We are preparing ourselves for the time, which will come very soon, when we shall find ourselves at the end of our journey and shall be drinking of living water from the fountain I have described. Unless we make a total surrender of our will to the Lord, and put ourselves in His hands so that He may do in all things what is best for us in accordance with His will, He will never allow us to drink of it.
–Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582)
All I want is that we should know and abide with the Person with Whom we are speaking, and not turn our backs upon Him; for that, it seems to me, is what we are doing when we talk to God and yet think of all kinds of vanity. The whole mischief comes from our not really grasping the fact that He is near us, and imagining Him far away — so far, that we shall have to go to Heaven in order to find Him.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Turn your eyes upon yourself and look at yourself inwardly….You will find your Master; He will not fail you: indeed, the less outward comfort you have, the greater the joy He will give you. He is full of compassion and never fails those who are afflicted and out of favor if they trust in Him alone….Either you believe this or you do not: if you do, as you should, why do you wear yourselves to death with worry?
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
It is best for us so not to attempt to rise by its own efforts. If the well is dry, we are not able to put water into it. Pay attention to this. If the soul tries to go forward it may actually go backward. The foundation for prayer is humility. The nearer we come to God, the more you humility we need. There is a kind of pride that makes us want to be more spiritual. God is already doing more for us than we deserve.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
People cannot become perfect by dint of hearing or reading about perfection. The chief thing is not to listen to yourself, but silently to listen to God. Talk little and do much, without caring to be seen. God will teach you more than all the most experienced persons or the most spiritual books can do. You already know a great deal more than you practice. You do not need the acquirement of fresh knowledge half so much as to put in practice that which you already possess.
–François Fénèlon (1651-1715)
Many a modern preacher is far less concerned with preaching Christ and Him crucified than he is with his popularity with his congregation. A want of intellectual backbone makes him straddle the ox of truth and the ass of nonsense. Bending the knee to the mob rather than God would probably make them scruple at ever playing the role of John the Baptist before a modern Herod. The acids of modernity are eating away the fossils of orthodoxy.
–Blessed Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
