The soul cannot have true knowledge of God through its own efforts or by means of any created thing, but only by divine light and by a special gift of divine grace. I believe there is no quicker or easier way for the soul to obtain this divine grace from God, supreme Good and supreme Love, than by a devout, pure, humble, continual, and determined prayer.
–Blessed Angela of Foligno (1248-1309)
Then, by the virtue of love, is the lover transformed in the beloved and the beloved is transformed in the lover, and like unto hard iron which so assumes the color, heat, virtue, and form of the fire that it almost turns into fire, so does the soul, united with God through the perfect grace of divine love, itself almost become divine and transformed in God.
–Blessed Angela of Foligno (1248-1309)
When the painful problems of the heart are endured, humbly and
patiently, they give the soul a splendid luster, the nearer and better and closer they touch it. But remember that kind actions – more than anything else – cause the soul to shine with brilliance.
–Saint Gertrude (1256-1302)
The moment has come when you should more than ever die to all that is not God, that you may the more lovingly commune with Him alone. Let your life be as hidden as possible. Lock yourself up in the great sanctuary of the divine Heart, for there the soul is nourished by her divine Spouse with that wine which strengthens, vivifies, inflames the soul, and causes her to take flight to the contemplation of the supreme Monarch; it is in that sanctuary that the soul learns the science of the saints, which is taught only to the humble.
–Saint Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)
Those who pray are certainly saved; those who do not pray are certainly damned.
–Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
What does it cost us to say: “My God help me! Have mercy on me!” Is there anything easier than this? And this little will suffice to save us if we be diligent in doing it.
–Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
