List of points

I am trying to spare myself nothing, to help my younger brothers ‘tread softly’ as you asked us. There are so many joys to be found in ‘having it tough’.

Your life is service, but always with stalwart loyalty, laying down no conditions. Only thus shall we be able to give the Lord what he expects.

If the Lord has given you some natural quality or skill, you should not just enjoy it yourself or show off about it; you should use it charitably in the service of your neighbour.

—And what better occasion than now will you find to serve, since you live with so many souls who share the same ideal as yourself?

He will go very far, they say. It is frightening to think of his future responsibility. He has never been known to work unselfishly or to say a timely word or to write anything fruitful. His life is entirely negative. He always gives the impression of being submerged in deep thought, although it is well known that he never cultivated any ideas worth thinking about. His face and manner have the gravity of a mule, and so he has the reputation of being prudent.

—He will go very far! But, I ask myself, what will he be able to teach others? How and in what will he serve them if we do not help him to change?

There are two ways of reaching the top: one — the Christian way — by the noble and gallant effort of serving others; the other — the pagan way — by the mean and ignoble effort of dragging down your neighbour.

Don’t try to convince me that you live facing God, if you do not try always and in everything, to face men, any man, with sincere and open fraternity.

Those who are “ambitious”, with small, personal, miserable ambitions, cannot understand that the friends of God should seek to achieve something through a spirit of service and without such “ambition”.

Forget about yourself… May your ambition be to live for your brothers alone, for souls, for the Church; in one word, for God.

In the middle of the rejoicing at the feast in Cana, only Mary notices that they are short of wine… A soul will notice even the smallest details of service if, like her, it is alive with a passion for helping its neighbour, for God.

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.

When you find it difficult to do a favour or a service for someone, remember that he or she is a child of God, and that the Lord has asked us to love one another.

—And I’d say more: go deeper into that evangelical precept every day; do not remain on the surface. Draw the right conclusions from it — it is quite easy to do so. Then adapt your behaviour, on every occasion, to those requirements.

Your duty to be a brother to all souls will lead you to practise the “apostolate of little things”, without others noticing it. You will want to serve them so that their way becomes agreeable.