St Paul the Apostle says that without faith it is impossible to please God, sine fide impossibile est placere Deo.² Let us then always keep the flame of faith alive in our hearts. We need faith to enlighten us all the way through our lives. Faith must be the food that sustains us in spiritual life as Holy Scripture tells us: justus ex fide vivit, the just man lives by faith.³ So that the faith we received from God at holy Baptism may not diminish in our hearts we should often stir it up. To do this we should often make acts of faith; protest with all our heart that we firmly believe the main truths of the Catholic religion and all that God wishes us to be taught by means of the Church. We do this by reciting the words of the act of faith.

But, dear Christian, faith is not enough for our eternal salvation, because we also need the virtue of hope by which we abandon ourselves into God's hands, like a child in the arms of its tender mother. We need to obtain many favours from God and usually God does not grant them unless we hope for them. How many sins we have committed; we therefore need God to show us mercy and forgive us. We constantly need the help of God's grace to live as holy people on this earth. Now this mercy, this forgiveness, this help from his grace God wants to grant but only to those who hope for it. God has prepared a sea of delights for us in the next life; but nobody will be there to enjoy that unless they have the virtue of hope. And for this we must make frequent acts of this virtue, reviving in our hearts a great trust in everything we will obtain from God's goodness through the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ. To reawaken and keep this virtue alive in us let us devoutly recite the words of the act of hope.

Of all the virtues, then, charity is the greatest and the most excellent. The others could not obtain eternal salvation without it. But in what does this virtue of charity consist? It consists in loving God above all other things and our neighbour as ourselves for love of him. Love for God then, and for our neighbour must always be a flame burning in our heart. We must primarily love God with all our heart because he is a most perfect spirit, a being of infinite goodness, our highest good. We must also love him because he has filled our lives with countless benefits; he created us out of nothing; he saw that we were born into the Catholic religion which is the only one that can lead us to the gates of salvation. Although we have offended him so many times, he did not strike us dead as he could have done and as he has done for others who did not repent after sinning. Out of love for us he came down to earth from Heaven amidst sinners; he suffered a most terrible death for us. Out of an excess of love he left us the holy Eucharist as our food. And finally he has prepared a wonderful place for us in Heaven for all eternity. And who, considering these cases of God's love for us, would not feel his heart burning with love for God?

But we must also love our neighbour as ourselves. Everyone in the world is our brother, children of the same father, who is God. They all have a right to be loved by us. Jesus Christ made a direct command of this, saying; hoc est praeceptum meum ut diligatis invicem:this I command that you love one another.⁴We must not only love our friends but also our enemies. Our Divine Saviour gave us the example by forgiving and praying for those who crucified him.⁵ May the flame of this charity be always alight in us. This is why we make frequent acts of this virtue by reciting the words of the act of charity.

What a priceless gift it was to create us so we are able to benefit from his grace and go to Heaven! What a special benefit it was for us to be born in a Catholic country where we have so many things to help us to be saved! As Supreme Lord he has given us existence; as a Father he has preserved us; as Redeemer he has redeemed us. And what do we say of such a great gift as the Sacrament of Penance, through the mercy of which we can regain the friendship of God lost through sin? But the divine favours do not finish here; he wanted even more to give us all the means needed to strengthen us in our weakness and keep us in his grace. He gave us churches where we can attend sacred functions; he assures us that this holy place is his house and that whoever should ask something of him there will be infallibly heard: in ea omnis, qui petit, accipit.⁷ Besides, our merciful God, knowing our inclination to evil, our passions, the bad habits that lead and encourage us to fall again and again, instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist as a most effective remedy for our fragility. With his own body and his most precious blood he strengthens us against every assault by the enemy of our soul and makes us invincible to his efforts. Because of the miserable state we find ourselves in we could find ourselves afraid of this sacrament in all its grandeur, but he invites us with these loving words: Come to me all your who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest: venite ad me omnes qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos.⁸ He then orders his ministers to exercise gentle strength and to almost force us to frequent this great sacrament, compellite intrare.⁹

We do not know how to pray nor what we should ask God for; our Divine Saviour taught us the Our Father, a prayer we can use to pray to God effectively without danger of asking for things that will not be for our salvation.

