Pray and pray always in the serenity of our faith

July 11

Let us continually oriented thinking toward heaven, our true homeland, of which the land is not more than the image, preserving the serenity and calm in all events, whether happy or sad, as becomes a Christian, and a soul formed with special care in the school of suffering. In all this I always encourage the reasons given by faith and encouragement of Christian hope, and behaving well, the Father of heaven sweeten the bitterness of the test with the balm of His goodness and mercy. And it is this goodness and mercy of our heavenly Father to whom the pious and beneficent angel of faith invites and urges us to use a persistent and humble prayer, taking the firm hope of being heard, because we trust in the promise that we makes the Divine Master: "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened ... For whatever you ask the Father in my name you shall receive." Yes, pray and pray always in the serenity of our faith, in the tranquility of the soul, for the cordial and earnest prayer penetrates heaven and contains within it a divine guarantee.  (June 24, 1915, to Raffaelina Cerase - Letters. II, p. 452)