Selection and humility

I have been speaking about selection. Even though I will return to it again in this letter in order to resolve possible scruples and clarify some things for you, I must state here that to want to be select is not pride. It is not arrogance to want to be better.

Rather, it is a virtue that pleases God, so long as we recognize the base material we are made of, and that to be better we must rely always on God’s grace and mercy. So too it is pleasing if we repeat the words of St Paul: omnia possum in eo qui me confortat.⁸

Formation begins

We have, therefore, the obligation to form these souls in a way that helps them to become good Catholics and to improve their behaviour. We must inculcate in them the need for interior life and inspire them with the conviction that daily work is the most suitable means to seek Christian perfection and to do good to all souls.