In our approach to God, we must carry with us ourselves and all our works, as a perpetual sacrifice to God; and in the Presence of God, we must forsake ourselves and all our works, and, dying in love, go forth from all creatureliness into the superessential richness of God: there we shall possess God in an eternal death to ourselves.
— Blessed John Ruysbroeck (1293-1381)
Have a firm and unshakeable determination to submit yourselves to God’s will.
— Saint Angela Merici (1474-1540)
Entrust yourself entirely to God. He is a father and a most loving father at that, who would rather let Heaven and Earth collapse than abandon anyone who trusted in Him.
–Saint Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)
When shall it be that we shall taste the sweetness of the Divine Will in all that happens to us, considering in everything only His good pleasure, by whom it is certain that adversity is sent with as much love as prosperity, and as much for our good? When shall we cast ourselves undeservedly into the arms of our most loving Father in Heaven, leaving to Him the care of ourselves and of our affairs, and reserving only the desire of pleasing Him, and of serving Him well in all that we can?
— Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641)
We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can – namely, surrender our will and fulfill God’s will in us.
–Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
In our communion with our Lord we should find all our delight, caring not whether it is his good pleasure to give us consolation or desolation. This absolute dependence on and conformity to the will of God is the sum and root of perfection… perfect denudation of self… We are all called to this perfection, and to attain to it there is no need to weaken the body in austerities.
–Saint Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641)
