Post by EricH on Jul 17, 2016 18:32:13 GMT -5
These are my favorite brief quotes collected over the years from spiritual books. They speak of the high perfection we are called to, which seems so far away, and yet they are inspirational.
The sources aren't listed, but if anyone wants to know where something came from I can probably help (or Google might bring it up).
maxims.pdf (63.19 KB)
All virtue is obedience to God's will in preference to one's own desires.
Things we do without overcoming temptation are of little value.
Resist the beginning, and avoid occasions of sin.
A man does himself more harm by not seeking Jesus, than all the world could do to him.
Sin is loving or willing a temporal good as though it were the eternal good, out of inordinate self-love.
Sacrifice is the highest act of religion. It directs the mind to God and away from false gods.
Lose thy money for thy brother and thy friend, and hide it not under a stone to be lost.
Where thy treasure is, there shall thy heart be also.
A wise man pursues the true end of his being, and detaches himself from things for which he is not made.
All that is not God only burdens and saddens the soul, which its Creator alone can satisfy.
God never made man for a natural destiny; only for a supernatural one.
The flesh being indulged, presently perverts the understanding.
Fasting is the chief, the most suitable, and the most convenient for all men, of the works of penance.
Pleasures and pains soon pass away; real happiness and misery come from virtue and vice.
We must not be sad as though perishing. Rather, we must be brave and glad, as men who are being saved.
He that walketh in the right way, and feareth God, is despised by him that goeth by an infamous way.
We shall certainly attain heaven if we do our part.
By the discharge of your ordinary duties you may become a saint.
Imprudence includes precipitation, thoughtlessness, inconstancy, and negligence.
Some lack confidence in God because of the weakness of their resolution to serve Him.
We do not realize what a privilege it is to be allowed to pray.
We are grieved at being imperfect, not so much from love of God as from love of ourselves.
In the way of perfection, not to make progress is to recede.
Sins of omission proceed from weakness, negligence, self-love, and human respect.
A grace refused is an irreparable loss.
Son, if thou comest to the service of God, prepare thyself for temptations.
If you are willing to bear only those crosses that you see a reason for, then perfection is not for you.
It is reasonable to trust God in obscure things, on account of the things that are clear, and especially on account of the Incarnation.
Generosity makes the soul say boldly, and without any fear, “No, I will no more be unfaithful to God.”
The eight people in the ark signify that very few Christians are saved, because there are few who sincerely renounce the world.
In what regards our perfection, which consists in the union of our soul with the Divine Goodness, it is only a question of knowing little and doing much.
The good of man is to be according to reason.
The greatest evils a man can suffer: 1) to fail to judge evil rightly, and worse, 2) not to will to reject evil.
Let us do nothing but what we can offer to God.
Woe to the man who loves anything with God, that he does not love on account of God.
The world looks on the just as fools and fanatics.
The devil seeks to bind us with threads, that he may bind us with chains.
What I do not gain before death, I must do without for all eternity.
If we seek our own satisfaction, we cannot expect to receive any reward from God.
In this world I have but one enemy, and that is sin.
Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold.
Prayer, fasting, almsgiving, resignation to the ills of life; feed, clothe, shelter, visit people.
Admonish the sinner, instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, comfort the sorrowful, bear wrongs patiently, forgive all injuries, pray for the living and the dead.
He who is faithful in that which is least, will be faithful also in much.
We must suppose that the trials already past are lighter than those to come.
But having food, and wherewith to be covered, with these we are content. For they that will become rich, fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil.
The joy of the Lord is our strength.
By what things a man sinneth, by the same also he is tormented.
He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.
Disorderly natural inclinations yield only to force.
How foolish we are to not adore the secret mysteries of God and His most holy will, unless we have some knowledge of the reasons for this or that.
Our Lord Himself has said, “Love one another, as I have loved you” – that means, more than yourselves.
It is a more blessed thing to give than to receive.
Seeing then that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversation and godliness?
Let us not be at all eager in our work, for to do it well, we must be careful, but calm and peaceful, not trusting in our labor but in God and His grace.
The way to do well all that we do, is to be very attentive to the presence of God; for none of us would offend Him, if we felt that He sees us.
The only way to acquire virtue is by repeated acts.
Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him.
Let us go deliberately against our likes and dislikes.
Nothing but God can make you happy, nor can anything you offer Him but yourself satisfy Him.
An inordinate desire for news reveals a superficial mind.
