List of points

Let us drink to the last drop the chalice of pain in this poor present life. What does it matter to suffer for ten years, twenty, fifty… if afterwards there is heaven for ever, for ever… for ever?

And, above all — rather than because of the reward, propter retributionem — what does suffering matter if we suffer to console, to please God our Lord, in a spirit of reparation, united to him on his Cross; in a word: if we suffer for Love?…

Atonement: this is the path that leads to Life.

How afraid people are of atonement! If all that they do for appearance's sake, to please the world, were done with purified intention for God… what saints many would be!

You are crying? Don't be ashamed of it. Yes, cry: men also cry like you, when they are alone and before God. Each night, says King David, I soak my bed with tears. With those tears, those burning, manly tears, you can purify your past and supernaturalize your present life.

I want you to be happy on earth. And you will not be happy if you don't lose that fear of suffering. For, as long as we are 'wayfarers', it is precisely in suffering that our happiness lies.

How beautiful it is to give up this life for that Life!

If you realize that those sufferings — of body or soul — mean purification and merit, bless them.

If we are generous in voluntary atonement Jesus will fill us with grace to love the trials he sends us.

Let your will exact from your senses, by means of atonement, what your other faculties deny your will in prayer.

How we ennoble suffering, giving it its right place (atonement) in the spiritual order!

Child, enkindle in your heart an ardent desire to make up for the excesses of your grown-up life.

The Cross on your breast?… Very good. But the Cross on your shoulders, the Cross in your flesh, the Cross in your mind. Only then will you live for Christ, with Christ and in Christ; only then will you be an apostle.