12. To do that which is most pleasing to Jesus Christ, and not to refuse him anything that is agreeable to him.

15. To drive from your heart every affection that does not belong to Jesus Christ.
16. Always to have recourse to the most holy Mary, that she may obtain for us the love of Jesus Christ.

20 To be always determined to die rather than commit a willful venial sin.
21. To suffer crosses patiently, saying, “Thus it pleases Jesus Christ.”
22. To renounce your own pleasures for the love of Jesus Christ.
23. To pray as much as possible.

26. To persevere in good works in the time of aridity.
27. Not to do nor yet to leave undone anything through human respect.

29. To love solitude, to be able to converse alone with Jesus Christ.

34. After committing a fault, not to be discouraged, but to repent and resolve to amend.

36. To speak well of all, and to excuse the intention when you cannot defend the action.

50. Always to renew your determination of becoming a saint, saying, “My Jesus, I desire to be all Yours, and You must be all mine.”

See the whole list, and share your favorites!