How can we be at peace, seeing the number of souls that the demon carries off every day?
Nothing is too precious to be given to God.
The will effects what it wills, where there is power to do so. To will is free.
The secret of convincing is not to put error out of the mind, but truth into it.
He is no fool, who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
To what purpose is it to conceal from our neighbor what might profit him?
Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account of it in the day of judgment.
Is it not better to overcome your passions than to satisfy them? Can you ever satisfy them?
And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years in haste.
Patience is the guardian of all the other virtues, and, if it fail, we may lose in one moment the labor of many days.
It is not possible to take great pleasure in anything without becoming attached to it.
The only peace is a good conscience.
Detach yourself quickly from all that keeps you or may keep you from God.
God has difficulty enough to find anyone who will serve Him, if there is the least obstacle in the way.
Goodness communicates itself and spreads itself abroad.
Nothing in this world reforms itself; the inevitable tendency of all error and vice is from bad to worse.
The first and greatest commandment: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart.
Nobody on earth is held in such contempt as is God.
A moment of time is of infinite consequence and value. Time passes only once.
What does our past life appear to us, but a dream that has passed away?
He that cometh to Me, I will in no way cast out.
A generous soul makes more progress in a few days than a cowardly soul in many years.
My food is to do the Will of God.
Because thou art lukewarm, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth... be zealous, and do penance.
He who desires to understand what he hears, let him speedily put into practice what he has thus far been able to hear.
Today I will begin to serve God.
Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
Crosses are title deeds to the joys of Heaven.
Purely secular art leads to nothing better than effeminacy and licentiousness.
To him who knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is sin.
The more subject to impulse we are, the less of virtue we have.
Nobody can be called virtuous, who does well only by humor or by fits and starts, not by steady habits.
What foolishness would it be, to be fatigued by the way, and not to be eager to finish the journey?
Pride is the denial of our dependence, and the assertion of our self-sufficiency.
If any man think himself to be something, whereas he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Envy: How can the happiness of a brother vex a brother?
The only thing we can lawfully desire is to please God.
To be satisfied with our virtue is as much as to say, it is sufficient, I will now begin to slacken and fall away.
Jesus does not ask for great deeds, but only for gratitude and self-surrender.
It is a more blessed thing to give than to receive.
Christ having suffered in the flesh, be you also armed with the same thought.
Brace up your heart to suffer afflictions, for without the battle there is no victory, and the crown is only for the conqueror.
No sanctity is secure without the holy fear of God.
The affections of the heart are more acceptable to God than external acts.
If we do not trample on the world, the world will trample on our souls.
Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.
Thou hast chastised me and I was instructed … convert me and I shall be converted, for Thou art the Lord my God.
Nobody has ever been lost for committing too many sins. But many have been lost on account of one mortal sin of which they would not repent.
If we cannot restrain our tongue, or control our bodies and employ them in good works, can we complain that God does not call us to higher things?
When you place yourself in God's presence, endeavor rather to listen to Him than to speak to Him, and strive more to love Him, than to learn from Him.
Contemplate the pains Christ bore for your sake, and you will deem all that you do or may suffer for Him unworthy of a second thought.
When we feel dry and afflicted, our foolishness is more easily kept within bounds than when we are made presumptuous by the freedom and happiness which God's consolations are wont to bring.
Trust in God's judgment, and not in your own, since He understands what is best for you, and knows the present and future state of your soul.
What we need, above all other things, is a new heart, but this is the last thing we should think ourselves capable of obtaining by our own power.
If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall save it.
Return thanks to God for all your spiritual graces, natural gifts and every other good that you possess, attributing nothing to yourself except your sins, faults, and imperfections.
We should neither desire nor strive for anything but to possess the grace and love of God, to avoid offending Him and to please Him in all things.
Nothing so offends God as a self-satisfied heart, because it contains no empty vessel into which He can pour the riches of His mercy.
You may well be content to serve our Lord in illness, for when He calls people to suffer instead of working for Him, He is calling them to a higher state.
Be persuaded of this truth, that as long as you live you will have to suffer trials, sorrows, temptations, and the cross, for this is the livery of the servants of Jesus Christ our Lord.
If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Whenever you give way to any thought, word, or work of pride, such as, that you are better, or more useful, or in any way preferable to others, reject it instantly as most abhorrent to God.
In order to do any good work deserving of Heaven, we stand in absolute need of the forestalling and helping grace of God, which consists in the enlightenment of the understanding and the movement of the will.
