The edition To the Daughters of St. Paul (1961)** completes the publication of Fr. Alberione’s preaching from the year preceding the Second Vatican Council. It was a time when the Church was preparing for a profound renewal in the light of the Gospel. For Alberione, aggiornamento meant above all a more faithful adherence to the spirit of the Constitutions and to the vocation he had received. This perspective provides the background for the meditations gathered in this volume.
As always, Fr. Alberione does not offer a systematic treatise. Instead, he speaks as a father and spiritual guide, using a simple, direct, and at times repetitive tone, fully aware that formation requires a continual return to what is essential. He encourages with warmth, but he also issues clear warnings—against lukewarmness, empty activism, and the danger of neglecting the interior life.
At the heart of his reflections is prayer, which he presents as the source of all apostolic fruitfulness. He insists on interior purification through examination of conscience, confession, and ongoing spiritual effort, since only a purified heart can truly receive and transmit God’s grace.
His language is concrete and rich in everyday imagery. He compares union with Jesus to a faucet that must remain constantly open and likens the publishing apostolate to the distribution of bread. Today, he says, the task is to “nourish” minds and hearts with the truth of the Gospel. From this vision emerged the “Year of Libraries” (June 30, 1961), an initiative to promote the wide circulation of Christian books and to create “centers of light” within families and society.
Special attention is given to the formation of superiors, who are called to be authentic spiritual guides for their communities.
These pages also express gratitude and preserve a living memory. Fr. Alberione lovingly recalls the sisters who had already passed away—women who bore witness to holiness and apostolic zeal—and invites the Congregation to safeguard their spiritual legacy.
To read these meditations, then, is not merely to dwell on the past. Rather, it is to accept a living invitation to renew one’s spiritual and apostolic life and to become, even today, authentic witnesses to the Word.