In order to allow an entire human existence to be pervaded with divine life, it is not enough to kneel down once a year in front of the manger and allow oneself to be taken in by the spell of the Holy Night. One must be actively engaged with God…
Would you like to be the plaything Of this Child so fair and sweet? Would you, dear one! like to please Him? Then lie humbly at His feet. If He chooses to caress you, If He lifts you to His breast, Yes, if He seems tired of you, Count yourself…
“When I think how much I have to acquire!” said a sister to St. Therese. “Say rather ‘to lose’” Therese answered, “for Jesus has charge of filling your soul with virtues as fast as you will get rid of the imperfections.” – St. Therese
So I have experience that the true remedy against a fall is to be attached to the cross and trust in Him who placed Himself on it. – St. Teresa of Avila
With daring confidence, and reckless of self, I will remain there till death, my gaze fixed upon the Divine Sun. Nothing shall affright me, neither wind or rain; and should impenetrable clouds conceal from my eyes the Orb of Love, should it seem to me that beyond this life there…
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. – St. Teresa of Avila
To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul. It is Jesus alone who can give such value to our actions. Let us then love Him with all our heart. -St. Therese
His Majesty couldn’t grant us a greater favor than to give us a life that would be an imitation of the life His beloved Son lived. – St. Teresa of Avila
In these aridities the soul practices corporally and spiritually all the virtues, theological as well as cardinal and moral. – St. John of the Cross
We shouldn’t build castles in the air. The Lord doesn’t look so much at the greatness of our works, but at the love with which they are done. -St. Teresa of Avila