«Solitude, silence, do not frighten: they are made to protect, not to cause fear. Nevertheless, one can take advantage of such a suffering. The greatness of Christ is the cross. He was never so close to the Father and so close to the brothers as when naked, wounded, he cried out from the gallows: «My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?. With that suffering he redeemed: in that fracture he reunited all men with God. Therefore we should not think that sufferings, which are never lacking even in this moment of rest, are a hindrance: they are a stimulus. And so […] listen to that Voice, so as to start to converse: a Voice that arises from the depths of your soul and falls from the heights of the heavens. You are not accustomed to listen to it and so, in the first encounters, it may seem that it escapes you, almost as if there is a thick wall between you or a cosmic distance. It is because it comes from the most intimate part of you and you are used to the clanging that comes from the world outside. It comes from the planets, from the sun, from nature […] and brings with it a profound voice: that of the author of the sky and of the earth.[…] Listen to it. Contemplate it, within the silence wherein God speaks. This is, in the day of life, the hour of dusk of contemplation, when the creatures gather together to assess the work that has been done and to prepare the actions of tomorrow: a tomorrow immersed in eternity. […] Detachment from the world, therefore, and attachment to God: thus not a separation from people, inasmuch as they are brothers, members of the same divine and human family. The wealth of experience of those who have passed the exam of life is useful to them: but above all what is useful is that wisdom, which in religion is called sanctity. The mystic introduces into the arteries of the Mystical Body the virtues of contemplation: seeds of the divine, that expand into the social fabric. This needs it as never before. […] So then one (…) detaches from creatures so as to find oneself in God, where they will never be separated anymore.  Since the Lord – the Trinity – has placed himself to live in you, then with his love, you love all creatures: and to love them means to unite yourself to them. […] And since God is in tranquility, one can achieve this more easily in the relaxation of the spirit and possibly of the body during this period, striving to relax by establishing peace with all creatures, forgiving and forgetting, up to the point in which no thoughts regarding the others remain to disturb us, but all gather in the house of the Lord sharing with one another. […] In this station we meet with spirited companions on the journey, who, placed in front of the dilemma: the Eternal or the world?, choose the Eternal, to the amazement of relatives and the scandal of friends.  They make of the task assigned to them in time, a march of coming closer – almost an attack – on the Eternal and they tear off pieces of heaven: thus they give to the generations an idea of the Infinite. Paul, Augustine, Bernard, Franci­s. Thomas, Dante, Catherine… And the John of the Cross and Teresa and Pascal and Newman and Manzoni…[…] The meditation of their writings – up to the point of assimilation – sends the soul on the way to divinity. One scales the heights with them, who know the way and provide the instruments necessary. And the peak is the home of peace and also of joy, because it touches paradise. (Excerpts taken from “Città Nuova” XXIII/13 10 July, 1979, pp.32-33)