When we need divine mercy more than any other time is doubtlessly at the point of death, when we have no more strength and the devil tries every trick to win us to himself. O how many remedies God has provided for us! There is Viaticum to strengthen us, the last anointing which cancels any sins that should remain, the papal blessing with its plenary indulgence; there are many other blessings and prayers which the Church asks us to apply to people in their final moments; these are all pure mercy and divine kindness to demonstrate just how dear our salvation is to him.

But where do all these acts of divine mercy lead? They lead those who are still in the Church militant to love those in the Church triumphant who live in heavenly glory. The Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ is head of the Church we are part of: it is none other than a step towards the Church triumphant, the delight of all the blessed, which the same Jesus Christ is head of. He greatly desires these two Churches to be the one kingdom of saints, so he spared no effort in anything that would help souls to be saved. If anyone is lost it is his own fault for not wanting to make use of the means that God has provided. When will that most coveted moment come when, leaving our exile in this world, we will be perfectly united with God in the Church of the blessed? My dear faithful people, there will certainly be a place prepared up there for each of us; certainly the Lord wants to see us all with him, saved; and it is also certain that our time in this present life is short but that our heavenly beatitude depends on it.

So courage then. Our Saviour gained the kingdom of glory for us. He is our means, our guide and its crown; the only thing missing is our cooperation. We will need to suffer in the few days of life that remain to us; but if we compare these short sufferings with the eternal reward prepared for us in Heaven, ah no, there is no comparison. We suffer here for a while, but there we will enjoy forever; here we have to suffer hunger, thirst, tribulation and also death; but that does not matter, this will be compensated by joy, perfect and complete happiness and a glory that we cannot imagine, understand, express, except by saying that we will be with the Lord forever: semper cum Domino erimus.¹⁰

One day the Lord said to Moses: “Remember to carry out my orders well and do everything according to the pattern I showed you on the mountain”.¹² God says the same to Christians. Jesus Christ is the pattern or model to be copied by every Christian. Nobody can boast of belonging to Jesus Christ unless he makes the effort to imitate him. So in the life and actions of the Christians we should find the life and actions of Jesus Christ himself.

The Christian should pray, since Jesus prayed in recollection upon the mountain, humbly, confidently.¹³

The Christian should be accessible as was Jesus Christ, to the poor, the ignorant, children.¹⁴ He should not be proud, pretentious, arrogant. He should be all things to all people in order to win everyone over to Christ.

The Christian should take care of his neighbour since Jesus Christ took care of his followers: Therefore his dealings should be edifying, charitable, serious, kind and simple.

The Christian should be humble as was Jesus Christ, who knelt to wash his disciples' feet including Judas, even though he knew he would betray him.¹⁵ The true Christian considers himself less than others and servant of all.¹⁶

The Christian should obey as Jesus Christ obeyed, submissive as he was to Mary and St Joseph,¹⁷ and he obeyed his heavenly Father until death, death on the cross.¹⁸ The true Christian obeys his parents, his employers, his superiors, because he recognises God himself in them; they stand in for God.¹⁹

In eating and drinking the true Christian should be as Jesus Christ was at the wedding feast of Cana in Galillee, and Bethany,²⁰ meaning sober, temperate, attentive to others' needs and more concerned with spiritual nourishment than with dishes that nourish the body.²¹

The good Christian should be with his friends in the same way Jesus Christ was with St John and St Lazzarus.²² He should love them in the Lord and out of love for God; he should warmly confide in them the secrets of his heart; and if they should fall into evil, he should exercise every care to have them return to the state of grace.

