With the divinest Word, the Virgin
Made pregnant, down the road
Comes walking, if you'll grant her
A room in your abode...
~St. John of the Cross

In heaven, the most beautiful souls are those that have sinned the most and repented.  But they made use of their miseries like manure around the base of a tree.
Bl. Mary of Jesus Crucified (The Little Arab)

Yes, Mary, you are Mother of the entire universe. Your heart is filled with sweetness. At your feet let the priest prostrate himself with the same confidence as the virgin in order to find in your arms the fullness of your love. The rich as well as the poor can find in your heart their heaven. The afflicted as well as the happy can find on your mouth a celestial smile. The sick as well as the healthy can find caresses from your sweet hands. And, finally, sinners like myself find in you a protecting Mother who can crush beneath her immaculate feet the head of the dragon. And in your eyes I see mercy, pardon and a shining lamp to keep me from falling into the muddy waters of sin.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her diary entry Feb. 1917

When one gets to know God; when in the silence of prayer He overshadows our soul with a ray of His infinite beauty; when He overshadows our mind with His wisdom and power; when He inflames us with His goodness and mercy; then everything on earth is seen with sadness.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from a letter to her brother Lucho

"I can't find words to express my happiness. Here there is no longer anything but God. He is All; He suffices and we live by Him alone." (Letter 91)
~Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity

O my God, Trinity whom I adore; help me to forget myself entirely that I may be established in You as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing trouble my peace or make me leave You, O my Unchanging One, but may each minute carry me further into the depths of Your mystery. Give peace to my soul; make it Your heaven, Your beloved dwelling and Your resting place. May I never leave You there alone but be wholly present, my faith wholly vigilant, wholly adoring, and wholly surrendered to Your creative Action.

O my beloved Christ, crucified by love, I wish to be a bride for Your Heart; I wish to cover You with glory; I wish to love You...even unto death! But I feel my weakness, and I ask You to "clothe me with Yourself," to identify my soul with all the movements of Your Soul, to overwhelm me, to possess me, to substitute yourself for me that my life may be but a radiance of Your Life. Come into me as Adorer, as Restorer, as Savior.

O Eternal Word, Word of my God, I want to spend my life in listening to You, to become wholly teachable that I may learn all from You. Then, through all nights, all voids, all helplessness, I want to gaze on You always and remain in Your great light. O my beloved Star, so fascinate me that I may not withdraw from Your radiance.

O consuming Fire, Spirit of Love, "come upon me," and create in my soul a kind of incarnation of the Word: that I may be another humanity for Him in which He can renew His whole Mystery. And You, O Father, bend lovingly over Your poor little creature; "cover her with Your shadow," seeing in her only the "Beloved in whom You are well pleased."

O my Three, my All, my Beatitude, infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I lose myself, I surrender myself to You as Your prey. Bury Yourself in me that I may bury myself in You until I depart to contemplate in Your light the abyss of Your greatness.

-Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, November 21, 1904

Illumined by grace from on high, I understood that the world was too small for my immortal soul; and that only with the Infinite could my desires be satisfied, because the world and all that's in it is limited, whereas, by belonging to God, my soul would never tire of loving and contemplating Him, because in Him the horizons are infinite.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Letters

God is my heaven here below. I live with him. Even when I am walking, we speak together without being interrupted by anyone. If you would know him enough, you would love him. If you would stay with him for one hour, you would know heaven on earth. St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes (Letter 40)

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?
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Diary

O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me to become entirely forgetful of self, that I may establish myself in You, as changeless and as calm as though my soul were already in eternity! May nothing disturb my peace nor draw me forth from You, O my immutable Lord! but may I penetrate more deeply every moment into the depths of Your mystery. Give peace to my soul, make it Your heaven, Your cherished dwelling place, Your home of rest. Let me never leave You alone, but keep me ever there, all absorbed in You, in living faith, adoring You and wholly yielded up to Your creative action! "
Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity,  from Elevation to the Most Holy Trinity

May my Jesus always lead me by the way of the Cross. And then my soul will take flight where it can encounter the air that gives life and where there is repose.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Diary

How I'd love to show you the lovely infinite horizon beyond creation that I experience and contemplate. I love God now a thousand times more than I did before.. He reveals and makes Himself known to souls that really seek to know and love Him. Everything on earth... seems to shrink, to lose value before the Divinity which, like an infinite Sun, continues to shine upon my miserable soul with its rays.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Letters

"I want to shine like a little candle before His altar."
~ St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

The 11th of September, 1910, the centenary year of my country, was a year of happiness and one of the purest recollections I shall have in my whole life.

