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. . . you must not build upon foundations of prayer and contemplation alone, for, unless you strive after the virtues and practice them, you will never grow to be more than dwarfs.

I am consoled to hear the clock strike, for at the passing of that hour of life it seems to me I am drawing a little closer to the vision of God.

Receiving Communion is not like picturing with the imagination, as when we reflect upon the Lord on the cross or in other episodes of the Passion, when we picture within ourselves how things happened to Him in the past. In Communion the event is happening now, and it is entirely true.

To have life is to live in such a way that there is no fear of death or of any of life's happenings, to have a habitual happiness...To what can the interior and exterior peace that you always enjoy be compared? It is in your power to live and to die with this peace.

Especially persons of prayer should always be attached to him (St. Joseph). For I don't know how one can think about the Queen of Angels and about when she went through so much with the Infant Jesus without giving thanks to St. Joseph for the good assistance he then provided them both with.

Don't imagine that, if you had a great deal of time, you would spend more of it in prayer. Get rid of that idea; it is no hindrance to prayer to spend your time well.

Remember that you have but one soul and have but once to die; no more than one short life, which is yours and yours only; that there is but one glory and that is eternal.

Reflect upon the providence and wisdom of God in all created things and praise Him in them all.

We are His, sisters, let Him do what He will with us, and lead us where He will. If we are really humble and annihilate ourselves, not only in our imagination (which often deceives us), but if we truly detach ourselves from all things, our Lord will not only grant us these favors but many others that we do not know even how to desire.

Sometimes He calls souls by means of sickness or troubles, or by some truth He teaches them during prayer, for tepid as they may be in seeking Him, yet God holds them very dear.

Whoever lives in the presence of so good a friend and excellent leader, who went ahead of us to be the first to suffer, can endure all things. The Lord helps us, strengthens us, and never fails.

Hence, don't pay any attention to the fears they raise or to the picture of the dangers they paint for you...Should anyone tell you that prayer is dangerous, consider him the real danger and run from him. Don't forget this counsel, for perhaps you will need it. There will be danger in not having humility and the other virtues. But that the way of prayer be a way of danger - God would never will that. It seems the devil has invented these fears, and so he has been skillful, apparently, in making some who have practiced prayer fall away.