List of points

Once again you had gone back to your old follies!… And afterwards, when you returned, you didn’t feel very cheerful, because you lacked humility.

It seems as if you obstinately refuse to learn from the second part of the parable of the prodigal son, and you still feel attached to the wretched happiness of the pig-swill. With your pride wounded by your weakness, you have not made up your mind to ask for pardon, and you have not realised that, if you humble yourself, the joyful welcome of your Father God awaits you, with a feast to mark your return and your new beginning.

The dust thrown up by your fall blinds and disorients you, and you have thoughts which rob you of your peace.

—Have you sought relief in tears by the side of Our Lord, and in confident conversation with a brother?

“You told me, Father, that after my past life it is still possible to become another Saint Augustine. I don’t doubt it, and today more than yesterday I want to try to prove it.”

But you have to cut out sin courageously from the root, as the holy Bishop of Hippo did.