First and foremost we must really confess what we have done ... We must not spare ourselves ... We must not shield ourselves in any way; we must not attempt to slide over our sin ... We must hold the facts before ourselves deliberately and say, 'This is what I did; this is what I thought and what I said.'

But not only that. I must analyse this thing ... and consider all that it involves and implies ... We shall never really abhor ourselves unless we do that ... we have to particularize and to descend to details. I know this is very painful ... it is not enough just to come to God and say, 'God, I am a sinner' ... the essence of this matter is to get right down to details, to particularize ... to put every detail down before yourself, to analyse yourself ... That is what the masters in the spiritual life have always done. Read their manuals, read the journals of the most saintly people who have adorned the life of the Church, and you will find that they have always done that ...