"How strict and mortified was the life our Fathers led in the wilderness! How many grievous temptations they endured and violent assaults of the devil! How fervently they prayed daily to God, imposing rigid fasts on themselves! What ardent zeal to advance in the spiritual life! What relentless war they waged against all sin and with what pure and wholehearted intention did they aspire toward God!"
Imitation of Christ, Book One, Chapter Eighteen
