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The poverty of the Carmelite is very great. She can possess nothing, and this is an assurance that her whole capacity for possessing is filled with God alone. By being poor she becomes more like her divine Spouse, who did not have a place to lay His head. The Carmelite possesses God alone.

Do not let your weakness make you unhappy. When, in the morning, we feel no courage or strength for the practice of virtue, it is really a grace: it is the time to 'lay the axe to the root of the trees,' (Matt. 3:10) relying upon Jesus alone.

Do not let your weakness make you unhappy. When, in the morning, we feel no courage or strength for the practice of virtue, it is really a grace: it is the time to 'lay the axe to the root of the trees,' (Matt. 3:10) relying upon Jesus alone.

It is in prayer that the soul learns to know Jesus and thus to love him. Since love cannot be satisfied with difference but with equality, the result is union in similarity.

It is not the soul that makes the progress, but it is Christ, who carries her as a child is carried.

Jesus deigns to point out to me the only way which leads to Love's divine furnace, and that way is self-surrender: it is the confidence of the little child who sleeps without fear in its father's arms.

In truth, it is impossible that a heart which can find rest only in contemplation of the Tabernacle-and yours is such, you tell me- could so far offend Our Lord as not to be able to receive Him. . . . What does offend Jesus, what wounds Him to the Heart, is want of confidence.

A work done without a feeling of pleasure is more pleasing to God than many others done with great delight and feeling. Therefore, when you find yourself in a state of dryness and depression, be glad and exult that God has deigned to give you those greater gifts and sweetest viands that He is wont to offer to those who are dearer to Him and more beloved by Him.

Feed not your spirit on anything but God. Cast off concern about things, and bear peace and recollection in your heart.

If we abandon ourselves, and place our confidence in God, while making every small effort and hoping for everything from His mercy, we shall be rewarded as much as the greatest saints.

The whole aim of any person who is beginning prayer-and don't forget this, because it's very important-should be that he work and prepare himself with determination and every possible effort to bring his will into conformity with God's will...The greatest perfection attainable along the spiritual path lies in this conformity.

Those who now desire to question God or receive some vision or revelation are guilty not only of foolish behavior but of also offending Him by not fixing their eyes entirely on Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty.