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Mark well, however, that self-knowledge is indispensable, even for those whom God takes to dwell in the same mansion with Himself. Nothing else, however elevated, perfects the soul which must never seek to forget its own nothingness. Let humility be always at work, like the bee at the honeycomb, or all will be lost. But, remember, the bee leaves its hive to fly in search of flowers and the soul should sometimes cease thinking of itself to rise in meditation on the grandeur and majesty of its God. It will learn its own baseness better thus than by self-contemplation, and will be freer from the reptiles which enter the first room where self-knowledge is acquired.

Int. Castle Ch2.9

Since the delight arising from the sigh of Your being and beauty is unendurable, and since I must die in seeing You, may the vision of Your beauty be my death.

SC 11:6

So I kiss my crucifix and lay it gently on the pillow whilst I am dressing, saying: My Jesus, You wept and labored for thirty-three years upon earth. Today You must rest...it is my turn to fight and suffer.

Ah, my Lord and my God! How many go to You looking for their own consolation and gratification and desiring that You grant them favors and gifts, but those wanting to give You pleasure and something at a cost to themselves, setting aside their own interests, are few.

DN 2, 19:4

Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts. Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity.

But we think we are giving God everything, whereas what we are really offering Him is the revenue or the fruits of our land while keeping the stock and the right of ownership of it in our own hands.

I give Him my body with all its strength, without the least reservation of myself. I give Him my soul with all its powers and faculties. In a word I give my entire being, desiring only one thing: that my life may be from now on incense perpetually rising toward God in order to please Him.

O Lord, what does it matter, when I can retire within myself, enlightened by faith, whether I feel or don't feel, whether I am in light or darkness, enjoy or do not enjoy?  I am struck by a kind of shame at making any distinction between such things...Help me to exalt You...above the sweetness and consolations which flow from You, because I have resolved to pass by all else in order to be united with You.

Thus you must undertake all things, agreeable or disagreeable, for the sole purpose of pleasing God through them.

Love is swift, sincere, pious, pleasant and delightful; strong, patient, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, courageous, and never seeking itself: for where a man seeks himself, there he falls from love.

Today we will not spread the message through discussion- people no longer believe in it- not even through good

works! The best means is through the witness of someone who is possessed and captivated by God; who by their

words and behavior allow God to be seen.

Only at the moment in which the soul for love of God divests itself of all that is not God - and love is just this! - can it be enlightened and transformed in God.