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Life is only a dream: soon we shall awaken. And what joy! The greater our sufferings, the more limitless our glory. Do not let us waste the trials Jesus sends.

It is not a refreshing peaceful fire, but a consuming and searching one that makes the soul grieve at the sight of itself. The soul perceives its own smallness in comparison with the immensity of the flame.

I like to find at least a few moments each day spent in doing good for others out of love for God. These few moments, almost noticeably used, bring something like rays of peace and comfort behind them; they unite us with people and God by a pure feeling of tender sweetness.

I keep my eyes fixed on Eternity, and from this source I draw constancy in the midst of the confusion of daily life; freedom in my social relations, and joy in spirit...

I know quite well all you are suffering. I know your anguish, and I share it. Oh! if I could but impart to you the peace which Jesus has put into my soul amid my most bitter tears. Be comforted - all passes away.

Why should we defend ourselves when we are misunderstood and misjudged? Let us leave that aside. Let us not say anything...O blessed silence, which gives so much peace to the soul.

Never fail to keep your heart at peace and in tender love, ready to suffer as things present themselves.

In savoring a finite joy

the very most one can expect

is to enfeeble and destroy

our taste, leaving the palate wrecked;

for all the sweetness there may be

I’ll never throw away my soul…

Let us remain quite calm so that however things turn out they will always be to our advantage since God always arranges what is best for us.

I know I am being sustained and herein lies my tranquility and security- not the conscious security of the man who is on firm ground with his own strength, but the sweet and beautiful security of a child upheld by a strong arm- which in practice is a security not less reasonable. Could you call that child reasonable who would live in constant fear that its mother would let it fall?

It seems to me that the weakest soul, even the one that is most blameworthy, is the one that has the best grounds for hope. By forgetting itself and throwing itself into the arms of God, it glorifies Him and gives Him more joy than by all its falling back upon self, and all the self-examination that makes it live within its infirmities, while all the time it possesses at the centre of itself a Saviour who wills to purify it every moment.

The more you feel your weakness, your difficulty in being recollected, the more the Master seems to hide Himself, the more you should rejoice, for then you are giving Him something, and is it not better to give than to receive, when one loves?