Even though we may have had a powerful conversion experience, felt great fervor, and received immense graces, without fidelity to mental prayer our Christian life will soon reach a plateau and stall there.
–Jacques Philippe (1947-
Someone who persists in praying day after day is like a man who acquires an old house in the country with a well in the garden. The well has not been used for maybe the last hundred years and is blocked up. The man thinks it would be a good idea to restore it to use, so he starts clearing it. To begin with, it is not very pleasant: he finds dead leaves, stones, mud, and all sorts of rubbish, some of it quite disgusting. If he does not give up, but continues toiling away, in the end he discovers at the bottom of the well water that is clear, fresh, and unbelievably thirst-quenching.
–Jacques Philippe (1947-
this doctrine of dying to self is the law for every Christian, for Christ said: “If anyone wants to follow Me, let him take up his cross and deny himself.” (Mk 8:34) But this doctrine which seems so austere, takes on a delightful sweetness when we consider the outcome of this death— life in God in place of our life of sin and misery.
–Saint Elizabeth of the Blessed Trinity (1880-1906)
The freest soul, I think, is the one most forgetful of self. If anyone were to ask me the secret of happiness, I would say it is to no longer think of self, to deny oneself always. That is a good way to kill pride: let it starve to death! You see, pride is love of ourselves; well, love of God must be so strong that it extinguishes all our self-love.
–Saint Elizabeth of the Blessed Trinity (1880-1906)
“Walk in Jesus Christ, rooted in Him, built up on Him strengthened in faith and growing in Him in thanksgiving.” (Col 2:6-7) Yes, little child of my heart and soul, walk in Jesus Christ: you need this broad road, for you were not made for the narrow paths of here below! Be rooted in Him. This implies being uprooted from self, or doing everything as if you were, by denying self each time you meet it. Be built up on Him, high above everything that is passing, there where everything is pure, everything is luminous.
–Saint Elizabeth of the Blessed Trinity (1880-1906)
Everything is clear, trustworthy and simple, since we accept Holy Tradition in addition to the Holy Scriptures. And Holy tradition is a living, unbroken voice of our Church from the time of Christ and His Apostles until now, and which will exist until the end of the world. In it all the meaning of the Holy Scriptures are preserved.
–Saint Nicholas of Japan (1836-1912)
