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Be very attentive to His voice, and remember that when He thus takes His place in a heart, it is to dwell there alone and apart. You understand what I mean... I am not referring to the religious life, which is the great break with the world, but to that detachment, that purity of intention which, as it were, throws a veil over all that is not God and enables us to cling to Him unceasingly by faith.

I assure you that God is much better than you believe. He is content with a glance, a sigh of love. As for me, I find perfection very easy to practice because I have understood it as a matter of taking Jesus by His Heart.

And when the soul suffers the direct assault of this Divine light, its pain, which results from its impurity, is immense; because, when this pure light assails the soul, in order to expel its impurity, the soul feels itself to be so impure and miserable that it believes God to be against it, and thinks that it has set itself up against God.

When God finds a soul penetrated by an intense faith He pours out His grace in abundance.

The light of faith is like the light of the sun which blinds our eyes because its light is stronger than our powers of sight. So the light of faith transcends our comprehension.

Then Our Lord said: “Ah, my daughter, they are few who love me in truth; for if men loved me, I should not hide my secrets from them. Do you know what is to love me in truth? It is to admit everything to be a lie which is not pleasing unto me.”

Live in faith and hope even though you are in darkness, for in this darkness God enfolds the soul. Cast your cares upon God, for you are His, and He will never forget you.

Let us live with God as with a Friend. Let us make our faith a living thing, so as to remain in communion with Him through everything. That is how saints are made.

I believe that if we desire to make room for His Majesty, He will give not only this (gentle drawing inward) but more, and give it to those whom He begins to call to advance further.

At times the little bird's heart is assailed by the storm, and it seems it should believe in the existence of no other thing except the clouds surrounding it; this is the moment of perfect joy for the poor little weak creature. And what joy it experiences when remaining there just the same! and gazing at the Invisible Light which remains hidden from its faith!

The darkness that leads to God is, as we already know, faith. It is the only means that leads to union because it sets God before our eyes as he is: as infinite, as triune. Faith resembles God in that both blind the intellect and appear to it as darkness. "The greater one's faith the closer is one's union with God."

For, however dark a night may be, something can always be seen, but in true darkness nothing can be seen; and thus in the night of sense there still remains some light, for the understanding and reason remain, and are not blinded. But this spiritual night, which is faith, deprives the soul of everything, both as to understanding and as to sense. And for this cause the soul in this night says that it was journeying ‘in darkness and secure,’ which it said not in the other.