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As God's Beloved, I Live In The Bliss Knowing That My Soul Is Never Separated From Him, For I Learn To Know Her In All That I See. God Dissolved My Mind-my Separation. I Cannot Describe Now My Intimacy With Him.

-Teresa Of Avila

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As God's Beloved, I

Teresa Of Avila

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As God's Beloved, I Live In The Bliss Knowing That My Soul Is Never Separated From Him, For I Learn To Know Her In All That I See. God Dissolved My Mind-my Separation. I Cannot Describe Now My Intimacy With Him.

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Our Soul Can Find In The Blessed Sacrament All The Joys And Consolations It Desires.

Jacob Did Not Cease To Be A Saint Because He Had To Attend To His Flocks.

The Best Thing Must Be To Flee From All To The All.

Let Us Live In Such A Way As Not To Be Afraid To Die.

Do You Know When People Really Become Spiritual? It Is When They Become The Slaves Of God And Are Branded With His Sign, Which Is The Sign Of The Cross, In Token That They Have Given Him Their Freedom.

It Is Love Alone That Gives Worth To All Things.

There Is More Value In A Little Study Of Humility And In A Single Act Of It Than In All The Knowledge In The World.

Be Kind To All And Severe To Thyself.

Consider Seriously How Quickly People Change, And How Little Trust Is To Be Had In Them; And Hold Fast To God, Who Does Not Change.

We Cannot Be Sure If We Are Loving God, Although We May Have Good Reasons For Believing That We Are, But We Can Know Quite Well If We Are Loving Our Neighbor. And Be Certain That, The Farther Advanced You Find You Are In This, The Greater The Love You Will Have For God.

His Majesty Knows Best What Is Suitable For Us. There's No Need For Us To Be Advising Him About What He Should Give Us, For He Can Rightly Tell Us That We Don't Know What We're Asking For (cf. Mt. 20:22). The Whole Aim Of Any Person Who Is Beginning Prayer ? And Don't Forget This, Because It's Very Important ? Should Be That He Work And Prepare Himself With Determination And Every Possible Effort To Bring His Will Into Conformity With God's Will.

Hope, O My Soul, Hope. You Know Neither The Day Nor The Hour.

What A Great Favor God Does To Those He Places In The Company Of Good People!

The Words Are Very Distinctly Formed; But By The Bodily Ear They Are Not Heard. They Are, However, Much More Clearly Understood Than They Would Be If They Were Heard By The Ear. It Is Impossible Not To Understand Them, Whatever Resistance We May Offer... There Is No Escape, For In Spite Of Ourselves We Must Listen...

All Times Are Dangerous Times.

They Deceive Themselves Who Believe That Union With God Consists In Ecstasies Or Raptures, And In The Enjoyment Of Him. For It Consists In Nothing Except The Surrender And Subjection Of Our Will - With Our Thoughts, Words And Actions - To The Will Of God.

Do You Suppose That God Has Any Need Of Our Works? What God Needs Is The Resoluteness Of Our Will.

It Is A Dangerous Thing To Be Satisfied With Ourselves.

Dangerous Things

In Light Of Heaven, The Worst Suffering On Earth Will Be Seen To Be No More Serious Than One Night In An Inconvenient Hotel.

His Majesty [the Lord] . . . Rewards Great Services With Trials, And There Can Be No Better Reward, For Out Of Trials Springs Love For God.

The Same Know Contentment, For Beauty Is Their Lover, And Beauty Is Never Absent From This World.

Half-instructed Confessors Have Done My Soul Great Harm; For I Could Not Always Have Such Learned Ones As I Would Have Desired. They Certainly Did Not Wish To Deceive Me, But The Fact Was That They Knew No Better. Of Something Which Was A Venial Sin, They Said It Was No Sin, And Out Of A Very Grave Mortal Sin They Made A Venial Sin. This Has Done Me Such Harm, That My Speaking Here Of So Great An Evil, As A Warning To Others, Will Be Readily Understood.

To Wish To Act Like Angels While We Are Still In This World Is Nothing But Folly.

Patience Attains All That It Strives For. He Who Has God Finds He Lacks Nothing: God Alone Suffices.

Let Nothing Disturb You, / Nothing Dismay You; / All Things Are Passing: / God Never Changes.

[on Her Father:] ... In Losing Him I Lost My Greatest Blessing And Comfort, For He Was Always That To Me.

While The Soul Is In Mortal Sin, Nothing Can Profit It; None Of Its Good Works Merit An Eternal Reward, Since They Do Not Proceed From God As Their First Principle, And By Him Alone Is Our Virtue Real Virtue.

Prayer Is An Act Of Love; Words Are Not Needed. Even If Sickness Distracts From Thoughts, All That Is Needed Is The Will To Love.

I Know The Power Obedience Has Of Making Things Easy Which Seem Impossible.

Possible And Impossible

Thank God For The Things That I Do Not Own.

I Had A Father And Mother, Who Were Devout And Feared God. Our Lord Also Helped Me With His Grace. All This Would Have Been Enough To Make Me Good, If I Had Not Been So Wicked.

Whoever Has God Lacks Nothing. God Alone Suffices.

If I Should Say Anything That Is Not In Conformity With What Is Held By The Holy Roman Catholic Church, It Will Be Through Ignorance And Not Through Malice. This May Be Taken As Certain, And Also That, Through God's Goodness, I Am, And Shall Always Be, As I Always Have Been, Subject To Her.

God Is Even Kinder Than You Think.

Discontent With This World Gives Such A Painful Longing To Quit It That, If The Heart Finds Comfort, It Is Solely From The Thought That God Wishes It To Remain Here In Banishment.

I Say The Same Of Humility And Of All The Virtues; The Wiles Of The Devil Are Terrible, He Will Run A Thousand Times Round Hell If By So Doing He Can Make Us Believe That We Have A Single Virtue Which We Have Not. And He Is Right, For Such Ideas Are Very Harmful, And Such Imaginary Virtues, When They Come From This Source, Are Never Unaccompanied By Vainglory; Just As Those Which God Gives Are Free Both From This And From Pride.

May Nothing Wind You Up, Nothing Affright You; Everything Comes And Goes. God, Still, Just There; Through Patience All Will Be Achieved. If You Have God, You Lack Nothing: God Alone Will Do.

There Are More Tears Shed Over Answered Prayers Than Over Unanswered Prayers.

From Heaven Even The Most Miserable Life Will Look Like One Bad Night At An Inconvenient Hotel.

When We Accept What Happens To Us And Make The Best Of It, We Are Praising God.

It Is A Great Folly To Be Willing To Violate The Friendship Of God, Rather Than The Law Of Human Friendship.

I Have Always Had This Failing - That I Cannot Explain Myself, As I Have Said, Except At The Cost Of Many Words.

If Christ Jesus Dwells In A Man As His Friend And Noble Leader, That Man Can Endure All Things, For Christ Helps And Strengthens Us And Never Abandons Us. He Is A True Friend.

Don't Imagine That, If You Had A Great Deal Of Time, You Would Spend More Of It In Prayer. Get Rid Of That Idea; It Is No Hindrance To Prayer To Spend Your Time Well.

We Know Only That We Are Living In These Bodies And Have A Vague Idea, Because We Have Heard It, And Because Our Faith Tells Us So, That We Possess Souls. As To What Good Qualities There May Be In Our Souls, Or Who Dwells Within Them, Or How Precious They Are, Those Are Things Which Seldom Consider And So We Trouble Little About Carefully Preserving The Soul's Beauty.

Blessed Be He, Who Came Into The World For No Other Purpose Than To Suffer.

All Blessings Come To Us Through Our Lord. He Will Teach Us, For In Beholding His Life We Find That He Is The Best Example.

Granting That We Are Always In The Presence Of God, Yet It Seems To Me That Those Who Pray Are In His Presence In A Very Different Sense; For They, As It Were, See That He Is Looking Upon Them, While Others May Go For Days On End Without Even Once Recollecting That God Sees Them.

He Who Has God Finds He Is Lacking Nothing.

Alas, O Lord, To What A State Dost Thou Bring Those Who Love Thee!

With All This Wide And Beautiful Creation Before Me, The Restless Soul Longs To Enjoy Its Liberty And Rest Beyond Its Bound.

Who God Possesseth In Nothing Is Wanting; Alone God Sufficeth.

Let Us Look At Our Own Faults, And Not Other People's. We Ought Not To Insist On Everyone Following In Our Footsteps, Nor To Take Upon Ourselves To Give Instructions In Spirituality When, Perhaps, We Do Not Even Know What It Is.

Untilled Ground, However Rich, Will Bring Forth Thistles And Thorns; So Also The Mind Of Man.

The True Penance Comes When God Takes Away The Soul's Health And Strength For Doing Penance. Even Though I Have Mentioned Elsewhere The Great Pain This Lack Causes, The Pain Is Much More Intense Here. All These Things Must Come To The Soul From Its Roots, From Where It Is Planted.

Desire To See God, Be Fearful Of Losing Him, And Find Joy In Everything That Can Lead To Him. If You Act In This Way, You Will Always Live In Great Peace.

We May Think It Humility Not To Realize That The Lord Is Bestowing Gifts Upon Us. Let Us Understand Very, Very Clearly, How This Matter Stands. God Gives Us These Gifts For No Merit Of Ours. Let Us Be Grateful To His Majesty For Them, For, Unless We Recognize That We Are Receiving Them, We Shall Not Be Aroused To Love Him. And It Is A Most Certain Thing That, If We Remember All The Time That We Are Poor, The Richer We Find Ourselves, The Greater Will Be The Profit That Comes To Us And The More Genuine Our Humility.

Oh, How Everything That Is Suffered With Love Is Healed Again!

Humility Does Not Disturb Or Disquiet Or Agitate, However Great It May Be; It Comes With Peace, Delight, And Calm. . . . The Pain Of Genuine Humility Doesn't Agitate Or Afflict The Soul; Rather, This Humility Expands It And Enables It To Serve God More.

Learn To Self-conquest, Persevere Thus For A Time, And You Will Perceive Very Clearly The Advantage Which You Gain From It.

In All Created Things Discern The Providence And Wisdom Of God, And In All Things Give Him Thanks.

In Order That Love Be Fully Satisfied, It Is Necessary That It Lower Itself And That It Lower Itself To Nothingness And Transform This Nothingness Into Fire.

Humility, However Deep It Be, Neither Disquiets Nor Troubles Nor Disturbs The Soul; It Is Accompanied By Peace, Joy And Tranquillity.

Let Nothing Disturb Thee, Let Nothing Affright Thee. All Things Are Passing. Patience Obtains All Things. He Who Has God Has Everything - God Alone Suffices.

It Is Only Mercenaries Who Expect To Be Paid By The Day.

Lord, How You Afflict Your Lovers! But Everything Is Small In Comparison To What You Give Them Afterwards.

God Prefers Your Health, And Your Obedience, To Your Penance.

God, Deliver Me From Sullen Saints.

Our Body Has This Defect That, The More It Is Provided Care And Comforts, The More Needs And Desires It Finds.

From Silly Devotions And From Sour-faced Saints, Good Lord, Deliver Us.

We Should Blush For Shame To Show So Much Resentment At What Is Done Or Said Against Us, Knowing That So Many Injuries And Affronts Have Been Offered To Our Redeemer And The Saints.

God Deliver Me From People Who Are So Spiritual That They Want To Turn Everything Into Perfect Contemplation, Come What May.

We Cannot Know Whether We Love God, Although There May Be Strong Reason For Thinking So; But There Can Be No Doubt About Whether We Love Our Neighbor Or Not. Be Sure That, In Proportion As You Advance In Fraternal Charity, You Are Increasing Your Love Of God, For His Majesty Bears So Tender An Affection For Us That I Cannot Doubt He Will Repay Our Love For Others By Augmenting, And In A Thousand Different Ways, That Which We Bear For Him.

That Is How His Majesty [the Lord] Rewards Our Good Works---i Mean, By Predisposing Us To Perform Better Ones.

All Things Must Come To The Soul From Its Roots, From Where It Is Planted.

Let Him Never Cease From Prayer, Who Has Once Begun To Pray, Even Though His Life Is Ever So Bad. For Prayer Is The Only Way To Amend One's Life And Without Prayer It Will Never Be Mended. Let Him Not Be Tempted Of The Devil, As I Was, To Give Up Prayer On Account Of One's Unworthiness. Let Such A One Rather Believe That If He Will Only Repent And Pray, Our Lord Will Still Hear And Answer.

How Is It That We Do Not Die Of Love In Seeing That God Himself Could Do No More Than Shed His Divine Blood For Us Drop By Drop? When As Man He Was Preparing For Death, He Made Himself Our Food In Order To Give Us Life. God Becomes Food, Bread For His Creatures. Is This Not Enough To Make Us Die Of Love?

Seldom Or Never Is A Poor Man Honored By The World; However Worthy Of Honor He May Be, He Is Apt Rather To Be Despised By It.

In The Presence Of Jesus In The Holy Sacrament We Ought To Be Like The Blessed In Heaven Before The Divine Essence

My Good Works, However Wretched And Imperfect, Have Been Made Better And Perfected By Him Who Is My Lord: He Has Rendered Them Meritorious. As To My Evil Deeds And My Sins, He Hid Them At Once. The Eyes Of Those Who Saw Them, He Made Even Blind; And He Has Blotted Them Out Of Their Memory.

Prayer Is An Act Of Love. Words Are Not Needed.

If God Should Desire To Raise Us To The Position Of One Who Is An Intimate And Shares His Secrets, We Ought To Accept This Gladly.

Let Nothing Disturb You. Let Nothing Frighten You. Everything Passes Away Except God. God Alone Is Sufficient.

You Pay God A Compliment By Asking Great Things Of Him.

I Would Never Want Any Prayer That Would Not Make The Virtues Grow Within Me.

All The Trials We Endure Cannot Be Compared To These Interior Battles.

Be Gentle And Kind With Every One, And Severe With Yourself.

How Friendly All Men Would Be One With Another, If No Regard Were Paid To Honour And Money! I Believe It Would Be A Remedy For Everything.

I Often Thought My Constitution Would Never Endure The Work I Had To Do, (but) The Lord Said To Me: 'daughter, Obedience Gives Strength.'

The Life Of Prayer Is Just Love To God, And The Custom Of Being Ever With Him.

Souls Without Prayer Are Like Bodies, Palsied And Lame, Having Hands And Feet They Cannot Use.

Suffering Is A Great Favor. Remember That Everything Soon Comes To An End . . . And Take Courage. Think Of How Our Gain Is Eternal.

Whoever Has Not Begun The Practice Of Prayer, I Beg For The Love Of The Lord Not To Go Without So Great A Good. There Is Nothing Here To Fear But Only Something To Desire.

Each Of Us Has A Soul, But We Forget To Value It. We Don't Remember That We Are Creatures Made In The Image Of God. We Don't Understand The Great Secrets Hidden Inside Of Us.

I Am Afraid That If We Begin To Put Our Trust In Human Help, Some Of Our Divine Help Will Fail Us.

When The Soul, Through Its Own Fault... Becomes Rooted In A Pool Of Pitch-black, Evil Smelling Water, It Produces Nothing But Misery And Filth.

If We Practice Love Of Neighbor With Great Perfection, We Will Have Done Everything.

In Order To Profit From This Path [of Prayer] And Ascend To The Dwelling Places We Desire, The Important Thing Is Not To Think Much But To Love Much; And So, Do That Which Best Stirs You To Love.

All The Troubles Of The Church, All The Evils In The World, Flow From This Source: That Men Do Not By Clear And Sound Knowledge And Serious Consideration Penetrate Into The Truths Of Sacred Scripture.

So Dearly Does His Majesty Love Us That He Will Reward Our Love For Our Neighbor By Increasing The Love Which We Bear To Himself, And That In A Thousand Ways.

The Custom Of Speaking To God Almighty As Freely As With A Slave - Caring Nothing Whether The Words Are Suitable Or Not, But Simply Saying The First Thing That Comes To Mind From Being Learnt By Rote By Frequent Repetition - Cannot Be Called Prayer: God Grant That No Christian May Address Him In This Manner.

For Pity's Sake, Don't Start Meeting Troubles Halfway.

One Always Goes On As One Begins.

A Beginner Must Look On Himself As One Setting Out To Make A Garden For His Lord's Pleasure, On Most Unfruitful Soil Which Abounds In Weeds. His Majesty Roots Up The Weeds And Will Put In Good Plants Instead. Let Us Reckon That This Is Already Done When The Soul Decides To Practice Prayer And Has Begun To Do So.

What Peace Can We Hope To Find Elsewhere If We Have None Within Us

Accustom Yourself Continually To Make Many Acts Of Love, For They Enkindle And Melt The Soul.

It Is The Nature Of Love To Work In A Thousand Different Ways.

Everything Seems To Me To Pass So Quickly That We Must Concentrate On How To Die Rather Than On How To Live. How Sweet It Is To Die If One Has Lived On The Cross With Christ.

There Is No Affliction, Trial, Or Labor Difficult To Endure, When We Consider The Torments And Sufferings Which Our Lord Jesus Christ Endured For Us.

Let Nothing Disturb You, Let Nothing Frighten You, Though All Things Pass, God Does Not Change. Patience Wins All Things. But He Lacks Nothing Who Possesses God; For God Alone Suffices.

I Am Quite Sure That If We Could But Once Approach The Most Holy Sacrament With Great Faith And Love, It Would Suffice To Make Us Rich. How Much More So If We Approach It Often!

It Is Impossible For Human Tongue To Exaggerate The Riches Which A Vision From God Brings To The Soul: It Even Bestows Health And Refreshment On The Body.

Hope, O My Soul, Hope. Watch Carefully, For Everything Passes Quickly, Even Though Your Impatience Turns A Very Short Time Into A Long One.

Be Gentle To All And Stern With Yourself.

God Has No Hands Or Feet Or Voice Except Ours And Through These He Works.

I Was Living An Extremely Burdensome Life, Because Every Time I Prayed, I Became More Clearly Aware Of My Faults. On The One Hand, God Was Calling Me. On The Other, I Was Following The Way Of The World. Doing What God Wanted Made Me Happy; But I Felt Bound By The Things Of This World.

Anyone Who Truly Loves God Travels Securely.

Union Is As If In A Room There Were Two Large Windows Through Which The Light Streamed In; It Enters In Different Places But It All Becomes One.

We Shall Never Learn To Know Ourselves Except By Endeavoring To Know God; For, Beholding His Greatness We Realize Our Own Littleness; His Purity Shows Us Our Foulness; And By Meditating Upon His Humility We Find How Very Far We Are From Being Humble.

For Prayer Is Nothing Else Than Being On Terms Of Friendship With God.

To Argue Over Who Is The More Noble Is Nothing More Than To Dispute Whether Dirt Is Better For Making Bricks Or For Making Mortar.

The Most Potent And Acceptable Prayer Is The Prayer That Leaves The Best Effects. I Don't Mean It Must Immediately Fill The Soul With Desire . . . The Best Effects Are Those That Are Followed Up By Actions-when The Soul Not Only Desires The Honor Of God, But Really Strives For It.

Holy Church-that Mother Who Is Also A Queen Because She Is A King's Bride.

Truth Suffers, But Never Dies.

It Is No Small Misfortune And Disgrace That, Through Our Own Fault, We Neither Understand Our Nature Nor Our Origin.

The Surest Way To Determine Whether One Possesses The Love Of God Is To See Whether He Or She Loves His Or Her Neighbor. These Two Loves Are Never Separated. Rest Assured, The More You Progress In Love Of Neighbor The More Your Love Of God Will Increase.

However Much We Do To Avoid Them, We Shall Never Lack Crosses In This Life If We Are In The Ranks Of The Crucified.

It Should Be Observed That Perfect Love Of God Consists Not In Those Delights, Tears And Sentiments Of Devotion That We Generally Seek, But In A Strong Determination And Keen Desire To Please God In All Things, And To Promote His Glory.

To Want To Become Angels While We Are Still On Earth ... Is Ridiculous.

This Body Of Ours Has One Fault: The More You Indulge It, The More Things It Discovers To Be Essential To It. It Is Extraordinary How It Likes Being Indulged.

I Am Quite Sure I Am More Afraid Of People Who Are Themselves Terrified Of The Devil Than I Am Of The Devil Himself.

Christ Moves Along The Pots And Pans.

Those Who In Fact Risk All For God Will Find That They Have Both Lost All And Gained All.

The More We See That Any Action Springs Not From The Motive Of Obedience, The More Evident Is It That It Is A Temptation Of The Enemy; For When God Sends An Inspiration, The Very First Effect Of It Is To Infuse A Spirit Of Docility.

The Soul Of The Just Man Is But A Paradise, In Which, God Tells Us, He Takes His Delight. What Do You Imagine, Must That Dwelling Be In Which A King So Mighty, So Wise, And So Pure, Containing In Himself All Good, Can Delight To Rest? Nothing Can Be Compared To The Great Beauty And Capabilities Of A Soul; However Keen Our Intellects May Be, They Are As Unable To Comprehend Them As To Comprehend God, For, As He Told Us, He Created Us In His Own Image And Likeness.

Remember That You Have Only One Soul; That You Have Only One Death To Die; That You Have Only One Life. . . . If You Do This, There Will Be Many Things About Which You Care Nothing.

After You Die, You Wear What You Are.

Near Death Experience

Love Draws Forth Love.

We Need No Wings To Go In Search Of Him, But Have Only To Look Upon Him Present Within Us.

God Aids The Valiant...both To You And To Me He Will Give The Help Needed.

Always Think Of Yourself As Everyone's Servant; Look For Christ Our Lord In Everyone And You Will Then Have Respect And Reverence For Them All.

Our Souls May Lose Their Peace And Even Disturb Other People's, If We Are Always Criticizing Trivial Actions - Which Often Are Not Real Defects At All, But We Construe Them Wrongly Through Our Ignorance Of Their Motives.

Life Is To Life In Such A Way That We Are Not Afraid To Die.

When I Took The Habit, The Lord Immediately Showed Me How He Favours Those Who Do Violence To Themselves In Order To Serve Him. No One Saw What I Endured... At The Moment Of My Entrance Into This New State I Felt A Joy So Great That It Has Never Failed Me Even To This Day; And God Converted The Dryness Of My Soul Into A Very Great Tenderness.

Let Us Consider The Glorious Saint Paul: It Seems That No Other Name Fell From His Lips Than That Of Jesus, Because The Name Of Jesus Was Fixed And Embedded In His Heart.

About The Injunction Of The Apostle Paul That Women Should Keep Silent In Church? Don't Go By One Text Only.

In A State Of Grace, The Soul Is Like A Well Of Limpid Water, From Which Flow Only Streams Of Clearest Crystal. Its Works Are Pleasing Both To God And Man, Rising From The River Of Life, Beside Which It Is Rooted Like A Tree.

I Fully Realize That This Gratitude Of Mine Is Not In The Least A Sign Of Perfection: It Must Be My Nature - I Could Be Suborned With A Sardine.

It Constantly Happens That The Lord Permits A Soul To Fall So That It May Grow Humbler.

It Is Not So Essential To Think Much As To Love Much.

Ah, How True It Is That We Love Ourselves Too Much And Proceed With Too Much Human Prudence, That We May Not Lose An Atom Of Our Consideration! Oh, What A Great Mistake That Is! The Saints Did Not Act Thus.

You Ought To Make Every Effort To Free Yourselves Even From Venial Sin, And To Do What Is Most Perfect.

As God's Beloved, I Live In The Bliss Knowing That My Soul Is Never Separated From Him, For I Learn To Know Her In All That I See. God Dissolved My Mind-my Separation. I Cannot Describe Now My Intimacy With Him.

It Is Of Great Importance, When We Begin To Practise Prayer, Not To Let Ourselves Be Frightened By Our Own Thoughts.

If We Do Not Use Great Care To Mortify Our Will, There Are Many Things Which Can Deprives Us Of The Holy Freedom Of Spirit That We Are Seeking In Order To Fly More Freely To Our Creator, Without Always Being Bogged Down With The Clay Of This Earth. Moreover, There Can Never Be Solid Virtue In A Soul That Is Attached To Its Own Will.

Humility Must Always Be Doing Its Work Like A Bee Making Honey In The Hive: Without Humility All Will Be Lost.

Anyone Who Has The Habit Of Speaking Before God's Majesty As If He Were Speaking To A Slave, Careless About How He Is Speaking, And Saying Whatever Comes Into His Head And Whatever He's Learned From Saying Prayers At Other Times, In My Opinion Is Not Praying. Please, God, May No Christian Pray In This Way.

God Has Been Very Good To Me, For I Never Dwell Upon Anything Wrong Which A Person Has Done, So As To Remember It Afterwards. If I Do Remember It, I Always See Some Other Virtue In That Person.

A Soul Which Gives Itself To Prayer, Either Much Or Little, Should On No Account Be Kept Within Narrow Bounds.

What Friends Or Kindred Can Be So Close And Intimate As The Powers Of Our Soul, Which, Whether We Will Or No, Must Ever Bear Us Company?

Don't Be Curious Of Matters That Don't Concern You; Never Speak Of Them, And Don't Ask About Them.

I Made You, Dear, And All I Make Is Perfect. Please Come Close, For I Desire You.

If We Plant A Flower Or A Shrub And Water It Daily It Will Grow So Tall That In Time We Shall Need A Spade And A Hoe To Uproot It. It Is Just So, I Think, When We Commit A Fault, However Small, Each Day, And Do Not Cure Ourselves Of It.

Let Us Consider What The Glorious Virgin Endured, And What The Holy Apostles Suffered, And We Shall Find That They Who Were Nearest To Jesus Christ Were The Most Afflicted.

To Have Courage For Whatever Comes In Life - Everything Lies In That.

The Important Thing Is Not To Think Much But To Love Much; Do, Then, Whatever Most Arouses You To Love.

One Must Not Think That A Person Who Is Suffering Is Not Praying. He Is Offering Up His Sufferings To God, And Many A Time He Is Praying Much More Truly Than One Who Goes Away By Himself And Meditates His Head Off, And, If He Has Squeezed Out A Few Tears, Thinks That Is Prayer.

I Have Often Thought With Wonder Of The Great Goodness Of God; And My Soul Has Rejoiced In The Contemplation Of His Great Magnificence And Mercy. May He Be Blessed For Ever! For I See Clearly That He Has Not Omitted To Reward Me, Even In This Life, For Every One Of My Good Desires.

Do Not Be Dismayed, Daughters, At The Number Of Things That You Have To Consider Before Setting Out On This Divine Journey, Which Is The Royal Road To Heaven. By Taking This Road We Gain Such Precious Treasures That It Is No Wonder If The Cost Seems To Us A High One. The Time Will Come When We Shall Realize That All We Have Paid Has Been Nothing At All By Comparison With The Greatness Of Our Prizes.

How Friendly We Should All Be With One Another If Nobody Were Interested In Money And Honor.

What Misery To Live In This World! We Are Like Men Whose Enemies Are At The Door, Who Must Not Lay Aside Their Arms, Even While Sleeping Or Eating, And Are Always In Dread Lest The Foe Should Enter The Fortress By Some Breach In The Walls. O My Lord And My All! How Canst Thou Wish Us To Prize Such A Wretched Existence?

We May Speak Of Love And Humility As The True Flowers Of Spiritual Growth; And They Give Off A Wonderful Scent, Which Benefits All Those Who Come Near.

Patient Endurance / Attaineth To All Things.

Much More Is Accomplished By A Single Word Of The Our Father Said, Now And Then, From Our Heart, Than By The Whole Prayer Repeated Many Times In Haste And Without Attention.

Pain Is Never Permanent.

We Bloomed In Spring. Our Bodies Are The Leaves Of God. The Apparent Seasons Of Life And Death Our Eyes Can Suffer; But Our Souls, Dear, I Will Just Say This Forthright: They Are God Himself, We Will Never Perish Until He Does.

My Father Was A Man Of Great Charity Towards The Poor, And Compassion For The Sick, And Also For Servants; So Much So, That He Never Could Be Persuaded To Keep Slaves, For He Pitied Them So Much: And A Slave Belonging To One Of His Brothers Being Once In His House, Was Treated By Him With As Much Tenderness As His Own Children.

There Is More Security In Self-denial, Mortification, And Other Like Virtues, Than In An Abundance Of Tears.

Never Affirm Anything Unless You Are Sure It Is True.

How Is It That There Are Not Many Who Are Led By Sermons To Forsake Open Sin? Do You Know What I Think? That Is Because Preachers Have Too Much Worldly Wisdom.

Mental Prayer In My Opinion Is Nothing Else Than An Intimate Sharing Between Friends; It Means Taking Time Frequently To Be Alone With Him Who We Know Loves Us. The Important Thing Is Not To Think Much But To Love Much And So Do That Which Best Stirs You To Love. Love Is Not Great Delight But Desire To Please God In Everything.

Nothing Is Small If God Accepts It.

Do You Think It Is Only A Little Thing To Possess A House From Which Lovely Things Can Be Seen?

To Converse With You, O King Of Glory, No Third Person Is Needed, You Are Always Ready In The Sacrament Of The Altar To Give Audience To All. All Who Desire You Always Find You There, And Converse With You Face To Face

It Is A Most Certain Truth, That The Richer We See Ourselves To Be, Confessing At The Same Time Our Poverty, The Greater Will Be Our Progress, And The More Real Our Humility.

Christ Has No Body Now But Mine. He Prays In Me, Works In Me, Looks Through My Eyes, Speaks Through My Words, Works Through My Hands, Walks With My Feet And Loves With My Heart.

I Once Heard A Spiritual Man Say That He Was Not So Much Astonished At The Things Done By A Soul In Mortal Sin As At The Things Not Done By It. May God, In His Mercy, Deliver Us From Such Great Evil, For There Is Nothing In The Whole Of Our Lives That So Thoroughly Deserves To Be Called Evil As This, Since It Brings Endless And Eternal Evils In Its Train.

Let Nothing Disturb Thee; Let Nothing Dismay Thee; All Things Pass; God Never Changes. Patience Attains All That It Strives For.

Christ Has No Body Now But Yours. No Hands, No Feet On Earth But Yours. Yours Are The Eyes Through Which He Looks Compassion On This World. Yours Are The Feet With Which He Walks To Do Good. Yours Are The Hands Through Which He Blesses All The World. Yours Are The Hands, Yours Are The Feet, Yours Are The Eyes, You Are His Body. Christ Has No Body Now On Earth But Yours.

What Value Is There In Faith Without Works? And What Are They Worth If They Are Not United To The Merits Of Jesus Christ, Our Only Good?

No One Should Think Or Say Anything Of Another Which He Would Not Wish Thought Or Said Of Himself.

The Life Of The Spirit Is Not Our Life, But The Life Of God Within Us.

To Reach Something Good It Is Very Useful To Have Gone Astray, And Thus Acquire Experience.

It Will Be As Well, I Think, To Explain These Locutions Of God, And To Describe What The Soul Feels When It Receives Them.

Prayer Is A Friendly Conversation With The One We Know Loves Us.

Dream That The More You Struggle, The More You Prove The Love That You Bear Your God, And The More You Will Rejoice One Day With Your Beloved, In A Happiness And Rapture That Can Never End.

God Never Changes; Patient Endurance Attains To All Things; Who God Possesses In Nothing Is Wanting; Alone God Suffices.

If We Learn To Love The Earth, We Will Find Labyrinths, Gardens, Fountains And Precious Jewels! A Whole New World Will Open Itself To Us. We Will Discover What It Means To Be Truly Alive.

The Saints Rejoiced At Injuries And Persecutions, Because In Forgiving Them They Had Something To Present To God When They Prayed To Him.

Let Him Never Cease From Prayer Who Has Once Begun It, Be His Life Ever So Wicked; For Prayer Is The Way To Amend It, And Without Prayer Such Amendment Will Be Much More Difficult.

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Winifred Holtby

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