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As for what concerns our relations with our fellow men, the anguish in our neighbor's soul must break all precept. All that we do is a means to an end, but love is an end in itself, because God is love.

Lay all your cares about the future trustingly in God's hands, and let yourself be guided by the Lord just like a little child...

To stand before the face of the living God that is our vocation. The holy prophet (Elijah) set us an example. He stood before God’s face because this was the eternal treasure for whose sake he gave up all earthly goods.

Contemplation is perceived more frequently in the will under the form of love, than in the intellect under the form of knowledge.

We must, above all, pray as the Savior Himself has taught us so insistently. “Ask and it shall be given you.” This is the certain promise of being heard. And if we pray every day with all our heart: “Lord, thy will be done,” we may well trust that we shall not have failed to do God’s will even when we no longer have subjective certainty.

In order to be an image of God, the spirit must turn to what is eternal, hold it in spirit, keep it in memory, and by loving it, embrace it in the will.

A created spirit can ascend to God only by rising above itself, God, in a a word, as Creator and preserver of every being, is the foundation that upholds them all. That which ascends to Him, at the same time descends to its most secure center of gravity.

O my God, fill my soul with holy joy, courage and strength to serve You. Enkindle Your love in me and then walk with me along the next stretch of road before me. I do not see very far ahead, but when I have arrived where the horizon now closes down, a new prospect will prospect will open before me, and I shall meet it with peace.

It is the nature of things that before a decisive step, one thinks over what one is leaving and what one is going to face. It must be like that: one places oneself in the hands of God, without any human certainty, in order to relish a truer and more profound security.

The cross is not an end in itself. It beckons one toward the summit. Therefore it is not only a standard, it is also Christ's powerful weapon, the triumphal symbol with which He knocks at the gate of heaven and throws it wide.

The dark night becomes the school of all the virtues: it trains one to resignation, to patience, from the moment that one is faithful to the spiritual life without finding consolation and refreshment in it. The soul attains a high degree of love of God, inasmuch as it acts solely according to His will.

God created us in His image. What does the divine image in the human being mean? Briefly summarized, the answer may be found in the words of the Lord: 'You shall be perfect as your Father in Heaven.' I want to point out that the divine image is set forth as a challenge, as vocation or destiny for the human being.