True penance consists…
True penance consists in regretting without ceasing the faults of the past, and in firmly resolving to never again commit that which is so deplorable.
–Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)
When God loves…
Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all He desires is to be loved in return. The sole purpose of His love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love Him are made happy by their love of Him.
–Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153
Recognize own significance…
Furthermore the more a person recognises his own insignificance, the more he fully and the more clearly he becomes aware to the divine majesty, and the more a person is low in his own eyes for the sake of God, the truth and justice, the more precious he is in the eyes of God.
–Saint Albert the Great (c. 1206-1280)
Without humility…
Without humility of heart all the other virtues by which one runs toward God seem — and are — absolutely worthless.
–Saint Angela of Foligno (1248-1309)
Achieve true prayer…
If we really want to achieve true prayer, we must turn our backs upon everything temporal, everything external, everything that is not divine.
–Johannes Tauler (c. 1300-1361)
Pray with full confidence…
Our customary practice of prayer was brought to mind: how through our ignorance and inexperience in the ways of love we spend so much time on petition. I saw that it is indeed more worthy of God and more truly pleasing to him that through his goodness we should pray with full confidence, and by his grace cling to him with real understanding and unshakeable love, than that we should go on making as many petitions as our souls are capable of.
–Saint Julian of Norwich (1342-1416)
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