Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. Though all things pass, God does not change. Patience wins all things, but one lacks nothing who possesses God, for God alone suffices. Christ has no body now on earth, but yours. No hands, no feet, but yours. Yours are the eyes with which Christ looks out with compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now. Always think of yourself as everyone’s servant. Look for the divine in everyone, and you will then have respect and reverence for them all.
Trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. When we accept what happens to us, and make the best of it, we are praising God. We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials. Christ does not force our will, He only takes what we give Him. But He does not give Himself entirely until He sees that we yield ourselves entirely. Let us live in such a way as not to be afraid to die. Mental prayer, in my opinion, is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends. It means taking time frequently to be alone with the One whom we know loves us. The important thing is not to think much, but to love much. And so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight, but desire to please God in everything. The closer one approaches to God, the simpler one becomes. Settle yourself in solitude, and you will come upon God in yourself.
What peace can we hope to find elsewhere, if we have none within us. Be happy when you are blamed and accused wrongly, for then you have a chance to see all the bitter, hostile or self-pitying responses that your soul wants to spew out — as if these puny things could in any way defend you. Watch and see if any of these poisons come out of you, when your spirit is pricked by an accusation. Only then can you see yourself as you are, and see the sin that is within you, and forsake yourself again into the Lord’s care.
They deceive themselves who believe that union with God consists in ecstasies or raptures, and in the enjoyment of that. For it consists in nothing except the surrender and subjection of our will. With our thoughts, words and actions to the will of God. From silly devotions and sour faced saints, good Lord, deliver us.
We need no wings to go in search of the divine, but only to look upon the divine present within us. It constantly happens that the Lord permits a soul to fall, so that it may grow humbler. There is more value in a little study of humility and in a single act of it, than in all the knowledge in the world.
In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.
We may speak of love and humility as the true flowers of spiritual growth, and they give off a wonderful scent which benefits all those who come near.
Before prayer, endeavor to realize whose presence you are approaching, and to whom you are about to speak — keeping in mind whom you are addressing. If our lives were a thousand times as long as they are, we should never fully understand how we ought to behave towards God, before whom the very angels tremble, who can do all the divine will and with whom to wish is to accomplish. Souls who do not practice prayer are like people whose limbs are paralyzed. Prayer is an act of love, words are not needed. However softly we speak, God is near enough to hear us.
Desire to see God — be fearful of losing this closeness; and find joy in everything that can lead to the divine. If you act in this way, you will always live in great peace.
Her heart is full of joy with love, for in the Lord her mind is stilled. She has renounced every selfish attachment and draws abiding joy and strength from the One within. She lives, not for herself, but lives to serve the Lord of Love in all; and swims across the sea of life, breasting its rough waves joyfully.