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A soul united to Jesus and identified with him can do everything. It seems to me that this can be reached only by prayer.

Believe me, the question is not whether we wear the religious habit or not, but whether we practice the virtues and submit our will in all things to the will of God.

One attains possession of a knowledge of the cross only when one experiences the cross to the very depths.

When one cannot put oneself right by speaking, it is better to have recourse to prayer and silence; and thus to keep one's peace alone with God.

Consider now what your Master says next: "Who art in the Heavens." Do you suppose it matters little what Heaven is and where you must seek your most holy Father? I assure you that for minds which wander it is of great importance not only to have a right belief about this but to try to learn it by experience, for it is one of the best ways of concentrating the mind and effecting recollection in the soul.

Be extremely careful for the love of the Lord not to be tricked into giving up prayer.

This sweet Savior has long since forgotten your infidelities. He sees only your longing after perfection, and the sight makes His heart glad.

We come to the great King of Heaven with empty hands, in debt to Him for everything: life itself, and grace, and all the gifts He lavishes on us. Yet all we can say is, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all I owe,’ while all the time we could never pay anything towards the remission of our own debts, if God did not put into our hands the means to do so. And then, how often do we go away and refuse pardon for some slight fault in our neighbors, withholding our love, remaining aloof, or even nursing a grievance against them, and building up grudges that cool charity.

He will see that whoever loves Him much will be able to suffer much for Him; whoever loves Him little will be capable of little. I myself hold that the measure for being able to bear a large or small cross is love.

If we plant a flower or a shrub and water it daily it will grow so tall that in time we shall need a spade and a hoe to uproot it. It is just so, I think, when we commit a fault, however small, each day, and do not cure ourselves of it.

Prayer is a repose, a relaxation. One must come in total simplicity to the One whom one loves, holding oneself near to Him as a small child in its mother’s arms, allowing one’s heart to go out ...

Never deny our Lord anything. The practice of the presence of God helps accomplish this goal especially by resolving to fulfill all your obligations during that hour perfectly, and by keeping in mind that the Will of God is perfectly fulfilled in that way.