That was a happy day for me, and a beautiful day for nature as well. The sun gave off its rays and filled my soul with happiness and thanksgiving for the Creator.

I got up early. My mother helped me put on my dress. She combed my hair. She did everything for me, but I wasn't thinking of anything. I was completely indifferent to everything, except to my soul and God...

The moment finally arrived. Two by two we made our entrance into the Chapel... We all entered the chapel with our eyes downcast, without looking at anyone. We knelt down on the kneelers which were covered with a very fine white cloth, with a white lily and a candle on each side...

While we were approaching the altar they were singing that beautiful hymn, "Happy the Soul", which I shall never forget.

It's impossible to describe what took place between my soul and Jesus. I asked him a thousand times that He would take me, and I experienced His dear voice for the first time. "Oh Jesus I love You, I adore You!" I prayed to Him for everybody. And I felt the Virgin near me. Oh, how my heart expanded! For the first I experienced a delicious peace.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Diaries

"A nun dressed in blue picked me up and stitched my throat wound.  This happened in a grotto somewhere.  I found myself in heaven with the Blessed Virgin,  the angels and the saints.  They treated me with great kindness.  In their company were my parents.  I saw the brilliant thone of the Most Holy Trinity and Jesus Christ in His humanity.  There was no sun, no lamp, but everything was bright with light.  Someone sp oke to me.  They said I was a virgin, but that my book was not finished.  When my wound was healed I had to leave the grotto and the Lady took me to the Church of St. Catherine served by the Franciscan Friars.  I went to confess.
When I left, the Lady in Blue had disappeared."
Years later when in ecstasy, on September 8, 1874, the feast of Our Lady's nativity, Sr. Mary said, "On this same day in 1858, I was with my Mother (Mary) and I consecrated my life to her.  Someone had cut my throat and the next day Mother Mary took care of me."
~Bl. Mary of Jesus Crucified ( The Little Arab)

I believe that you, more than anyone, can understand that there exists in my soul an insatiable thirst for happiness. I don't know why, but I find this has doubled. From the time I was a little girl, I've been searching for it but in vain, because everywhere I discover only the shadow of happiness. Can that satisfy me? No. I've never allowed myself to be seduced by it. I long to love, but that something I love doesn't change and is not a plaything of my passions or of circumstances of time and life. To love, yes, but an unchangeable Being, God, who has loved me infinitely from eternity. What an abyss there is between that pure, disinterested and immutable love, and the love a man can offer me! How can I love a being so filled with misery and weakness? What security can I find in that kind of a heart? To unite myself with another being who can not perfect me with his love, do you think this holds noble prospects for me? No. In God I find everything that I don't find in creatures, because they're too small to satisfy the almost infinite aspirations of my soul. Yet you'll say to me: but you can love God by living in the midst of your own family. No, my dear Lucho, Our Lord reserved nothing for Himself when He loved me from the wood of His cross. He even left His heaven. His divinity was eclipsed, and now should I give myself by halves? Would you think it generous of me to keep for myself those to whom I'm most bound? What kind of offering would I be making to Him then? No, dear Lucho, the love I have is above every created thing; and even though my own heart be trampled under foot, and torn to bits with pain, I won't fail to say my goodbyes, because I love Him madly. If a man is capable of making a woman fall in love with him to the point that she leaves everything, do you not believe, that God is capable of making His call irresistible to me?
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from a letter to her brother Lucho

...The Mother gazed in sheer wonder

on such an exchange:

in God, man's weeping,

and in man, gladness,

to the one and the other

things usually so strange....

