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He who in blind faith no longer desires anything in so far as God wills it, has at last reached the highest stage attainable by man supported by the grace of God.

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.

Behold, these are not the times to believe everyone; believe only those who you see are walking in conformity with Christ's life...Believe firmly what Holy Mother Church holds, and you can be sure you will be walking along a good path.

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.

I've never acted like Pilate, who refused to listen to the truth. I've always said to God: O my God, I really want to listen to You; I beg You to answer me when I say humbly: What is truth? Make me see things as they really are. Let nothing cause me to be deceived.

Believe me, the question is not whether we wear the religious habit or not, but whether we practice the virtues and submit our will in all things to the will of God.

Consider now what your Master says next: "Who art in the Heavens." Do you suppose it matters little what Heaven is and where you must seek your most holy Father? I assure you that for minds which wander it is of great importance not only to have a right belief about this but to try to learn it by experience, for it is one of the best ways of concentrating the mind and effecting recollection in the soul.

The soul cannot reach these hidden treasures unless it first passes through the thicket of interior and exterior sufferings. For even such knowledge of the mysteries of Christ as is possible in this life cannot be had without great suffering, and without many intellectual and moral gifts, and previous spiritual exercises. All these though are far inferior to the knowledge of the mysteries of Christ, and are merely a preparation for it.

As in the desolation of His death, Jesus delivered Himself into the hands of the invisible and incomprehensible God, so the soul ought to do, throwing itself headlong into the pitch darkness of faith, which is the only passable way toward the incomprehensible God.

Let us live with God as with a friend, let us make our faith a living faith in order to be in communion with Him through everything, for that is what makes saints.

We carry our heaven within us, since He who completely satisfies every longing of the glorified souls in the light of the Beatific Vision, is giving Himself to us in faith and mystery.

If when He went about in the world the mere touch of His robes cured the sick, why doubt, if we have faith, that miracles will be worked while He is within us and that He will give what we ask of Him, since He is in our house?