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I believe I see my task in a clearer and more precise way. This also means seeing my ineptitude ever more deeply, but at the same time also the possibility of being an instrument in spite of everything.

If in periods of physical depression and spiritual discouragement it is difficult for us to gather our energies to lift ourselves up, let us rest in the Lord and not grieve over it.

Believe me, in the presence of Infinite Wisdom, ...one act of humility is worth more than all the knowledge of the world.

Seeing the silence which reigns in His creature, observing how it is wholly recollected in its interior solitude, the Creator greatly desires its beauty. He leads it into the immense, infinite solitude, into that spacious place of which the Psalmist sings, which is His very self. ‘I will enter into the powers of the Lord’.

I wish to be wholly silent, wholly adoring, so that I may enter into Him more deeply and be so filled with Him that I can give Him through prayer to those poor souls who are unaware of the gift of God.

In the first place, we ought to be astonished by this fact: when we praise God or give him thanks for his benefits in general, we are not particularly concerned whether or not our prayer is acceptable to him. On the other hand, we demand to see the results of our petitions. What is the image of God that motivates our prayer: an instrument to be used or the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?

By love and not by fear, does a soul avoid committing the least voluntary fault.

You know that our Lord does not look at the greatness or difficulty of our action, but at the love with which you do it. What, then, have you to fear?

We come to the great King of Heaven with empty hands, in debt to Him for everything: life itself, and grace, and all the gifts He lavishes on us. Yet all we can say is, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all I owe,’ while all the time we could never pay anything towards the remission of our own debts, if God did not put into our hands the means to do so. And then, how often do we go away and refuse pardon for some slight fault in our neighbors, withholding our love, remaining aloof, or even nursing a grievance against them, and building up grudges that cool charity.

Knowing ourselves is something so important that I wouldn’t want any relaxation ever in this regard… While we are on this earth, nothing is more important to us than humility.

Would you like to be the plaything
Of this Child so fair and sweet?
Would you, dear one! like to please Him?
Then lie humbly at His feet.
If He chooses to caress you,
If He lifts you to His breast,
Yes, if He seems tired of you,
Count yourself among the blest.
Be His happy Christmas plaything,
Seeking just to do His will;
And in heaven with countless blessings
He, your happy heart, will fill.

More effective than the mortification one practices according to one's own choice is the cross that God lays upon one, exteriorly and interiorly.