St. Camillus de Lellis (1550-1614) was a priest who spent the majority of his ministry caring for the sick and suffering. However, his early life had a rocky path. He was known to have a bad temper and a strong will that made him difficult to be around. By the age of 12, he was hanging around groups of friends who were not living the virtuous life.

He quickly became addicted to gambling and struggled with the temptation for much of his early life. It was not until he lost all of his money and belongings to his addiction that he finally found God. He accepted work at a Capuchin friary and was so moved by a homily he heard that he decided to join the religious community, but it did not last because of a chronic leg issue that he suffered from.

Later in life, around the age of 34, Camillus was ordained to the priesthood. He began his own congregation, which was committed to serving the sick, those with the plague and ill prisoners. His life reveals that God desires our entire souls to be committed to him and that, many times, it takes the human person hitting rock bottom to realize that they need him above all else.

His words about how to live this life in preparation for the life of Heaven can aid us on our journey and point us to living only for the Lord. When we reject sin like Camillus did, Christ enlivens us to become greater than we thought we could be.

Most notably, Camillus said: “Think well. Speak well. Do well. These three things, through the mercy of God, will make a man go to Heaven.”

To think about holy things will flow into holy words, and those words will foster holy actions. All things in the spiritual life impact one another because God made us in a way that is logical and beautiful.

If we desire to live like the Saints, then the starting point is to reflect on our thoughts. What did they tend to center on? Are my thoughts most concerned with my own wants or with sacrificing for those around me? The more our thoughts are directed to God and others, the more our words will become patient and our actions will become selfless.

To think, speak and act well is what those who follow Christ seek to do because it allows him to live in and through us. In the times when we fail to do so, we sin. St. Camillus provides this advice about how to view sin in order to avoid it: “Brother, if you commit a sin and take pleasure in it, the pleasure passes, but the sin remains. But if you do something virtuous, even though you are tired, the tiredness passes, but the virtue remains.”

This great saint reminds us that too often, sin occurs because we give in to the momentary pleasure of a vice. We think we’ll feel better, or we think laziness will satisfy us. Quickly after the sin, the pleasure vanishes, but the effects of our sin remain to haunt us, and the stain is intact until we go to Confession.

It’s interesting to note that Camillus references choosing virtue despite one’s tiredness as critical. This reveals the truth that we often choose ourselves over God because we simply don’t feel like it. We’re tired and make excuses because of our exhaustion.

While tiredness is a natural part of being human, choosing sacrifice over our exhaustion is supernatural. The only way we can do so consistently is to rely on the grace of Christ while making the commitment to sanctify our thoughts, words and actions. Doing so will bring us into the company of Camillus at the end of our lives and aid us in mirroring Christ to all those around us.