To own all which is not God, is but a burden and affliction rather than riches, but to possess Him, and be possessed by Him, is joy to the heart and true riches, for He is the one true Good.
It is no easy matter to be the friend of Jesus Christ. Suffering borne for Him is the only sure way to test which is the true and which the false friend.
Do not fear to place yourself in God's hands, abandoning yourself entirely to Him, for all He holds is safe, and all else will certainly be lost.
The best way to become a saint is to plunge ourselves in the will of God like a stone in water, and to let ourselves be tossed like a ball here and there according to His good pleasure.
It is indeed wonderful that vigils, prayer, fasting, mortification and other works undertaken for our Lord should bring more pleasure to fervent souls than the tepid find in all their feasts, and riches, and other indulgences.
You must be most loyal to our Lord Jesus Christ by giving Him the glory for any virtues you possess. This is the matter, above all others, on which He is susceptible to injustice, and He leaves those who defraud Him of these His claims without honor or graces.
We wish to become perfect without any trouble, but we are mistaken. There is no secret but to do and labor faithfully in the practice of divine love, if we aspire to uniting ourselves with our beloved.
But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.
Charity gives the price and value to all our works; so that we must do for the love of God all the good that we do; and the evil that we avoid, we must avoid for the love of God.
A truly devout soul is at enmity with its own judgment and self-will, and is grateful when it receives insults or annoyances, as they give it the opportunity of conquering these vices.
A scrupulous soul is not fit to trust or to love God, and as it does not find what satisfies it in Him, is not contented with the way by which He leads it, and forsakes Him to seek its happiness elsewhere: it commits the fatal error of raising a storm where there was a calm. It follows its own conceits, and not God's way, which is always sweet and simple.
Trials are the heralds of great joy, for no soul deserves to possess peace and the delights of love, until it has been wearied in combat, and tasted the bitterness of spiritual desolation.
Those who imagine they can attain to holiness by any wisdom or strength of their own, will find themselves after many labors, and struggles, and weary efforts, only the farther from possessing it, and this in proportion to their certainty that they of themselves have gained it.
Let each one think how little he has mortified his passions, and how he resists the reign of God's love within him, and he will see that he does not love God with all his soul.
Woe to us if we feel not the nothingness of all that is visible and turn not to God, if only because we are wearied at discovering the defects and nothingness of all in which we hoped to find our rest.
Though our hearts should be deeply wounded at seeing that we do not serve God as we ought and might, yet they should be consoled by seeing others render Him the homage in which we are wanting. To feel regret at this can only spring from self-love, for, if we desire only God's glory, we can but rejoice at seeing others give it to Him.
He who loves Jesus with perfect love, dies to self for love of Him crucified, and is more eager to be disgraced for His sake, than to receive all the honors that this world, which is both deceived and a deceiver, can give him.
How can you exalt yourself more highly than by loving Jesus, Who loved you and washed you in His Blood, and Who gives Himself to those who desire Him, making them from men to become as gods?
God gives Himself to us on the condition that we confess the truth, that in Him and from Him, and not from ourselves, comes all that we have.
Many people value themselves by the number of their good works, forgetting that God cares more for the motive of our actions than for their quantity, and that far fewer works would be better pleasing to Him, were they accompanied by warmer love.
The humble Christian thinks his own wickedness as inconceivable as is God's goodness. Should any divine favors be shown him, far from attributing them to any merit of his own, he blames himself for not corresponding to them, and profiting by them as he ought.
The Holy Ghost is a lover of purity, and there must be nothing to offend Him in the place where He lodges: we must keep peace both with ourselves and with others, for even quarrelsome people hide their dissensions before a guest whom they wish to honor.
Pride never has what it wants, for whatever it possesses, or has given to it, it considers that it deserves still more; while humility always thinks it has more than enough, for it believes that it is unworthy to walk the earth, and that hell itself is not sufficient punishment for its sins.
When there is question of the divine honor, we should not be frightened by the dignity of the man who offends God; let us say to him openly: This is sinful; it cannot be done.
It often comes into my mind to go round all the Universities of Europe, and especially that of Paris, crying out everywhere like a madman, and saying to all the learned men there whose learning is so much greater than their charity, “Ah! What a multitude of souls is through your fault shut out of heaven and falling into hell!”
