Our wish, our object, our chief preoccupation must be the form Jesus in ourselves, to make his spirit, his devotion, his affections, his desires and his disposition live and reign there. All our religious exercises should be directed to this end. It is the work which God is given us to do unceasingly.
–Saint John Eudes (1601-1680)
Some Christians, who have a quietist tendency, are inclined to think that a person can rapidly reach perfection by the assiduous reading of the great mystics, without concerning himself enough with practising the virtues which these books recommend, and without remembering sufficiently that true contemplation should be completely penetrated by supernatural charity and forgetfulness of self.
–Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (1877–1964)
Do all you can to be resigned to the Will of God in all the sufferings that God permits, in your tiredness and in all the work you have to do. Keep your heart at peace and be recollected; don’t get upset. If you can go to church,
–Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964)
Do all you can to be resigned to the Will of God in all the sufferings that God permits, in your tiredness and in all the work you have to do. Keep your heart at peace and be recollected; don’t get upset. If you can go to church, go; if you can’t, stay quietly and contentedly at home; just do the Will of God in the work you have at hand.
–Saint Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)
Under the influence of the Gift of Wisdom, what is bitter becomes sweet, and weariness becomes repose.
–Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
To worship God in spirit and truth means to worship God as we ought to worship Him. God is Spirit, so we must worship Him in spirit and truth, that is, by a humble and true adoration of spirit in the depth and center of our souls. God alone can see this worship; we can repeat it so often that in the end it becomes as if it were natural to us, and as if God were one with our souls, and our souls one with Him.
–Brother Lawrence (1614-1691)
