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.

It is good to see you put such determination into your study provided, of course, you put the same determination into acquiring interior life.

Student: form yourself in a solid and active piety, be outstanding in study, have a strong desire for the 'professional' apostolate. And with that vigour of your religious and professional training, I promise you rapid and far-reaching developments.

You worry only about building up your knowledge. And what you have to build up is your soul. Then you will work as you ought — for Christ. In order that he may reign in the world, there must be some people who, with their eyes fixed on heaven, seek to acquire prestige in all human activities, so that they can carry out quietly — and effectively — an apostolate within their professions.

The choicest morsel, if eaten by a pig, is turned (to put it bluntly), into pigflesh!

Let us be angels, so as to dignify the ideas we assimilate.

Let us at least be men, so as to convert our food into strong and noble muscles, or perhaps into a powerful brain capable of understanding and adoring God.

But let us not be beasts, like so many, so very many!

Remember that your virtue may seem to be that of a saint and yet be worth nothing if it is not joined to the ordinary virtues of a Christian.

That would be like adorning yourself with magnificent jewels over your underwear.

Many false apostles, in spite of themselves, do good to the crowd, to the people, through the very power of the doctrine of Jesus that they preach but do not practise.

But this good does not make up the incalculable harm that they do by killing the souls of leaders, of apostles, who turn away in disgust from those who don't practise what they preach.

That is why, if such men and women are not willing to live a consistent life, they should never offer themselves as front-line leaders.