Archive

Through the annihilation and calming of my faculties, passions, appetites, and affections, by which my experience of God was base, I went from my human operation and way of acting to God’s operation and way of acting.

There is much to fathom in Christ, for He is like an abundant mine with many recesses of treasures, so that however deep people go they never reach the end ... but rather in every recess find new veins with new riches everywhere.

Because we are so miserable, we become attached to sensible fervor, to experiencing the love of God sensibly, and often we go to prayer in search of the sensible consolation of God but not for God Himself.

Especially persons of prayer should always be attached to St. Joseph... Those who cannot find a master to teach them prayer should take this glorious saint for their master, and they will not go astray.

Trials help greatly to detach us from earth. They make us look to God, rather than to this world.

All the being of creation, then, compared with the infinite Being of God, is nothing. And therefore the soul that sets its affection upon the being of creation is likewise nothing in the eyes of God, and less than nothing; for, as we have said, love makes equality and similitude, and even sets the lover below the object of his love.

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.

I find I am doing nothing to correspond to love...I feel within me a continual reproach of the Sovereign Good, and on the other hand everything seems to hinder me from simply rushing forward to God...I find no other remedy but to live by faith. I cannot imagine what painful fare living without love would be for one who burns with desire for this love.

More effective than the mortification one practices according to one's own choice is the cross that God lays upon one, exteriorly and interiorly.

The fly that clings to honey hinders its flight, and the soul that allows itself attachment to spiritual sweetness hinders its own liberty and contemplation.

We cannot give him anything, he needs nothing and asks for nothing. 'He wants but one thing, the exaltation of the soul.' The only thing that gives him pleasure is the enrichment of the soul.

God does not bestow these favors on a possessive soul, since He gives them out of a very special love for the recipient. For the individual receiving them is one who loves God with great detachment.