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Believe me, in the presence of Infinite Wisdom, ...one act of humility is worth more than all the knowledge of the world.

Oh, by how many things was I offended! I am ashamed now...I didn't consider or pay any heed to the honor that is beneficial; that is, the honor that benefits the soul.

Love is always stirring and thinking about what it will do. It cannot contain itself.

I already told you elsewhere that sometimes the devil gives us great desires so that we will avoid setting ourselves to the task at hand, serving our Lord in possible things, and instead be content with having desired the impossible. Apart from the fact that by prayer you will be helping greatly, you need not be desiring to benefit the whole world but must concentrate on those who are in your company, and thus your deed will be greater since you are more obliged toward them.

Remember that there are few souls who stay with Him and follow Him in His trials...In many places He is neglected and ill-treated, but He suffers everything and will continue to do so, if He finds but one single soul which will receive Him and love to have Him as its Guest. Let this soul be yours then.

Just as we cannot stop the movement of the heavens, but they proceed in rapid motion, so neither can we stop our mind; and then the faculties of the soul go with it, and we think we are lost and have wasted the time spent before God. But the soul is perhaps completely joined with Him in the dwelling places very close to the center while the mind is on the outskirts of the castle suffering from a thousand wild and poisonous beasts, and meriting by this suffering. As a result we should not be disturbed; nor should we abandon prayer, which is what the devil wants us to do. For the most part all the trials and disturbances come from our not understanding ourselves.

The most potent and acceptable prayer is the prayer that leaves the best effects. I don't mean it must immediately fill the soul with desire . . . The best effects are those that are followed up by actions...when the soul not only desires the honor of God, but really strives for it.

Oh how desirable is this union with God's will! Happy is the soul that has reached it. Such a soul will live tranquilly in this life, and in the next as well. Nothing in earthly events afflicts it unless it finds itself in some danger of losing God or sees that He is offended: neither sickness, nor poverty, nor death...for the soul sees well that the Lord knows what He is doing better than it knows what it is desiring.

However wretched and imperfect my good works have been, this Lord of mine has been improving them, perfecting them and making them of greater worth, and yet hiding my evil deeds and my sins as soon as they have been committed.

Forget your self-interests for theirs, however much they rebel: when opportunity occurs take some burden upon yourself to ease your neighbor of it.

Now, then, to enjoy a part in His kingdom and want no part in His dishonors and trials is nonsense.

I only think that the soul comes out of the crucible like gold, more refined and purified, so as to see the Lord within itself. So afterward these trials that seemed unbearable become small.