List of points

In living holy purity and a clean life, there is a great difficulty to which we are all exposed. The danger is one of becoming bourgeois, either in our spiritual life or in our professional life; the danger — also a real one for those called by God to marriage — of becoming dry old bachelors, selfish; people who do not love.

—Fight that danger tooth and nail, without making concessions of any kind.

You shouldn’t be so easy on yourself! Don’t wait until the New Year to make your resolutions. Every day is a good day to make good decisions. Hodie, nunc! — Today, now!

It tends to be the poor defeatist types who leave it until the New Year before beginning afresh… And even then, they never really begin.

Interior dryness is not lukewarmness. When a person is lukewarm the waters of grace slide over him without being soaked in. In contrast, there are dry lands which seem arid but which, with a few drops of rain at the right time, yield abundant flowers and delicious fruit.

That is why I ask: When are we going to be convinced? How important it is to be docile to the divine calls which come at each moment of the day, because it is precisely there that God is awaiting us!

A lukewarm apostle: that’s the great enemy of souls.

A clear sign of lukewarmness is a lack of supernatural “stubbornness”, of fortitude to keep on working and not stop until you have laid “the last stone”.

Some hearts are hard, but noble. When they come close to the warmth of Christ’s Heart, they melt like bronze into tears of love, of reparation. They catch fire.

But lukewarm people have hearts of clay, of mean flesh… They crack and turn to dust. A sorry sight.

Say with me: “Our Jesus, keep us from being lukewarm. We do not want to be lukewarm!”

If you say that you want to imitate Christ… and yet have time on your hands, then you are going along paths of lukewarmness.

When I am told that there are people dedicated to God who are no longer striving with fervour for sanctity, I think that — if there is any truth in this — their lives are heading towards great failure.

Sincerely examine the way you are following the Master. Consider whether you might have given yourself in a dry, official way, with a faith that has no sparkle to it; if there is no humility or sacrifice, nor daily work; if you are all façade and pay no attention to the details of each moment… In a word, if you lack Love.

If this is the case, your ineffectiveness should come as no surprise to you. React right away, and be led by the hand of Our Lady.

Please don’t let yourself become bourgeois, for if you do, you will be a hindrance. You will become a dead weight for others in the apostolate and, above all, a source of suffering for the Heart of Christ.

You must not stop doing apostolate, nor abandon your effort to do your work as best you can, nor neglect your life of piety.

—God will do the rest.