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You may be sure, if you do all you can and prepare yourselves for contemplation as I have described, that if He does not grant it to you, He is keeping back this consolation in reserve only to give it to you all at once in heaven.

The soul which does not attain to the degree of purity corresponding with the light and vocation it has received from God can never be wholly content and at peace.

We find our peace in taking persons as they are and not wasting time wishing they were otherwise.

You will find that He suits Himself to whatever mood you are in. He longs so keenly for our glance that He will neglect no means to win it.

Is there any freedom greater than the freedom to serve God? Is there any freedom more complete than union with Him? Does He not free us from ties of money and property and selfishness, of avarice and pride and inconstancy? Is He not the only true Emancipator? Who is free who does not love God?

In the Passion and death of Christ our sins were consumed by fire. If we accept that in faith, and if we accept the whole Christ in faith-filled surrender, which means, however, that we choose and walk the path of the imitation of Christ, then He will lead us "through His Passion and cross to the glory of His Resurrection." This is exactly what is experienced in contemplation: passing through the expiatory flames to the bliss of the union of love. This explains its twofold character. It is death and resurrection.

To find God we must work ourselves according to our capacity. The soul therefore, remembering the saying of the Beloved 'Seek and you shall find', is resolved to seek Him actively and not rest until it finds Him. For there are many who do not want God to cost them anything except empty words.

One must go to the Lord with confidence. Fear makes the spirit troubled, and a troubled spirit cannot raise itself to God.

In all the events of life, however untoward they may be, the wise man encourages us to rejoice instead of giving way to sadness. In so doing we will not lose the greater good, peace of mind in both prosperity and adversity.

He has borne with many offences and much unworthiness in you, yet these have not sufficed to make Him turn away; is it much to ask that you should sometimes shift your gaze from earthly things to fix it on Him?

It benefits me little to be alone making acts of devotion to our Lord, proposing and promising to do wonders in his service, if I then go away and when the occasion offers itself do everything the opposite. If his Majesty showed us his love by means of such works and frightful torments, how is it you want to please him only with words?

The more God gives the more He makes us desire, until we are empty and He is able to fill us with good things.