In the construction of the spiritual edifice Anthony suggests a very practical maxim: avoid as much as possible any distraction that removes your thoughts from God and heaven.

Yet another sentiment must guide man in his path toward perfection and keep him prudent so as not to fall victim to danger. The fear of falling.

This makes him proceed cautiously and with circumspection, "How difficult it is to rise and what ease does one fall! In a short time men lose all they have gained from a long and distressing effort."

Along the way to perfection, man is never alone. The grace of God will help him in his effort (the Augustinian training of Saint Anthony is evident here).

The battle against sin and passion must be a demanding and incessant effort, otherwise one risks returning to the miseries of the past and seeing the return, in the abandoned field of the soul, of evil's weeds. Saint Anthony writes that our soul is like a field which must always be occupied, because in the torpor of laziness and abulia the spiky thorns of bad thoughts grow. We must sow the seeds of the divine word, plant the trees of virtue, produce dyes and perfumes in imitation of the behaviour of the saints.

A vast and fatiguing program, as can be seen. But the Christian must not be afraid. He accomplishes it step by step, because no one becomes perfect at once.