You know that there is no middle course, and that it is a question of being saved or lost for all eternity. It depends on us: either we may choose to love God eternally with the Saints in Heaven after we have done violence to self here below by mortifying and crucifying ourselves as they did, or else renounce their happiness by giving to nature all for which it craves.
–Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690)
But above all preserve peace of heart. This is more valuable than any treasure. In order to preserve it there is nothing more useful than renouncing your own will and substituting for it the will of the divine heart. In this way his will can carry out for us whatever contributes to his glory, and we will be happy to be his subjects and to trust entirely in him.
–Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647- 1690)
Sometimes I consider myself there, as a stone before a carver, whereof he is to make a statue: presenting myself thus before God, I desire Him to make His perfect image in my soul, and render me entirely like Himself.
–Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)
Whoever is in love with himself is unable to love God. The man who loves God is the one who abandons his self-love for the sake of the immeasurable blessings of divine love. Such a man never seeks his own glory but only the glory of God.
–Saint Diadochus of Photike (c. 400 – c. 486)
Whoever surrenders unconditionally to the Lord will be chosen by him as an instrument for building his kingdom.
–Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942)
Behold the true sign of a totally perfect soul: when one has reached the point of giving up his will so completely that he no longer seeks, expects or desires to do ought but that which God wills.
–Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)
