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Mental prayer consists of what was explained: being aware and knowing that we are speaking, with whom we are speaking, and who we ourselves are who dare to speak so much with so great a Lord. To think about this and other similar things, of how little we have served Him and how much we are obliged to serve Him, is mental prayer. Don’t think it amounts to some other kind of gibberish, and don’t let the name frighten you.

Always believe in Love. If you have to suffer, think that you are even more loved, and always sing in thanksgiving. He is so jealous for the beauty of your soul.... That is all He has in view.

Humility consists in complete recognition of one's own nothingness in all things. A leather bag is best filled by being laid flat on the ground, and a bucket at a well does not fill with water unless it is lowered. As for me, I remain empty for want of being humbled.

I understood that I had a great obligation to serve our Lady and St Joseph; for often when I went off the path completely, God gave me salvation again through their prayers.

All the goodness we possess is lent to us, and God considers it His own work. God and His work is God.

The nothingness of me is strangely loved:
Sustaining ever
The all of love, my need is strangely here:
Departing never.

When I am in this state of spiritual dryness, unable to pray, or to practice virtue, I look for little opportunities, for the smallest trifles, to give pleasure to Jesus; a smile or a kind word, for instance, when I would wish to be silent, or to show that I am bored. If no such occasion offer, I try at least to say over and over again that I love Him. This is not heard, and it keeps alive the fire in my heart. Even should the fire of love seem dead, I would still throw my tiny straws on the ashes, and I am confident it would light up again.

Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you, remember Christ crucified and be silent.

A created spirit can ascend to God only by rising above itself, God, in a a word, as Creator and preserver of every being, is the foundation that upholds them all. That which ascends to Him, at the same time descends to its most secure center of gravity.

Even though your obligations and duties are difficult and disagreeable to you, you should not become dismayed, for this will not always be so. And God, Who proves the soul by a precept under the guise of a trial, will after a time accord it the experience of its own blessing and gain.

Today I had the joy of offering Jesus several sacrifices with respect to my dominant fault, but how much they cost me! There I recognized my weakness. When I am unjustly reproved, I feel as though the blood were boiling in my veins. My whole being rises in revolt! ... but Our Lord was with me. I heard His voice deep down in my heart and then I was ready to bear everything for love of Him.

The human nature that Christ assumed gave Him the possibility of suffering and dying. The divine nature possessed by Him from eternity gave to suffering and dying an infinite value and redemptive power.