Oh, How Everything That Is Suffered With

What Misery To Live In This World! We Are Like Men Whose Enemies Are At The Door, Who Must Not Lay Aside Their Arms, Even While Sleeping Or Eating, And Are Always In Dread Lest The Foe Should Enter The Fortress By Some Breach In The Walls. O My Lord And My All! How Canst Thou Wish Us To Prize Such A Wretched Existence?

Learn To Self-conquest, Persevere Thus For A Time, And You Will Perceive Very Clearly The Advantage Which You Gain From It. As Soon You Apply Yourself To Orison, You Will At Once Feel Your Senses Gather Themselves Together: They Seem Like Bees Which Return To The Hive And There Shut Themselves Up To Work At The Making Of Honey. At The First Call Of The Will, They Come Back More And More Quickly. At Last, After Countless Exercises, Of This Kind, God Disposes Them To A State Of Utter Rest And Of Perfect Contemplation.

Suffering Is A Great Favor. Remember That Everything Soon Comes To An End . . . And Take Courage. Think Of How Our Gain Is Eternal.

Whoever Has Not Begun The Practice Of Prayer, I Beg For The Love Of The Lord Not To Go Without So Great A Good. There Is Nothing Here To Fear But Only Something To Desire.

This Body Of Ours Has One Fault: The More You Indulge It, The More Things It Discovers To Be Essential To It. It Is Extraordinary How It Likes Being Indulged.