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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.

-Teresa Of Avila

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We May Think It

Teresa Of Avila

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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.

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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 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

Thank God For The Things That I Do Not Own.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

Patient Endurance Attends To All Things.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

If You Fall Sometimes, You Must Not Be Discouraged.

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.

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

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.

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

Christ Has No Body Now On Earth But Yours.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Infinite Possibilities

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

He Who Has God Finds He Is Lacking Nothing.

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

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.

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.

The Hour I Have Long Wished For Is Now Come.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

God, Deliver Me From Sullen Saints.

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.

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

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

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

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

I 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.

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

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

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

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

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.

Anyone Who Truly Loves God Travels Securely.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Pain Is Never Permanent.

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

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.

Be Kind To All And Severe To Thyself.

All Times Are Dangerous Times.

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

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.

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.

After You Die, You Wear What You Are.

Near Death Experience

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

Possible And Impossible

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.

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.

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

Life Is A Night Spent In An Uncomfortable Inn.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

Never Exaggerate, But Express Your Feelings With Moderation.

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

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

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.

From Moment To Moment One Can Bear Much.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

Never Affirm Anything Unless You Are Sure It Is True.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

[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

Don't Let Your Sins Turn Into Bad Habits.

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.

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

Be Gentle To All And Stern With Yourself.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

May God Protect Me From Gloomy Saints.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

It Is A Dangerous Thing To Be Satisfied With Ourselves.

Dangerous Things

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.

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

Nothing Is Small If God Accepts It.

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

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

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

Patience Obtains Everything.

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.

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

Teach By Works More Than Words.

One Always Goes On As One Begins.

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William Kingdon Clifford

Christina Aguilera

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