…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. -John of…
…you have only to stay close to the crucified and your suffering is the best prayer. -St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
No one can be for God what I ought to be for Him. -Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, OCD
Let us live with God as with a Friend. Let us make our faith a living thing, so as to remain in communion with Him through everything. That is how saints are made. -St. Elizabeth of the Trinity
I do not count on my own merits, since I have none, but I trust in Him who is Virtue and Sanctity Itself. -St.Therese
A love of pleasure, and attachment to it, usually fires the will toward enjoyment of things that give pleasure. A more intense enkindling of another, better love (love of the soul’s Bridegroom) is necessary for the vanquishing of the appetites and the denial of this pleasure. By finding satisfaction and…
But they, O my God and my life, will see and experience Your mild touch, who withdraw from the world and become mild, bringing the mild into harmony with the mild, thus enabling themselves to experience and enjoy You. – St. John of the Cross
Look at my whole life filled with suffering, and only in the incident on Mount Tabor do you hear about my joy. The great saints…spent long periods without any spiritual consolation. – St. Teresa of Avila
Our Beloved does not need our brilliant deeds nor our beautiful thoughts. If He wanted sublime concepts, has He not the angels, who surpass in knowledge the greatest geniuses of the world? -St. Therese
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…