Lord, give me grace and strength of character to tear myself away promptly from what, if not bad, is less good, and to give myself earnestly, self-denyingly, perseveringly, to the better and the best.

COMMENT: Fr Doyle wrote this prayer in August 1915. It sums up the spirituality of the saints – yes, it is good to be good, but we must keep on striving, keep on aiming for to imitate Christ more fully. We must not settle for being “good”. In the spiritual life we cannot stand still; we either advance or fall back.

There are over 1.5 million young people in Madrid this week for World Youth Day. Let us pray that they, and indeed all of us, will receive the grace to keep on growing and to strive perseveringly to be better Christians.