List of points

Heroism at work is to be found in finishing each task.

Let me stress this point: it is in the simplicity of your ordinary work, in the monotonous details of each day, that you have to find the secret, which is hidden from so many, of something great and new: Love.

You say it helps you a lot to wonder how many businessmen have become saints since the time of the early Christians.

And you want to show that it is also possible today… —The Lord will not abandon you in that effort.

You too have a professional vocation which spurs you on. Well, that spur is the hook to fish for men.

Rectify your intention, then, and be sure you acquire all the professional prestige you can for the service of God and of souls. The Lord counts on this too.

To finish things you have to start them.

—It seems a truism. But you so often lack that simple decision! And… how satan rejoices in your ineffectiveness!

You cannot sanctify work which humanly speaking is slapdash, for we must not offer God badly-done jobs.

By neglecting small details you could work on and on without rest and yet live the life of a perfect idler.

You asked what you could offer the Lord. —I don’t have to think twice about the answer: offer the same things as before, but do them better, finishing them off with a loving touch that will lead you to think more about Him and less about yourself.

You say that you are now beginning to understand what a “priestly soul” means. Don’t be annoyed with me if I tell you that the facts show that you only realise it in theory. —Every day the same thing happens to you: at night time, during the examination, it is all desire and resolutions; during the morning and afternoon at work, it is all objections and excuses.

Are you in this way living a “holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”?

It has always been the same: however upright and blameless the behaviour of someone at work may be, it can easily arouse rivalry, suspicion and envy. —If you occupy a position of authority, remember that some people may have prejudices against a particular colleague, but that is not sufficient reason for getting rid of “the accused”. It could be a sign, rather, that he would be useful in a greater enterprise.

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.

Working with cheerfulness is not the same as “working away merrily” with no depth, as if you were getting rid of a troublesome burden.

—You must try not to lessen the value of your efforts through lack of attention or superficiality, so that in the end you are in danger of coming to God empty-handed.