Archive

Just as the Lamb had to be killed to be raised upon the throne of glory, so the path to glory leads through suffering and the cross for everyone chosen to attend the marriage supper of the Lamb. All who want to be married to the Lamb must allow themselves to be fastened to the cross with him. Everyone marked by the blood of the Lamb is called to this, and that means all the baptized. But not everyone understands the call and follows it.

If we hope to find God, the road is sure; we must acquire humility of heart and a simple spirit, remembering that only those who fight gain the victory. Bust courage, we shall not lack grace nor help from the Heart of God who wishes us all to be saints.

A soul that would live in faith, beneath the eyes of God, that would have the ‘single eye’ of which Our Lord speaks in the gospel, which is to say that purity of intention that looks only to God; that soul, I think, would also live in humility. It would know how to recognize the gifts it has received, for humility is truth; but it would take nothing of them to itself, referring all to God.

Those who seek to please God without reservation, at all times and in every situation, draw upon themselves the divine gaze and receive from the Sacred Heart of Jesus the greatest affection and care.

The very pure spirit does not bother about the regard of others or human respect, but communes inwardly with God, alone and in solitude as to all forms, and with delightful tranquility, for the knowledge of God is received in divine silence.

Then, when the hour of humiliation comes, when one is brought to nothing, she will remember that short sentence, ‘But Jesus made no further answer’, and she too will be silent, keeping all her strength — that strength we draw from silence — for the Lord. When she is abandoned, forsaken, in anguish — anguish such as that which drew from Our Lord the great cry, ‘Why hast Thou forsaken me? (Mk. 15:34) — she will remember that prayer, ‘That they may have my joy fulfilled in them’ (Jn.17:13) and draining to the dregs the chalice prepared by the Father, she will find a heavenly sweetness in its bitterness.

Suffering makes us good; it makes us indulgent towards others, because suffering brings us nearer to the good Lord.

Charity enlightens where selfishness makes one blind; it widens where selfishness narrows; it is joyful where selfishness is miserable.

The bread of life that we need each day to augment eternal life in us renders our will a docile instrument of the divine will, establishes in us the kingdom of God, and purifies our lips and heart to glorify His holy name.

Since the things of the world cannot enter the soul, they are not in themselves an encumbrance or harm to it; rather, it is the will and appetite dwelling within that cause the damage when set on these things.

Whoever, led by the truth of faith, seeks God, will set out by his free effort precisely to there, where the mystically graced are drawn...into the empty solitude of his interior in order to linger there in dark faith- in a simply loving upward glance of the spirit to the hidden God who is presently veiled.

The more interior the suffering is and the less apparent to the eyes of creatures, the more it rejoices You, O my God!