“Because of the level of comfort your modern lives afford you, you tend to notice every little ache and pain. But you see these as signs of disease and discomfort rather than as the messages they are about how not to live your lives.
“Certain strains and discomforts naturally accompany the activities of work, recreation, and normal life—and these are part of the natural rhythm of bodily exertion and repair. The body goes through these rhythms naturally over a course of a life and these rhythms become like friends whose quirks and habits you’ve grown used to, and so they are not much cause for concern.
“But then there are those discomforts that are like the thorns and brambles that tell you that you have wandered from the path. Your bodily condition, your emotions, your moods – these will guide you on the path of health if you attend to them and give them the respect they deserve.
“Ignore the body at your peril. Medicate it without knowing why you find it necessary to do so and you will miss the message it is trying to deliver to you. Suppress your feelings and you will become lost and footsore and weary of wandering. The thousand little cuts and bruises of everyday modern life are a map to your heart’s desire. The path that leads there is full of ease and joy, once you have set foot on that path. In praying the rosary, it will be more obvious when you wander from it. Thus you will find your way.
“Everyone has a hard time finding that path. What you call civilization is simply that hard time. Civilization is hard times disguised as good times. Transported to your time, your ancestors would instantly notice how difficult, frightening, and painful life is now. And yet you assume just the opposite: that their way was difficult, painful, and frightening. But this is only what you imagine. Their way was easy, comfortable, and free.”