"The Way" (II)

How beautiful is holy purity! But it is not holy, nor pleasing to God, if we separate it from charity. Charity is the seed that will grow and yield savory fruit when it is moistened with the waters of purity. Without charity, purity is fruitless and its sterile waters turn the soul into a swamp, a stagnant marsh, from which rises the stench of pride.

There is need for a crusade of manliness and purity to counteract and nullify the savage work of those who think man is a beast. And that crusade is your work.

Saints are not abnormal cases to be studied by a modernistic doctor. They were—they are—normal, with flesh like yours. And they conquered.

You seem to hear a voice within you saying, ‘That religious prejudice…!’ And then the eloquent defense of all the weaknesses of our poor fallen flesh: ‘Its rights!’ When this happens to you, tell the enemy that there is a natural law, and a law of God, and God!... and also hell.

“It made me laugh to hear you speak of the ‘account’ our Lord will demand of you. No, for you he will not be a judge—in the harsh sense of the word. He will simply be Jesus.” These words, written by a holy bishop, have consoled more than one troubled heart and could very well console yours.

The appropriate word you left unsaid; the joke you didn’t tell; the cheerful smile for those who bother you; that silence when you’re unjustly accused; your kind conversation with people you find boring and tactless; the daily effort to overlook one irritating detail or another in those who live with you… this, with perseverance, is indeed solid interior mortification.

Don’t say, “That person bothers me.” Think: “That person sanctifies me.”

The world admires only the spectacular sacrifice, because it does not realize the value of the sacrifice that is hidden and silent.

We must give ourselves in everything, we must deny ourselves in everything. Our sacrifice must be a Holocaust.

Paradox: To live, one must die.

Everything that doesn’t lead you to God is an obstacle. Tear it out and cast it far from you.

You don’t conquer yourself, you aren’t mortified, because you are proud. You lead a life of penance? Remember: pride can exist with penance. Furthermore: Your sorrow, after your falls, after your failures in generosity, is it really sorrow or is it the frustration of seeing yourself so small and weak? How far you are from Jesus if you are not humble… even if new roses blossom every day from your disciplines!

Many who would let themselves be nailed to a cross before the astonished gaze of thousands of spectators won’t bear the pinpricks of each day with a Christian spirit! But think, which is the more heroic?