Greater Perfection

'Greater Perfection: Being the Spiritual Conferences of Sister Miriam Teresa' is a book compiled from conferences written by Servant of God Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, a Sister of Charity of Saint Elizabeth. It consists of 26 conferences she wrote in June, 1926 at the request of her spiritual director, Father Benedict Bradley, OSB. Father Bradley had asked her to write the conferences for the novitiate.

The contents of the book are:

1. The Will of God: Your Sanctification
2. The Sacrifice of the Mass: The Greatest Means of Sanctification
3. The Sacraments: The Second Greatest Means of Sanctification
4. Prayer: The Third Great Means of Sanctification
5. The "Word Made Flesh" for Our Sanctification
6. The End of Existence: Sanctity; Union with God

Excerpts from the book:

Union with God, then, is the spiritual height God calls everyone to achieve – any one, not only religious but any one, who chooses, who wills to seek this pearl of great price, who specializes in the traffic of eternal good, who says ‘yes’ constantly to God…The imitation of Christ in the lives of saints is always possible and compatible with every state of life. The saints did but one thing – the will of God. But they did it with all their might. We have only to do the same thing; and according to the degree of intensity with which we labor shall our sanctification progress. (Greater Perfection, pp. 264-266)

. . . all in the Church, whether they belong to the hierarchy or are cared for by it, are called to holiness, according to the Apostle’s saying: ‘For this is the will of God, your sanctification.’ . . . It is therefore quite clear that all Christians in whatever state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity, and this holiness is conducive to a more human way of living even in society here on earth. (Greater Perfection, Chapter V)