Let him have a fixed determination not to allow himself to be beaten, for, if the devil sees that he has firmly resolved to lose his life and his peace and everything that he can offer him rather than to return to the first room, he will very soon cease troubling him.
Int. Castle, 2nd mansion
When things that are irritable or disagreeable befall me, instead of assuming an air of sadness, I respond by a smile. At first I was not always successful, but now it is a habit which I am very happy to have acquired.
Be convinced that where humility is truly present, God will give a peace and conformity — even though He may never give consolations — by which one will walk with greater contentment than will others with their consolations.
You must not set yourself up as a judge-that is God's right alone-your only mission is to be an angel of peace.
Strive to keep your heart in peace, and let nothing that comes to pass in this world make you uneasy- for consider that it must all come to an end.
We come home exhausted, shattered. New vexations possibly await there....and there is still so much to do until evening. Should we not immediately go to it? No, not before calm sets in at least for a moment. Each one must know, or get to know, where and how she can find peace. The best way, when it is possible, is to shed all cares again for a short time before the tabernacle. Whoever cannot do that...should take a breathing space in her own room...When there is no place in which to retreat, if duties prohibit a quiet hour, then at least she must for a moment seal herself inwardly against all other things and take refuge in the Lord. He is indeed there and can give us in a single moment what we need.
Souls are guarded jealously in the heart of God and what we think we sometimes understand of our soul is nonetheless always a fleeting reflection of that which will remain God's secret until the day in which everything will come to light. The hope in this future revelation gives me great joy.
The very pure spirit does not bother about the regard of others or human respect, but communes inwardly with God, alone and in solitude as to all forms, and with delightful tranquility, for the knowledge of God is received in divine silence.
The more interior the suffering is and the less apparent to the eyes of creatures, the more it rejoices You, O my God!
We object when He hands us the chalice of His suffering. It is so difficult for us to resign ourselves to suffering. To rejoice in it strikes us as heroic. What is the value of our offering of self if we unite ourselves each morning only in word and gesture, rather than in thought and will, to that offering which we, together with the Church, make of Him with whom we are in the one body?
Peace is not given to us just for ourselves alone.
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.
