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Adore Him in truth, which is to say, by our works, for it is above all else by our actions that we prove true; to do always that which is pleasing to God our Father, for we are His children.

Mary, a sublime woman is, like us, what she became through the grace and goodness of God. It is true that by the will of God she was chosen by a special grace, but she responded to it without the slightest hint of hesitation and allowed herself to be taken over. She opened her heart to God and God gave himself completely to her.

Unless we give our wills entirely to the Lord so that in everything pertaining to us He might do what conforms with His will, we will never be allowed to drink from this fount. Drinking from it is perfect contemplation.

...You (Jesus) crown the intense desire to do a work, where there is no possibility of doing it, more than a work done without the desire. And if Your work will not be accomplished, it will not be for this reason, that is not Your will, but because there is not the proper disposition in creatures, or generous hearts to do it, as would be necessary...

If you desire to be perfect, sell your will, give it to the poor in spirit, come to Christ in meekness and humility, and follow him to Calvary and the sepulcher.

As a result the soul recognizes the truth about its misery, of which it was formerly ignorant. When it was walking in festivity, gratification, consolation, and support in God, it was more content, believing that it was serving God in some way. Though this idea of serving God may not be explicitly formed in a person's mind, at least some notion of it is deeply embedded within, owing to the satisfaction derived from one's spiritual exercises.

What you most seek and desire you will not find by this way of yours, nor through high contemplation, but in much humility and submission of heart.

My God, how well you know my great need of your help. I trust in your infinite mercy, and I shall always do so, regardless of the spiritual state in which I find myself. Always and everywhere I shall endeavor to recognize Your will in all things, even though my eyes see only contradiction and uncertainty. I know that I cannot depend upon myself, and so I shall trust completely in You.

The safest way is to want only what God wants. He knows more than we ourselves do, and He loves us. Let us place ourselves in His hands so that His will may be done in us, and we cannot err if with a determined will we always maintain this attitude.

The highest perfection obviously does not consist in interior delights or in great raptures or in visions or in the spirit of prophecy but in having our will so much in conformity with God's will that there is nothing we know He wills that we do not want with all our desire, and in accepting the bitter as happily as we do the delightful when we know that His Majesty desires it. This seems most difficult (not the doing of it, but this being content with what completely contradicts our nature); and indeed it truly is difficult. But love has this strength if it is perfect, for we forget about pleasing ourselves in order to please the one we love.

That is what life in Carmel means: to live in God, contemplating His goodness and beauty, and dedicated entirely to the fulfillment of His blessed Will. Then every immolation, every sacrifice becomes divine; through everything the soul sees Him whom she loves and everything leads her to Him... it is a continual communion. All day long she surrenders herself to Love, by doing the will of God, under His gaze, with Him, in Him, for Him alone.

St Paul says that ‘our God is a consuming fire’ (Heb. 12:29). If we remain continually united to Him by means of a simple, loving gaze of faith, if, like our adored Master, we can say at the end of each day, ‘I do always the things that please Him’ (Jn. 8:29) He will know well how to consume us and, like two little sparks, we shall go and lose ourselves in the immense fire, there to burn at our ease throughout eternity.