Mortification in ordinary things

Our Lord has called us to his Work to be saints, but we will not become saints if we are not united to Christ on the Cross. There is no sanctity without the cross, without mortification. Where we will most easily find mortification is in the ordinary and everyday things: in intense, constant and orderly work, since we realize that the best spirit of sacrifice is perseverance in finishing with perfection the work we have started; in punctuality, filling the day with heroic minutes; in our care for the things that we have and use; in our desire to serve that makes us carefully fulfil the smallest obligations; in small acts of charity that make the way to sanctity in the world pleasant for others: a smile can sometimes be the best expression of our spirit of penance.

The true spirit of penance

On the other hand, my children, a person who makes great sacrifices one day but fails to mortify himself the next, does not have a spirit of penance. A person who has a true spirit of penance overcomes himself every day, without show, offering God a thousand and one small things. That is the sacrificial love which God expects of us.