List of points

Be firm. Be virile. Be a man. And then… be a saint.

'They have the stuff of saints in them.' At times you hear this said of some people. Apart from the fact that the saints were not made of 'stuff, to have stuff is not sufficient.

A great spirit of obedience to your Director and great readiness to respond to grace are essential. For, if you don't allow God's grace and your Director to do their work, there will never appear the finished sculpture, Christ's image, into which the saintly man is fashioned.

And the 'stuff' of which we were speaking will be no more than a heap of shapeless matter, fit only for the fire…, for a good fire if it was good stuff!

The saints were not abnormal beings: cases to be studied by a 'modernistic' doctor. They were — they are — normal: of flesh, like yours. And they won.

It's not enough to be learned, in addition to being a good Christian. If you don't correct the brusqueness of your character, if you make your zeal and your knowledge incompatible with good manners, I can't see you ever becoming a saint. And despite your learning — because of it — you should be tied in a stall, like a mule.

Sanctimony is to sanctity what 'piosity' is to piety: its caricature.

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.

Way of childhood. Abandonment. Spiritual infancy. All this is not utter nonsense, but a sturdy and solid christian life.

When I call you 'good child' don't think I imagine you timid or bashful. If you are not manly and normal, instead of being an apostle you will be a caricature that causes laughter.

Let your prayer be manly. To be a child does not mean to be effeminate.

Be careful that contact with you doesn't make people feel like that person who once exclaimed (and not without reason): 'I'm sick of these righteous types!…'