His fundamental principle of Christian perfection may be termed a view of the Catholic doctrine of divine grace suited to the aspirations of our times.  By divine grace the love of God is diffused in our hearts; the Holy Spirit takes up his abode there and makes us children of the Heavenly Father, and brethren of Jesus Christ the Divine Son.  The state of grace is thus an immediate union of the soul with the Holy Trinity, its Creator, Mediator, and Sanctifier.  To secure this union and render it more and more conscious was Father Hecker’s ceaseless endeavor through life, both for himself and for those who fell under his influence, whether in cleansing the soul of all hindrances of sin and imperfection, or advancing it deeper and deeper into the divine life by prayer and the sacraments.

His doctrine of Christian perfection might be formulated as a profession of faith:  I believe in God the Father Almighty; I believe in Jesus Christ the Only Begotten Son of the Father; I believe in the Holy Ghost the Life Giver, the spirit of adoption by whom I am enabled to say to the Father, My Father, and to the Son, My Brother.

He wished that men generally should be made aware of the immediate nature of this union of the soul with God, and that they should become more and more personally conscious of it.  He would bring this about without the intervention of other persons or other methods than the divinely constituted ones accessible to all in the priesthood and sacraments.  It was the development of the supernatural, heavenly, divine life of the regenerate man, born again of the Holy Ghost, that Father Hecker made the end of all he said and all he did in leading souls; and he maintained that to partake of this life which is “the light of men,” many souls needed little interference on the part of others, and that in every case the utmost care should be taken lest the soul should mingle human influences, even the holiest, in undue proportion with those which were strictly divine.

“Go to God,” he wrote to one asking advice, “go entirely to God, go integrally to God; behold, that is sincerity, complete, perfect sincerity.  Do that, and make it a complete, continuous act, and you need no help from me or any creature.  I wish to provoke you to do it.  That is my whole aim and desire.  Just in proportion as we harbor pride, vanity, self-love—­in a word, self-hood—­just so far we fail in integrally resigning ourselves to God.  Were we wholly resigned to God He would change all in us that is in discord with Him, and prepare our souls for union with Him, making us one with Himself.  God longs for our souls greatly more than our souls can long for Him.  Such is God’s thirst for love that He made all creatures to love Him, and to have no rest until they love Him supremely.  If my words are not to your soul God’s words and voice, pay no heed to them.  If they are, hesitate not a moment to obey.  If they humble you to the dust, what a blessing!  He that is humbled shall be exalted.”