I found this gem last year at my parish’s used book sale. I spotted it from afar. I was beyond excited when I saw the price tag of $0.50. Yet, I will still a bit apprehensive. I only had $3 cash to spend and I questioned the book’s orthodoxy, given that it was in the used book sale. I mean, really, if the book was helpful, why was it up for sale. Just then Mary, a wonderful veteran homeschooling mom of 11 kids stopped me to say, “Lena, I have that book. It’s wonderful. I’m currently re-reading it and have it by my bedside.” That was it, Our Blessed Mother spoke to me through her chosen one, Mary.
I haven’t put the book down since and I can’t stop sharing it with others. I recommend this book to all mothers. It is packed with precise direction and meditations that seem to be a personal prescription for all my needs.
Here are excerpts taken from Monsignor P. Lejeun’s Counsels of Perfection for CHRISTIAN MOTHERS.
Chapter II – A CATALOGUE OF SOULS.
What is the state of my soul? What place do I occupy, with regard to God, in the great family of Christian souls? These, my daughters, are questions to which you must not be indifferent. In order to furnish you with the elements of a response to these questions, I intend to draw up a catalogue of souls which will enable you to determine to what category you belong. My purpose, I must avow, is not solely to satisfy your curiosity. When you know just where your place is in this catalogue you should aspire to a higher degree of excellence in the hierarchy of souls. It is my purpose to guide you in your upward march, to point out the halting-places along the way, and to indicate the means by which you can arrive most quickly and most surely at the coveted goal.
Chapter V – THE NEED OF A RULE OF LIFE.
Let me call your attention to the advantages of a rule of life. First, it saves you from yourselves, so to speak; from the spirit of caprice which finds its way so easily into your actions, and robs you of the greater part of your merit. We all are tempted to do only what pleases us, and to avoid sacrifices as much as possible. An act needs but to take on the appearance of duty to become an object of aversion to us. The result is that unless you are bound by a rule, your lives will drift unceasingly; they will float along guided only by caprice, and the sense of duty will be almost entirely lost. In that case it is your own will that you have followed from morning until evening, and not the will of God…..Here is another article that ought to find its place in your rule: morning and evening prayers should be said kneeling. Moreover, there is hardly one among you who cannot spend a quarter of an hour each day in spiritual reading. You should have a special article binding you to that. Those of you who have the time, and who are unwilling to be satisfied with merely earthly piety, ought to take measures to make a meditation every morning, and also to attend Holy Mass each day, or at least several times during the week
I was sad to learn that this gem is out of print and copies are going for $90+ on Amazon. My sadness was short lived, I found a PDF copy of the book. Here is the link to the online book of Counsels of Perfection for CHRISTIAN MOTHERS.
I urge you to read this gem if you are on the journey of perfection.
**UPDATE**
Here is an updated the link to the online book version.
There is also a site that offers MP3 audio of the book, JMJsite.
COUNSELS OF PERFECTION FOR CHRISTIAN MOTHERS. Order No. 12. Father P. Lejuene explains in very practical ways what real Christian Perfection is. He goes through the various Spiritual Exercises, and explains how to derive the most benefit from them. He addresses his book to Christian Mothers, but it is very beneficial to all. Imprimatur 1913. Three Tapes read by MH.
