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Mary, who kept all God's words in her heart, in the fullness of grace granted her, understood the great value of suffering. While the apostles fled, she went out to meet the Savior on the way to Calvary and stood beneath the cross, in order to share His grief and shame to the end. And she carried Him to the grave, firmly trusting that He would rise.

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.

That which is truly great grows unnoticed, and silence at the right moment is more fruitful than the constant activity that only too easily degenerates into spiritual idleness. In the present age, we are all possessed by a strange restlessness that suspects any silence of being a waste of time and any kind of repose as being negligence. We forget the real mystery of time, the real mystery present in growth and activity. That mystery involves silence and stillness. Even in the religious sphere we tend to expect and hope for everything from our own activity. We use all kinds of exercises and involvements to evade the real mystery of interior growth before God.

My God, in spite of all my misereres and since, I will always hope in You. Even if You cast me into hell, I will still hope in You.

There is no more urgent need than total surrender to God, putting oneself totally in his hands....If man were deeply penetrated by this truth, he would be totally absorbed in God.

"Do you know the souls that most enjoy my Goodness?," said our Lord (to a chosen soul). "The ones who trust in me the most. Trusting souls are the ones who steal away my graces. I am all Love, and the greatest pain one can give my Heart is to doubt my Goodness."

Reflect upon the providence and wisdom of God in all created things and praise Him in them all.

Unlike our friends in the world, He will never abandon us when we are troubled or distressed. Blessed is the one who truly loves Him and always keeps Him near.

Source of peace and light, come and enlighten me. I am hungry, come and feed me; thirsty, come and refresh me; blind, come and give me sight; poor, come and enrich me; ignorant, come and instruct me. Holy Spirit, I abandon myself to You.

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.

Whoever lives in the presence of so good a friend and excellent a leader as is Jesus Christ can endure all things. Christ helps us and strengthens us and never fails; he is a true friend...What more do we desire from such a good friend at our side, who will not abandon us in our labors and tribulations, as friends in the world do. Blessed is the one who truly loves him and keeps him near.

Things were in God's plan which I had not planned at all. I am coming to the living faith and conviction that - from God's point of view - there is no chance, and that the whole of my life, down to every detail, has been mapped out in God's divine providence and makes complete and perfect sense in God's all-seeing eyes.