~St. John of the Cross from Romance on the Gospel text In principio erat Verbum, regarding the Blessed Trinity

I've become famous for my fits of laughter. (I outdid Chopi Salas). We've done nothing but kid around. Prepare yourself. We are the last ones at table with Pepe. We've told so many jokes and laughed so much that sometimes I can't eat. And the most tragic part of it was that the priest who said grace after the meal had to stop his prayer halfway through. He was unable to continue because of the laughter and because we infected him with our laughter.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Letters

I understand, even though you never told me, that you're suffering; that you are a soul torn to pieces. Still, I often wanted to touch that wound, but your reserved character kept it from me. What could I do but be silent and pray for you. If you had known how much I wept for you, you would have listened to everything my soul wanted to tell you...   May you never, dear Miguel, lose your faith. I'd rather die and offer myself in sacrifice than see your soul lose its way. Promise me that every day you'll recite an "Ave Maria" to the Most Holy Virgin that she may bring you salvation, and please keep this crucifix and wear it always...
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Letters

One cannot desire freedom from the Cross when one is especially chosen for the Cross.
~St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

The sick man finds in your maternal heart [ Heart of Mary ] 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

...Jesus has taken command of my ship and has protected it from encountering other vessels. He has kept me in solitude with Himself. Consequently, my heart, by knowing this Captain, has fallen under the spell of His love, and here He keeps me captive. Oh, I love this prison and this powerful King who keeps me captive; and how I love this Captain who amid the waves of the ocean doesn't allow me to suffer shipwreck.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Diary

It is impossible to imagine how happy I am. I feel peace, so intimate a joy that I tell myself that if people in the world would see this happiness, all would run to shut themselves in convents.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes (Letter 133)

The whole world is asleep, and God so full of goodness, so great, so worthy of all praise, and hardly anyone is thinking of Him!  See, nature praises Him, the sky, the stars, the trees, the crss, everything praises Him, and man, who has knowledge of His benefits, who ought to praise Him, sleeps!  Let us go and wake up the universe!

I abyss myself in His magnificence and His wisdom but when I ponder His goodness,
my heart can say nothing - I can only Adore.  
~St Teresa of Jesus of the Andes

Oh, if you could go to the depths of my soul even for an instant, you'd see me captivated by that Beauty, by that incomprehensible Goodness. How I'd love to bind the hearts of creatures and surrender them to divine Love!
St. Teresa of Jesus from her Letters

Yes. I have a heaven in my soul, because God is there, and God is heaven.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Letters

Let us thank God to have united our souls by the bond of true friendship, which consists in mutually perfectioning ourselves to get closer to God.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes (Letter 82)

The limitless loving devotion to God, and the gift God makes of Himself to you, are the highest elevation of which the heart is capable; it is the highest degree of prayer. The souls that have reached this point are truly the heart of the Church.

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

Every day we pray during the Month of Mary, and we sing with Eli. The other day we tried to invent an Ave Maria. We're very proud of our improvisation. When we sounded the highest note, it occurred to Herminia to cover her ears, because with our powerful voices, she thought she'd rupture her eardrums. When we saw the way Gordita was gesticulating, we began to laugh. Instead of notes, we let out pure laughter, and I couldn't play a note on the organ. How fortunate that the people didn't see us.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Letters

In seeing You 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 entry Feb. 1917

"Here in the tiny Host
I find the fruit of love."
~ St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

"The guest of our soul knows our misery; He comes to find an empty tent within us - that is all He asks."
St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Source of peace, Light,
come an enlighten me.
I am hungry, come and nourish me.
I am thirsty, come and quench my thirst.
I am blind, come and give me light.
I am poor, come and enrich me.
~Bl. Mary of Jesus Crucified (The Little Arab)

Everyday I went to Communion and talked with Jesus for a long time, but my special devotion was the Virgin. I told her everything. From that day on the earth no longer held any attraction for me...
~St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Diary (6)

Do not engage yourself in something less or pay heed to the crumbs that fall from your Father's table. Go forth and exult in your Glory! Hide yourself in it and rejoice, and you will obtain the supplications of your heart.
~ St. John of the Cross from Prayer of a Soul Taken with Love

Oh, that my words might not fall on dry ground, and that in your next letter you'd tell that you do join me every day in Communion. To me, it's inconceivable that, yearning for happiness, you don't search for Jesus. After Communion we have everything. We have Him whole and entire, because we have God who is our heaven in this exile. You will tell me that you feel nothing of this happiness. But I ask you: how have you prepared for it? Have you delved into God's grandeur, into the infinite love He demonstrates by reducing Himself to a host? When you go to Communion, reflect on what you are about to do: receive a completely eternal Being who doesn't need you, since He is all powerful, an immense Being before whom the angels with their purity tremble. He comes, filled with infinite love for you, a poor creature full of sin and misery. Among the many people in the world, you are honored with a visit by that great King. Still more, that you may draw near to receive Him, He casts aside His splendor, and, under the form of bread, the simplest form of nourishment, He unites Himself to His poor creature and makes Himself one with her. And while He's afire with infinite love, she remains cold and indifferent and shows no gratitude for so signal a favor.

