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He reaches out His hand to us, the very moment He sees us fully convinced of our nothingness, and hears us cry out: My foot stumbles Lord, but Your mercy is my strength (Ps. 93: 18). Should we attempt great things, however, even under pretext of zeal, He deserts us. So all we have to do is to humble ourselves, to bear with meekness our imperfections. Herein lies for us true holiness.

Be convinced that where humility is truly present, God will give a peace and conformity — even though He may never give consolations — by which one will walk with greater contentment than will others with their consolations.

If a person wishes to gain freedom of spirit and not be always troubled, let him begin by not being frightened by the cross, and he will see how the Lord also helps him carry it.

Until slumber comes to the appetites through the mortification of sensuality, and until this very sensuality is stilled in such a way that the appetites do not war against the spirit, the soul will not walk out to genuine freedom, to the enjoyment of union with its Beloved.

One must go to the Lord with confidence. Fear makes the spirit troubled, and a troubled spirit cannot raise itself to God.

The devil through very small things drills holes through which very large things enter.

Our life is the life of heaven. St John of the Cross has said that the contemplative has no task here below that she will not have in heaven. The difference is that on earth that task is done in the obscurity of faith; in heaven there will be no veil between God and us.

And when the soul suffers the direct assault of this Divine light, its pain, which results from its impurity, is immense; because, when this pure light assails the soul, in order to expel its impurity, the soul feels itself to be so impure and miserable that it believes God to be against it, and thinks that it has set itself up against God.

For years I have not belonged to myself, I have surrendered myself wholly to Jesus, and He is free to do with me whatsoever He pleases.

It should be noted here that, when we desire anyone’s affection, we always seek it because of some interest, profit or pleasure of our own....When this truth is put to them, they laugh at the distress which had been assailing them in the past as to whether their affection was being returned or no. Of course, however pure our affection may be, it is quite natural for us to wish it to be returned. But, when we come to evaluate the return of affection, we realize that it is insubstantial, like a thing of straw, as light as air and easily carried away by the wind.

How serious life is: each minute is given us in order to "root" us deeper in God, as Saint Paul says, so the resemblance to our divine Model may be more striking, the union more intimate. But to accomplish this plan, which is that of God Himself, here is the secret: forget self, give up self, ignore self, look at the Master, look only at Him, accept as coming directly from His love both joy and suffering...

Beg our Lord to grant you perfect love of neighbor and leave the rest to Him.