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…
Courage, my sister, the yoke of a Carmelite is necessarily very light or very heavy in proportion as one’s courage bears it or one’s cowardice drags it. – Teresa of St. Augustine, OCD
Lonely valleys are quiet, pleasant, cool, shady and flowing with fresh waters; in the variety of their groves and in the sweet song of the birds, they afford abundant recreation and delight…and in their solitude and silence they refresh and give rest. These valleys are what my Beloved is to…
Beg our Lord to grant you perfect love of neighbor and leave the rest to Him. -St. Teresa of Avila
Our knowledge is piecemeal. When our will and action build on it alone, they cannot achieve a perfect structure. Nor can that knowledge, because it does not have complete power over the self and often collapses before reaching the goal. And so this inner shaping power that is in bondage…
Good works wrought in the season of spiritual dryness and hardness are like the freshness of the winter morning. What we then do for God in dryness of spirit is most precious in His eyes. It is then that we acquire abundant virtues and graces, and what we achieve with…
The soul must forget about understanding, and abandon itself into the arms of love, and His Majesty will teach it what to do next. – St. Teresa of Avila
“To watch in prayer”- this is to say the same thing that Elijah said with the words, “to stand before the face of God.” Prayer is looking up into the face of the Eternal. We can do this only when the spirit is awake in its inmost depths, freed from…
You are nearer to me than myself more intimate than my inmost being. And yet no one touches you or understands you and you break the bonds of every name: Holy Spirit – Eternal Love! – St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein)
Preserve a habitual remembrance of eternal life, recalling that those who hold themselves the lowest and poorest and least of all will enjoy the highest dominion and glory in God. – St. John of the Cross