Forgive my sermon, but I love you so much and desire that you become really good, and for this we must go to Communion. Some day, when we meet in heaven, which we'll win by God's mercy, you'll thank me for having begged you to go to daily communion every day, since you'll understand that it contains the seed of eternal life...

St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Letters

"How sweet it was, the first kiss of Jesus to my soul! Yes, it was a kiss of Love. I felt I was loved, and I too said: 'I love Thee, I give myself to Thee forever!' Jesus asked nothing of me, demanded no sacrifice. Already for a long time past, He and the little Therese had watched and understood one another... That day our meeting was no longer a simple look but a fusion. No longer were we two: Therese had disappeared as the drop of water which loses itself in the depths of the ocean, Jesus alone remained; the Master, the King! Had not Therese begged Him to take away from her, her liberty? That liberty made her afraid; so weak, so fragile did she feel herself that she longed to be united forever to Divine Strength."

~St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face from Story of A Soul

Each day Jesus nourishes me with His adorable Body and, together with this delicate food, I hear a sweet and soft voice like the harmonious echoes of the angels of heaven. This a the voice that guides me, that loosens the sails of the ship of my soul. And in my pains, in my temptations, He is my Consoler, He is my Captain.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Diary

Whoever does not seek the Cross of Christ does not seek the glory of Christ.
St. John of the Cross

"My patrons in Heaven and my chosen favorites are those who have stolen it - like the Holy Innocents and the Good Thief. The great Saints have earned it by their works; as for me, I will imitate the thieves, I will have it by ruse, a ruse of Love which will open its gates to me and to poor sinners. The Holy Ghost encourages me, saying in the Book of Proverbs: O little one, come, learn subtilty of Me. (Prov. 1:4)"
~St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, from Counsels and Reminiscences

I wish I could persuade everyone to be devoted to this glorious saint, for I have great experience of the blessings he can obtain from God.  I have never known anyone to be devoted to him and render him particular services who did not noticably advance in virtue, for he gives very real help to souls who commend themselves to him.  For some years now, I think, I have made some request of him every year on his festival and have always had it granted.  If my petition is in any way ill directed, he directs it aright for my greater good.
St. Teresa of Jesus from her Autobiography

"A soul united to Jesus is a living smile that radiates Him and gives Him." ( Letter 91 )
~Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity

Those who practice prayer should have a special affection for him [St. Joseph] always... 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.
St. Theresa of Jesus from her Autobiography

Lucho dear, throughout these days I have kept you here with me in this retreat... How I'd like to share with you what I feel, little brother of my soul. How I'd love to show you the lovely infinite horizon beyond creation that I experience and contemplate. I love God now a thousand times more than I did before, because I hadn't known Him. He reveals and makes Himself known to souls that really seek to know and love Him. Everything on earth, dear Lucho, seems to shrink, to lose value before the Divinity which, like an infinite Sun, continues to shine upon my miserable soul with its rays. Oh, if you could go to the depths of my soul even for an instant, you'd see me captivated by that Beauty, by that incomprehensible Goodness. How I'd love to bind the hearts of creatures and surrender them to divine Love! You've never known the heaven that I, through God's mercy, possess in my heart. Yes. I have a heaven in my soul, because God is there, and God is heaven.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her letter to her brother Lucho

