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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.

-Teresa Of Avila

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Those Who Give Themselves

Teresa Of Avila

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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.

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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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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Anyone Who Truly Loves God Travels Securely.

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The Hour I Have Long Wished For Is Now Come.

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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.

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

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It Is A Dangerous Thing To Be Satisfied With Ourselves.

Dangerous Things

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.

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It Is Love Alone That Gives Worth To All Things.

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

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 Moves Along The Pots And Pans.

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

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.

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

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

After You Die, You Wear What You Are.

Near Death Experience

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Be Gentle To All And Stern With Yourself.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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?

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.

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 Closer One Approaches To God, The Simpler One Becomes.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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?

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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

[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

One Always Goes On As One Begins.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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?

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.

Never Compare One Person With Another: Comparisons Are Odious.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

May God Protect Me From Gloomy Saints.

Thank God For The Things That I Do Not Own.

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

He Who Has God Finds He Is Lacking Nothing.

I Only Wish I Could Write With Both Hands, So As Not To Forget One Thing While I Am Saying Another.

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

Life Is A Night Spent In An Uncomfortable Inn.

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

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Love Turns Work Into Rest.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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