List of points

If you are aware of God’s presence, high above the deafening storm, the sun will always be shining on you; and deep below the roaring and destructive waves, peace and calm will reign in your soul.

Don’t confuse serenity with laziness, with neglect, and putting off making decisions or studying questions that need attending to.

Serenity always goes hand in hand with diligence, which is a virtue we need in order to consider and resolve pending matters without delay.

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.

Plots, wretched misinterpretations, cut to the measure of the base hearts that will read them, cowardly insinuations… It is a picture that, sadly, we see over and over again, in different fields. They neither work themselves, nor let others work.

Meditate slowly on those verses of the Psalm: “My God, I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons. Because zeal for thy house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult thee have fallen on me.” And keep on working.