…   Here and there Pierre gave a few practical tips to help people to grow in faithfulness:

• First of all, of course, turn to the Lord asking Him for His help. If you do not constantly beg the Lord [saying] that you are a poor type, that you believe in his mercy, and then that He must come to help you – well, it will not work…
• The support of brothers and sisters…
• Put prayer first in your life.
• The busier one is, the more important it is.

• This is true during holiday time!

You are very well organized people: you work all day, and then you take care of the washing-up, and then the housework, and then all the rest … And you do your hour of prayer! Everything is organized “bang, bang.” But when the weekend comes, “Oh! I haven’t had my prayer time!” So, you are resting for two days, but you can’t find time to for prayer – because your holidays are not organized.

So, when you go on holiday this summer, […] you will say: “I want to relax and after I’ll do this, and that.” And “I’ll pray and then I’ll do some spiritual reading and then I’ll be with friends with whom we’ll have some serious talk.” […]

So we have to get organized. We will say: “What can I really do to keep going, and more than keep going, to grow deeper?” Because the holidays are a good time, they are a time when often we fall away.

The following year, Pierre took up the same theme in language that was very lively and colourful, making it very powerful: It will soon be the holidays. We say: “At last, I am going to have a holiday. I’ll finally be able to rest. And I can be a bit of a heathen. I am a Christian 11 months out of 12, so I can at least be a pagan for a month, it’s not much!” So in the end, we fall right down headlong again.

So we must organize our holidays. Because the devil says to himself:, “Oh, I can’t do anything, they are in the Community all the time and I can’t get in. And then, I always get tricked.” It’s not nice for the devil, put yourself in his place! But he says: “During the holidays, ah! my friend, I’ll make up for it! And they are all scattered then. I’ll make up for it!” So then, be forewarned, be on your guard.