Do not be vexed at what people say. Let them speak while you endeavor to do the will of God. A little silence, peace, and communion with God will compensate you for all the injustice of men. We must love our fellow-beings without depending on their friendship. They leave us, they return, and they go from us again. Let them go or come; it is the feather blown about by the wind. Fix your attention upon God alone in your connection with them. It is He alone who, through them, consoles or afflicts you. Possess your soul in patience. Renew often within you the feeling of the presence of God, that you may learn moderation. There is nothing truly great but lowliness, charity, fear of ourselves, and detachment from the dominion of sense. Accustom yourself gradually to carry prayer into your daily occupations. Speak, move, act in peace as if you were in prayer. Do everything without eagerness as if by the Spirit of God. As soon as you perceive your natural impetuosity impelling you, retire into the sanctuary where dwells the Father of spirits; listen to what you hear there; and then neither say nor do anything but what He dictates in your heart. You will find that you will become more tranquil, that your words will be fewer and more to the purpose, and that with less effort you will accomplish more good. When the heart is fixed on God it can easily accustom itself to suspend the natural movements of ardent feeling, and to wait for the favorable moment when the voice within may speak. This is the continual sacrifice of self, and the life of faith. The Faults of Others. Perfection is easily tolerant of the imperfections of others; it becomes all things to all men. We must not be surprised at the greatest defects in good souls, and must quietly let them alone until God gives the signal of gradual removal; otherwise we shall pull up the wheat with the tares. They who correct others ought to watch the moment when God touches their hearts; we must bear a fault with patience till we perceive His Spirit reproaching them within. We must imitate Him who gently reproves, so that they feel that it is less God that condemns them than their own hearts. When we blame with impatience, because we are displeased with the fault, it is a human censure and not the disapprobation of God. It is a sensitive self-love that can not forgive the self-love of others. The more self-love we have, the more severe our censures. There is nothing so vexatious as the collisions between one excessive self-love and another still more violent and excessive. The passions of others are infinitely ridiculous to those who are under the dominion of their own. The ways of God are very different. He is ever full of kindness for us; He gives us strength; He regards us with pity and condescension; He remembers our weakness; He waits for us.