God dispenses grace…
It is one flash, the being-ready and the pouring in. Nature reaching her summit, God dispenses His grace: the instant the spirit is ready, God enters without hesitation or delay.
–Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)
One with God…
Not one is so unprepared, unlearned, or uncouth that he could not become one with God. If he is ready to unite his will purely and unreservedly with the will of God, all he has to do is say, ‘Lord, show me Thy will and grant me the strength to fulfill it.’ and God does so with abundance.
–Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)
Our lives, like candles…
Our lives, like candles, spell this simple symbol: Weep like our bodily life, sweet work of bees, Sweeten the world, with your slow sacrifice. And this shall be our praise: That by our glad expense, our Father’s will Burned and consumed us for a parable.
–Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
The spiritual life…
The spiritual life is a stern choice. It is not a consoling retreat from the difficulties of existence, but an invitation to enter fully into that difficult existence, and there apply the Charity of God, and bear the cost.
–Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941)
When you have found Christ…
When you also have found Christ, when you have found wisdom, when you have found justice, holiness and redemption (for Christ became all these for us), when you have found all these, hold them by affection and by attention. What you have found by understanding, hold by diligence and keep hold, if I may so express it, of the elusive virtues. Clasp their slippery forms to you in a tighter embrace until, reversing their roles, they cling to you, embrace you willingly, hold you fast without the labor of your own initiative, and permit you neither to depart very far nor to be away very long. Even if at times you should turn aside to meet the claims of human need, there let them pursue you, recall you, and clutch you to themselves, so that if they cannot always have your uninterrupted attention, they may always have your dedicated affection.
–Gilbert of Hoyland (Twelfth Century)
Have hope and firm faith…
Have hope and firm faith in God, for He will help you in everything. Act, move, believe, strive, hope, cry out to Him with all your heart, for without doubt you will see marvelous things, if you direct everything to the praise and glory of His Majesty and the good of souls.
–Saint Angela Merici (1474-1540)
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