Persevere in your life of piety, willingly and with love, even if you feel arid. Don’t worry if you find yourself counting the minutes or days still to go before you finish that act of piety or that job of work, with the turbid delight of the lazy schoolboy who in a similar situation is looking forward to the end of term; or of the petty criminal who can’t wait to get back to his tricks once he is out of jail again.

Persevere, I insist, with a real and effective determination. Don’t cease, not even for a moment, to want to fulfil and benefit from those means of piety.