Letter 6 - Spiritual Progress and Christian Service Cremona, October 8, 1538To the Reverend Father and brother in Christ, Mr. Bartolomeo Ferrari.82 To the Reformed.  In VicenzaMY DEAR BROTHER IN CHRIST, Why do you entertain any doubt?  Haven’t you experienced in this undertaking that you never lacked the necessary means to help those in need?  Nothing is more certain and reliable than experience. Those who love you do not possess the wealth either of a Paul or of a Magdalene; they do, however, trust in the One who enriched them both.  Thus, as a result of both your faith and theirs, God will provide for any person under your care.You can be sure that, before you speak and in the very moment of speaking, Jesus Crucified will anticipate and accompany, not only every word of yours, but your every holy intention.  St. Paul said that he would push forward but stay within the limits of the work that Christ had set for him.92  As for you, Jesus Crucified has also set a limit when he promised that you would get enough strength to pierce to their marrow the hearts of people.93  Don’t you see that He Himself has opened the doors for you with His own hands?  Who, then, will hinder you from entering those hearts and from changing them so completely as to renew them and beautify them with holy virtues?  Nobody, of course—neither the devil nor any other creature.94 And don’t let any weakening that you may experience in your preaching and in your pastoral work stop you; for just as through constant school exercises, ignorance is dispelled and iron is kept shiny the more it is used, so it is with Christian asceticism.  At the beginning, Paul was not what he became afterward.  So it is with everybody else.  You can be assured then that on the foundation of Paul, you are going to build not structures made of hay or wood but of gold and precious stones;95 and the heavens with their treasures will be opened to you and to the souls entrusted to you.96Sweet hearts of my heart, I embrace you, as I am certain you will grow perfect according to your interior dispositions.  Oh!  Were you only here with me, nothing in the world could prevent me from embracing and covering you with endless signs of affection.  But You, dear Jesus, embrace them on my behalf.Dear saintly son, the project in which you are now engaged is also my responsibility, as you probably have noticed.  I could not help but be with you, for nowhere else is my heart than with yours.  Therefore, may the ample freedom, which I have always given you, be for you a sure guarantee that your undertakings will conclude happily with profit to all.Good Mother Prioress, don’t waste your time in personal trifles.  Even if you might consider yourself a devil, worthy of being submerged not only in muddy water but also in a cesspool, and you were utterly convinced of it, don’t worry about it.  Instead, give yourself totally to serving those people who have already been entrusted to your care, and who will continue to be entrusted to you by Jesus Crucified in the future.Oh, you who are the very mirror of my life, remember that you are generous and that Jesus Crucified has always been abundantly generous with you; how then can they who love you as they love themselves fail to be at your side to help you?And you, Franceschina,97 if you acknowledge that you have derived benefit from evil—not, of course, through your own efforts but through the efforts of those who strive to give you life in Christ—be convinced that you owe them, in sheer gratitude, what you are already giving them: I mean your diligence in pleasing them by undertaking the works which they have entrusted to you.  Do make progress, and help the others make progress as well.And all of you do the same.I do not recommend our Sylvestrines to you because they are indeed very much recommended as they are already yours.  Please, tell them on my behalf, when and how you think it convenient, generally and in particular, whatever y