Archive

Feed not your spirit on anything but God. Cast off concern about things, and bear peace and recollection in your heart.

You must build a little cell within your soul as I do. Remember that God is there and enter it from time to time; when you feel nervous or you're unhappy, quickly seek refuge there and tell the Master all about it....We come quite simply to the One we love, stay close to Him like a little child in the arms of its mother, and we let our heart go....If you only knew how well He understands....You wouldn't suffer any more if you understood that.

With bold surrender, I wish to remain gazing upon You, O Lord, my divine Sun. Nothing will frighten me, neither wind nor rain, and if dark clouds come and hide You from my gaze, I will not change my place because I know that beyond the clouds You still shine on and Your brightness is not eclipsed for a single instant.

...yet true humility is not attended with trouble; it does not disturb the soul; it causes neither obscurity nor aridity: on the contrary, it consoles. It is altogether different, bringing with it calm, sweetness, and light. It is no doubt painful; but, on the other hand, it is consoling, because we see how great is the mercy of our Lord in allowing the soul to have that pain, and how well the soul is occupied.

As I could not reason with my mind, I would try to make pictures of Christ inwardly; and I used to think I felt better when I dwelt on those parts of His life when He was most often alone. It seemed to me that His being alone and afflicted, like a person in need, made it possible for me to approach Him.

Don't pay too much attention to whether you are fervent or discouraged; it is the law of our exile to pass from one state to the other like that.

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.

We must, above all, pray as the Savior Himself has taught us so insistently. “Ask and it shall be given you.” This is the certain promise of being heard. And if we pray every day with all our heart: “Lord, thy will be done,” we may well trust that we shall not have failed to do God’s will even when we no longer have subjective certainty.

In order to be an image of God, the spirit must turn to what is eternal, hold it in spirit, keep it in memory, and by loving it, embrace it in the will.

So let us be renewed in our innermost souls, stripping ourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new...according to the image of Him who created us (Col. 3:9-10). It is to be done gently and simply, by withdrawing ourselves from all that is not God. Then the soul no longer fears or desires anything. It's will is completely lost in God’s will and since that is what constitutes divine union, it can say, ‘I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me’ (Gal. 2:20).

Hence, don't pay any attention to the fears they raise or to the picture of the dangers they paint for you...Should anyone tell you that prayer is dangerous, consider him the real danger and run from him. Don't forget this counsel, for perhaps you will need it. There will be danger in not having humility and the other virtues. But that the way of prayer be a way of danger - God would never will that. It seems the devil has invented these fears, and so he has been skillful, apparently, in making some who have practiced prayer fall away.

Turn your eyes upon yourself and look at yourself inwardly, as I have said. You will find your Master; He will not fail you: indeed, the less outward comfort you have, the [much] greater the joy He will give you. He is full of compassion and never fails those who are afflicted and out of favor if they trust in Him alone.