... like a magnifying glass...

Let us try to foster deep down in our hearts a burning desire, an intense eagerness to achieve sanctity, even though we see ourselves full of failings. Do not be afraid: the more one advances in the interior life, the more clearly one sees one's own faults. Grace works in us like a magnifying glass, and even the tiniest speck of dust or an almost invisible grain of sand can appear immensely large, for the soul acquires a divine sensitivity, and even the slightest shadow irritates one's conscience, which finds delight only in the limpid clarity of God. Speak now from the bottom of your heart:

"Lord, I really do want to be a saint. I really do want to be a worthy disciple of yours and to follow you unconditionally."

And now you should make a resolution to renew each day the great ideals which inspire you at this moment.

-St. Josemaría Escrivá, from his sermon The Richness of Ordinary Life.