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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.

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 failed to do God’s will even when we no longer have subjective certainty.

Hope creates an emptiness in the memory constraining it to occupy itself with something it does not yet possess. It teaches us to hope for everything from God and for nothing from ourselves or from other creatures; to hope for eternal happiness from Him and therefore to renounce every pleasure and possession in this life.

I believe I see my task in a clearer and more precise way. This also means seeing my ineptitude ever more deeply, but at the same time also the possibility of being an instrument in spite of everything.

The spiritual life must be nourished, especially when one has to give much to others.

If you put yourself completely into the hands of the Lord, you can trust that you are being guided safely. What you surrender to Him is never lost; it is preserved, purified, and elevated and balanced to the correct proportions.

You are not the only one to make mistakes day after day -- we all do it. But the Lord is patient and full of mercy. In his household of grace he can use our faults, too, if we lay them on the altar for him.

One attains possession of a knowledge of the cross only when one experiences the cross to the very depths.

We have to learn to see others carry the cross and not be able to remove it from them. It is more difficult than to carry our own, but we cannot avoid it.

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.

Finally, misguided joy in their own works "makes them incapable of taking counsel and of receiving reasonable instructions" about what they ought to do. "Such souls become very slack in charity toward God and neighbor for the self-love contained in their works makes them grow cold in charity."

quoting St. John of the Cross

Faith is obscure knowledge; it thus leads us to knowledge of something, but this something we do not get to see. This is the reason why it must also be said that the end we attain by way of faith is also itself a night: God, even in ecstatic union, remains hidden to us on earth. The eye of our soul is absolutely unable to sustain His dazzling light for which it gropes as in a dark night.