Archive

The more you feel your weakness, your difficulty in being recollected, the more the Master seems to hide Himself, the more you should rejoice, for then you are giving Him something, and is it not better to give than to receive, when one loves?

Our created essence cries out to rejoin its Principle. The Word, the Splendour of the Father, is the eternal prototype on which creatures are designed on the day of their creation. That is why God wills that, having been freed from what is purely of self, we shall stretch out our arms … and possess Him …this contemplation opens up to the soul prospects before unhoped for.

If the inordinate love increases, then, as will be seen, the soul will grow cold in the love of God, and owing to the recollection of that other love, forget Him- not without the feeling of some remorse of conscience. On the other hand, as the love of God increases, the soul will grow cold in the inordinate affection and come to forget it.

Yes, it is true, God can make you a contemplative -- through His goodness and mercy; but, in my opinion, one should always take the lowest place, for this is what the Lord told us to do and taught us in deed. Prepare yourself so that God may lead you along this path if He so desires. When He doesn't, you can practice humility, which is to consider yourself lucky to serve the servants of the Lord and praise His Majesty because He brought you among them.

If the greatest sinner on earth should repent at the moment of death, and draw his last breath in an act of love, neither the many graces he had abused, nor the many sins he had committed, would stand in his way. Our Lord would see nothing, count nothing, but the sinner's last prayer, and without delay He would receive him into the arms of His mercy. But to make Him thus blind and incapable of reckoning the number of our sins, we must approach Him through His Heart - on that side He is defenseless.

Pray that the best portion of your life may not be overshadowed by idle fears. We have only life's brief moments to spend for the glory of God, and well does Satan know it. That is why he employs every ruse to make us consume them in useless labour. Dear sister, go often to Holy Communion, go very often-that is your one remedy.

A little drop of simple obedience is worth a million times more than a whole vase of the choicest contemplation.

And take care about this: however sublime the contemplation, let your prayer always begin and end with self-knowledge.

Prayer ought to be humble, fervent, resigned, persevering, and accompanied with great reverence. One should consider that he stands in the presence of a God, and speaks with a Lord before whom the angels tremble from awe and fear.

I realize that we aren't all made alike. For me, God's infinite mercy is the quality that stands out in my life, and when I contemplate and adore God's other perfections, it's against this background of mercy all the time.

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 ... there is only one occupation for a Carmelite and that is to love and to pray.

You do much more by saying one word of the Our Father from time to time than by rushing through the entire prayer many times. You are very close to the One you petition; He will not fail to hear you. And believe that herein lies the true praise and hallowing of His name.