The true Christian should be resigned in suffering privations and poverty as jesus Christ suffered them. He did not even have a place to lay down his head.²³ He should know how to put up with contradictions and calumny, as Jesus Christ tolerated them from the Scribes and Pharisees,²⁴ leaving it to God to justify him. He should know how to put up with insults and slights, as Jesus did when they struck him, spat in his face and insulted him in a thousand ways in the Praetorium.²⁵

The true Christian should be ready to put up with sufferings of the spirit, as Jesus Christ did when he was betrayed by one of his own, denied by another and abandoned by them all.²⁶

The true Christian must be ready to patiently accept any persecution, any illness, even death, as Jesus Christ did. Crowned with painful thorns, his body lacerated from blows, his feet and hands pierced by nails, he consigned his soul peacefully into his Father's hands in heaven.

The true Christian should be able to say with the Apostle St Paul: It is not I who live, but Jesus Christ who lives in me.²⁷ Whoever follows Jesus Christ according to the pattern described here, can be certain of being one day glorified with Christ in Heaven and reigning with him in eternity.

Prayer means lifting up our hearts to God and engaging with him through holy thoughts and devout sentiments. Therefore every thought about God and every glance towards him is prayer when joined with pious sentiments. Whoever thinks of the Lord and his infinite perfection and feels a sense of joy, veneration, love, admiration, is praying. Whoever considers the great benefits received from his Creator, Father and the One who has preserved him, and feels a sense of gratitude, is praying. Whoever, amidst dangers to his innocence and virtue, is aware of his own weakness and asks God to help him, is praying. and finally whoever is contrite of heart and turns to God, remembering that he has insulted his Father, offended his Judge and lost his greatest good, and then begs pardon and promises to amend his behaviour, is praying.

Therefore it is so easy to pray. In any place or at any moment, each one can lift up his heart to God by means of pious sentiments. Exquisite and especially studied words are not needed, just simple thoughts accompanied by devout inner feelings. Prayer that consists only of thoughts, for example a quiet admiration of divine greatness and omnipotence, is an inward prayer or meditation or contemplation. If it is externalised by words it is called vocal prayer.

One or other of these ways of praying should be dear to the Christian who loves God. A good child willingly thinks of his father and lets the affections of his heart flow freely. So how then could a Christian not willingly think of God, his most loving Father, and of Jesus Christ his merciful Redeemer, without showing outward signs of reverence, recognition, love and dear confidence, praying to him for help and grace? …

For the prayer of the Christian to be fully acceptable to God and infallibly obtain its effect, certain conditions are needed:

1. Whoever prays must be in the state of sanctifying grace, meaning he must not have any mortal sin on his conscience that has not been cancelled through sacramental Confession or through contrition. Because, as Scripture tells us, the Lord is far from the wicked man, but hears the prayer of the just (Pr 15:29). Despite that, whoever is in the state of mortal sin, if he at least has the desire to correct himself and prays with the intention of honouring God, although he has no right to be heard, because he is not in God's friendship, nevertheless is prayer is highly useful and through the infinite divine goodness will not fail to obtain graces.

2. One should pray inspired by a keen faith, because without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6) and where faith is lacking one does not pray in a heartfelt manner, and does not give honour to the goodness, wisdom and omnipotence of God as he demands of us.

3. One should pray with humility and feel both the need of grace, and one's total lack of any merit or entitlement to receiving what is asked for. Because God opposes the proud and gives generously to the humble (Jm 4:6).

4. The Christian must also reserve a certain order regarding the things asked for in prayer. Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on his righteousness,and all these other things will be given you as well (Mt 6:33), Jesus Christ tells us. Therefore we must first seek spiritual goods, like forgiveness for sinners, enlightenment to know the divine will and our errors, strength, an increase and perseverance in virtue. after that we can also ask for temporal goods, health, the means for managing our life, heavenly blessings on our occupations, our affairs, our farms and our families, and that misfortunes, pains and afflictions may be kept far from us. This is what the fourth request in the Our Father teaches us and the example of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Olives. But the request must be made on condition that it is God's will and will not harm our souls. Father, let it be as you, not I, would have it (Mt 26:39).

