List of points

You are ambitious: for knowledge, for leadership, for great ventures.

Good. Very good. But let it be for Christ, for Love.

How beautiful is holy purity I But it is not holy, nor pleasing to God, if we separate it from charity.

Charity is the seed that will grow and yield rich fruit under the fertile rain of purity.

Without charity, purity is barren, and its sterile waters turn the soul into a swamp, into a cesspool from which rises the stench of pride.

Don't be afraid to call our Lord by his name — Jesus — and to tell him that you love him.

Live by Love and you'll conquer always — even when you are defeated — in the battles of your interior struggle.

Acts of Faith, Hope and Love are valves which provide an outlet for the fire of those souls that live the life of God.

Do everything unselfishly, for pure Love, as if there were neither reward nor punishment. But in your heart foster the glorious hope of heaven.

Everything seems to touch you on the raw…, to make you suffer in your mind and in your senses. And everything is temptation to you…

Be humble — I insist. You will see how quickly all this passes; and the pain will be turned into joy: and the temptation, into firm purpose.

But meanwhile, strengthen your faith; fill yourself with hope; and make constant acts of Love, even though you can feel them only on your lips.

'My enthusiasm is gone', you write. You have to work not out of enthusiasm but out of Love: conscious of duty, which means self-denial.

And what is the secret of perseverance? Love. Fall in Love, and you will not leave him.