List of points

Self-giving is the first step along the road of sacrifice, joy, love, union with God. —And so an entire life is filled with a holy madness which makes us find happiness where human logic would only see denial, suffering, pain.

Nobody is happy on earth until he decides not to be. This is the way the path goes: suffering — in Christian terms! — the Cross; God’s Will, Love; happiness here and, afterwards, eternally.

You asked Our Lord to let you suffer a little for Him. But when suffering comes in such a normal, human form — family difficulties and problems… or those thousand awkward things of ordinary life — you find it hard to see Christ behind it. —Open your hands willingly to those nails… and your sorrow will be turned into joy.

Don’t complain if you suffer. It is the prized and valued stone that is polished.

Does it hurt? —Allow yourself to be cut, gratefully, because God has taken you in his hands as if you were a diamond. An ordinary pebble is not worked on like that.

Those who flee like cowards from suffering have something to meditate on when they see the enthusiasm with which other souls embrace pain.

There are many men and women who know how to suffer in a Christian way. Let us follow their example.

You complain? And you tell me you have reason to complain: One pinprick after another!…

—But do you not realise that it is silly to be surprised at finding thorns among roses?

Let me continue, as I have always done, to speak to you confidentially. For not to have the heart to talk about my own sufferings it is enough to have a Crucifix in front of me… And I don’t mind adding that I have suffered a lot, though always cheerfully.

For a son of God, contradictions and calumnies are what wounds received on the battlefield are for a soldier.

Sacrifice, sacrifice! It is true that to follow Jesus Christ is to carry the Cross — He has said so. But I don’t like to hear souls who love Our Lord speak so much about crosses and renunciations, because where there is Love, it is a willing sacrifice — though it remains hard — and the cross is the Holy Cross.

—A soul which knows how to love and give itself in this way, is filled with peace and joy. Therefore, why insist on “sacrifice”, as if you were seeking consolation, if Christ’s Cross — which is your life — makes you happy?

We could get rid of so much neurosis and hysteria if people were taught — together with Christian doctrine — really to live as Christians: loving God and knowing how to accept things that annoy us as a blessing from His hand!

The great Christian revolution has been to convert pain into fruitful suffering and to turn a bad thing into something good. We have deprived the devil of this weapon; and with it we conquer eternity.

When you think of all the things in your life which remain worthless for not having been offered to God, you should act like a miser, anxious to get hold of every opportunity you can and to make use of each and every suffering. —For if suffering is always there for us poor creatures, what can it be but stupidity to waste it?