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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.

-Teresa Of Avila

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If We Do Not

Teresa Of Avila

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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.

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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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

It Is Love Alone That Gives Worth To All Things.

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.

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?

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.

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

God Gave Us Faculties For Our Use; Each Of Them Will Receive Its Proper Reward. Then Do Not Let Us Try To Charm Them To Sleep, But Permit Them To Do Their Work Until Divinely Called To Something Higher.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Never Affirm Anything Unless You Are Sure It Is True.

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

[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

Love Turns Work Into Rest.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Truth Suffers, But Never Dies.

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.

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.

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.

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

It Is A Dangerous Thing To Be Satisfied With Ourselves.

Dangerous Things

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

One Always Goes On As One Begins.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

Patient Endurance Attends To All Things.

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

Possible And Impossible

Nothing Is Small If God Accepts It.

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

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.

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.

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 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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Thank God For The Things That I Do Not Own.

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.

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

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.

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.

Settle Yourself In Solitude, And You Will Come Upon God In Yourself.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

May God Protect Me From Gloomy Saints.

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

Christ Has No Body Now On Earth But Yours.

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

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

After You Die, You Wear What You Are.

Near Death Experience

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

If You Fall Sometimes, You Must Not Be Discouraged.

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

He Who Has God Finds He Is Lacking Nothing.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Let There Be No Disappointment When Obedience Keeps You Busy In Outward Tasks. If It Sends You To The Kitchen, Remember That The Lord Walks Among The Pots And Pans.

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

Never Compare One Person With Another: Comparisons Are Odious.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

God Is Even Kinder Than You Think.

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.

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.

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

Teach By Works More Than Words.

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?

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.

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

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.

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.

Pain Is Never Permanent.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Lord, How Thou Dost Afflict Thy Lovers!

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

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

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.

Happy The Heart Where Love Has Come To Birth.

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

Infinite Possibilities

Be Kind To All And Severe To Thyself.

Christ Moves Along The Pots And Pans.

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

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

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

All Times Are Dangerous Times.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Life Is A Night Spent In An Uncomfortable Inn.

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

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.

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

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