Mother Maddalena showed her love for the Word of God by her attention to sermons and instructions; she encouraged the sisters not to criticize sermons. She had a deep reverence for the care of sacred books, which also was an expression of her love. If a Sister placed her breviary [or a Bible] on the floor, — especially if she incautiously dropped the breviary, Mother Maddalena would reprimand her.
The following words of her own English are well remembered by several Sisters: If we not respect the Book, we not respect the Word of God.  One Sister who lived with her observed: She used to have the priests preach and she used to tell us to pay close attention, because that was the food of the soul.