All these died according to faith, not having received the promises, but beholding them afar off, and saluting them, and confessing that they are pilgrims and strangers on the earth. … But now they desire a better, that is to say, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city.
The sources aren't listed, but if anyone wants to know where something came from I can probably help (or Google might bring it up).
maxims.pdf (63.19 KB)
All virtue is obedience to God's will in preference to one's own desires.
Things we do without overcoming temptation are of little value.
Resist the beginning, and avoid occasions of sin.
A man does himself more harm by not seeking Jesus, than all the world could do to him.
Sin is loving or willing a temporal good as though it were the eternal good, out of inordinate self-love.
Sacrifice is the highest act of religion. It directs the mind to God and away from false gods.
Lose thy money for thy brother and thy friend, and hide it not under a stone to be lost.
Where thy treasure is, there shall thy heart be also.
A wise man pursues the true end of his being, and detaches himself from things for which he is not made.
All that is not God only burdens and saddens the soul, which its Creator alone can satisfy.
God never made man for a natural destiny; only for a supernatural one.
The flesh being indulged, presently perverts the understanding.
Fasting is the chief, the most suitable, and the most convenient for all men, of the works of penance.
Pleasures and pains soon pass away; real happiness and misery come from virtue and vice.
We must not be sad as though perishing. Rather, we must be brave and glad, as men who are being saved.
He that walketh in the right way, and feareth God, is despised by him that goeth by an infamous way.
We shall certainly attain heaven if we do our part.
By the discharge of your ordinary duties you may become a saint.
Imprudence includes precipitation, thoughtlessness, inconstancy, and negligence.
Some lack confidence in God because of the weakness of their resolution to serve Him.
We do not realize what a privilege it is to be allowed to pray.
We are grieved at being imperfect, not so much from love of God as from love of ourselves.
In the way of perfection, not to make progress is to recede.
Sins of omission proceed from weakness, negligence, self-love, and human respect.
A grace refused is an irreparable loss.
Son, if thou comest to the service of God, prepare thyself for temptations.
If you are willing to bear only those crosses that you see a reason for, then perfection is not for you.
It is reasonable to trust God in obscure things, on account of the things that are clear, and especially on account of the Incarnation.
Generosity makes the soul say boldly, and without any fear, “No, I will no more be unfaithful to God.”
The eight people in the ark signify that very few Christians are saved, because there are few who sincerely renounce the world.
In what regards our perfection, which consists in the union of our soul with the Divine Goodness, it is only a question of knowing little and doing much.
The good of man is to be according to reason.
The greatest evils a man can suffer: 1) to fail to judge evil rightly, and worse, 2) not to will to reject evil.
Let us do nothing but what we can offer to God.
Woe to the man who loves anything with God, that he does not love on account of God.
The world looks on the just as fools and fanatics.
The devil seeks to bind us with threads, that he may bind us with chains.
What I do not gain before death, I must do without for all eternity.
If we seek our own satisfaction, we cannot expect to receive any reward from God.
In this world I have but one enemy, and that is sin.
Because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold.
Prayer, fasting, almsgiving, resignation to the ills of life; feed, clothe, shelter, visit people.
Admonish the sinner, instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, comfort the sorrowful, bear wrongs patiently, forgive all injuries, pray for the living and the dead.
He who is faithful in that which is least, will be faithful also in much.
We must suppose that the trials already past are lighter than those to come.
But having food, and wherewith to be covered, with these we are content. For they that will become rich, fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil.
The joy of the Lord is our strength.
By what things a man sinneth, by the same also he is tormented.
He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.
Disorderly natural inclinations yield only to force.
How foolish we are to not adore the secret mysteries of God and His most holy will, unless we have some knowledge of the reasons for this or that.
Our Lord Himself has said, “Love one another, as I have loved you” – that means, more than yourselves.
It is a more blessed thing to give than to receive.
Seeing then that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversation and godliness?
Let us not be at all eager in our work, for to do it well, we must be careful, but calm and peaceful, not trusting in our labor but in God and His grace.
The way to do well all that we do, is to be very attentive to the presence of God; for none of us would offend Him, if we felt that He sees us.
The only way to acquire virtue is by repeated acts.
Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him.
Let us go deliberately against our likes and dislikes.
Nothing but God can make you happy, nor can anything you offer Him but yourself satisfy Him.
An inordinate desire for news reveals a superficial mind.
How can we be at peace, seeing the number of souls that the demon carries off every day?
Nothing is too precious to be given to God.
