1. Prayer is the effusion of our heart into God's... when it is well done, it moves the Divine Heart and makes Him always more inclined to grant our requests. Let us pour out our whole soul to God in prayer. He is captivated by our prayers and comes to our aid.

2. I want to be only a poor friar who prays.... God sees blemishes even in the angels, can you imagine what He sees in me!

3. Pray, hope and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.

4. Prayer is the best weapon we have; it is the key to God's heart. You must speak to Jesus not only with your lips but with your heart; in fact on certain occasions you should speak to Him only with your heart.

5. One searches for God in books. One finds Him in meditation.

6. Be assiduous in your prayers and meditations. You have already told me that you have started. Oh, my God, what a great consolation this is for a father who loves you as much as his own soul! Continue to always make progress in the holy exercise of the love of God. Spin a little each day, whether it be by the dim light of the lamp and the dryness and desolation of the spirit, or by day in the joyful and dazzling light of the soul.

7. If you can speak to the Lord, do so, praise Him, pray to Him, listen to Him. If you are unable to speak due to your clumsiness, don't worry. In the ways of the Lord, stop in your room, like the courtiers, and pay Him homage. He, who will see this, will be pleased with your patience, will favour your silence, and on another occasion you will be consoled.

8. This manner of staying in the presence of God simply to protest, with one's will, that we ourselves are his servants, is most holy and most excellent, most pure and extremely perfect.

9. When you find yourself close to God in prayer, speak to Him if you can, and if you are unable to do so stay this way. Let yourself be seen, and do not disturb yourself further.

10. I never fail to pray for you because I cannot forget that you caused me great sacrifice, and that I gave birth to you in God, with extreme pain of the heart. I trust in your charity, hoping that you will not forget he who carries the cross of everybody.

11. The best comfort is that which comes from prayer.

12. Save souls by continuous prayer.

13. Prayer must be insistent since insistence denotes faith.

14. The prayers of the saints in Heaven and of just souls on earth are perfume which will never be wasted.

15. I will never tire of praying to Jesus. It is true that my prayers deserve punishment rather than reward, for I have offended Jesus only too often by my innumerable sins; but in the end He will be moved to pity.

16. All prayers are good when they are accompanied by good intentions and good will.

17. Reflect upon and keep before your mental gaze the great humility of the Mother of God, our Mother. The more she was filled with heavenly gifts, the more deeply she humbled herself.

18. Just as the bees sometimes fly great distances without hesitation to reach fields where they have a favourite flower bed and then, tired but satisfied and laden with pollen, return to the honeycomb to complete the fertile and silent work of transforming the nectar of flowers into nectar of life; so must you after having gathered the word of God, meditate on it with attention, examine its elements and search for the hidden meaning. It will then appear to you in all its splendour; it will acquire the power of doing away with your natural materialistic inclinations; it will have the virtue of transforming them into pure and sublime ascensions of the spirit, which will bring together ever more closely your heart with the Divine Heart of your Lord.

19. The Christian soul never lets a day go by without meditating on the passion of Jesus Christ.

20. In order to imitate Jesus, we must reflect each day on the life of the One we intend to take as our model. From our reflection is born esteem for his acts and from esteem springs the desire and consolation of imitation.

21. Be patient in persevering in this holy exercise of meditation and be content with taking small steps, until you have the legs to run, or better still, wings to fly. Be content with obedience which is never a little thing for a soul which has chosen God as its portion, and resign yourself for now, to being a little bee in a hive, that will soon become a big bee capable of making honey.
Always humble yourself lovingly before God and men, because God speaks to those who truly have a humble heart before Him, and He enriches them with his gifts.

22. I cannot at all believe and therefore dispense you from meditation for the sole reason that you feel you gain nothing from it. The holy gift of prayer, my good daughter, is in the right hand of the Saviour, and to the degree to which you are emptied of yourself, that is, emptied of love of body and your own will, and that you continually become more well-rooted in holy humility, the Lord will communicate this to your heart.

23. But the true reason why you don't succeed in meditating well is this, and I am not mistaken: you approach meditation with a certain, special alteration, coupled with the great anxiety to find some object which can console and content your spirit. And this is sufficient to see to it that you never find what you seek, and do not rest your mind on the truths you meditate upon, or empty your heart of affections. When one seeks something one has lost with great haste and avidity, one can even touch this object with one's hand, and even see it a hundred times without realizing it.

24. He who does not meditate is like a person who never looks in the mirror and therefore does not bother to be tidy when he goes out, since he can be dirty without knowing it.
The person who meditates and thinks of God, who is the mirror of his soul, tries to discover his defects, attempts to correct them, controls himself and straightens out his conscience.

25. I am absolutely unable to consider, in an indulgent manner, your neglecting Holy Communion, not to mention holy meditation. Remember that the only way to gain salvation is through prayer; you cannot win the battle without prayer. So the choice is up to you.

26. As regards what you tell me you feel when meditating, you can be sure that the deceit is diabolic. Therefore, be careful and vigilant. Never fail to meditate as a result of this, otherwise you can be sure that you will be beaten later on in everything.

27. Meanwhile don't be afflicted to the point of losing your interior peace. Pray with perseverance, trust, and a serene and calm mind.

28. Pray for the wicked, pray for the lukewarm, pray even for fervent souls, but pray especially for the Supreme Pontiff, for all the spiritual and temporal needs of holy Church, our most tender mother. A special prayer for all those who are working for the salvation of souls and for God's glory.

29. After love for Our Lord, I recommend to you that of the Church, his Bride; this dear sweet dove which alone can lay the eggs, and give birth to the little doves of the Spouse. Thank God a hundred times a day for being a child of the Church, after the example of many saints, those brothers and sisters of ours who preceded us in this happy journey.
Have great compassion on all pastors, preachers and directors of souls, and see how they are spread out over the face of the earth, because there is no part of the earth where they are not numerous. Pray to God for them so that, by saving themselves, they might gain salvation for souls.