Foreword

My reader and friend, let me help your soul contemplate the virtues of man, for grace works upon nature. But do not forget that these considerations of mine, though they may seem very human to you, must be priestly as well, since I have written them for you and for myself — and I have put them into practice too — before God. I ask Our Lord that these pages may be of use for us. May we profit by them and be moved by them so that in our lives our deeds may leave behind a deep and fertile furrow.