It can happen that when we are at prayer someone comes to see us. Then we have to choose, either to interrupt our prayer or to sadden our visitor by refusing to communicate. But love is greater than prayer. Prayer is one virtue amongst others, whereas love contains them all.
–Saint John Climacus (c. 525-606)
How different are all the saints! In heaven the greatest doctor of the church will sit down with a little child.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
The only way to make rapid progress along the path of divine love is to remain very little and to put all our trust in Almighty God. That is what I have done.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
The good God does not need years to accomplish His work of love in a soul; one ray from His heart can, in an instant, make His flower bloom for eternity.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
There is the true picture of our souls. Often we go down into the fertile valleys where our heart loves to find its nourishment. And the vast fields of Holy Scripture, which have so often opened to yield us richest treasures, now seem but an arid and waterless waste. We no longer even know where we stand. In place of peace and light, all is sorrow and darkness.
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
I was far from getting any consolation. Instead, I suffered complete spiritual dryness, almost as if I were quite forsaken… But that doesn’t upset me. It fills me with great joy. It’s true that I am a long way from being a saint, and this attitude of mine proves it. Instead of the lighting in my spiritual aridity, I have to blame my lack of faith and fervor for it. I should be distressed that I drop off the sleep during my prayers and during my thanksgiving after Communion. But I don’t feel at all distressed. I know that children are just as dear to their parents whether they are asleep or awake and I know that doctors put their patients to sleep before they operate. So I just think that God “knows our frame; remembers that we are dust.”
–Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897)
