List of points

I am glad that you love processions, and all the external practices of our Holy Mother the Church, so as to render God the worship due to him…, and that you enter into the spirit of them!

Christmas time. You write: “Together with the holy expectation of Mary and Joseph, I also impatiently await the Child. How happy I shall feel at Bethlehem! I have a feeling that I won’t be able to contain this joy without bounds. Yes! but, with Him, I also want to be born anew.”

—I hope you really mean what you say!

Optimism? Yes, always! Even when things seem to turn out badly: perhaps that is the time to break into a song, with a Gloria, because you have sought refuge in Him, and nothing but good can come to you from Him.

The Rosary is most effective for those who use their intelligence and their study as a weapon. Because that apparently monotonous way of beseeching Our Lady as children do their Mother, can destroy every seed of vainglory and pride.

Renew your acts of contrition during the day. You must realise that Jesus is being offended constantly, and unfortunately, these offences are not being atoned for at the same rate.

That is why I have so often said: “Acts of contrition, the more the better!” Echo my words with your life and your advice.

Do you not greet warmly all the people you love, and speak to them cordially? —Well, you and I are going to greet Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and our Guardian Angels, many times a day.