List of points

I am sure that God has listened to your humble and heartfelt plea: My Lord, I am not worried about “what people say”. Forgive me for my unworthy life: May I be a saint!… But it’s You alone I wish to please.

Whenever you see that the glory of God and the good of the Church demand that you should speak out, don’t remain silent.

—Think about it. Who would lack courage before God and in the face of eternity? There is nothing to be lost and instead so much to be gained. Why do you hold back then?

We are not good brothers to our fellow men if we are not ready to continue behaving correctly, even when those around us may interpret our actions badly or react in an unpleasant manner.

Encourage your noble human qualities. They can be the beginning of the building of your sanctification. At the same time, remember what I have already told you before, that when serving God, you have to burn everything, even “what people will say”, and even what they call reputation, if necessary.

With a sense of profound humility — strong in the name of our God, and, as the Psalmist says, not “in the numbers of our chariots and of our horses” — we have to make sure, without regard for human considerations, that there are no corners of society where Christ is not known.

You are an ordinary citizen. It is precisely because of that secularity of yours, which is the same as, and neither more nor less than, that of your colleagues, that you have to be sufficiently brave — which may sometimes mean being very brave — to make your faith felt. They should see your good works and the motive that drives you to do them.

When we think we have been accused of something unjustly, we should examine our behaviour, in God’s presence, cum gaudio et pace — calmly and cheerfully; and we should change our ways if charity bids us, even if our actions were harmless.

—We have to struggle to be saints, more and more each day. Then let people say what they like so long as we can apply the words of the beatitude to their utterances: Beati estis cum… dixerint omne malum adversus vos mentientes propter me — Blessed are you when they slander you for my sake.

Those of us who bear in our hearts the truth of Christ have to put this truth into the hearts, and minds and lives of others. Not to do so would show a love of comfort and bad tactics too.

Think it over once again: Did Christ ask you permission before coming into your soul? He left you free to follow him, but he was the one who sought you out, because he chose to.