List of points

'I was amused to hear you speak of the "account" that our Lord will demand of you. No, for none of you will he be a judge — in the harsh sense of the word; he will simply be Jesus.' These lines, written by a good bishop, have consoled more than one troubled heart, and could well console yours.

Do not fear God's Justice. God's justice is no less admirable and no less lovable than his mercy: both are proofs of his Love.

'He shall come to judge the living and the dead.' So we pray in the Creed. God grant that you never lose sight of that judgment and of that justice and… of that Judge.

Does your soul not burn with the desire to make your Father God happy when he has to judge you?

Worldly souls are very fond of thinking of God's mercy. And so they are encouraged to persist in their follies.

It is true that God our Lord is infinitely merciful, but he is also infinitely just: and there is a judgment, and he is the Judge.

Courage. Don't you know that Saint Paul tells the Corinthians that each will duly be paid according to his share in the work?

Apostolic soul: first of all, yourself. Our Lord has said, through Saint Matthew: 'When the day of Judgment comes, many will say to me: "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, work many miracles in your name?" Then I shall tell them to their faces: "I have never known you; away from me, you evil men"'.

God forbid — says Saint Paul — that I, who have preached to others should myself be rejected.