List of points

Without a plan of life you will never have order.

This tying of one's life to a plan, to a timetable, you tell me, is so monotonous! And I answer: there is monotony because there is little Love.

If you don't get up at a fixed time you will never carry out your plan of life.

That supernatural mode of conduct is a truly military tactic.

You carry on the war — the daily struggles of your interior — far from the main walls of your fortress.

And the enemy meets you there: in your small mortifications, your customary prayer, your methodical work, your plan of life: and with difficulty will he come close to the easily-scaled battlements of your castle. And if he does come, he comes exhausted.

That little mortification costs you so much! You're in two minds. It's as if some one were saying: why must you be so faithful to your plan of life, to the clock? Listen: have you noticed how easily little children are taken in? They don't want to swallow their medicine, but 'Come', they are told, 'this one spoonful for Daddy, and this one for Granny.' And so on, until they have finished the lot.

Do the same; fifteen minutes more mortification for the souls in purgatory; five more for your parents; another five for your brothers in the apostolate… Until, in the end, the allotted time is up.

Your mortification done in this way… is worth so much!