5. One needs to pray in the name of Jesus Christ, aware that no grace can be obtained from God unless through the merits of our Divine Redeemer.

6. One needs to pray with the enlightened hope of being listened to. Whoever prays doubting that he will be heard is insulting God who assures us that we will be heard so long as we pray with a keen faith, that is with the firm hope that he will hear us and fulfil our request. So when we ask a favour of him, let us abandon ourselves to him as a child abandons himself into the hands of his dear mother, certain that she will help him. Prayer done this way is all-powerful; and it has never been heard in this world, nor will it be heard, that one who has recourse to God in trust will not be satisfied.

Our Divine Saviour reassures us thus: If you have faith, anything you ask for in prayer you will receive.²⁹ The Apostle St James warns the Christian to pray without hesitating and doubting, if he wants to obtain what he asks for.³⁰

7. Our prayers should be united with the prayer and merits of our Blessed Lady, the angels and the saints in Heaven, the souls in purgatory and all the just on earth.

8. Finally, one needs to persevere in prayer according to what Jesus Christ recommends to us. He says: You need to pray always, without ceasing.³¹ and if we ask him how long we have to keep praying, he answers: until the end of your life.

Many Christians think their prayers are useless either because they do not immediately see their effect or because they do not gain the specific graces they were asking for. But we need to know that God responds to our prayers in the way and at the time he sees it most opportune and convenient for the sanctification of our souls and the progress of his kingdom, without letting us know this way or this time. When we are in the other world, we will clearly see that not one word of our prayers ever went without its effect. In fact any time our prayers lack result, the fault is ours for not praying with the correct dispositions.

To conclude this brief instruction note that one cannot pray well without preparation. Before praying, prepare your soul and do not be like the man who tempts God (Sir 18:23). Reflect on what an honour it is to come before the Lord, King of Heaven and earth, and reflect too on what you want to ask God; choose the kind of prayer adapted to your circumstances and needs; put yourself in God's presence and see that the words you say by memory or read from a book come from the heart. In this way you will pray in spirit and in truth.³²

Although you can pray devoutly in any position, it would still be good to choose one which gives the best outward signs of your inward faith and devotion. This is how we see the Divine Saviour, the Apostle Paul, the publican, Mary Magdalene, Moses, Solomon, Daniel, Micah praying, with hands joined, kneeling, looking up to Heaven as a sign of faith or to the earth in humility. When praying in church we must have an especially devout and respectful attitude, both out of respect for the Blessed Sacrament on the altar, where Jesus Christ is present, and to not give bad example to others whom we should edify through our outward approach.

1. We have a wonderful sign of God's mercy towards sinners in the Sacrament of Confession. If God had said that he would forgive our sins only through Baptism and would no longer forgive those committed after we have received this Sacrament, how many Christians would certainly go to perdition! But knowing our great misery, God established another sacrament with which sins committed after Baptism are remitted. This is the Sacrament of Confession. This is how the Gospel speaks: Eight days after his Resurrection Jesus appeared to his disciples and said to them: peace be with you. as the heavenly Father sent me, so I am sending you, with the faculty given me by my heavenly Father that whatever you judge to be for the salvation of souls, I give to you. Then the Saviour breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.³⁴ Everyone understands that the words retain or not retain mean giving or not giving absolution. This is the great faculty given by God to his Apostles and their successors in the administration of the holy Sacraments. From these words of the Saviour comes an obligation for the sacred ministers to hear confessions, and at the same time there is an equal obligation for the Christian to confess his sins so that we may know when to give or not to give absolution, what advice to suggest to make up for the evil done, in short to give all the fatherly advice judged necessary to make reparation for the evils of one's past life and no longer commit them in the future.

2. Nor was confession only practised at a certain time or in a certain place. As soon as the Apostles began preaching the Gospel, they began to practise the Sacrament of Penance. We read that when St Paul was preaching in Ephesus, many of the faithful who had already embraced the faith came to the feet of the Apostles and confessed their sins. Confitentes et annunciantes actus suos.³⁵ Since the time of the Apostles until now the practice of this great Sacrament has always been observed. The Church has always condemned as heretics those who had the foolhardiness to deny this truth. Nor has it ever advised anyone that they can be dispensed of the need for it. Rich and poor, servants and masters, kings, monarchs, emperors, priests, bishops, the supreme pontiffs themselves, all must kneel at the feet of a sacred minister to obtain pardon for the sins they have committed after baptism. But alas! How many Christians so rarely or so badly profit from this Sacrament! There are those who come without examining themselves, others who confess nonchalantly without sorrow or good resolutions, and others who keep silent about important things in Confession or do not fulfil the obligations imposed by the confessor. These are taking the most holy and useful of things and using it for their own ruin. St Teresa had a fearful vision about this. She saw souls falling into Hell like snow falling on the mountains. Terrified by such a revelation, she asked Jesus Christ for an explanation and received the answer that they were lost because of the bad confessions they had made in life.

3. Courage, O Christians, and let us profit from this Sacrament of mercy, but let us profit from it with the appropriate dispositions. First we make a diligent examination of our faults, and then we confess them all, what we are certain of, what we are doubtful about, as we know it, but with great sorrow for having committed them; and let us promise never to commit them again in future. But especially, let the results of our confessions be seen through the improvement in our life. God tells us in the Gospel that we shall know the goodness of the tree from its fruits, and so from the improvement in our lives the value or otherwise of our confessions will be seen: ex fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos.³⁶

Example - A young man from Montmirail in France had lived as a good Christian until he was fifteen, when he had the misfortune to fall in with bad companions. Improper conversations, reading bad books left him wallowing in the depths of lack of belief and loose living. His parents tried to guide him to better things, but unable to succeed, they went to church in the evening of the Immaculate Conception (8 December 1839) and recommended him to the prayers of the members of the Sacred Heart of Mary Sodality. On that very same evening, the young man returned home, and without saying anything, which was not usual for him, he went to bed. He wasn't thinking about Mary, he was thinking about himself. On 10 December, almost beside himself, he called on his father and said: “My father, I am unhappy and suffering so much. I have neither eaten nor slept for thirty six hours. I am like an angry lion and know neither what to say nor what to do; I have to go and see the priest”. He left, went to the parish priest and his conscience all filled with remorse, he begged him to hear his confession. “Please", he begged the priest, "hear my confession immediately". I cannot live in this state any longer”. The parish priest encouraged him, comforted him and then soon heard his sorrowful confession. When he had received absolution, he immediately felt his heart filled with such consolation that he could not keep it to himself. As soon as he arrived home he explained to his father the grace he had received and the heavenly peace he was experiencing. What he still felt so bad about was seeing those whom he had drawn into sin through his scandal. Filled with Christian courage, and with no further care about what his old friends might say, he told them what had happened to him, the consolation he felt after his confession and di what he could to get them to do the same. So to put things in a few words this new result of Mary's mercy did as the penitent David did when he tried to win over souls for God to make reparation for the scandal he had given. Docebo iniquos vias tuas.³⁷

Brief prayer: Obtain for me from God, Mother of love / real sorrow for my sins.

1. Do you understand, Christian, what it means to go to Holy Communion? It means approaching the table of the angels to receive the body, blood, soul and divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ given as food for our souls under the species of consecrated bread and wine. At Mass, when the priest says the words of consecration over the bread and wine, the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. The words our Divine saviour used when he instituted this Sacrament are: This is my body, this is my blood: hoc est corpus meum, hic est calix sanguinis mei.³⁹ These are the very words the priest uses in Jesus' name in the sacrifice of the holy Mass. Therefore when we go to Communion we receive Jesus Christ himself in his body, blood, soul and divinity, that is, true God and true man, alive in Heaven as he is. It is not an image of him, a representation like in a statue or crucifix, but it is Jesus Christ himself as he was born of the Immaculate Virgin Mary and as he died for us on the cross. Jesus Christ himself assures us of this real presence of himself in the Eucharist when he said: This is my body, given up for you: corpus, quod pro vobis tradetur.⁴⁰ This is that living bread come down from Heaven: hic est panis vivus, qui de caelo descendit. The bread that I will give is my flesh. The drink that I give is my true blood. Whoever does not eat of this body nor drink of this blood, has no life within him.⁴¹

