List of points

What are you so proud of? — Every impulse that moves you comes from Him. Act accordingly.

Ask the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and your Mother, to make you know yourself and weep for all those foul things that have passed through you, and which, alas, have left such dregs behind… — And at the same time, without wishing to stop considering all that, say to him: Jesus, give me a Love that will act like a purifying fire in which my miserable flesh, my miserable heart, my miserable soul, my miserable body may be consumed and cleansed of all earthly wretchedness. And when I have been completely emptied of myself, fill me with yourself. May I never become attached to anything here below. May Love always sustain me.

How humble Jesus is. What a shame, in contrast, that I who am nothing but dust from a dung-heap should so often have disguised my pride under the cloak of dignity, or justice. — And as a result, how many opportunities to follow the Master I have missed or wasted, by failing to supernaturalise them.

You must never treat anyone unmercifully. If you think someone is not worthy of your mercy, you should realise that neither do you deserve anything.

—You don’t deserve to have been created, or to be a Christian, or to be a son of God, or to have the family you have…

When that priest, our good friend, used to sign himself “the sinner”, he did so convinced that what he wrote was true.

—My God, purify me too!

You see yourself as a poor man whose master has stripped him of his livery. You are only a sinner! And you understand the nakedness felt by our first parents.

—You should be weeping all the time. And you have wept. You have suffered a great deal. And yet you are very happy. You wouldn’t change places with anyone. For many years now you have not lost your gaudium cum pace — your peaceful joy. You thank God for this and would like to let everyone into the secret of your happiness.

—Yes, I can see why people have often said of you — though you couldn’t care less about “what people say” — that you are “a man of peace”.

It was you who wrote what I am now copying out: “Domine, tu scis quia amo te! — Lord, you know that I love you! How very often, Jesus, I repeat again and again those words your dear Cephas uttered, as a bitter-sweet litany. For I know that I love you, and yet I am so very unsure of myself that I cannot bring myself to say it to you clearly. There are so many denials in my wicked life. Tu scis, Domine! — You know that I love you! — May my actions, Jesus, never go against these yearnings of my heart.”

—Keep up this prayer of yours and he will certainly hear you.

Humility is born of knowing God and knowing oneself.

You, who see yourself so badly lacking in virtues, in talents, in abilities… Do you not feel the desire to cry out like the blind Bartimaeus, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”?

—What a beautiful aspiration for you to say very often, “Lord, have pity on me!”

—He will hear you and come to your aid.

Don’t expect people’s applause for your work.

—What is more, sometimes you mustn’t even expect other people and institutions, who like you are working for Christ, to understand you.

—Seek only the glory of God and, while loving everyone, don’t worry if there are some who don’t understand you.

You are like the little pauper who suddenly finds out that he is the son of the King. That is why now the only thing that concerns you on this earth is the Glory of your Father God, his Glory in everything.

The artist stood before his canvas with a deep desire to surpass himself and cried out, “Lord, I want to paint for you thirty-eight hearts, thirty-eight angels bursting with continual love for you, thirty-eight marvels embroidered on your heaven, thirty-eight suns upon your mantle, thirty-eight flames of fire, thirty-eight ardours, thirty-eight feats of madness, thirty-eight joys…”

Then, humbly, he had to admit that it was all in his imagination and desire. In reality what confronts him are thirty-eight figures which haven’t come out properly and which mortify the sight rather than give pleasure.

When we’re working for God we have to have a “superiority complex”, I told you.

But isn’t that a sign of pride? you asked me. — No! It is a consequence of humility; the humility which makes me say: Lord, you are who you are. I am nothingness itself. You have all the perfections: power, strength, love, glory, wisdom, authority, dignity… If I unite myself to you, like a child who goes to the strong arms of his father or the wonderful lap of his mother, I will feel the warmth of your divinity, I will feel the light of your wisdom, I will feel your strength coursing through my veins.

Putting yourself in the presence of God, and with your forehead flat against the ground, consider how (for that’s the way it is) you are more filthy and despicable than the sweepings swept up by a broom.

—And, in spite of this, the Lord has chosen you.

Father, you told me, I have committed many errors, I have made so many mistakes.

—I know, I replied. But God Our Lord, who also knows all that and has taken it into account, only asks you to be humble enough to admit it and asks that you struggle to make amends, so as to serve him better each day with more interior life, with continual prayer and with piety, and making use of the proper means to sanctify your work.

We will dedicate all the exertions of our life, great and small, to the honour of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

—I am moved when I recall the work of those brilliant professionals — two engineers and two architects — cheerfully moving furniture into a student residence. When they had put a blackboard into a classroom, the first thing those four artists wrote was: Deo omnis gloria! — all the glory to God.

—Jesus, I know that this pleased you greatly.

Regnare Christum volumus!: we want Christ to reign. Deo omnis gloria!: all the glory to God.

This ideal of warring, and winning, with Christ’s weapons will only become a reality through prayer and sacrifice, through faith and Love.

—Well, then…: pray, believe, suffer, Love!

You must be careful: don’t let your professional success or failure — which will certainly come — make you forget, even for a moment, what the true aim of your work is: the glory of God!

We do not live for the world, or for our own honour, but for the honour of God, for the glory of God, for the service of God. It is this that should be our motive!

Rectitude of intention consists in seeking “only and in all things” the glory of God.

I advise you not to look for praise, even when you deserve it. It is better to pass unnoticed, and to let the most beautiful and noble aspects of our actions, of our lives, remain hidden. What a great thing it is to become little! Deo omnis gloria! —All the glory to God.

It is from clay I come and the earth is the inheritance of all my lineage.

Who but God deserves praise?