caused me, in preference to so many millions of men, to be born and bred in a Catholic country of Catholic parents. Oh, what a great grace this is! If I had been born among heathens or Turks, or of heretical parents, how would it have been with me? I should have led as bad a life in unbelief as others, and have died as they did, and of course I should now be in hell as they are; but I am in heaven! From my earliest years God gave me a tender devotion and love towards His Blessed Mother Mary, from whose hand I have received so many graces; by the help and favor of that Mother I have been enabled to die a happy death and to gain eternal happiness. When I heard that sermon at which I was present by chance, or read that spiritual book that happened to fall into my hands, I received that light and knowledge. If my good angel had not taken care of me, I should have persisted in my ignorance, tepidity, and carelessness of my salvation, and in the wickedness and vices to which I was growing accustomed; that knowledge was the beginning of my reform, and of the good life I led afterwards; from that time I regularly heard the word of God by which I was encouraged to good, strengthened against temptations, and kept in the state of grace. Now I am in heaven!
Of difficulties overcome.
God has often by a special grace visited me with crosses and trials, by which He led me on the way that all His elect must travel, and made me follow the example of His crucified Son. At first it was hard for me; but, O good cross! how beneficial thou wert to me afterwards; if I had been freed from thee, I should, like so many others, have gone astray on the broad road that leads to eternal ruin! Golden poverty to which Divine Providence brought me, how salutary thou wert for me! If I had been rich, the vain world would have counted me in the number of its children, and I should not have found any place among Thy elect. The want of temporal goods taught me to be humble, to fly idleness as the root of many sins, and to raise my heart and desires to heavenly things. Desirable sickness and bodily pains with which God visited me at that time, what great merit you have brought me! If I had been always strong and healthy, I should have often been in dangerous occasions of sin. That illness lessened my bodily strength, and kept the wanton flesh under control. Happy contempt and persecution that I had to suffer from men, how advantageous you were to me! You taught me not to depend on the world, but to place all my trust