O soul, most beautiful of creatures, who so earnestly longs to know the place where your Beloved is, that you may seek him and be united to him.  You are yourself thevery tabernacle where he dwells, the secret chamber of his retreat where he is hidden.  Rejoice therefore and exult, because all your good and all your hope is so near you as to be within you. Yes, rather rejoice that you cannot be without it, for lo ;the kingdom of God is within you;.  So says the Bridegroom himself, and his servant St. Paul adds: 'You are the temple of the living God'.  What joy for the soul to learn that God never abandons it even in mortal sin, how much less in a state of grace:  What more can you desire, what more  can you seek outside, seeing that within you you have your riches, your delight, your Beloved whom you seek and desire.
St. John of the Cross from Spiritual Canticle, Stanza 1

"It is not to remain in a golden ciborium that He comes down each day from Heaven, but to find another Heaven, the Heaven of our soul in which He takes delight."
~St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

"By our little acts of charity practiced in the shadows we convert souls far away, we help missionaries, we win for them abundant alms; and by that means build actual dwellings spiritual and material for our Eucharistic Lord."
~St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

it is not so essential to think much as to love much: therefore you must practice whatever most excites you to this. Perhaps we do not know what love is, nor does this greatly surprise me. Love does not consist in great sweetness of devotion, but in a fervent determination to strive to please God in all things, in avoiding, as far as possible, all that would offend Him, and in praying for the increase of the glory and honor of His Son and for the growth of the Catholic Church. These are the signs of love; do not imagine that it consists in never thinking of anything but God, and that if your thoughts wander a little all is lost.
St. Teresa of Jesus The Interior Castle Chapter 1

O Eternal Word, Word of my God, I want to spend my life in listening to You, to become wholly teachable that I may learn from You.  Then, through all nights, all voids, all helplessness, I want to gaze on You always and remain in Your great light.  O my beloved Star, so fascinate me that I may not withdraw from Your radiance. 
Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity from Elevation to the Most Holy Trinity

When we consider the divine world that envelops us already here in our exile and in which we can move, oh, then things here below disappear;  all of that doesn’t exist, it is less than nothing.  The saints, for their part, understood true knowledge so well, the knowledge that makes us leave everything, and especially ourselves, so we can fly to God and live solely with Him!
Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity from Letter 184

In order to be an image of God, the spirit must turn to what is eternal, hold it in spirit, keep it in memory, and by loving it, embrace it in the will. 
~ St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

...does it ever happen to you that when you're looking at the ocean you feel a longing for the infinite? We feel in our soul an inexplicable loneliness that only God can fill, because everything seems so very small.
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Letters

I took for my advocate and lord the glorious St. Joseph, and commended myself to him... I do not remember even now that I have ever asked anything of him which he has failed to grant. I am astonished at the great favors which God has bestowed on me through this blessed saint, and at the perils from which He has freed me, both in body and in soul.  To other saints the Lord seems to have given grace to succor us in some of our necessities but of this glorious saint my experience is that he succors us in them all and that the Lord wishes to teach us that as He was Himself subject to him on earth (for, being His guardian and being called His father, he could command Him) just so in Heaven He still does all that he asks. 
St. Teresa of Jesus from her Autobiography

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.
~St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Diary

"In the presence of Jesus in the Holy Sacrament we ought to be like the Blessed in heaven before the Divine Essence."
~St. Teresa of Jesus

...One love in them all makes of them one Lover,

and the Lover is the Beloved in whom each one lives.

For the being that the three possess each of them possesses,

and each of them loves him who bears this being.

Each one is this being, which alone unites them,

binding them deeply, one beyond words....

~St. John of the Cross from Romance on the Gospel text In principio erat Verbum, regarding the Blessed Trinity. 

"At the time of Holy Communion I sometimes picture my soul under the figure of a little child of three or four years, who at play has got its hair tossed and its clothes soiled. These misfortunes have befallen me in battling with souls. But very soon the Blessed Virgin hastens to my aid: quickly, she takes off my dirty little pinafore, smoothes my hair and adorns it with a pretty ribbon or simply with a little flower... and this suffices to render me pleasing and enables me to sit at the Banquet of Angels without blushing."
~St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, from Counsels and Reminiscences

You ask me to assure you in my letters that I will always love you as a sister. Can you doubt it for even a moment? Can it be that you don't realize that my heart is being perfected by divine love and that, the more perfect it becomes, the more and greater love becomes? So never doubt that at every moment I'm praying for you, and my prayer is a song of love…
St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes from her Letters

