Devotions

Let us flee from 'routine' as from the devil himself. The great means to avoid falling into this abyss, the grave of true piety, is constant presence of God.

Have only a few private devotions, but be constant in them.

Don't forget your childhood prayers, learned perhaps from your mother's lips. Say them each day with simplicity, as you did then.

Don't omit the visit to the Blessed Sacrament. After your usual vocal prayer, tell Jesus, really present in the Tabernacle, of the cares and worries of your day. And you will receive light and strength for your life as a Christian.

How truly lovable is the sacred Humanity of our God! You 'crept' into the most holy Wound of your Lord's right hand, and you asked me: 'If one of Christ's Wounds cleans, heals, soothes, strengthens, kindles and enraptures…, what will the five not do as they lie open on the wood?'

The Way of the Cross. Here indeed you have a sturdy and fruitful devotion! Spend a few moments each Friday going over those fourteen points of our Lord's Passion and Death. I assure you that you will gain strength for the whole of the week.

Christmas devotion. — I don't smile when I see you making cardboard mountains around the crib and placing simple clay figures near the manger. — You have never seemed more a man to me than now, when you seem to be a child.

The holy Rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you will be amazed at the results;

Saint Joseph, father of Christ, is also your father and your lord. Ask him to help you.

Saint Joseph, our father and lord, is a teacher of the interior life. Place yourself under his patronage and you'll feel the effectiveness of his power.

Speaking of Saint Joseph in the book of her life, Saint Teresa says: 'Whoever fails to find a Master to teach him how to pray, should choose this glorious Saint, and he will not go astray.' — This advice comes from an experienced soul. Follow it.

Have confidence in your guardian Angel. Treat him as a lifelong friend — that is what he is — and he will render you a thousand services in the ordinary affairs of each day.

Win over the guardian Angel of that person whom you wish to draw to your apostolate. He is always a great 'accomplice'.

If you remembered the presence of your own Angel and the angels of your neighbours, you would avoid many of the foolish things which slip into your conversations.

You are amazed that your guardian Angel has done you such obvious favours. And you should not be amazed: that's why our Lord has placed him beside you.

You say that in such surroundings there are many occasions of going astray? That's true, but is there not also the presence of the guardian Angels?…

If you call upon your guardian Angel at the moment of trial, he will protect you from the devil and will bring you holy inspirations.

How joyfully the holy guardian Angels must have obeyed that soul who said to them: 'Holy Angels, I call on you, like the Spouse of the Song of Songs, ut nuntietis ei quia amore langueo, to tell him that I languish with love.'

I know you will be glad to have this prayer to the holy guardian Angels of our Tabernacles:

O Angelic Spirits that guard our Tabernacles, wherein lies the adorable treasure of the holy Eucharist, defend it from profanation and preserve it for our love.

Drink at the clear fountain of the Acts of the Apostles. In the twelfth chapter, Peter, freed from prison by the ministry of Angels, comes to the house of the mother of Mark. Those inside will not believe the girl, who says that Peter is at the door. Angelus ejus est! It must be his Angel!' they said.

See on what intimate terms the early Christians were with their guardian Angels.

And you?

The holy souls in purgatory. Out of charity, out of justice, and out of excusable selfishness — they have such power with God! — remember them often in your sacrifices and in your prayers.

May you be able to say when you speak of them, 'My good friends the souls in purgatory.'

You ask me why I always recommend, with such insistence, the daily use of holy water. I could give you many reasons. But none better than that of the Saint of Avila: 'From nothing do evil spirits flee more, never to return, than from holy water.'

Thank you, my God, for that love for the Pope you have placed in my heart.

Who told you that it is not manly to make novenas? These devotions are manly, when it is a man who performs them in a spirit of prayer and penance.