Many are satisfied with carrying the Lord on their tongue, recounting His marvels and praising Him with great ardour; others carry Him in their hearts with tender and loving affection, which becomes part and parcel of their lives, thinking of Him and speaking to Him. But these two ways of carrying the Lord do not amount to much if the third element of carrying Him in their arms by good works is missing.
What we need is a cup of understanding, a barrel of love, and an ocean of patience.
The beard is an ornament of a man and the hair on the head of a woman. If the beard is plucked out by the root from the chin and the hair from the head, they will hardly grow again. But if it is only cut or shaven close, it will soon grow again stronger and thicker than before. Thus even if our good name is cut off or even shaved away altogether by the tongue of detractors, which David says is like a sharp razor (Ps. 51: 2) we should not be disturbed at it. It will spring up again not only as beautiful as before but also stronger. If our vices, evil deeds and evil life destroy our reputation it will be more difficult than before for it to grow up again because it is uprooted. For the root of a good name is goodness and integrity. As long as the root is in us, it can always regain the honour which is due to it.
Chastity is the lily of virtues, and makes men almost equal to Angels. Everything is beautiful in accordance with its purity. Now the purity of man is chastity, which is called honesty, and the observance of it, honour and also integrity; and its contrary is called corruption; in short, it has this peculiar excellence above the other virtues, that it preserves both soul and body fair and unspotted.
Ostriches never fly, hens fly only awkwardly, quite low and rarely; but eagles, doves and swallows fly often, swiftly and very high. In the same way, sinners do not fly towards God but rather all their movements are on the earth and for the things of the earth. People who are good, but have not yet come to devotion, fly towards God by their good deeds but rarely, slowly and with difficulty. Persons who are devout fly to God frequently, promptly and freely.
The flowers, says the sacred Spouse (Song 2 ; 12) have begun to blossom in our land, pruning time has come. What are the flowers of our heart, Philothea? Our good desires, certainly. As soon as they appear, we should get hold of a pruning knife to cut off from our conscience every deed that is useless and irrelevant.
Imagine a beautiful, very calm night and feel the delight of seeing the sky with its countless, different stars. Now add its beauty to that of a lovely day, but without the brightness of the sun preventing a clear view of the stars and the moon. Then say boldly that all this beauty put together is nothing in comparison to the excellence of Heaven. How much to be longed for and how loveable is this place? How greatly to be valued is this city?
The Prayer of the sick person is his patience and his acceptance of his sickness for the love of Jesus Christ. Make sickness itself a prayer, for there is none more powerful, save martyrdom!
Since God often sends us inspirations by means of His angels, we should frequently return our aspirations to him by means of the same messengers.
Make yourself familiar with the angels and behold them frequently in spirit; for without being seen, they are present with you.
All the science of the Saints is included in these two things: To do, and to suffer. And whoever had done these two things best, has made himself most saintly.
He prays well who is so absorbed with God that he does not know he is praying.
You can attract more bees with a spoonful of honey than a barrel of vinegar.
Go courageously to do whatever you are called to do. If you have any fears, say to your soul: "The Lord will provide for us." If your weakness troubles you, cast yourselves on God, and trust in him. Trust in him, depend on his providence; fear nothing.
Be who you are and be that well, to serve the Master Craftsman whose handiwork we are.
Pearls conceived and nourished by wind or thunderclaps are mere crust, devoid of substance. So also when virtues and fine qualities are conceived and nurtured by pride and vanity, they are without substance or solidity, having merely the appearance of good. Honours, dignities and rank are like saffron, which thrives best and grows most plentifully when trodden under foot.
Devotion is simply that spiritual agility and vivacity by which charity works in us or by aid of which we work quietly and lovingly. Just as it is the function of charity to enable us to observe all God's commandments in general and without exception, so it is the part of devotion to enable us to observe them more quickly and diligently. Hence a person who does not observe all God’s commandments cannot be held to be either good or devout. To be good one must have charity, and to be devout, in addition to charity one must have great ardour and readiness in performing charitable actions.
