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It's an amusing thing that even though we still have a thousand impediments and imperfections and our virtues have hardly begun to grow -and please, God, they might have begun- we are yet not ashamed to seek spiritual delights in prayer or to complain about dryness.

He should not go seeking after new things which can only satisfy the desires in a superficial manner (and even here cannot satisfy fully) while leaving the spirit weak and empty, without deep inner virtue.

For even though we already know that God is present in all we do, our nature is such that we neglect to think of this.

We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble.

Those who do not receive these consolations may feel a despondency that is uncalled for, since perfection does not consist in consolation but in greater love; our reward will be in proportion to this, and to the justice and sincerity of our actions.

When the soul reflects that God is the guide of its blind self, then its main preoccupation will be to see that it sets no obstacle in the way of its Guide, the Holy Spirit, upon the road by which God is leading it.

How impossible it is for a soul to judge the things of God aright! To do so it must completely get rid of its desire and pleasures apart from God.

Never take a man for your example in the tasks you have to perform, however holy he may be, for the devil will set his imperfection before you. But imitate Christ, who is supremely perfect and supremely holy, and you will never err.

Oh, then soul most beautiful among all creatures, so anxious to know the dwelling place of your Beloved so you may go in search of him and be united with him, now we are telling you that you yourself are his dwelling and his secret inner room and hiding place.

There is reason for you to be elated and joyful in seeing that all your good and hope is so close as to be within you, or better, that you cannot be without him.

To secure a hearing there is no need to recite set prayers composed for the occasion. . . .
I have not the courage to search through books for beautiful prayers; they are so numerous, that it would only make my head ache, and besides, each one is more lovely than the other. Unable either to say them all or to choose between them, I do as a child would do who cannot read-I say just what I want to say to God, quite simply and He never fails to understand.

O Lord, it is no longer just a veil that hides You from me, but a thick high wall...It is hard, after having felt so near You! But I am ready to remain in this state for as long as it pleases You to leave me in it, my Beloved, for faith tells me that You are still close at hand, and always will be...

As the earthly body has need of daily bread, so the divine life in us demands continual nourishment. "This is the bread of life come down from heaven." And each day in us, who make it become our daily bread, is accomplished the mystery of Christmas, the Incarnation of the Word.