List of points

Obstacles…? Sometimes they may be present. But at times you just invent them out of cowardice or love of comfort. —How cleverly the devil makes those excuses for not working look plausible! He knows full well that sloth is the mother of all vices.

You are untiring in your activity. But you fail to put order into it, so you do not have as much effect as you should. It puts me in mind of something I heard once from a very authoritative source. I happened to praise a subordinate in front of his superior. I said, “How hard he works!” “You ought to say”, I was told, “ ‘How much he rushes around!’”

—You are untiring in your activity, but it is all fruitless… How much you rush around!

You tried to belittle somebody else’s work by mumbling: “He has only done his duty.”

And I said, “Does that seem so little to you?” The Lord gives us the happiness of Heaven for doing our duty: Euge serve bone et fidelis… intra in gaudium Domini tui — Well done good and faithful servant, enter into eternal joy!

The Lord has the right to be glorified by us “at every moment” — it is an obligation for each one of us. So if we waste time we are robbing God of his glory.

You know that the task is urgent, and that one minute given to comfort is time taken from the glory of God. Why, then, do you hesitate to make conscientious use of every moment?

Moreover, I ask you to think whether the minutes you have to spare throughout the day, which taken together come to hours, might not be prompted by your disorder and laziness.

Sadness and uneasiness grow in proportion to the time you waste.

—When you feel a holy impatience to use every minute you will be filled with joy and peace, because you will not be thinking about yourself.

Preoccupations…? I replied I had no preoccupations, for I had enough occupations to keep me busy.

You are going through a critical stage. You feel a certain vague fear and find it difficult to adapt your plan of life. Your work seems to weigh you down, since twenty-four hours are not enough for everything you ought to do each day…

—Have you tried following the Apostle’s advice: “let all things be done decently and according to order”? That means, in the presence of God, with Him, through Him, and only for Him.

When you parcel out your time, you need also to think how you can make use of the odd moments that become free at unforeseen times.

I have always seen rest as time set aside from daily tasks, never as days of idleness.

Rest means recuperation: to gain strength, form ideals and make plans. In other words it means a change of occupation, so that you can come back later with a new impetus to your daily job.

Now that you’ve got a lot to do, all your “problems” have disappeared. —Be honest: as you have made up your mind to work for Him, you no longer have time to think about your own selfish interests.

It is not a matter of fulfilling your obligations in a hurry, but of bringing them to a finish without a pause, at God’s pace.