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To have God in everything a soul must have nothing in everything, for how can a heart belong in any way to two people at once?

I do not remember even now that I have ever asked anything of him (St. Joseph) which he has failed to grant. I am astonished at the great favors which God has bestowed on me through this blessed saint, and at the perils from which He has freed me, both in body and in soul. To other saints the Lord seems to have given grace to succor us in some of our necessities but of this glorious saint my experience is that he succors us in them all and that the Lord wishes to teach us that as He was Himself subject to him on earth (for, being His guardian and being called His father, he could command Him) just so in Heaven He still does all that he asks.

More than ever, I understand that the smallest events of our life are conducted by God; He is the One who makes us desire and who grants our desires.

The saints rejoiced at injuries and persecutions, because in forgiving them they had something to present to God when they prayed to Him.

You will ask me perhaps how we are to glorify Him. It is very simple...cling closely to the will of this adorable Master. Look upon everything, every suffering and every joy, as coming straight from Him and your life will be a continual communion since everything will be, as it were, a sacrament which gives you God — and that is really true, for God is not divided. His will is Himself. He is wholly and entirely in everything and these things are, in a way, but an emanation of His love.

If a person has more patience in suffering and more forbearance in going without satisfaction, it is a sign that he is more proficient in virtue.

A soul which thus permits the divine Being to satisfy in itself His need to communicate "all that He is and all that He has," is in reality the praise of glory of all His gifts.

...it is hardly possible to think individually of every intention that is recommended to me from so many different sides. All one can do is to try to live the life one has chosen with ever greater fidelity and purity in order to offer it up as an acceptable sacrifice for all.

This sweetness and trace of himself that God leaves in the soul greatly lightens her and makes her run after him. For then the soul does very little or nothing of her own in order to advance on this road; rather, she is moved and attracted by the divine footprints, not only to go out, but even to run along this road in many ways, as we said.

O you souls who wish to go on with so much safety and consolation, if you knew how pleasing to God is suffering, and how much it helps in acquiring other good things, you would never seek consolation in anything; but you would rather look upon it as a great happiness to bear the Cross of the Lord.

When evening comes and a backward glance shows us that we have not finished even a minimum part of the work that we had planned and that much remains incomplete, when so many things provoke shame and sorrow, then let us take everything as it is and place it in the hands of God, entrusting it to Him. In this way we will be able to repose in Him, truly rest and to begin the new day as if it were a new life.

Do not...be downcast if you have not responded immediately to Our Lord's voice, for His Majesty is willing to wait for us many a day and even many a year, especially when He sees perseverance and good desires in our hearts.