"My daughter, let us understand and be resigned to this great and terrible truth: Self-love will never die before we do. The sad truth that we have inherited the guilt of original sin as a punishment certainly grieves us. Nevertheless, we need to resign ourselves and have patience with ourselves, since as the divine teaching says, by patience we will gain our souls. This self-possession will be much firmer when it is less assailed by cares and anxieties-even anxieties about our imperfections.

We will always experience the palpable attacks and the secret workings of self-love, until we leave this earth. To avoid offending God and disfiguring our souls, it is enough that we do not deliberately consent to it by our will....

Come, my daughter, be at peace. If you violate the principle of detachment by spontaneous impulses of self-love or passion concerning things that should be treated with indifference, just prostrate yourself as soon as you can, and lift your heart to God. Say to him in a confident and humble spirit, 'Lord, have mercy on me, because I am only a weakling.' Then rise up in peace and, with a serene, tranquil heart and holy detachment, go about your business."

-St. Pio of Pietrelcina