List of points

Someone has compared the heart to a windmill, moved by the wind of love, of passion…

Indeed, that “windmill” can grind wheat, barley or dried dung. —It is up to us!

The devil, father of lies and victim of his own pride, tries to imitate the Lord even in the way he seeks converts. Have you noticed that in the same way as God makes use of men to save souls and lead them to holiness, so does satan use other people to impede that work and even to bring them to ruin? And — don’t be frightened — in the same way as Jesus seeks those who were nearest, relatives, friends or colleagues to be instruments, the devil also often attempts to get the people we love most to lead us into evil.

That is why, if the bonds of blood-relationship tie us down and hinder us from following the ways of God, we should cut them promptly. And perhaps your resolve will also release others who were being entangled in the nets of Lucifer.

I give you thanks, my Jesus, for your decision to become perfect Man, with a Heart which loved and is most lovable; which loved unto death and suffered; which was filled with joy and sorrow; which delighted in the things of men and showed us the way to Heaven; which subjected itself heroically to duty and acted with mercy; which watched over the poor and the rich and cared for sinners and the just…

—I give you thanks, my Jesus. Give us hearts to measure up to Yours!

Ask Jesus to grant you a Love like a purifying furnace, where your poor flesh — your poor heart — may be consumed and cleansed of all earthly miseries. Pray that it may be emptied of self and filled with him. Ask him to grant you a deep-seated aversion to all that is worldly so that you may be sustained only by Love.

You have seen very clearly your vocation to love God, but only with your head. You assure me that you have put your heart into the way you are following. But you say that you are distracted at times, and even attempt to look back. That is a sign that you have not completely put your heart into it. You need to be more sensitive!

The Master said: “I have come to set a man at variance with his father, and the daughter with her mother, and the daughter-in-law with her mother-in-law…” If you fulfil what he demands of you, you will show you really love them. That is why you must not use the whole-hearted affection you should have for them as a shield when the moment comes for personal sacrifice. Otherwise, believe me, you will be putting love for your parents before the love of God. And you will be putting your own self-love before love for your parents.

—Do you now understand more deeply the relevance of those words of the Gospel?

The heart! From time to time, without your being able to help it, your all too human memory casts a crude, unhappy, “uncouth” shadow on your mind.

Go to the tabernacle immediately, at least in spirit, and you will return to light, happiness and Life.

Holy Purity is the humility of the flesh! You asked the Lord for seven bolts on your heart. And I advised you to ask for seven bolts for your heart and eighty years of gravity as well, for your youth…

And be watchful, for a spark is much easier to extinguish than a fire. Take flight… for in this it is low cowardice to be “brave”; a roving eye… does not mean a lively spirit, but turns out to be a snare of satan.

Yet human diligence, with mortification, the cilice, disciplines and fasting are all worthless without you, my God!

May I give you some advice for you to put into practice daily? When your heart makes you feel those low cravings, say slowly to the Immaculate Virgin: Look on me with compassion. Don’t abandon me, my Mother! —And recommend this prayer to others.