_ 38 _ derision or ridicule. And if this often happens, it will be up to you to plead to God or for the poor of the hospital or the prisoners of the prison, so that the mortifications will be edifying to those who witness them. And be careful that this is the way you act. When you are about to hand out these penances, first thoroughly investigate the person who is going to perform them. The amount of virtue you see in him will determine the mortifications. Thus, let the degree of virtue and perfection you perceive in him exceed the penance. Do not hand out mortifications, big or small, that are greater than the amount of virtue and perfection of the person who is to perform them. If you do the opposite, instead of profiting from them, you will put them out of reach and if they attempt them they afterwards lose the will for any other mortification. Endeavour to animate those who practise the religious exercises, so that they reveal their temptations to you, because this helps the imperfect to become perfect. If they find you severe in handing out mortifications, they will not reveal their temptations to you. These will increase to such a point that they will become deeply troubled. Then the enemy will easily finish them off, they will become confused and abandon you.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy