Background Image

...

As To The Aridity You Are Suffering From, It Seems To Me Our Lord Is Treating You Like Someone He Considers Strong: He Wants To Test You And See If You Love Him As Much At Times Of Aridity As When He Sends You Consolations. I Think This Is A Very Great Favor For God To Show You.

-Teresa Of Avila

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

As To The Aridity

Teresa Of Avila

...

As To The Aridity You Are Suffering From, It Seems To Me Our Lord Is Treating You Like Someone He Considers Strong: He Wants To Test You And See If You Love Him As Much At Times Of Aridity As When He Sends You Consolations. I Think This Is A Very Great Favor For God To Show You.

Views: 23731

Topic

More From Teresa Of Avila

Souls Who Do Not Practice Prayer Are Like People Whose Limbs Are Paralyzed.

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

Christ Has No Body Now On Earth But Yours, No Hands, No Feet But Yours. Yours Are The Eyes With Which Christ Looks Out His Compassion To The World. Yours Are The Feet With Which He Is To Go About Doing Good. Yours Are The Hands With Which He Is To Bless Us Now.

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.

But The Fact Is, Things Always Seem To Come Slowly When You Are Longing For Them.

Thank God For The Things That I Do Not Own.

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.

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.

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.

Whenever We Think Of Christ, We Should Recall The Love That Led Him To Bestow On Us So Many Graces And Favors, And Also The Great Love God Showed In Giving Us In Christ A Pledge Of His Love; For Love Calls For Love In Return. Let Us Strive To Keep This Always Before Our Eyes And To Rouse Ourselves To Love Him.

Pain Is Never Permanent.

Nothing Is Small If God Accepts It.

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

Vocal Prayer . . . Must Be Accompanied By Reflection. A Prayer In Which A Person Is Not Aware Of Whom He Is Speaking To, What He Is Asking, Who It Is Who Is Asking And Of Whom, I Don't Call Prayer-however Much The Lips May Move.

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.

Whoever Has God Lacks Nothing. God Alone Suffices.

If I Were To Give Advice, I Would Say To Parents That They Ought To Be Very Careful Whom They Allow To Mix With Their Children When Young; For Much Mischief Thence Ensues, And Our Natural Inclinations Are Unto Evil Rather Than Unto Good.

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

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.

All Times Are Dangerous Times.

Be Happy When You Are Blamed And Accused Wrongly, For Then You Have The Chance To See All The Bitter, Hostile Or Self-pitying Responses That Your Sinful Soul Wants To Spew Out - As If These Puny Things Could In Any Way Defend You! Watch And See If Any Of These Poisons Come Out Of You When Your Spirit Is Pricked By An Accusation. Only Then Can You See Yourself As You Are, And Confess Thy Sin That Is Within You And Forsake Yourself Again Into The Lord's Care.

There Seem To Me A Great Many Blessings Which Come From True Poverty And I Should Be Sorry To Be Deprived Of Them.

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.

For, As I Said A Little Way Back, Perfect Souls Are In No Way Repelled By Trials, But Rather Desire Them And Pray For Them And Love Them. They Are Like Soldiers: The More Wars There Are, The Better They Are Pleased, Because They Hope To Emerge From Them With The Greater Riches.

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

Love Turns Work Into Rest.

If You Seek To Carry No Other Crosses But Those Whose Reason You Understand, Perfection Is Not For You.

Strive To Close The Eyes Of The Body And Open Those Of The Soul And Look Into Your Own Heart.

One Always Goes On As One Begins.

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

I Thought Of The Soul As Resembling A Castle, Formed Of A Single Diamond Or A Very Transparent Crystal, And Containing Many Rooms, Just As In Heaven There Are Many Mansions.

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.

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 Is Here, My Daughters, That Love Is To Be Found - Not Hidden Away In Corners But In The Midst Of Occasions Of Sin. And Believe Me, Although We May More Often Fail And Commit Small Lapses, Our Gain Will Be Incomparably The Greater.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

How Often I Failed In My Duty To God, Because I Was Not Leaning On The Strong Pillar Of Prayer.

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 Don't Know What Heavy Penance Could Have Come To Mind That Frequently I Would Not Have Gladly Undertaken Rather Than Recollect Myself In The Practice Of Prayer.

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.

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.

Happy The Heart Where Love Has Come To Birth.

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

People In The World Pay Little Heed To Reason Where Their Own Interests Are Involved.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Contemplative Prayer [oración Mental] In My Opinion Is Nothing Else Than A Close Sharing Between Friends; It Means Taking Time Frequently To Be Alone With Him Who We Know Loves Us.

Keep This In Mind, For It Is Very Important Advice, So Do Not Neglect It Until You Find You Have Such A Fixed Determination Not To Offend The Lord That You Would Rather Lose A Thousand Lives And Be Persecuted By The Whole World, Than Commit One Mortal Sin, And Until You Are Most Careful Not To Commit Venial Sins.

Our Greatest Gain Is To Lose The Wealth That Is Of Such Brief Duration And, By Comparison With Eternal Things, Of Such Little Worth; Yet We Get Upset About It And Our Gain Turns To Loss.

How Poor Is The Wisdom Of Men, And How Uncertain Their Forecast!

Life Is A Night Spent In An Uncomfortable Inn.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

A Slight Failing In One Virtue Is Enough To Put All The Others To Sleep.

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.