Vocal prayer must be accompanied by reflection. A prayer in which a person is not aware of to Whom he is speaking, what he is asking, who it is who is asking and of Whom, I don't call prayer... no matter how much the lips may move.
St. Teresa of Jesus

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.
~Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity from Elevation to the Most Holy Trinity

We can never have too much confidence in the good God who is so powerful and so merciful. We obtain from him as much as we hope for.  
~St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

“because our Lord lives in our soul, His prayer dwells within us and it is there I want to abide without ceasing, as a little vase at the source and fountain of life, sharing this prayer with others by letting it overflow in ways of unending love”.
Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity from The Charism of Her Prayer

To the extent that we know this God made man, we come to love him madly. I would like you to know him in order to be truly in love with him… How not to love this Jesus of our soul? He is uncreated Beauty, eternal Wisdom, Goodness, Life, Love… Oh! Love Jesus. Who can love you better? He thirsts for your heart.
~St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes (Letter 136)

It does us much good to look into the soul of saints and then to follow them through faith right up to Heaven; there, they are all luminous with the light of God, whom they contemplate face to face for all eternity!… The Heaven of the saints is our homeland. It is the Father’s House where we are awaited, where we are loved, where one day we, too will be able to fly and rest in the bosom of Infinite Love!  
~Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity, Letter 184

 Do not engage yourself in something less or pay heed to the crumbs that fall from your Father's table. Go forth and exult in your Glory! Hide yourself in it and rejoice, and you will obtain the supplications of your heart.

St. John of the Cross, from Prayer of a Soul Taken in Love

Accustom yourself to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.
St. Teresa of Jesus ~ from Maxims for Her Nuns in The Complete Works

Everything else we do is a means to an end. But love is an end already, since God is love.

~ St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

Who can free themselves from lowly manners and limitations if you do not lift them to yourself, my God, in purity of love? How will human beings begotten and nurtured in lowliness rise up to you, Lord, if you do not raise them with your hand that made them?
St. John of the Cross, from Prayer of a Soul Taken in Love

I am happy and shall never cease to be so because I belong to my God. At every moment I find in him my heaven and an eternal and immutable love. I don't desire anything but him and this love grows in my soul inasmuch I see myself introduced in the the bosom of his divine love and adorable perfections.
~St. Teresa of Jesus of the Andes (Letter 148)

Since He is there, let us keep Him company, as a friend with a friend. This Divine union is quite interior and it is the essence of our life in Carmel. It is what makes our solitude so dear to us, for as our Father St John of the Cross says, two hearts that love each other prefer solitude to everything else.
~Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity from The Charism of Her Prayer

Meditative prayer is one stage higher[than vocal prayer]. Here the spirit moves more freely without being bound to specific words. It immerses itself, for example, in the mystery of the birth of Jesus. The spirit's imagination [Phantasie] transports it to the grotto in Bethlehem, seeing the child in the manger, the holy parents, the shepherds, and the kings. The intellect ponders the greatness of divine mercy, the emotions are seized by love and thankfulness, the will decides to make itself more worthy of divine love. This is how meditative prayer involves all the soul's powers and, when practiced with faithful persistence, can gradually remake the whole person. However, the Lord has yet another way of rewarding fidelity in meditation: by elevation to a higher manner of praying.
~St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross from Love for Love

..."vocal" prayer is not to be understood as simply saying words. If the mere words of a prayer alone are said without the soul's raising itself to God, this is only an outward show and not real prayer. The designated words, however, support the spirit and prescribe to it a fixed path.
~St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross from Love for Love

The feeling remains that God is on the journey too.
St. Teresa of Jesus

Oh, how I suffer now when I recall how I forgot the longings of my childhood! My God, since you seem to have decided to rescue me, let it be your glorious will to do so.... Why did this soul, which you have selected for your habitation and showered with grace, become spotted like this? I feel great pain remembering it, for I know very well that I alone was guilty. You, Oh Lord, have left nothing untried to open my eyes ever since my youngest days.
~ St. Teresa of Jesus 

Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing more than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us.
St. Teresa of Jesus

All things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted.

~St. Teresa of Jesus 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 On the question of relating to our fellowman - our neighbor's spiritual need transcends every commandment.

~ St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

"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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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

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

If anyone comes to me, I want to lead them to Him.

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

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

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