The will effects what it wills, where there is power to do so. To will is free.
The secret of convincing is not to put error out of the mind, but truth into it.
He is no fool, who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
To what purpose is it to conceal from our neighbor what might profit him?
Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account of it in the day of judgment.
Is it not better to overcome your passions than to satisfy them? Can you ever satisfy them?
And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years in haste.
Patience is the guardian of all the other virtues, and, if it fail, we may lose in one moment the labor of many days.
It is not possible to take great pleasure in anything without becoming attached to it.
The only peace is a good conscience.
Detach yourself quickly from all that keeps you or may keep you from God.
God has difficulty enough to find anyone who will serve Him, if there is the least obstacle in the way.
Goodness communicates itself and spreads itself abroad.
Nothing in this world reforms itself; the inevitable tendency of all error and vice is from bad to worse.
The first and greatest commandment: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart.
Nobody on earth is held in such contempt as is God.
A moment of time is of infinite consequence and value. Time passes only once.
What does our past life appear to us, but a dream that has passed away?
He that cometh to Me, I will in no way cast out.
A generous soul makes more progress in a few days than a cowardly soul in many years.
My food is to do the Will of God.
Because thou art lukewarm, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth... be zealous, and do penance.
He who desires to understand what he hears, let him speedily put into practice what he has thus far been able to hear.
Today I will begin to serve God.
Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
Crosses are title deeds to the joys of Heaven.
Purely secular art leads to nothing better than effeminacy and licentiousness.
To him who knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is sin.
The more subject to impulse we are, the less of virtue we have.
Nobody can be called virtuous, who does well only by humor or by fits and starts, not by steady habits.
What foolishness would it be, to be fatigued by the way, and not to be eager to finish the journey?
Pride is the denial of our dependence, and the assertion of our self-sufficiency.
If any man think himself to be something, whereas he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Envy: How can the happiness of a brother vex a brother?
The only thing we can lawfully desire is to please God.
To be satisfied with our virtue is as much as to say, it is sufficient, I will now begin to slacken and fall away.
Jesus does not ask for great deeds, but only for gratitude and self-surrender.
It is a more blessed thing to give than to receive.
Christ having suffered in the flesh, be you also armed with the same thought.
Brace up your heart to suffer afflictions, for without the battle there is no victory, and the crown is only for the conqueror.
No sanctity is secure without the holy fear of God.
The affections of the heart are more acceptable to God than external acts.
If we do not trample on the world, the world will trample on our souls.
Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.
Thou hast chastised me and I was instructed … convert me and I shall be converted, for Thou art the Lord my God.
Nobody has ever been lost for committing too many sins. But many have been lost on account of one mortal sin of which they would not repent.
If we cannot restrain our tongue, or control our bodies and employ them in good works, can we complain that God does not call us to higher things?
When you place yourself in God's presence, endeavor rather to listen to Him than to speak to Him, and strive more to love Him, than to learn from Him.
Contemplate the pains Christ bore for your sake, and you will deem all that you do or may suffer for Him unworthy of a second thought.
When we feel dry and afflicted, our foolishness is more easily kept within bounds than when we are made presumptuous by the freedom and happiness which God's consolations are wont to bring.
Trust in God's judgment, and not in your own, since He understands what is best for you, and knows the present and future state of your soul.
What we need, above all other things, is a new heart, but this is the last thing we should think ourselves capable of obtaining by our own power.
If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall save it.
Return thanks to God for all your spiritual graces, natural gifts and every other good that you possess, attributing nothing to yourself except your sins, faults, and imperfections.
We should neither desire nor strive for anything but to possess the grace and love of God, to avoid offending Him and to please Him in all things.
Nothing so offends God as a self-satisfied heart, because it contains no empty vessel into which He can pour the riches of His mercy.
You may well be content to serve our Lord in illness, for when He calls people to suffer instead of working for Him, He is calling them to a higher state.
Be persuaded of this truth, that as long as you live you will have to suffer trials, sorrows, temptations, and the cross, for this is the livery of the servants of Jesus Christ our Lord.
If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Whenever you give way to any thought, word, or work of pride, such as, that you are better, or more useful, or in any way preferable to others, reject it instantly as most abhorrent to God.
In order to do any good work deserving of Heaven, we stand in absolute need of the forestalling and helping grace of God, which consists in the enlightenment of the understanding and the movement of the will.
