Nothing so hinders us in what we are doing as to be longing after something else; in so doing, we leave off tilling our own field, to drive the plough through our neighbor’s land, where we must not look to reap a harvest; and this is mere waste of time. If our thoughts and hopes are elsewhere, it is impossible for us to set our faces steadily towards the work required of us.
–Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
One is not entirely for God when one seeks something that is not God.
–Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
In order to enrich us with true riches, Jesus Christ chose to be a poor man, as the Apostle writes, ‘For your sakes He became poor, that by His poverty ye might become rich.’ He chose to be poor in order to teach us by his example to despise earthly blessings; and thus to enrich us with heavenly blessings, which are infinitely more precious, and which last forever. Wherefore he declared that whoever did not renounce every species of attachment to this earth could not be his true disciple.
— Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
We must detach ourselves from everything, and especially from ourselves, by continually thwarting our self-love. For example, a certain thing pleases us; we must leave it for the very reason that it pleases us. A certain person has injured us; we must do him good for this very reason. In a word, we must desire and not desire, exactly as God desires or does not desire, without inclination to any one thing; because we do not know that what we ourselves wish is the will of God.
–Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
True love is found only in complete self-forgetfulness, and it is only after we have detached ourselves from every creature that we find Jesus.
–Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897)
Happy is the spirit that attains to the perfect formlessness at the time of prayer. Happy is the spirit which, praying with distraction, goes on increasing its desire for God. Happy is the spirit that becomes free of all matter and is stripped of all at the time of prayer. Happy is the spirit that attains to complete unconsciousness of all sensible experience at the time of prayer.
–Evagrius Ponticus (345-399)
