"I confess that, that in this important respect, I am not as perfect as I should like to be and as I know I ought to be; and I must say the same about all the virtues and about all the that I am dealing with here, for it is easier to write of such [...]
"You feel nothing? Confess in your heart your misery, your paralysis, your impotence, and even your sins. God will receive this confession of the humbled heart. It will take the place of the sweetest and most exalted affections. It is He Himself who sends that impotence in order to detach you from reflections to which, [...]
"So soon as you feel yourself anywise tempted, do as your little children when they see a wolf or a bear in the mountains. Forthwith they run to the protection of their father or mother, or at least cry out for help. Do you fly in like manner to God, claiming His compassion and succor [...]
“I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor: the first – by deed, the second – by word, the third – by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me. By this means a soul glorifies and pay [...]
"Purity as a Christian virtue is revealed in the Pauline letters as an effective way of detaching oneself from what is a fruit of the concupiscence of the flesh in the human heart. Abstaining 'from unchastity,' which implies keeping the body 'with holiness and reverence,' allows us to deduce that according to the Apostle’s teaching, [...]
"Love is swift, sincere, kind, pleasant, and delightful. Love is strong, patient and faithful, prudent, long-suffering, and manly. Love is never self-seeking, for in whatever a person seeks himself there he falls from love. Love is circumspect, humble, and upright. It is neither soft nor light, nor intent upon vain things. It is sober and [...]
"You will give pleasure to Our Lord by speaking of Himself, by entering a little into His interests. You will touch His Heart, like the leper who alone of the ten returned to thank for his cure. Jesus praised him for having rendered glory to God. That poor leper is an example of positive love [...]
"What Lucifer has lost by pride, Mary has gained by humility. What Eve has damned and lost by disobedience, Mary has saved by obedience. Eve, in obeying the serpent, has destroyed all her children together with herself, and has delivered them to him; Mary, being perfectly faithful to God has saved all her children and [...]
"Thus it sometimes happens that temptation in itself is sin to us, because we have ourselves brought it upon us. For instance, if I know that gaming leads me to passion and blasphemy, and that all play is temptation to me, I sin each and every time that I play, and I am responsible for [...]
"To have eternal life it is essential to love without regard for one’s own interest. Fleeing sin for fear of punishment is not enough to give eternal life, nor is it enough to embrace virtue for one’s own profit. No, one must rise from sin because sin displeases [God], and love virtue for love of [...]