"Examine from time to time what are the dominant passions of your soul, and having ascertained this, mold your life, so that in thought, word, and deed you may as far as possible counteract them. For instance, if you know that you are disposed to be vain, reflect often upon the emptiness of this earthly [...]
"Necessity is laid upon us to examine ourselves with diligence to find out what are the virtues, which we chiefly lack, and which are the hardest for us to acquire; we should seek to learn the sins that do most easily beset us, and the times and occasions, when we do must often fail." [...]
"We must, before going to the Holy Table, be sure that we have spent sufficient time in examination of conscience in order to discover our mortal sins, and that we have a great sorrow also, that our confession has thus been entire. We must have a firm determination to do, by the grace of God, [...]
"It is very certain that the love of God supplies for everything, suffices for everything. But when it does not purify from sin, it is not true, or not yet very strong. The first effect of love is to purify. For this reason, we must go on examining sin, its fatal consequences, to awaken horror [...]
"Behold a most important subject for examination. See whether you are perfectly free with regard to all things. Or rather, look upon Our Lord in His Sacrament, and compare your poverty with His. What does He possess? Of what does He make use exteriorly? Neither glory nor majesty nor any of the attributes of His [...]
"If you cannot recollect yourself continuously, do so once a day at least, in the morning or in the evening. In the morning make a resolution and in the evening examine yourself on what you have said this day, what you have done and thought, for in these things perhaps you have offended God and [...]