During last week's parish mission, the wise old missionary priest (Father Angelus Shaughnessy, OFM, National Executive Director of the Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers) gave me the following advice, quoting from Blessed Pope John XXIII's Journal of a Soul:
See everything.
Say little.
Overlook much.
Besides being the standard for diplomatic conduct and the basic manners of any gentleman, that is a sure recipe for spreading holiness when it is done for Christ's sake by his saints.
In this regard I have in mind His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI's supreme graciousness, humility, brevity and clarity before his potentially hostile hearers at the German Parliament. They loved him because he is a thoroughly Christian gentleman, and fellow Teuton, sympathetically calling them to overcome their barbaric tendencies by digging into the treasures of their great Christian heritage!
Would that all men of God should acquire the virtue of saying the good things men need to hear briefly, clearly and sympathetically. In a word: tact! It is most fitting for and very effectively exercised by our Supreme Cooperator Veritatis. Viva il Papa Ratzinger!