To own all which is not God, is but a burden and affliction rather than riches, but to possess Him, and be possessed by Him, is joy to the heart and true riches, for He is the one true Good.
It is no easy matter to be the friend of Jesus Christ. Suffering borne for Him is the only sure way to test which is the true and which the false friend.
Do not fear to place yourself in God's hands, abandoning yourself entirely to Him, for all He holds is safe, and all else will certainly be lost.
The best way to become a saint is to plunge ourselves in the will of God like a stone in water, and to let ourselves be tossed like a ball here and there according to His good pleasure.
It is indeed wonderful that vigils, prayer, fasting, mortification and other works undertaken for our Lord should bring more pleasure to fervent souls than the tepid find in all their feasts, and riches, and other indulgences.
You must be most loyal to our Lord Jesus Christ by giving Him the glory for any virtues you possess. This is the matter, above all others, on which He is susceptible to injustice, and He leaves those who defraud Him of these His claims without honor or graces.
We wish to become perfect without any trouble, but we are mistaken. There is no secret but to do and labor faithfully in the practice of divine love, if we aspire to uniting ourselves with our beloved.
But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.
Charity gives the price and value to all our works; so that we must do for the love of God all the good that we do; and the evil that we avoid, we must avoid for the love of God.
A truly devout soul is at enmity with its own judgment and self-will, and is grateful when it receives insults or annoyances, as they give it the opportunity of conquering these vices.
A scrupulous soul is not fit to trust or to love God, and as it does not find what satisfies it in Him, is not contented with the way by which He leads it, and forsakes Him to seek its happiness elsewhere: it commits the fatal error of raising a storm where there was a calm. It follows its own conceits, and not God's way, which is always sweet and simple.
Trials are the heralds of great joy, for no soul deserves to possess peace and the delights of love, until it has been wearied in combat, and tasted the bitterness of spiritual desolation.
Those who imagine they can attain to holiness by any wisdom or strength of their own, will find themselves after many labors, and struggles, and weary efforts, only the farther from possessing it, and this in proportion to their certainty that they of themselves have gained it.
Let each one think how little he has mortified his passions, and how he resists the reign of God's love within him, and he will see that he does not love God with all his soul.
Woe to us if we feel not the nothingness of all that is visible and turn not to God, if only because we are wearied at discovering the defects and nothingness of all in which we hoped to find our rest.
Though our hearts should be deeply wounded at seeing that we do not serve God as we ought and might, yet they should be consoled by seeing others render Him the homage in which we are wanting. To feel regret at this can only spring from self-love, for, if we desire only God's glory, we can but rejoice at seeing others give it to Him.
He who loves Jesus with perfect love, dies to self for love of Him crucified, and is more eager to be disgraced for His sake, than to receive all the honors that this world, which is both deceived and a deceiver, can give him.
How can you exalt yourself more highly than by loving Jesus, Who loved you and washed you in His Blood, and Who gives Himself to those who desire Him, making them from men to become as gods?
God gives Himself to us on the condition that we confess the truth, that in Him and from Him, and not from ourselves, comes all that we have.
Many people value themselves by the number of their good works, forgetting that God cares more for the motive of our actions than for their quantity, and that far fewer works would be better pleasing to Him, were they accompanied by warmer love.
The humble Christian thinks his own wickedness as inconceivable as is God's goodness. Should any divine favors be shown him, far from attributing them to any merit of his own, he blames himself for not corresponding to them, and profiting by them as he ought.
The Holy Ghost is a lover of purity, and there must be nothing to offend Him in the place where He lodges: we must keep peace both with ourselves and with others, for even quarrelsome people hide their dissensions before a guest whom they wish to honor.
Pride never has what it wants, for whatever it possesses, or has given to it, it considers that it deserves still more; while humility always thinks it has more than enough, for it believes that it is unworthy to walk the earth, and that hell itself is not sufficient punishment for its sins.
When there is question of the divine honor, we should not be frightened by the dignity of the man who offends God; let us say to him openly: This is sinful; it cannot be done.
It often comes into my mind to go round all the Universities of Europe, and especially that of Paris, crying out everywhere like a madman, and saying to all the learned men there whose learning is so much greater than their charity, “Ah! What a multitude of souls is through your fault shut out of heaven and falling into hell!”
All these died according to faith, not having received the promises, but beholding them afar off, and saluting them, and confessing that they are pilgrims and strangers on the earth. … But now they desire a better, that is to say, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city.