List of points

In governing, after considering the common good, one must realise that both in spiritual and in civil affairs it will be very rare for a law to displease nobody.

—There is a popular saying: The rain never pleases everybody! Yet you can be sure, that is not a defect of the law, but an unjustified rebelliousness of pride and selfishness by a few.

Authority. This does not consist in the one above yelling at the one below, and he in turn to the one further down.

In such a way of behaving — a caricature of authority — apart from an evident lack of charity and of decent human standards, all that is achieved is that the one at the top becomes isolated from those who are governed, because he does not serve them. Rather it could be said that he uses them!

Don’t be one of those who let their own homes be badly managed but attempt to meddle in the management of other people’s.

Occupying as you do a post of government, would you meditate on this: the strongest and most effective instruments, if they are not properly used, become dented, worn out and useless.

I think it is very good that you should try daily to increase the depth of your concern for those under you. For to feel surrounded and protected by the affectionate understanding of the one in charge, can be the effective help which is needed by the people you have to serve by means of your governance.

I felt pity for that man in office. He suspected that there might have been some problems, which are, after all, to be expected in life… yet he was taken aback and annoyed when he was told about them. He preferred to remain ignorant of them, to live in the shadow or twilight of his own vision, so that he might remain at ease.

I advised him to face up to these things openly and clearly, so that in this very way they could be got rid of. I assured him that then he would truly live in peace.

You must not solve problems, your own or those of others, by ignoring them; this would be nothing short of laziness and comfort-seeking, which would open the door to the action of the devil.

Positions… Who’s in, who’s out? —What does it matter to you? You have come, you tell me, to be useful, to serve, with complete availability. Behave accordingly.

If someone thought that wolves could be reared among sheep… imagine what chance his sheep would have.

Mediocre men, mediocre in mind and in Christian spirit, surround themselves by foolish people when they are in power. They are falsely persuaded by their vanity that in this way they will never lose control.

Sensible men, however, surround themselves with learned people who live a clean life as well as possessing knowledge, and become, through their help, men who can really govern. They are not in this matter deceived by their humility, for in making others great they themselves are made great.

There is no prudence in appointing untried men to important posts of direction just to see how it works out. —It would be like risking the common good on a lottery.

You are in a position of authority and you go by what people say? You are a doddering old man! —First of all you should worry about what God will say; then, very much in the second place, and sometimes not at all, you may consider what others might think. “Whoever acknowledges me before men”, says the Lord, “I too will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father who is in heaven.”

Reject any ambition for honours. Think instead about your duties, how to do them well and the instruments you need to accomplish them. —In this way, you will not hanker for position, and if one comes you will see it just as it is: a burden to bear in the service of souls.