Our miseries and weaknesses must not scare us, because the Lord has seen much greater ones. His mercy does not reject the miserable but gives them His grace and raises them from the depths of baseness and abjection to His throne of glory. I would like to have a good hammer to blunt the keen desire of your spirit to progress in its virtue. So often have I told you that, in the spiritual life, we must walk in a very simple way. If you do well, thank and praise God; if you do something wrong, make an act of humility! I know quite well that you do not want to do the wrong thing on purpose, so consider the wrong things you do as the means to keep you humble.
Let us try sincerely, humbly and devoutly to acquire those little virtues our Savior has proposed as the goal of our care and labour. These are meekness, patience, mortification, humility, obedience, poverty, chastity, tenderness towards our neighbour, bearing with others’ imperfections, diligence and holy fervour. Let us gladly leave the lofty virtues to lofty souls; we do not desire so high a rank in God’s service, and we should be more than happy to serve Him in His kitchen or to be His lackeys, porters or chamberlains. While blessing God for the eminence of others, let us keep to our lower but simpler way. It is less distinguished but better suited to our littleness. If we conduct ourselves with humility and good faith, God will raise us up to heights that are surely great.
I desire greatly to engrave on your heart and spirit a maxim of incomparable value; and that is ask for nothing and refuse nothing accept willingly what is offered to you and ask nothing that one does not want to give you. In this way you will experience a great peace in your hearts. Hold your hearts fully open to receive whatever someone will want to give you and never desire what will not be given to you. I say to you in one word: desire nothing but leave yourself and all your preoccupation fully and perfectly in the care of divine Providence.
To get bogged down by some little troubles, problems and pitfalls we may encounter in our life's path, is a sign that our heart is still too tender and vulnerable and our devotion soft and spineless. Do not be afraid to fight tooth and nail against these silly, melancholic and senseless moods, till they are completely crushed and exterminated from your hearts.
We should take up the task of becoming perfect not just for our own satisfaction, but to please our Spouse who wants us to become so.
Hold fast to the presence of God with the means you have at your disposal. Throw yourself gently, and not forcefully, into the wounds of Our Lord. Put your confidence in his mercy and goodness which will never abandon you and do not give up clinging to the Holy Cross.
Take great care not to get overly upset whenever you commit some faults. Humble yourself immediately before God, but let this humility be a loving humility which will fill you with fresh confidence to throw yourself immediately into God’s arms, secure in the knowledge that God, in his goodness, will help you to change for the better. And so, whatever be the faults you commit and whenever you commit them, gently ask for God’s pardon and tell him that you are perfectly sure that he loves you still that he will forgive you. Always do this in a simple and gentle manner.
Loneliness has its own onslaughts and the world its worries. You should be brave and courageous always and everywhere, for heaven helps those who put their trust in God and implore his help in humility and love.
Always remain very humble, for humility is the most perfect virtue ; but let your humility be peaceful, calm, generous and noble.
Learn to live in peace; and gently bear up with your little miseries. You belong unreservedly to God. He will lead you safely to the port. If, however, he does not deliver you immediately from your imperfections, it means that he has some other plans for you and that could be to give you a longer formation in the practice of humility, so that you may be well rooted in this lovely virtue.
Those who aspire towards the pure love of God, do not need to have much patience with others, but rather quite a lot with themselves. We must learn to bear up with our imperfections if we wish to find perfection. I don’t say that we should love them nor fondle and caress them. Humility feeds itself on this patient endurance.
May God be always praised and exalted in and through your miseries for they are the throne of his love and the bedrock of your pure and sincere humility.
However abhorrent they may seem to us, our sins, miseries and weaknesses should never discourage us. All they should do is to make us feel humble. They should also give us the grounds to cast ourselves fully, lovingly and confidently into God's merciful arms. The more detestable our sins and miseries, the more ought we to keep holing and believing that God's mercy shines brightly in our hearts, provided we rise up after each fall and start all over again, with fresh courage and determination. We should believe firmly that we can do everything with the help of God's unfailing grace.
Humility is not just a distrust of ourselves, it is also confidence in God and the distrust of ourselves and of our own strength produces confidence in God and this confidence in turn gives birth to the generosity of spirit. The Blessed Virgin has given us a very remarkable example of it when she exclaimed: Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to your word (Lk. 1; 38).
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