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Now let us talk about the detachment we ought to have, for detachment, if it is practiced with perfection, includes everything. I say it includes everything because if we embrace the Creator and care not at all for the whole of creation, His Majesty will infuse the virtues. Doing little by little what we can, we will have hardly anything else to fight against; it is the Lord who in our defense takes up the battle against the demons and against the world.

God never changes. Patience obtains everything. God alone is enough.

Those who practice prayer should have a special affection for him (St. Joseph) always. I do not know how anyone can think of the Queen of the Angels, during the time that she suffered so much with the Child Jesus, without giving thanks to Saint Joseph for the way he helped them. If anyone cannot find a master to teach him how to pray, let him take this glorious saint as his master and he will not go astray.

Merit is not to be found in doing much or in giving much, but rather in receiving and in loving much. It is said that it is far sweeter to give than to receive, and this is true. But when Jesus wants for Himself the sweetness of giving, it would not be gracious to refuse. Let Him take and give whatever He wants.

For this reason, the purer, simpler, and more perfect the general knowledge is, the darker it seems to be and the less the intellect perceives.

I only want you to be warned, that if you would progress a long way on this road and ascend to the Mansions of your desire, the important thing is not to think much, but to love much.

Perfection does not lie in the virtues that the soul knows it has, but in the virtues that our Lord sees in it. This is a closed book; hence one has no reason for presumption, but must remain prostrate on the ground with respect to self.

If Our Lord were to offer me a choice between dying in ecstasy or in the loneliness of Calvary, I would prefer the latter, not for the sake of the merit, but to glorify Him and be like Him. If I had died in my former state of soul, it would have been too easy! It is in pure faith that I now leave and I prefer it that way. I am thus more like my Master and more in truth.

After all, God gives no more than what can be endured; and His Majesty gives patience first.

In order to become a temple of the Lord (in which He will be pleased to dwell)- it is necessary to put unto practice His teachings and virtues, and the first of these is purity.

It's an amusing thing that even though we still have a thousand impediments and imperfections and our virtues have hardly begun to grow -and please, God, they might have begun- we are yet not ashamed to seek spiritual delights in prayer or to complain about dryness.

Look not at the imperfections of others, keep silence and have continual converse with God. These three things will uproot great imperfections from the soul and make it mistress of great virtues.