Tuesday, January 31, 2012

"I am the happiest creature in the world. God is infinite joy" 
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes (Letter 101)

Monday, January 30, 2012

One day we went horseback riding with Teresa Lyon. You can't imagine a more beautiful landscape that the one we saw: huge waterfalls between two mountains covered with trees, and at the end of them, an opening through which one can see the ocean, above which clouds of different colors were reflected, and behind that, an overcast sun. You couldn't imagine anything more beautiful, because it makes me think of the God who created such a beautiful earth, even if it is a place of sorrow. What can Heaven be like - I often ask myself...
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Letters

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Never compare one person with another...
St. Teresa of Jesus ~ from Maxims for Her Nuns in The Complete Works

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Let us rejoice, O my Beloved!
Let us go forth to see ourselves in Thy beauty,
To the mountain and the hill,
Where the pure water flows...
~ St. John of the Cross from The Spiritual Canticles

Friday, January 27, 2012

So dearly does His Majesty love us that He will reward our love for our neighbor by increasing the love which we bear to Himself, and that in a thousand ways.  
~
St Teresa of Jesus

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Mine are the heavens and  mine is the earth; mine are the people, the righteous are mine and mine are the sinners; the angels are mine and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God Himself is mine and for me, for Christ is mine and all for me. What then do you ask for and seek, my soul? Yours is all this, and it is all for you.
~ St. John of the Cross from Prayer of a Soul Taken with Love

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

 On the question of relating to our fellowman - our neighbor's spiritual need transcends every commandment.
~ St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

"I have found heaven on earth, since heaven is God, and God is in my soul. My mission in heaven will be to draw souls, helping them to go out of themselves to cling to God, with a spontaneous, love-filled action, and to keep them in that great interior silence which enables God to make his mark on them, to transform them into himself." (Letter 122)
~ Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity

Monday, January 23, 2012

O my Jesus, my vocation is found at last.  My vocation is love!
~ St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

Sunday, January 22, 2012

O my God, You give me the keenest desire not to displease You in any respect whatsoever, however trivial, or to commit so much as an imperfection if I could avoid doing so.  For this reason alone, if for no other, I would like to flee from other people, and I envy those who live, or have lived, in deserts.  On the other hand, I would like to plunge right into the heart of the world, to see if by doing this I could help even one soul to praise God more...
~ St. Teresa of Jesus Interior Castle VI - Way 3

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Oh Lord, my life and my strength, one of the greatest of the divine mercies which you have bestowed upon me is to deign to invite a creature so sinful and ungrateful as I am to love Your Majesty.  In Your presence the heavenly seraphim veil their faces, dazzeled by the spendor of the divinity and the fire of Your love.  I am honored by the liberality and at the same time impelled to love You in return for Your love and for the desire that you have to unite me to Your heart, that sweet refuge to which I long to fly that I may find repose therein.
~Ven. John of Jesus Mary
Colloquy ~ Divine Intimacy 358

Friday, January 20, 2012

When a soul sets out upon this path He [Jesus Christ] does not reveal Himself to it, lest it should feel dismayed that its littleness can contain such greatness, but gradually He enlarges it to the extent requisite for what He has set within it...  The important point is that we should be absolutely resolved to give it [our soul] to Him for His own and should empty it so that He may take out and put in just what He likes, as He would with something of His own... as He refuses to force our will, He takes what we give Him but does not give Himself wholly until He sees that we are giving ourselves wholly to Him.
St. Teresa of Jesus ~ Way of Perfection Ch. 29

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be - and becoming that person.
~St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

For my heart is always with Him, day and night it thinks unceasingly of its heavenly and divine Friend, to whom it wants to prove its affection.
~ Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

I wanted to be happy and searched for happiness everywhere. I dreamed of being very rich, but I saw that over night rich people can become poor. And even if at times it doesn't happen, one sees that on the one hand riches abound, and on the other hand, people are overwhelmed by poverty of affection and unity. I've thought of happiness in the affection of a perfect young man, but the very idea that some day he might love me with less enthusiasm or that he could die, leaving me alone in the struggles of life, makes me reject the idea that by marrying I'll be happy. No. This doesn't satisfy me. For me, happiness is not found there. Where, then, I ask myself, is it to be found? Then I understood that I hadn't been born for earthly things but for eternal ones. Why go on denying this fact any longer? Only in God has my heart found its rest. With God my soul found itself fully satisfied, so that I desire nothing in this world but to belong to Him completely.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Letters

Monday, January 16, 2012

May He be blessed forever Who waited for me so long!
St. Teresa of Jesus ~ from the Prologue of her Autobiography

Sunday, January 15, 2012

The future hasn't been revealed to me, yet Jesus has pulled back the curtain and I have glimpsed the beautiful shores of Carmel.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Diary

Saturday, January 14, 2012

The proud person is like a grain of wheat thrown into water: it swells, it gets big. Expose that grain to the fire: it dries up, it burns. The humble soul is like a grain of wheat thrown into the earth: it descends, it hides itself, it disappears, it dies; but to revive in heaven.  
Bl Mary of Jesus Crucified "The Little Arab"

Friday, January 13, 2012

It is not the soul that makes the progress, but it is Christ, who carries her as a child is carried.
~Bl Mary of Jesus of Toledo

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

I shall foster to work for the happiness of others.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Diary

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

If anyone comes to me, I want to lead them to Him.
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

Monday, January 9, 2012

Always think of yourself as everyone's servant; look for Christ our Lord in everyone, and you will then have respect and reverence for them all.
St. Teresa of Jesus ~ from Maxims for Her Nuns in The Complete Works

Friday, January 6, 2012

For my heart is always with Him, day and night it thinks unceasingly of its heavenly and divine Friend, to whom it wants to prove its affection. 
~Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity

Thursday, January 5, 2012

In seeing you [Virgin Mary] so pure, so tender, and so compassionate, who would not be encouraged to unburden his intimate sufferings to you? Who would not ask you to be his star on this stormy see? Who is there who would not cry in your arms without instantly receiving your immaculate kisses of love and comfort? If he be a sinner, your caresses will soften him. If one of your devoted ones, your presence would enkindle the living flame of divine love. If he be poor, you with your powerful hand will aid him and show him his true homeland. If rich, you will sustain him with your breath against the dangers of his very agitated life. If one is in affliction, you with your tearful gaze will show him the cross and on it your Divine Son. Who will not find balm for his pains by considering the torments of Jesus and Mary? The sick man finds in your maternal heart the water of salvation that allows your enchanting smile to blossom forth, and makes him smile with love and happiness.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Diary

Monday, January 2, 2012

Christ has no body now, but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth, but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which
Christ looks compassion into the world.
Yours are the feet
with which Christ walks to do good.
Yours are the hands
with which Christ blesses the world. 

St. Teresa of Jesus 

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Let nothing trouble you,
let nothing frighten you.
All things are passing;
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
He who possesses God lacks nothing:
God alone suffices.
St. Teresa of Jesus

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