List of points

It is terrible how much harm we can do if we allow ourselves to be carried away by the fear or the shame of being seen as Christians in ordinary life.

He seemed to be totally determined… But, when he took up his pen to break with his girl friend, his indecision and lack of courage got the better of him: it was all very human and understandable, people said. According to some, it seems human love is not among the things which one has to leave behind in order to follow Jesus Christ totally, when He asks you.

May we have the courage always to act in public in accordance with our holy faith.

Every Christian has the duty to bring peace and joy to his own surroundings on earth. This cheerful crusade of manliness will move even shrivelled or rotten hearts, and raise them to God.

If you cut any hint of envy out at the roots, and if you sincerely rejoice in other people’s success, you will not lose your joy.

That friend of mine came up to me: “They tell me you are in love.” —I was very surprised and the only thing I could think to ask was where he got that news.

He said that he could read it in my eyes, which shone with joy.

What must the cheerful way that Jesus looked upon people have been like? It must have been the same which shone from the eyes of his Mother who could not contain her joy — Magnificat anima mea Dominum! — and her soul glorified the Lord while she carried Him within her and by her side.

Oh, Mother!: May we, like you, rejoice to be with Him and to hold Him.

Don’t be narrow-minded men or women who are immature, short-sighted and incapable of embracing our supernatural Christian outlook as children of God. God and daring!

Daring is not imprudence, or unreflective bravado, or simple pluck.

Daring is fortitude, a cardinal virtue, a requirement of the soul’s life.

You made up your mind after reflection, rather than with any burning enthusiasm. Although you would have very much liked to feel it, there was no room for sentiment: you gave yourself to God when you were convinced that that is what He wanted.

And, since then, you have felt no serious doubts; rather you experience a calm and peaceful joy, which sometimes overflows. It is thus that God rewards the daring feats of Love.

I read a proverb which is very popular in some countries: “God owns the world, but he rents it out to the brave”, and it made me think.

—What are you waiting for?

I am not the apostle I should be. I am… too timid.

Could it not be that you are fainthearted, because your love is small? It is time to change!

Those problems which used to overwhelm you — and seemed like enormous mountains — disappeared completely. They were solved in a divine way, as when Our Lord commanded the winds and the waters to be calm.

—And to think that you still doubted!

“Don’t help the Holy Spirit so much!”, a friend of mine said, jokingly, but sounding very scared.

I answered: I think we “help him” very little.

When I see so much cowardice, so much false prudence… in both men and women, I burn with the desire to ask them: Are faith and trust only to be preached, then? Not practised?

You find yourself in a position which seems rather strange: on the one hand, you feel fainthearted, as you look inwards; on the other, sure, encouraged, as you look upwards.

—Don’t worry: it is a sign that you are beginning to know yourself better and — more importantly! — that you are beginning to know Him better.

Do you see? With Him you have been able. Why are you surprised?

—Be convinced: there is nothing to be surprised about. If you trust in God — really trust! — things work out easily. And, what is more, you always go further than you imagined you could.

Do you want to be daring in a holy way, so that God may act through you? Have recourse to Mary, and she will accompany you along the path of humility, so that, when faced by what to the human mind is impossible, you may be able to answer with a fiat! — be it done!, which unites the earth to Heaven.

In your life, there are two things that do not fit together: your head and your heart.

Your intelligence — enlightened by faith — shows you the way clearly. It can also point out the difference between following that way heroically or stupidly. Above all, it places before you the divine greatness and beauty of the undertakings the Trinity leaves in our hands.

Your feelings, on the other hand, become attached to everything you despise, even while you consider it despicable. It seems as if a thousand trifles were awaiting the least opportunity, and as soon as your poor will is weakened, through physical tiredness or lack of supernatural outlook, those little things pile up and excite your imagination, until they form a mountain that oppresses and discourages you. Things such as the rough edges of your work, your resistance to obedience; the lack of proper means; the will-o’-the-wisp attractions of an easy life; greater or smaller repugnant temptations; bouts of over-sentimentality; tiredness; the bitter taste of spiritual mediocrity… And sometimes also fear; fear because you know God wants you to be a saint, and you are not a saint.

Allow me to talk to you bluntly. You have more than enough “reasons” to turn back, and you lack the resolution to correspond to the grace that He grants you, since He has called you to be another Christ, ipse Christus! — Christ himself. You have forgotten the Lord’s admonition to the Apostle: “My grace is enough for you!”, which is confirmation that, if you want to, you can.

Those who flee like cowards from suffering have something to meditate on when they see the enthusiasm with which other souls embrace pain.

There are many men and women who know how to suffer in a Christian way. Let us follow their example.

That those who are loyal should remain inactive!, is what the disloyal want.

You ask if you have to remain silent and inactive… —In the face of unjust aggression against a just law, the answer is: No!

Holy Purity is the humility of the flesh! You asked the Lord for seven bolts on your heart. And I advised you to ask for seven bolts for your heart and eighty years of gravity as well, for your youth…

And be watchful, for a spark is much easier to extinguish than a fire. Take flight… for in this it is low cowardice to be “brave”; a roving eye… does not mean a lively spirit, but turns out to be a snare of satan.

Yet human diligence, with mortification, the cilice, disciplines and fasting are all worthless without you, my God!

This has to be your attitude when faced by defamation. First, forgive everyone from the very beginning and with all your heart. —Then love. Never fall into a single uncharitable act. Always respond with love!

—But if your Mother the Church is being attacked, defend her courageously. Keep calm, but be firm. Have the strength not to give in, and prevent anyone fouling up or blocking the way ahead for Christian souls when they in their turn are eager to forgive and respond with charity to personal insults.