List of points

My God, how is it that I do not cry out in sorrow and love whenever I see a Crucifix?

What respect, veneration and affection we should feel for every single soul when we realise that God loves it as his very own!

Our Lord did not confine himself to telling us that he loved us. He showed it to us with deeds, with his whole life. — What about you?

I will not stop repeating until it is deeply engraved in your soul: Piety, piety, piety! For if you lack charity it will be for want of interior life, not for any defect of character.

May you know how to put yourself out cheerfully, discreetly and generously each day, serving others and making their lives more pleasant.

—To act in this way is the true charity of Jesus Christ.

We have to love God because our heart is made for love. That is why, if we don’t give our heart to God, to Our Lady and Mother, to souls… with a pure affection, it will seek revenge… and will breed worms instead.

That morning, to remove the dark shadow of pessimism which hung over you, you also insisted as you do every day… but you were more “aggressive” with your Angel. You sang his praises and you asked him to teach you to love Jesus at least, at least as much as he loves Him… And with that you recovered your calm.

Practise a cheerful charity which is at once kindly and firm; human and supernatural. An affectionate charity, knowing how to welcome everyone with a sincere and habitual smile, and how to understand the ideas and the feelings of others.

—In this way, gently and vigorously, and without concessions in matters of personal morals or in doctrine, the charity of Christ — when it is being well lived — will give you a spirit of conquest. Each day you will be more eager to work for souls.

Our Lord, with his arms outstretched, is continually begging for your alms of love.

Don’t just talk to the Paraclete. Listen to him!

When you pray, consider how the life of childhood, which enabled you to realise deeply that you are a son of God, filled you with a filial love for the Father. Think how, before that, you have gone through Mary to Jesus, whom you adore as his friend, as his brother, as his lover, for that is what you are…

After receiving this advice you realised that until now you had known that the Holy Spirit was dwelling in your soul, to sanctify it… But you hadn’t really grasped this truth about his presence. You needed that advice. Now you feel his Love within you, and you want to talk to him, to be his friend, to confide in him… You want to facilitate his work of polishing, uprooting, and enkindling…

I wouldn’t know how to set about it!, you thought. Listen to him, I insist. He will give you strength. He will do everything, if you so want… And you do want!

—Pray to him: Divine Guest, Master, Light, Guide, Love, may I make you truly welcome inside me and listen to the lessons you teach me. Make me burn with eagerness for you, make me follow you and love you.

To draw closer to God, to fly all the way to God, you need the strong and generous wings of Prayer and Expiation.

To avoid routine in your vocal prayers try to say them with the same ardour with which a person who has just fallen in love speaks… and as if it were the last chance you had to approach Our Lord.

If you feel proud to be a son of Our Lady, ask yourself: How often do I express my devotion to the Virgin Mary during the day, from morning to night?

There are two reasons, among others, that friend was saying to himself, why I should make reparation to my Immaculate Mother every Saturday and on the eve of her feasts.

The second is that on Sundays and on feasts of Our Lady (which are often feasts in villages), instead of dedicating such days to prayer, so many people spend them — you have only to look around you and see — offending Our Jesus with public sins and scandalous crimes.

The first reason is that, perhaps due to the devil’s influence, those of us who want to be good sons are not taking proper care in the way we live these days dedicated to Our Lord and to his Mother.

You’ll realise that unfortunately these reasons are still very valid. And so we too should make reparation.

I have always understood Christian prayer as being a loving conversation with Jesus, which shouldn’t be interrupted even in the moments we are physically far from the Tabernacle, because our whole life is made up of verses of human love in a divine way … and we can love always.

God’s love for his creatures is so boundless and our response to it should be so great that, when Holy Mass is being said, time ought to stand still.

When the branches are united to the vine they grow to maturity and bear fruit.

—What then should you and I do? We should get right close to Jesus, through the Bread and through the Word. He is our vine… We should speak affectionate words to him throughout the day. That is what people in love do.

Love Our Lord very much. Maintain and foster in your soul a sense of urgency to love him better. Love God precisely now when perhaps a good many of those who hold him in their hands do not love him, but rather ill-treat and neglect him.

Be sure to take good care of the Lord for me, in the Holy Mass and throughout the whole day!

Prayer is the most powerful weapon a Christian has. Prayer makes us effective. Prayer makes us happy. Prayer gives us all the strength we need to fulfil God’s commands.

—Yes!, your whole life can and should be prayer.

Personal sanctity is not an unrealistic idea, but a precise reality, which is both divine and human. And it manifests itself constantly in daily deeds of Love.

The spirit of prayer which fills the entire life of Jesus Christ among men teaches us that all our actions — great or small — ought to be preceded by prayer, accompanied by prayer and followed by prayer.

Practise your faith cheerfully, keeping very close to Jesus Christ. Really love him — but really, really love him! — and you will take part in a great Adventure of Love, because you will be more in love each day.

Say slowly to the Master: Lord, all I want is to serve you. All I want is to fulfil my duties and love you with all my heart. Make me feel your firm step by my side. May you be my only support!

—Say this to him slowly… and really mean it!

You, being a Christian, cannot turn your back on any concern or need of other men, your brothers.

How very insistent the Apostle Saint John was in preaching the mandatum novum, the new commandment that we should love one another!

—I would fall on my knees, without putting on any act — but this is what my heart dictates — and ask you, for the love of God, to love one another, to help one another, to lend one another a hand, to know how to forgive one another.

