List of points

Here is a good way of doing an examination of conscience:

—Have I accepted in a spirit of expiation the difficulties which have come to me this day from the hand of God? Or those which came from the behaviour of my colleagues? Or from my own wretchedness?

—Have I managed to offer Our Lord, in expiation, the very sorrow I feel for having offended him so many times? Have I offered him the shame of all my inner embarrassment and humiliation at seeing how little progress I make along the path of virtue?

When our vision is clouded, when our eyes have lost their clarity, we need to go to the light. And Jesus Christ has told us that he is the Light of the world and that he has come to heal the sick.

—That is why your weaknesses and your falls — when God allows them — should not separate you from Christ, but rather draw you closer to him!

If you have done something wrong, be it big or small, go running back to God!

—Savour those words of the psalm, cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies — the Lord will never spurn or disregard a contrite and humbled heart.

It is not that I lack true joy; on the contrary… And yet, painfully aware of my unworthiness, it is only natural that I should cry out with Saint Paul, “wretched man that I am!”

—It is at such a time that you should increase your desire to tear down once and for all the barriers you yourself have set up.

Do not become alarmed or discouraged to discover that you have failings… and such failings!

—Struggle to uproot them. And as you do so, be convinced that it is even a good thing to be aware of all those weaknesses, for otherwise you would be proud. And pride separates us from God.

Be filled with wonder at God’s goodness, because Christ wants to live in you. Be filled with wonder also when you are aware of all the weight of your poor wretchedness, of this poor flesh, of all the vileness of this poor clay.

—Yes, but then remember too that call from God: Jesus Christ, who is God and Man, understands me and looks after me, for he is my Brother and my Friend.

If your mistakes make you more humble, if they make you reach out more urgently for God’s helping hand, then they are a road to sanctity: Felix culpa! — O happy fault!, the Church sings.

Humility teaches each soul not to lose heart in the face of its own blunders.

—True humility leads us… to ask for forgiveness!

Jesus, my Love, to think that I could offend you again! Tuus ego sum… salvum me fac. — I am yours: save me!

Virgin Immaculate, my Mother!, do not abandon me. See how my poor heart is filled with tears. — I do not want to offend my God!

—I already know, and I trust I shall never forget, that I am worth nothing. My smallness and my loneliness weigh upon me so much! But… I am not alone. You, Sweet Lady, and my Father God will never leave me.

Faced with the rebellion of my flesh and the diabolical arguments against my Faith, I love Jesus and I believe: I do Love and do Believe.

If you feel for whatever reason that you cannot manage, abandon yourself in God, telling him: Lord, I trust in you, I abandon myself in you, but do help me in my weakness!

And filled with confidence, repeat: See Jesus what a filthy rag I am. My life seems to me so miserable. I am not worthy to be a son of yours. Tell him all this — and tell him so over and over again.

—It will not be long before you hear him say, Ne timeas! — do not be afraid; and also: Surge et ambula! — rise up and walk!

Sanctity is to be found in struggling, in knowing that we have defects and in heroically trying to overcome them.

Sanctity, I insist, consists in overcoming those defects… although we will still have defects when we die; because if not, as I have told you, we would become proud.