You say you experience great difficulty in the mission. Alas! Monsieur, there is no lot in life where there is nothing to be endured.

We must be firm but not rough in our guidance and avoid an insipid kind of meekness, which is ineffective. We will learn from Our Lord how our meekness should always be accompanied by humility and grace so as to attract hearts to Him and not cause anyone to turn away from Him.

He also always blesses humble beginnings much more than those accompanied by a lot of show.

Never betray His principles for any reason whatsoever, and take great care not to spoil God's affairs by too much haste in them.

What you are saying is true of those who want everything to give way to them, nothing to oppose them, everything to go their way, people to obey them without comment or delay and, in a manner of speaking, to be adored.

I thank God for having given the Company subjects who belong more to Him than to themselves, and who serve the neighbor at the risk of their lives! They are like unrefined gold, which becomes visible in fire and which would otherwise remain hidden under ordinary actions and sometimes under faults and failings.

Experience has shown us that virtue puts down only shallow roots in those who are there for just a short time