List of points

I don’t want you ever to lose your supernatural outlook. Even though you see your own meannesses, your evil inclinations — the clay of which you are made — in all their raw shamefulness, God is counting on you.

Tell him: Jesus, I cannot see a single perfect flower in my garden, all are blighted. It seems that all have lost their colour and their scent. Poor me! Face downwards in the muck, on the ground: that’s my place.

—That’s the way, humble yourself. He will conquer in you, and you will attain the victory.

I understood you very well when you ended up saying: “Quite honestly, I haven’t even made the grade of being a donkey — the donkey that was the throne of Jesus when he entered Jerusalem. I’m just part of a disgusting heap of dirty tatters that the poorest rag-picker would ignore.”

But I told you: all the same, God has chosen you and wants you to be his instrument. So your wretchedness — which is a genuine fact — should turn into one more reason for you to be thankful to God for calling you.