When one thinks clearly about the poor things of this world, and compares them with the riches of life with Christ there is only one plain word, I can’t help thinking, for the road that people choose: stupidity, stupidity, stupidity.

It is not just that most of us men make mistakes. There is something much worse about us: we are complete and utter fools.

It is sad that you do not want to remain hidden as a foundation stone and support the building. But to become a stumbling block for others? I think that is villainous!

Do not be scandalised because there are bad Christians who are active but do not practise. The Lord, says the Apostle, “will render to every man according to his works”; to you for yours, and to me, for mine.

—If you and I make up our minds to behave well, there will be two fewer scoundrels in the world for a start.

If you do not fight against being frivolous, your head will be like a junk shop: you will only be storing up impossible ideals, false hopes, and... old rubbish.

You are very independent-minded. If you made use of this in a supernatural way, it would help you to become a great Christian. But the way you use it just makes you very free and easy.

You take everything so lightly that I am reminded of the old story. The cry went up: “There is a lion coming!” And the naturalist answered: “Why tell me? I catch butterflies.”

A terrible person is one who is ignorant but at the same time works tirelessly.

Take care that even when you are old and decrepit, you keep on wanting to be better trained.

This is the excuse of a frivolous and selfish man: “I don’t want to commit myself to anything.”

You neither want to be an evil man nor a good one. And so, limping on both legs, you will have mistaken your way and filled your life with emptiness.

In medio virtus — Virtue is to be found in the mean, the wise saying goes, warning us against extremism. But do not make the mistake of turning that advice into a euphemism for your own comfort, calculation, tepidity, easy-goingness, lack of idealism and mediocrity.

Meditate on these words of Sacred Scripture: “Would that you were cold or hot. But because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.”

You never reach the kernel of things. You always concern yourself with accidentals! —Allow me to repeat what Sacred Scripture says: you have only “spoken in the wind”!

Don’t behave like those people who after hearing a sermon, instead of applying the doctrine to themselves, they think: that would suit So-and-so very well.

Sometimes people think there is no malice in slander. It is the hypothesis, they say, by which ignorance explains what it does not know or understand, so as to appear well-informed.

But it is doubly evil: as ignorance and as a lie.

Do not speak so irresponsibly... Don’t you realise that as soon as you throw the first stone others — anonymously — will organise a full-scale stoning?

Is it you who are creating that atmosphere of discontent among those around you? —Forgive me then for having to tell you that, apart from being bad, you are plain stupid.

When some misfortune or mistake occurs, it is poor satisfaction to be able to say: “I knew it would happen.”

It would mean that you are unconcerned with the troubles of your neighbour, for you should have sought a remedy if it was in your power to do so.

There are many ways of sowing confusion. It is enough, for instance, to speak of the exception as if it were the general rule.

You say you are a Catholic... That is why I feel so sorry for you when I see that your convictions lack the solidity needed to let you practise Catholicism in action, without introducing reservations or compartmentalising your life.

It would be laughable, if it were not so sad, to see the naivety with which you accept — through superficiality, ignorance, or an inferiority complex — the most transparent nonsense.

People who are stupid, unscrupulous, or hypocritical, think that others are just the same. And — this is the real pity — they treat them as if they were.

It would be bad if you were to waste your time, which is not yours but God’s and is meant for his glory. But if on top of that you make others waste it, you both diminish your own standing and defraud God of more of the glory you owe him.

You lack the maturity and composure appropriate for those who make their way through this life with the certainty of an ideal, of a goal.

—Ask the Blessed Virgin to teach you how to praise God with your whole heart, without distractions of any kind.

[CAP] Naturalness

The risen Christ: the greatest of miracles was seen by only a few... by those that were needed. Naturalness is the signature of divine enterprises.

When we work wholly and exclusively for the glory of God, we do everything with naturalness, like someone who is in a hurry and will not be delayed by “making a great show of things”. In this way we do not cease to accompany the Lord, which is something unique and incomparable.

Why, you asked indignantly, should the surroundings in which the apostolate has to be carried out and the things used to do it be ugly, dirty... and complicated? And you added: It takes the same effort!

—I thought your indignation very reasonable. And I pondered how Jesus talked to everyone and attracted them all: poor and rich, wise and ignorant, cheerful and sad, young and old. How lovable and natural —supernatural — is his figure!

To be effective you must be natural. What can one expect of a brush — even in the hands of a great painter — if it is wrapped in a silk cover?

Saints always make other people feel “uncomfortable”.

Saints, abnormal?... The time has come to do away with that prejudice.

We have to teach, with the supernatural naturalness of Christian asceticism, that not even mystical phenomena mean abnormality. These phenomena have their own naturalness... just as other psychological or physiological things have theirs.

I talked to you about the horizon which opens up before our eyes and of the road we have to follow. I have no objections, you said, as if surprised at not having any.

—Engrave this deeply on your mind: there is no reason why there should be!!

Avoid that ridiculous adulation which, perhaps unconsciously, you pay to the person in charge, so that you automatically echo his tastes or opinions on points of no consequence.

—At the same time, you must be much more careful not to keep on showing up his defects as if they were amusing details, or to become too familiar detracting from his authority. Take care too not to render the sad service of letting the bad practice grow of turning something bad into a bit of a joke.

You are creating an artificial climate around yourself, characterised by suspicion and a lack of trust. For when you speak, you give the impression of someone playing chess: you say each word thinking four moves ahead.

Notice that the Gospel, when describing the wary and hypocritical character of the scribes and Pharisees, relates that they asked Jesus questions and put certain problems to him ut caperent eum in sermone — to twist his words! Flee from such behaviour.

Naturalness has nothing to do with coarseness, or being shabby or doing things poorly, or being bad-mannered.

Some people are determined to reduce the service of God to working in the world of miserable and — forgive the expression — lousy poverty. Such work is and will always be admirable; but if we stop there, apart from abandoning the vast majority of souls, what should we do when we have brought them out of their need — ignore them?

You are unworthy, are you? —Well... try to become worthy. And let that be the end of it.

How you long to be extraordinary! —The trouble with such an ambition is how very vulgar it is.

Blessed are you for believing, said Elizabeth to our Mother. —Union with God, supernatural virtue, always brings with it the attractive practice of human virtues: Mary brought joy to her cousin’s home, because she “brought” Christ.