Learn To Self-conquest, Persevere Thus For A Time, And You Will Perceive Very Clearly The Advantage Which You Gain From It. As Soon You Apply Yourself To Orison, You Will At Once Feel Your Senses Gather Themselves Together: They Seem Like Bees Which Return To The Hive And There Shut Themselves Up To Work At The Making Of Honey. At The First Call Of The Will, They Come Back More And More Quickly. At Last, After Countless Exercises, Of This Kind, God Disposes Them To A State Of Utter Rest And Of Perfect Contemplation.

Love Makes Labour Light. Love Alone Gives Value To All Things.

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

It Is Certain That The Love Of God Does Not Consist In This Sweetness And Tenderness Which We For The Most Part Desire; But Rather In Serving Him In Justice, Fortitude, And Humility. His Majesty Seeks And Loves Courageous Souls.

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.

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.

Christ Moves Along The Pots And Pans.

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.

However Softly We Speak, God Is Near Enough To Hear Us.

May I Not Come Before You With Empty Hands, Since We Are Rewarded According To Our Deeds.

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

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?

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.

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.

True Love Grows By Sacrifice And The More Thoroughly The Soul Rejects Natural Satisfaction The Stronger And More Detached Its Tenderness Becomes.

May God Protect Me From Gloomy Saints.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

The Tree That Is Beside The Running Water Is Fresher And Gives More Fruit.

Those Seeking The Life Of The Spirit Should Be Cheerful And Free, And Not Neglect Recreation. Married People Must Act In Conformity With Their Vocation--but Their Progress Will Of Necessity Be But The Pace Of A Hen.

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.

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

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

Let Thy Words Be Few When In The Midst Of Many.

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

Do Not Think You Have Gained A Virtue Unless You Have First Been Tried By Its Opposite.

It Is Not A Matter Of Thinking A Great Deal But Of Loving A Great Deal, So Do Whatever Arouses You Most To Love.

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.

The Feeling Remains That God Is On The Journey, Too.

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.

Never Do Anything Which You Could Not Do In The Sight Of All.

We Can Only Learn To Know Ourselves And Do What We Can - Namely, Surrender Our Will And Fulfill God's Will In Us.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

What A Miserable Life Is This! There Is No Happiness That Is Secure And Nothing That Does Not Change.

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

Mental Prayer Is Nothing Else But Being On Terms Of Friendship With God, Frequently Conversing In Secret With Him.

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

Possible And Impossible

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

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.

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.

Every Part Of The Journey Is Of Importance To The Whole.

He Who Has God Finds He Is Lacking Nothing.

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

Praised Be The Lord, Who Has Redeemed Me From Myself.

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.

Be Gentle To All And Stern With Yourself.

Out Of Suffering Comes The Serious Mind; Out Of Salvation, The Grateful Heart; Out Of Endurance, Fortitude; Out Of Deliverance Faith. Patient Endurance Attends To All Things.

Love Draws Forth Love.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

True Perfection Consists In The Love Of God And Our Neighbour, And The Better We Keep Both These Commandments, The More Perfect We Shall Be.

The Devil Put Before Me That I Could Not Endure The Trials Of The Religious Life, Because Of My Delicate Nurture. I Defended Myself Against Him By Alleging The Trials Which Christ Endured, And That It Was Not Much For Me To Suffer Something For His Sake; Besides, He Would Help Me To Bear It.

Any Real Ecstasy Is A Sign You Are Moving In The Right Direction.

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

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

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

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

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

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

It Is A Dangerous Thing To Be Satisfied With Ourselves.

Dangerous Things

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

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

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

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?

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

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.

After You Die, You Wear What You Are.

Near Death Experience

As To The Aridity You Are Suffering From, It Seems To Me Our Lord Is Treating You Like Someone He Considers Strong: He Wants To Test You And See If You Love Him As Much At Times Of Aridity As When He Sends You Consolations. I Think This Is A Very Great Favor For God To Show You.

Christ Has No Body Now On Earth But Yours.

Teach By Works More Than Words.

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

Her Heart Is Full Of Joy With Love, For In The Lord Her Mind Is Stilled. She Has Renounced Every Selfish Attachment And Draws Abiding Joy And Strength From The One Within. She Lives Not For Herself, But Lives To Serve The Lord Of Love In All, And Swims Across The Sea Of Life Breasting Its Rough Waves Joyfully.

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

God, Deliver Me From Sullen Saints.

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

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

The Closer One Approaches To God, The Simpler One Becomes.

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 Us Remember That Within Us There Is A Palace Of Immense Magnificence.

There Was The Torture Of Sermons, And That Not A Slight One, For I Was Very Fond Of Them.

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.

Truth Suffers, But Never Dies.

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

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

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.

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

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

I Felt A Great Dislike To Journeys, Especially When They Were Long. But Once I Had Started, I Thought Nothing Of Them, Thinking Of Him For Whose Service They Were Undertaken And Remembering That Our Lord Would Be Praised And The Most Holy Sacrament Would Dwell In The House I Was Going To Found... It Should Be A Great Consolation To Us - Though Many Of Us Do Not Think Of It - That Jesus Christ, True God And True Man, Dwells As He Does In So Many Places In The Most Holy Sacrament

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.

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

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

From Moment To Moment One Can Bear Much.

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

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

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.

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

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

Lord, How Thou Dost Afflict Thy Lovers!

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.

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

The Hour I Have Long Wished For Is Now Come.

Trust God That You Are Exactly Where You Are Meant To Be.

Infinite Possibilities

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.

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

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

All Things Pass... Patience Attains All It Strives For.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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!

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.

Never Compare One Person With Another: Comparisons Are Odious.

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

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

Trending Author

Jan Peter Balkenende

Wilhelm Ostwald

Category