2. Having instituted this Sacrament for the good of our souls, Jesus wants us to approach him often. Here are the words he invites us with: Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest: venite ad me omnes qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos.⁴² Elsewhere he tells the Hebrews: “Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and died; but the one who eats the food that the manna represented, the food that I give, the food that is my body and blood, he will never die. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I in him; my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink”.⁴³ Who could oppose these loving invitations from the Divine Saviour? To respond to these invitations Christians in early times went daily to listen to God's word and went to Communion each day. It is in this Sacrament that the martyrs found their strength, virgins their fervour, the saints their courage. And how often do we approach this heavenly food? If we examine what Jesus Christ wanted and our own need we should go to Communion very often. Since manna was the daily bodily food for the Hebrews all the time they were in the desert, until they reached the promised land, so Holy Communion should be our comfort, our daily food amidst the dangers of this world to lead us to the promised land of Paradise. St Augustine says thus: If we ask God for bread for our bodies every day, why do we not try to feed ourselves daily with spiritual bread through holy Communion? Saint Philip Neri encouraged Christians to go to Confession each week and go to Communion more often according to the advice of their confessor. and finally, holy Church manifests its keen desire for frequent Communion at the Council of Trent where it says: “It would be a most desirable thing for each Christian faithful to be in such a state of conscience as to be able to go to holy Communion each time he attends Mass”. Pope Clement XIII granted the following favour to encourage Christians to go frequently to Confession and Communion: Christian faithful who have the praiseworthy habit of going to Confession weekly can gain a plenary indulgence whenever they go to Holy Communion.

3. Someone might say: I am too much of a sinner. If you are a sinner, try to return to grace through the Sacrament of Confession and then go to Holy Communion and you will have much help. Another might say: I go to Communion rarely so I can be more fervent. He is fooling himself. Things done rarely are mostly done badly. If your needs in other things are great, then so must you seek frequent help for your souls. Some might add: I am spiritually sick and do not dare go to Communion often. Jesus Christ answers: those who are well have no need of a doctor;⁴⁴ so those who have greater woes, those are the ones who should go more often to see the doctor. So courage, Christian, if you want to do something more glorious for God, the most pleasing thing for all the saints in Heaven, the most effective for overcoming temptations, the most certain thing to do to persevere in doing good, is certainly Holy Communion.

Example - a young lad called Dominic Savio, out of a keen desire to please Mary, prayed to her daily but every Saturday he went to holy Communion in her honour. He called her his dearest mother. In 1856 he celebrated Mary's month with such fervour that his friends were all edified. Every day he asked Mary to take him from the world rather than he should lose the virtue of purity. On the final day he asked for just one grace: to be able to make a good Communion before dying. The holy Virgin heard his prayer. Nine months later (9 March 1857) he died at fifteen years of age after receiving holy Viaticum with great tenderness and devotion. In the moments between receiving Viaticum and his death, he kept repeating: “O Mary, you listened to me, I am so rich. I ask nothing else of you than that you help me in these final moments of my life and accompany me from this life into eternity”. almost as soon as he had said these words, his soul flew to Heaven certainly, accompanied by Mary to whom he was so devoted in life.

Brief prayer: I adore you at every moment / living Bread from Heaven / great Sacrament.

