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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.

Our work in the midst of others will be efficacious and blessed by God only if we do not yield even one centimeter of the sure ground of our faith, and if we follow our conscience without letting ourselves be influenced by human respect.

All of this darkness signifies the obscurity of faith with which the divinity is clothed while communicating itself to the soul.

Let us quicken our faith by constant communing with Him. Let us live with God as with a friend. That is how saints are made. We carry our heaven about within us, since He who satisfies the glorified soul in the light of vision gives Himself to us in faith.

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.

There is so much to make reparation for, so much to ask, that I believe to fulfill such needs one must become a continual prayer, one must love much. The power of a soul given to love is so wonderful as we see from the beautiful example of St Mary Magdalen; one word was enough for her to obtain the resurrection of Lazarus.

In spite of all her wisdom she (Mary) asked the angel: How can this be? But after he answered. The Holy Spirit will come upon you; the power of the Most High will overshadow you, she engaged in no further discussion. As one who had such great faith and wisdom, she understood at once that if these two intervened, there was nothing more to know or doubt.

A Praise of Glory is a soul ever gazing upon God in faith and simplicity. It reflects all that He is; it is like a fathomless abyss into which He may flow and overflow; it is also like a crystal through which He can shine and behold His perfections and His own splendor. A soul that thus allows the Divine Being to satisfy in it His need to communicate all that He is and all that He has, is truly the Praise of Glory.

Let us gaze upon our Master and may this gaze of simple, loving faith separate us from all else, and place, as it were, a cloud between us and the things of the earth ... let us keep everything for Him alone, and sing to the Lord with David, ‘I will keep my strength in thee’ (Ps. 58:10).

When I accepted the fact that I might spend my life suffering from these troubles and anxieties-which in no way diminished the trust I had in God and served only to increase my faith-I found myself changed all at once. And my soul, until that time always in turmoil, experienced a deep inner peace as if it had found its center and place of rest.

No one can make me frightened anymore, because I know what to believe about His mercy and His love; I know that, in the twinkling of an eye, all those thousands of sins would be consumed as a drop of water cast into a blazing fire.

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.