What did You possess, my Lord, but trials, sufferings, and dishonor?…In sum, my God, it does not fit those of us who want to be your true children, and hold on to their inheritance, to flee suffering. Your heraldry consists of five wounds. – St. Teresa of Avila
When you experience that interior cry of egotism, direct your mind and gaze to Jesus. Will you not have the strength to conquer this fault for love of Him? – St. Teresa of the Andes
The soul’s aim is a love equal to God’s. She always desired this equality, naturally and supernaturally, for lovers cannot be satisfied without feeling that they love as much as they are loved. – St. John of the Cross
God is ready to pardon a sinner who humbles himself. He looks with more love on a soul who returns to Him in Humility, than on a faithful soul who finds pleasure in its virtues. – Bl. Mary of Jesus Crucified
Who can lose confidence? For the Lord endured so much with me only because I desired and strove to have some place and time in order that He might be with me. Prayer is the door to favors as great as those He granted me. – St. Teresa of Avila
If trials are not suffered for God, they are worth nothing; if they are suffered for Him, His Majesty adapts them to our strength. Thus, if we are so afraid of them it is because we are fainthearted. – St. Teresa of Avila
In the patience and forbearance practiced in these voids and aridities, and through perseverance in its spiritual exercises without consolation or satisfaction, the soul practices the love of God, since it is no longer motivated by the attractive and savory gratification it finds in its work, but only by God.…
So, my Sisters, since in some way we can enjoy heaven on earth, be brave in begging the Lord to give us His grace in such a way that nothing will be lacking through our own fault; that He show us the way and strengthen the soul that it may…
Faith is the way that traverses the night leading to the goal of union with God; in it is accomplished the painful rebirth of the spirit, its transformation from natural being into supernatural being. – St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein)
Those who desire nothing else than God walk not in darkness, however poor and dark they are in their own sight. And those who walk not presumptuously, nor according to their own satisfactions, whether from God or from creatures, nor do their own will in anything, have nothing to stumble…