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.

It is impossible to live a clean life without God’s help. God wants us to be humble, and to ask him for his help through our Mother who is his Mother.

You should say to Our Lady, right now, speaking without the sound of words, from the accompanied solitude of your heart: “O, my Mother, sometimes this poor heart of mine rebels… But if you help me…” — She will indeed help you to keep it clean and to follow the way God has called you to pursue. The Virgin Mary will always make it easier for you to fulfil the Will of God.

Each person in his own situation should lead a pure life, courageously lived. We have to learn to say No for the sake of that great Love, Love with a capital letter.

Saint Joseph, our Father and Lord: most chaste, most pure. You were found worthy to carry the Child Jesus in your arms, to wash him, to hug him. Teach us to get to know God, and to be pure, worthy of being other Christs.

And help us to do and to teach, as Christ did. Help us to open up the divine paths of the earth, which are both hidden and bright; and help us to show them to mankind, telling our fellow men that their lives on earth can have an extraordinary and constant supernatural effectiveness.

I am moved that the Apostle should call Christian marriage sacramentum magnum — a great sacrament. From this, too, I deduce the enormous importance of the task of parents.

—You share in the creative power of God: that is why human love is holy, good and noble. It is a gladness of heart which God — in his loving providence — wants others freely to give up.

—Each child that God grants you is a wonderful blessing from him: don’t be afraid of children!