Well might It have said to us, "Unto your weak and feeble hands I have entrusted a power beyond estimate. To you has been given that which has been denied the most learned of your fellows. Not to scientists or statesmen, not to wives or mothers, not even to priests or ministers have I given this gift of healing others which I entrust to you.

It must be used unselfishly; it carries with it grave responsibility. No day can be too long; no demands upon your time can be too urgent; no case be too pitiful; no task too hard; no effort too great. It must be used with tolerance, for I have restricted its application to no race, no creed, and no denomination. Personal criticism you must expect; lack of appreciation will be common; ridicule will be your lot; your motives will be misjudged.

You must be prepared for adversity, for what men call adversity is the ladder you must use to ascend the rungs toward spiritual perfection, and remember, in the exercise of this power, I shall not exact from you beyond your capabilities.

You are not selected because of exceptional talents, and be careful always, if success attends your efforts, not to ascribe to personal superiority that to which you can lay claim only by virtue of My gift.

If I had wanted learned men and women to accomplish this mission, the power would have been entrusted to the physician and the scientist. If I had wanted eloquent men and women, there would have been many anxious for the assignment, for talk is the easiest used of all talents with which I have endowed mankind. If I had wanted scholarly men and women, the world is filled with better qualified men and women than you, who would be available.

You were selected because you have been the outcasts of the world, and your long experience as underdogs has made or should make you humbly alert to the cries of distress that come from the lonely hearts of underdogs everywhere.