Great gentleness and cordiality are necessary in order to win over these people.

God, who has granted me so many graces, led me to understand that it was his holy will that I go to Him by way of the cross. His goodness chose to mark me with it from my birth and He has hardly ever left me, at any age, without some occasion of suffering. When we suffer, we are applying to ourselves the merit of the sufferings of Jesus Christ.

God who has granted me so many graces, led me to understand that it was His Holy will that I go to Him by way of the Cross. His goodness chose to mark me with it from my birth and He has hardly ever left me at any age, without some occasion of suffering.

God wants only our hearts.

God permitting, I wanted to have a Mass celebrated on that day because it was the anniversary of my marriage, I abstained, however, wishing to perform an act of poverty and to depend solely upon God in the action I was about to undertake. I had not expressed my wish to my confessor who celebrated the Mass at which I received Holy Communion. However, as he came out on the altar, the thought came to him to celebrate it for me as an alms and to say the nuptial Mass.

God expects this of us; and that is why, my dear Sisters, I ask you, for His love, seriously to enter into yourselves to see whether you really belong to God.

God be praised for the strength He has given you to work where you now are.

God almost always gives me the grace to acknowledge and appreciate the opinions of others even when they are completely contrary to my own.

Go then, courageously advancing moment by moment along the path on which God has placed you in order to reach Him.

Gentleness, cordiality and forbearance must be the practices of the Daughters of Charity just as humility, simplicity and the love of the holy humanity of Jesus Christ, who is perfect charity, is their spirit. That, my dear Sisters, is a summary of what I think I should tell you about our Rules until such time as Divine Providence permits you to have the entire text.

For the mark of charity in a soul is, among all other virtues, this ability to put up with everything.

For the love of God, my dear Sister, practice great gentleness toward the poor and toward everyone. Try to satisfy as much by words as by actions. That will be very easy for you if you maintain great esteem for your neighbor: the rich because they are above you, the poor because they are your masters.

For the love of God, I ask for strength through the help of your prayers. I thank you most humbly for the trouble you have taken to write to me and for the honor you have shown me by thinking of me. I do not deserve this, and God is indeed good to put up with me.

Firstly my dear Sisters, we must develop the habit of accepting all our little contradictions as coming from the hand of God, who is our Father and who knows well what is good for us.

Fine! If you are dissatisfied with yourself, this is perhaps a sign that you have been pleasing to our good God.

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Effectively, what are we accomplishing on earth when we suffer? We are applying to ourselves the merit of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. And what is God doing in heaven? He is eternally fulfilling the purpose for which His Son suffered and died, by granting eternal happiness to souls redeemed by this Divine Savior. O Holy Cross! O suffering! How amiable you are since you are honored and will be eternally honored because of the power which you have given souls to praise and love God! O Holy Cross! O suffering! How amiable you are since the love of God has given way to you in His Son to gain through you the power to give paradise to those who had lost it by pleasure!

Each of us individually deserves to bear her share of the scourges God inflicts on humanity in general.

Do you not realize that the Holy Spouse of our souls takes His delight in these trials, when we bear them with loving patience and peaceful acceptance, without being troubled by what we are enduring when we find ourselves in such a state?

Do we want to be mercenaries and wait until circumstances force us to be faithful to God? Do we not know what God asks of us?

Do we think we can do as we wish without being held accountable? Is this not against the obligation we have of imitating the way Our Lord lived and acted? He always subjected Himself to others, saying that He did not come upon earth to carry out His will. He came to serve, not to be served.

Do not be upset if your senses rebel, but reflect that our good God is satisfied by a heart filled with good will.

Do not be upset if things are not as you would want them to be for a long time to come. Do the little you can very peacefully and calmly so as to allow room for the guidance of God in your lives. Do not worry about the rest.

Do not be concerned whether or not you experience any consolation; God wants only our hearts.

Do as much good for the poor as you can, and I would ask this especially with regard to the spiritual service you owe them.

Do all in a spirit of gentleness and love.

Cultivate a love for poverty in imitation of the Son of God. By so doing, you will obtain the graces necessary to be a true Daughter of Charity.

Courage, my dear Sisters! Who should have more of it than you who are suffering in the exercise of charity?

Courage then, my dear Sisters! Let us serve with hearts filled with the pure love of God which enables us always to love the roses amidst the thorns.

Complete the work which our loving God has given you to do. You know the greatness of the mysteries which Jesus has left us in order to sanctify souls born of His blood in His Spouse, the Church. Help them, therefore, to esteem their calling and guide them by your prayers.