Away from me those who love severity, for I will have none of it! It is better to be obliged to account to God for too much gentleness than too much severity. Is not God all love? God the Father is the father of the wretched; God the Son is called a lamb; God the Holy Ghost manifests Himself under the form of a dove. If there were anything better than benignity Jesus Christ would have told us, and yet He gives us but two lessons to learn of Him—meekness and humility.
355.
The passport of the daughters of Jesus Christ is peace. The joy of the daughters of Our Lady is peace. We must always be at peace. Know that the virtue of patience is that which most assures us perfection; and if we are to be patient with others, we must be equally so with ourselves. May Jesus be in the midst of thy heart, and thy heart in the midst of Jesus! May Jesus live in thy heart, and thy heart in Jesus! Amen.
356.
Great saints never are guilty of mortal sin, but only of useless, ill-timed, imprudent, and rude actions; slight acts of impatience, slight excesses of joy, of mirth, slight failings in vanity, and other like faults are useless movements and irregularities into which the just fall seven times—that is, very often.
357.
If I want only pure water, what does it matter whether it be brought me in a vase of gold or glass? What is it to me whether the will of God be presented to me in tribulation or consolation, since I desire and seek only the divine will?
358.
A heart indifferent to all things is like a ball of wax in the hands of God, to receive all the impressions of his eternal good pleasure, a heart with no choice, disposed for all things, placing its affection, not in the things which God wills, but in the will of God which decrees them.