Background Image

...

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.

-Teresa Of Avila

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

I Once Heard A

Teresa Of Avila

...

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.

Views: 14206

Topic

More From Teresa Of Avila

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

We Always Find That Those Who Walked Closest To Christ Were Those Who Had To Bear The Greatest Trials.

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.

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

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

Be Gentle To All And Stern With Yourself.

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

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

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

Life Is A Night Spent In An Uncomfortable Inn.

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

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.

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.

Oh, My Lord! How True It Is That Whoever Works For You Is Paid In Troubles! And What A Precious Price To Those Who Love You If We Understand Its Value.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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

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

If This Is The Way You Treat Your Friends, No Wonder You Have So Few!

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.

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.

Before Prayer, Endeavour To Realise Whose Presence You Are Approaching And To Whom You Are About To Speak, Keeping In Mind Whom You Are Addressing. If Our Lives Were A Thousand Times As Long As They Are We Should Never Fully Understand How We Ought To Behave Towards God, Before Whom The Very Angels Tremble, Who Can Do All He Wills, And With Whom To Wish Is To Accomplish.

Teach By Works More Than Words.

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

It Is A Dangerous Thing To Be Satisfied With Ourselves.

Dangerous Things

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.

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.

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

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

It Is True That We Cannot Be Free From Sin, But At Least Let Our Sins Not Always Be The Same.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

If You Fall Sometimes, You Must Not Be Discouraged.

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

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

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.

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?

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.

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

Don't Let Your Sins Turn Into Bad Habits.

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

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

Patience Obtains Everything.

Truth Suffers, But Never Dies.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Christ Does Not Force Our Will, He Only Takes What We Give Him. But He Does Not Give Himself Entirely Until He Sees That We Yield Ourselves Entirely To Him.

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

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

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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.

God, Deliver Me From Sullen Saints.

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

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.

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

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.

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 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.

I Had Many Friends To Help Me To Fall; But As To Rising Again, I Was So Much Left To Myself, That I Wonder Now I Was Not Always On The Ground. I Praise God For His Mercy; For It Was He Only Who Stretched Out His Hand To Me. May He Be Blessed For Ever! Amen.

[last Words:] My Lord, It Is Time To Move On. Well Then, May Your Will Be Done. O My Lord And My Spouse, The Hour That I Have Longed For Has Come. It Is Time To Meet One Another.

Time To Move On

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

Never Exaggerate, But Express Your Feelings With Moderation.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Whenever Conscience Commands Anything, There Is Only One Thing To Fear, And That Is Fear.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Never Affirm Anything Unless You Are Sure It Is True.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

God Is Even Kinder Than You Think.

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

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

Be Kind To All And Severe To Thyself.

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.

I Am Really Much More Afraid Of Those People Who Have So Great A Fear Of The Devil, Than I Am Of The Devil Himself.

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.

Love Turns Work Into Rest.

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.

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.

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.

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 Hour I Have Long Wished For Is Now Come.

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

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

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

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.

All Times Are Dangerous Times.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Nothing Is Small If God Accepts It.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Infinite Possibilities

Patient Endurance Attends To All Things.

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

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.

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

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.

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 Has Told Us, He Created Us In His Own Image And Likeness.

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.

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.

Lord, How Thou Dost Afflict Thy Lovers!

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.

From Moment To Moment One Can Bear Much.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

It Is Love Alone That Gives Worth To All Things.

One Always Goes On As One Begins.

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?

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.

May God Protect Me From Gloomy Saints.

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

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

After You Die, You Wear What You Are.

Near Death Experience

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.

Happy The Heart Where Love Has Come To Birth.

Untilled Soil, However Fertile It May Be, Will Bear Thistles And Thorns; So It Is With Man's Mind.

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?

O My God, What Must A Soul Be Like When It Is In This State! It Longs To Be All One Tongue With Which To Praise The Lord. It Utters A Thousand Pious Follies, In A Continuous Endeavor To Please Him Who Thus Possesses It.

Those Who Give Themselves To Prayer Should In A Special Manner Have Always A Devotion To St. Joseph; For I Know Not How Any Man Can Think Of The Queen Of The Angels, During The Time That She Suffered So Much With The Infant Jesus, Without Giving Thanks To St. Joseph For The Services He Rendered Them Then.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

How Is It, Lord, That We Are Cowards In Everything Save In Opposing Thee?

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.

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

Love Draws Forth Love.

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.

Never Compare One Person With Another: Comparisons Are Odious.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Trending Author

Category