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Whoever lives in the presence of so good a friend and excellent a leader as is Jesus Christ can endure all things. Christ helps us and strengthens us and never fails; he is a true friend...What more do we desire from such a good friend at our side, who will not abandon us in our labors and tribulations, as friends in the world do. Blessed is the one who truly loves him and keeps him near.

I wish I could persuade everyone to be devoted to this glorious saint (St. Joseph), for I have great experience of the blessings which he can obtain from God. I have never known anyone to be truly devoted to him and render him particular services who did not notably advance in virtue, for he gives very real help to souls who commend themselves to him. For some years now, I think, I have made some request of him every year on his festival and I have always had it granted. If my petition is in any way ill directed, he directs it aright for my greater good.

Do you think it possible that anyone who really and truly loves God can love vanities, riches, worldly pleasures or honors? Can he engage in strife or feel envy? No; for his only desire is to please the Beloved.

One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer.

If you have confidence in Him and have courageous spirits--for His Majesty is very fond of these--you need not fear that He will fail you in anything.

I saw an angel appear in bodily form close by my left side .... He was not large, but small, and extremely beautiful," Teresa wrote. "His face was aflame with fire so much that he appeared to be one of the highest ranks of angels, those that we call seraphim or cherubim. Their names, angels never tell me, but I'm well aware that in heaven there are great differences between different types of angels, though I can't explain it.

True poverty of spirit...means being at rest in labors and dryness and not seeking consolation or comfort in prayer...but seeking consolation in trials for love of Him who always lived in the midst of them.

If I ask You to free me from a trial, and the purpose of that trial is my mortification, what is it that I'm asking for, my God?

I have written, God does not allow us to drink of this water of perfect contemplation whenever we like: the choice is not ours; this Divine union is something quite supernatural, given that it may cleanse the soul and leave it pure and free from the mud and misery in which it has been plunged because of its sins.

This path of self knowledge must never be abandoned, nor is there on this journey a soul so much a giant that it has no need to return often to the stage of an infant and a suckling. And this should never be forgotten.

I understood the great blessing there is in not paying attention to what doesn't bring us closer to God.

In my opinion we shall never completely know ourselves if we don't strive to know God. By gazing at His grandeur, we get in touch with our own lowliness; by looking at His purity, we shall see our own filth; by pondering His humility, we shall see how far we are from being humble.