List of points

Action is worth nothing without prayer: prayer grows in value with sacrifice.

First, prayer; then, atonement; in the third place, very much 'in the third place', action.

Prayer is the foundation of the spiritual edifice. Prayer is all-powerful.

'Mary chose the better part', we read in the holy Gospel. There she is, drinking in the words of the Master. Apparently idle, she is praying and loving. Then she accompanies Jesus in his preaching through towns and villages.

Without prayer, how difficult it is to accompany him!

You are so conscious of your misery that you acknowledge yourself unworthy to be heard by God. But, what about the merits of Mary? And the wounds of your Lord? And… are you not a son of God?

Besides, he listens to you quoniam bonus… because he is good, because his mercy endures for ever.

I well understand you when you write: 'Every day I do my "few minutes" of prayer; if it weren't for that!…'

A saint, without prayer? I don't believe in such sanctity.

If you are not a man of prayer, I don't believe in the sincerity of your intentions when you say that you work for Christ.

Never make a decision without stopping to consider the matter in the presence of God.

Each day try to find a few minutes of that blessed solitude which you so much need to keep your interior life going.

Never be men or women of long action and short prayer.

If you want to give yourself to God in the world, rather than being scholarly (women needn't be scholars: it's enough for them to be prudent) you must be spiritual, closely united to our Lord by prayer: you must wear an invisible cloak that will cover each and every one of your senses and faculties: praying, praying, praying; atoning, atoning, atoning.