Quotes of Saints and Blesseds of Carmel
| To those not familiar with Carmelite spirituality,
the wisdom of these saints may seem dark and forbidding. But all saints learn
that the one and only path to complete freedom and joy comes in a
total surrender of self to the will of God, so that we might become all He
created us to be.
"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are
children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back
into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, Abba,
"Father!" The Spirit itself bears witness that we are the children of God,and
if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if
only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. |
"Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to your
word." |
| "I made the resolution never to consider whether the things commanded me appeared useful or not.... it is love alone that counts. Forget about whether something is needed or useful; see it (the demand, rule, obligation, etc.) as a whim of Jesus." St Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face |
It is not so essential to think much as to love much. St Teresa of Jesus, OCD |
Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth; mine are the people,
the righteous are mine and mine are the sinners; the angels are mine and
the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God Himself is mine and for
me, for Christ is mine and all for me. What then do you ask for and seek,
my soul? Yours is all this, and it is all for you. |
How happy I am to see myself imperfect and be in need of God's mercy.
|
The more lofty the degree of loving union to which God destines the soul, so much more profound and persistent must be its purification. St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, OCD (Edith Stein, Science of the Cross 77) |
To be taken with love for a soul, God does not look on its greatness,
but the greatness of its humility. |
Always remember to love your neighbor; always prefer the one who tries
your patience, who test your virtue, because with her you can always merit:
suffering is Love; the Law is Love. |
It is certain that the love of God does not consist in experiencing sweetness
or tenderness of heart but in truly serving God in Justice, strength
and humilty. |
We can never have too much confidence in the good God who is so powerful
and so merciful. We obtain from him as much as we hope for.
|
I abyss myself in His magnificence and His wisdom but when I ponder His
goodness, |
I desire to suffer always and not to die. I should add: this is not my
will, it is my inclination. It is sweet to think of Jesus; but it is sweeter
to do His will. |
Trials are nothing else but the forge that purifies the soul of all its
imperfections. |
God Himself teachs us to go foward with our hand in His by means of the
Church's liturgy. |
It is not the soul that makes the progress, but it is Christ, who carries
her as a child is carried. |
Wisdom enters through love, silence, and mortification. It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others. St John of the Cross, OCD |
Look for Christ Our Lord in everyone and you will then have respect and
reverence for all. |
God desires the smallest degree of purity of conscience in you more than
all the works you can perform. |
One cannot desire freedom from the Cross when one is especially chosen
for the Cross. |
For my heart is always with Him, day and night it thinks unceasingly of
its heavenly and divine Friend, to whom it wants to prove its affection.
Also within it arises this desire: not to die, but to suffer long, to suffer
for God, to give Him its life while praying for poor sinners. |
A soul enkindled with love is a gentle, meek, humble, and patient soul.
|
You know that our Lord does not look at the greatness or difficulty of
our action, but at the love with which you do it. What, then, have you to
fear? |
The proud person is like a grain of wheat thrown into water: it swells,
it gets big. Expose that grain to the fire: it dries up, it burns. The humble
soul is like a grain of wheat thrown into the earth: it descends, it hides
itself, it disappears, it dies; but to revive in heaven. |
Prayer is a cry of gratitude and love, in the midst of trial as well as
in joy. |
You will be consoled according to the greatness of your sorrow and affliction;
the greater the suffering, the greater will be the reward. |
So dearly does His Majesty love us that He will reward our love
for our neighbor by increasing the love which we bear to Himself, and that
in a thousand ways. |
What we need most in order to make progress is to be silent before this
great God with our appetite and with our tongue, for the language he best
hears is silent love. |
The goal of all our undertakings should be not so much a task perfectly
completed as the accomplishment of the will of God. |
Oh my God, You have surpassed all my expectations. |
Our Garden of Carmel
Elizabeth Ann Stevens, OCDS