Archive

If your nature provides you with ... a battleground, do not be discouraged ... love your wretchedness, for it is upon that that God exercises His mercy! When the sight of it plunges you into sadness, or drives you in upon yourself, that is self-love. In your hours of weakness, go and take refuge in the prayer of the Divine Master.

...I imagine her passing by, so beautiful, so calm and so majestic, so absorbed in recollection of the Word of God within her. Like Him, her prayer was always this: "Ecce. Here I am." Who? "The servant of the Lord," the lowliest of His creatures: she, His Mother! Her humility was so real, for she was always forgetful of self, free from all anxiety.

It is there in the very depths that the divine impact takes place, where the abyss of our nothingness encounters the Abyss of mercy, the immensity of the all of God. There we will find the strength to die to ourselves and, losing all vestige of self, we will be changed into love... "Blessed are those who die in the Lord!

A soul that would live in faith, beneath the eyes of God, that would have the ‘single eye’ of which Our Lord speaks in the gospel, which is to say that purity of intention that looks only to God; that soul, I think, would also live in humility. It would know how to recognize the gifts it has received, for humility is truth; but it would take nothing of them to itself, referring all to God.

It is there in the very depths that the divine impact takes place, where the abyss of our nothingness encounters the Abyss of mercy, the immensity of the all of God. There we will find the strength to die to ourselves and, losing all vestige of self, we will be changed into love... "Blessed are those who die in the Lord!

What does it matter to the soul that is recollected in itself, enlightened by this Word, whether it feels or does not feel, whether it be in light or in darkness, in sensible joy or not? It is, as it were, ashamed to make any distinction between such things, while it feels that it is still affected by them and heartily despising itself for its want of love, it quickly turns its gaze upon its Master that He may deliver it.

If we thought more about our ‘origin’, dependence on created things would seem so futile that we should only despise them... The soul that is aware of this greatness enters into the holy freedom of the children of God, that is, it passes beyond all created things and beyond itself.

If your nature provides you with ... a battleground, do not be discouraged ... love your wretchedness, for it is upon that that God exercises His mercy! When the sight of it plunges you into sadness, or drives you in upon yourself, that is self-love. In your hours of weakness, go and take refuge in the prayer of the Divine Master.

When aglow with love, the soul ponders within itself God’s immensity, His faithfulness, the proofs of love He has shown us, His benefits to us ... the humble soul will never put God high enough nor itself low enough. But this is the wonderful thing: its powerlessness will be turned into wisdom, and the defeat of its humility — for never will it be sufficiently humble in its own eyes — will become the greatest source of sweetness in its life.

...I imagine her passing by, so beautiful, so calm and so majestic, so absorbed in recollection of the Word of God within her. Like Him, her prayer was always this: "Ecce. Here I am." Who? "The servant of the Lord," the lowliest of His creatures: she, His Mother! Her humility was so real, for she was always forgetful of self, free from all anxiety.

If your nature provides you with ... a battleground, do not be discouraged ... love your wretchedness, for it is upon that that God exercises His mercy! When the sight of it plunges you into sadness, or drives you in upon yourself, that is self-love. In your hours of weakness, go and take refuge in the prayer of the Divine Master.

When aglow with love, the soul ponders within itself God’s immensity, His faithfulness, the proofs of love He has shown us, His benefits to us ... the humble soul will never put God high enough nor itself low enough. But this is the wonderful thing: its powerlessness will be turned into wisdom, and the defeat of its humility — for never will it be sufficiently humble in its own eyes — will become the greatest source of sweetness in its life.