As for you personally, listen once more to what I repeat from the depths of my conviction as a cousin and a priest: Do not worry about the value of your life, its anomalies, its disappointments, or its more or less unclear and dark future. Do what God wants. Bring Him, amidst your restlessness and dissatisfaction, the sacrifice of a humble soul…
Do not be afraid; all this effort counts for you and wonderfully fills your time. It matters little whether others do more good than you and whether it costs them less effort: what is essential is not to do good, but to be in your place, even if it is a lower one that God intends. (…)
It matters little that you feel "unsuccessful" in human terms if God finds you "successful" according to His will. I know you contradict yourself on this last point. You do not want to admit that suffering sanctifies you. Humbly believe what the promises of our Lord, the examples of the saints, and the statements of those who speak to you in God's name tell you. Our Lord conquers and captivates you step by step for Himself. Surely, the peace of heart that expands in an environment of warm feelings full of gratitude is more harmonious, more normal, and more suitable for easy action than loneliness and cracks (this also applies to health versus illness…). Therefore, through our personal efforts, we must strive to secure supports in good and faithful friendships, to avoid the ailments of body and soul…
(Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ /1881–1955/, letter from the front, to his cousin, August 22, 1915;
quoted from the book Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Birth of Thought. Letters 1914–1919, Malvern 2021)
