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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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)

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

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)