List of points

In your personal prayer, whenever you experience the weakness of the flesh you should repeat: Lord, give the Cross to this poor body of mine, which gets tired and rebellious!

If the outlook in your interior life, in your soul, is darkened, allow yourself to be led along by the hand, as a blind man would do.

—In time the Lord will reward this humble surrendering of your own judgement by giving you clarity of mind.

Pray resolutely using the words of the Psalmist: “Lord, you are my refuge and my strength, I trust in thee!”

I promise you that he will preserve you from the ambushes of the “noontide devil”, when you are tempted and… even when you fall, and when your age and virtues ought to have proved solid and you should have known by heart that He alone is your Strength.

Whenever you feel the stirrings of your poor flesh, which sometimes attacks with violent assaults, kiss your crucifix, kiss it many times with firm resolve, even if it seems to you that you are doing so without love.

We can say with Saint Augustine that our evil passions tug at our garments, dragging us down. At the same time we are aware of great, noble and pure ambitions within our hearts, and know that a struggle is going on.

—If, with the grace of God, you make use of the ascetical means: if you seek to have presence of God, if you look for mortification and — don’t be afraid — penance, then you will make progress, you will find peace and victory will be yours.

Have recourse to the sweet Lady, Mary, Mother of God and our Mother also, entrusting to her care the cleanliness of soul and body of all mankind.

Tell her that you want to call upon her, and want others to call upon her continually. And that you want to conquer always, in the bad moments — or the good, and very good moments — of your struggle against those who are hostile to our being children of God.