List of points

I agree. You acted badly, out of weakness. — But what I fail to understand is how, with a clear conscience, you have not repented. You cannot do something wrong and then say, or think, that it is something holy, or that it is of no importance.

If I were a leper my mother would hug me. She would kiss my wounds without fear or hesitation.

—Well then, what would the Blessed Virgin Mary do? When we feel we are like lepers, all full of sores, we have to cry out: Mother! And the protection of our Mother will be like a kiss upon our wounds, which obtains our cure.

When you have fallen or when you find yourself overwhelmed by the weight of your wretchedness, repeat with a firm hope: Lord, see how ill I am; Lord, you who died on the Cross for love of me, come and heal me.

Be full of confidence, I insist. Keep on calling out to his most loving Heart. As he cured the lepers we read about in the Gospel, he will cure you.

Your prayer went like this: “My wretchedness weighs me down, but it doesn’t overwhelm me because I am a son of God. I want to atone, to Love… And,” you added, “like Saint Paul, I want to turn my weaknesses to good use, convinced that the Lord will not abandon those who place their trust in him.”

—Carry on like that. I assure you that — with God’s grace — you will succeed, and you will overcome your wretchedness and your shortcomings.

All contrite you told me: “How much wretchedness I see in myself! I am so stupid and I am carting around such a weight of concupiscence that it is as though I had never really done anything to get closer to God. O Lord, here I am beginning, beginning, always just beginning! I will try, however, to push forward each day with all my heart.”

—May he bless those efforts of yours.