God is infinitely rich and is infinitely generous. Since he is infinitely rich he can give us immense recompense for anything done out of love for him; as a Father who is infinitely generous he repays everything we do out of love for him with good and abundant measure. The Gospel says that you will not give a glass of cold water to one of the least of mine, in my name, without have a reward.⁴⁶

Almsgiving, God tells us in the Book of Tobit, frees us from death, purges our soul of sin, and brings us mercy in God's sight and leads us to eternal life. Elemosina est quae a morte liberat: purgat peccata, facit invenire misericordiam et vitam aeternam.⁴⁷

Amongst the great rewards there is also this, that the Divine Saviour regards as done to himself any act of charity done to some poor unfortunate.⁴⁸ If we saw the Divine Saviour walking begging in our squares, or knocking on the doors of our houses, would there be a Christian who would not generously offer him every last penny in his purse? The Saviour is also represented in the person of the poor, the most abandoned. Everything you do even for the most despicable, he says, you do for me. So it is no longer poor children who as asking for charity, but Jesus in the person of these poor children.

What can we say then of the exceptional recompense that God reserves for that most important and difficult moment when our fate will be decided with a life of eternal beatitude or eternal unhappiness? When we, gentlemen, present ourselves before the judgement seat of the Supreme Judge to give account of our actions in life, the first thing he will lovingly remind us of will not be the houses we built, the savings we made, the glory we gained or the wealth we procured; of those things not a word, but he will only say: Come, O blessed of my Heavenly Father, come and possess the Kingdom that has been prepared for you. I was hungry, and you gave me bread in the person of the poor; I was thirsty and you gave me to drink; I was naked and you clothed me; I was out on the street and you gave me shelter.⁴⁹ Tunc dicet rex his qui a dextris eius erunt: Venite, benedicti patris mei, possidete paratum vobis regnum a constitutione mundi. Esurivi enim et dedistis mihi manducare; sitivi et dedistis mihi bibere; hospes eram et collegistis me; nudus et cooperuistis me (Mt 25, 34-35).⁵⁰

These and other words are what the Divine Judge will say since they are written in the Gospel, and then he will give you his blessing and lead you to possess eternal life.

But God the father of kindness, knowing that our spirit is willing but our flesh is very weak,⁵¹ wants our charity to be rewarded a hundredfold even in this life.⁵² How many ways, gentlemen, does God give us a hundredfold for our good works? A hundredfold are the special graces of living and dying well, the fertility of our fields, peace and harmony in our families, good results for our temporal affairs, the health of our relatives and friends, the preservation and good upbringing of our children. The reward of Christian charity is the pleasure each one has in his heart for doing good works. Is it not a great consolation when one reflects that with a small item of almsgiving one contributes to preventing people from being a danger to civil society and helping them become people who are of some advantage to themselves, their neighbours, to Religion? People who are on the brink of becoming the scourge of the authorities, people who break public laws and end up living off other people's sweat, in prison, but instead you make them able to honour their dignity as human beings, take up work and through their work earn honest sustenance, and this to the honour of the country they live in and well as the families they belong to?

Beyond all these recompenses that God grants in the present life and in the future one, there is one yet that those who have received charity will give to their benefactors. Yes, gentlemen, we do not want you to miss out on the recompense that is completely in our power to give. All the priests, clerics, all the young people who live in and are educated in the houses of the Salesian Congregation, and more especially those of the Patronage de Saint-Pierre raise their minds in prayer morning and evening for their benefactors. Morning and evening, those you have been charitable towards will invoke divine blessings on you, your families, your relatives and friends, with appropriate prayers. They will ask God to keep peace and harmony in your families, grant you stable health and a happy life, keep misfortune far from you in spiritual and temporal things and add to all this perseverance in doing good, and for as long as it has pleased God to give you life, at the end crown your life with a holy death. If then, gentlemen, in the course of your mortal life you will have the good fortune to meet one another in the streets in the city or in any other place, oh yes, then we will joyfully recall the benefits received and we will respectfully doff our caps as an indelible sign of gratitude on earth, while the merciful God will assure you of a just reward in Heaven. Centuplum accipietis et vitam aeternam possidebitis.⁵³