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To live hidden in Christ it is necessary to die to self.

I find I am doing nothing to correspond to love... I feel within me a continual reproach of the Sovereign Good, and on the other hand everything seems to hinder me from simply rushing forward to God...I find no other remedy but to live by faith. I cannot imagine what painful fare living without love would be for one who burns with desire for this love.

Oh how desirable is this union with God's will! Happy is the soul that has reached it. Such a soul will live tranquilly in this life, and in the next as well. Nothing in earthly events afflicts it unless it finds itself in some danger of losing God or sees that He is offended: neither sickness, nor poverty, nor death...for the soul sees well that the Lord knows what He is doing better than it knows what it is desiring.

Because, however greatly the soul itself labors, it cannot actively purify itself so as to be in the least degree prepared for the Divine union of perfection of love, if God takes not its hand and purges it not in that dark fire, in the way and manner that we have to describe.

To seek God within ourselves avails us far more than to look for Him amongst creatures; Saint Augustine tells us how he found the Almighty within his own soul, after having long sought for Him elsewhere.

The sorrow which casts us down is the hurt to our self-love...To brood gloomily over our own imperfections paralyzes our soul.

...you must fight your moods of sadness and their causes, uproot your unfounded sorrows and get ready for the dreadful battles that the three enemies wage against this divine union. Live united with God and see to it that nothing, whether hunger or thirst, the sword, fortune or misfortune, nothing whatsoever disturbs your heart. Live united with God and everything else will vanish like smoke.

O Consuming Fire, Spirit of Love, descend into my soul and make all in me as an incarnation of the Word, that I may be to Him a super-added humanity wherein He renews His mystery; and You O Father, bestow Yourself and bend down to Your little creature, seeing in her only Your beloved Son in whom You are well pleased.

To acquire the holy love of God the best means is to live in the presence of God.

Let’s concern ourselves with our neighbor and with serving him, even though it may be repugnant to do so. In this way we’ll make sure that the throne of our heart is occupied by God our creator.

These aridities, then, make people walk with purity in the love of God. No longer are they moved to act by the delight and satisfaction they find in a work, as perhaps they were when they derived this from their deeds, but by the desire of pleasing God.

When night comes, and you look back over the day and see how fragmentary everything has been, and how much you planned that has gone undone, and all the reasons you have to be embarrassed and ashamed, just take everything exactly as it is, put it in God's hands, and leave it with Him. Then you will be able to rest in Him - really rest - and start the next day as a new life.