—And so, reject all pride, be compassionate, show charity; help each other with prayer and sincere friendship.

You will only be good if you know how to see the good points and the virtues of the others.

—That is why when you have to correct, you should do so with charity, at the opportune moment, without humiliating… And being ready yourself to learn and to improve in the very faults you are correcting.

Love and practise charity without setting any limits or discriminating between people, for it is the virtue which marks us out as disciples of the Master.

Nevertheless, this charity cannot lead you to dampen your faith — for it would then cease to be a virtue. Nor should it blur the clear outlines that define the faith, nor soften it to the point of changing it, as some people try to do, into something amorphous and lacking the strength and power of God.

You have to live in harmony with your fellow men and understand them as a brother would. As the Spanish mystic says, where there is no love, put love and you will find love.

Whenever you need to criticise, your criticism must seek to be positive, helpful and constructive. It should never be made behind the back of the person concerned.

—To act otherwise would be treacherous, sneaky, defamatory, slanderous perhaps… , and, always, utterly ignoble.

Whenever you see that the glory of God and the good of the Church demand that you should speak out, don’t remain silent.

—Think about it. Who would lack courage before God and in the face of eternity? There is nothing to be lost and instead so much to be gained. Why do you hold back then?

We are not good brothers to our fellow men if we are not ready to continue behaving correctly, even when those around us may interpret our actions badly or react in an unpleasant manner.

God loves me… And John the Apostle writes: “Let us love God, then, since God loved us first.” —As if this were not enough, Jesus comes to each one of us, in spite of our patent wretchedness, to ask us, as he asked Peter: “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others?…”

—This is the moment to reply: “Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you!” adding, with humility, “Help me to love you more. Increase my love!”

Love Our Lord passionately. Love him madly! Because if there is love there — when there is love — I would dare to say that resolutions are not needed. My parents — think of yours — did not need to make any resolutions to love me: and what an effusion of tenderness they showed me, in little details every day!

With that same human heart we can and should love God.

Saint Paul has given us a wonderful recipe for charity: alter alterius onera portate et sic adimplebitis legem Christi — bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfil the law of Christ.

—Is this what happens in your life?

Ask yourself often: am I making a real effort to be more refined in my charity towards the people I live with?

When I preach that we have to make ourselves a carpet so that the others may tread softly, I am not simply being poetic: it has to be a reality!

—It’s hard, as sanctity is hard; but it’s also easy, because, I insist, sanctity is within everyone’s reach.

In the midst of so much selfishness, so much coldness —everyone out for what he can get — I call to mind those little wooden donkeys. They were trotting on a desk-top, strong and sturdy. One had lost a leg, but it carried on forward, supported by the others.

To practise fraternal correction — which is so deeply rooted in the Gospel — is a proof of supernatural trust and affection.

Be thankful for it when you receive it, and don’t neglect to practise it with those around you.

When you correct someone — because it has to be done and you want to do your duty — you must expect to hurt others and to get hurt yourself.

But you should never let this fact be an excuse for holding back.

When you are with someone, you have to see a soul: a soul who has to be helped, who has to be understood, with whom you have to live in harmony, and who has to be saved.

For many people a saint is an “uncomfortable” person to live with. But this doesn’t mean that he has to be unbearable.

—A saint’s zeal should never be bitter. When he corrects he should never be wounding. His example should never be an arrogant moral slap in his neighbour’s face.

Your charity should be likeable. Without neglecting prudence or naturalness, try to have, though you may be crying inside, a smile on your lips for everyone at all times, and try to render an unstinting service too.

As a Christian, you can give way, within the limits of faith and morals, in everything that is your own; you can give way with all your heart… But in what belongs to Jesus Christ, you cannot give way!

Be a eucharistic soul!

—If the centre around which your thoughts and hopes turn is the Tabernacle, then, my child, how abundant the fruits of your sanctity and apostolate will be!

Go perseveringly to the Tabernacle, either bodily or in your heart, so as to feel safe and calm: but also to feel loved… and to love!

Jesus, may my poor heart be filled from the ocean of your Love, with such big waves that can cleanse me and expel from me all my wretchedness. Pour those most pure and ardent waters of your Heart into mine, until my desires for loving you are fully satisfied and I can no longer hold back my response to your divine ardour. My heart shall surely break then, dying for Love, and pour out that Love of yours which, in irresistible and most fertile, life-giving torrents, will reach other hearts that will beat through contact with these living waters, with the pulsating force of Faith and Charity.

Not a single soul — not one! — can be a matter of indifference to you.

A disciple of Christ can never think as follows: “I try to be good; as for others, if that’s what they want… let them go to hell.”

Such an attitude is not human. Nor is it in keeping with the love of God, or with the charity we owe our neighbour.

I was delighted to see that you understood what I had said to you: you and I have to work and live and die like people in love, and we will live in this way for all eternity.

Think how pleasing to God Our Lord is the incense burnt in his honour. Think also how little the things of this earth are worth; even as they begin they are already ending.

In Heaven, instead, a great Love awaits you, with no betrayals and no deceptions. The fullness of love, the fullness of beauty and greatness and knowledge… And it will never cloy: it will satiate, yet still you will want more.

If I love, there will be no hell for me.

How good it is to live on God’s bounty! How good it is to desire nothing other than his Glory.