Whatever you are doing, with whomever you are speaking, whether you are going somewhere or sitting, let your mind be with the Lord. You will forget yourself, and stray from this path; but again turn to the Lord and rebuke yourself with sorrow. This is the discipline of spiritual attentiveness.
–Saint Theophan the Recluse (1815-1894)
The essence of prayer is the lifting of the mind and heart to God
–Saint Theophan the Recluse (1815-1894)
If someone said to you, “I would like to become rich; what must I do?” you would answer him, “You must labor.” Well, in order to get to Heaven, we must suffer.
–Saint John Vianney (1786-1859)
With God, the more one seems to lose the more one gains. The more He strikes off of what is natural, the more He gives of what is supernatural. He is loved at first for His gifts, but when these are no longer perceptible He is at last loved for Himself. It is by the apparent withdrawal of these sensible gifts that He prepares the way for that great gift which is the most precious and the most extensive of all, since it embraces all others.
–Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751)
When God lives in the soul it ought to abandon itself entirely to His providence… In souls abandoned to God everything is efficacious, everything is a sermon and apostolic. God imparts to their silence, to their repose, to their detachment, to their words, gestures, etc., a certain virtue which, unknown to them, works in the hearts of those around them.
–Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751)
The state of abandonment is a certain mixture of faith, hope, and charity in one single act, which unites the soul to God and to His action. United, these three virtues together form but one in a single act, the raising of the heart to God, and abandonment to His action.
–Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751)
