I ought to burn of love for God out of gratitude for the kindness that He has shown me.I ought to burn of love for God out of gratitude for the kindness that He has shown me.
If the Lord some day open my eyes to the dangers from which He delivered me, and the graces which He bestowed on me, you will find me dead of sorrow and love at the foot of the altar.
My only desire is to unite myself to my God.
It is impossible, to the human mind, to comprehend that infinite, eternal, immense Being; all that we can understand of Him in this life is nothing in comparison to the reality.
What! a God made man? a God crucified? a God dead? a God in the Sacrament of the Altar? Who? A God!
O charity! O marvels of love! And for whom? O ungrateful man! how is it possible that you do not love God?
Would that I could set the whole world on fire with the love of God!
Alas that I have not the strength to go and continue to preach my Jesus crucified, Who died on the cross for us sinners! Would that I might thus put an end to the commission of so many crimes!
I would fain say much, but in order to speak of love, it is necessary to love; love alone can suggest its own language.
Let the earth be silent before the great God. I repeat it: I would fain say many things, but I feel as one dumb.
Listen to your divine Spouse, and let yourself be taught by Him.
O my God! teach me how to express myself.
Would that I were all aflame with love! More than that: would that I could sing hymns of praise in the fire of love, and extol the marvelous mercies that uncreated love has bestowed on us! Is it not truly a duty to thank God for His gifts? Yes, doubtless, but I know not how. I wish to do so, and I know not how.
To faint away with the desire to love this great God more and more is little.
To consume ourselves for Him is little.
What shall we do? Ah! we will live for that divine Lover in a perpetual agony of love. But think you I have said enough? No; I would say more if I knew how.
Do you know what consoles me somewhat? To know that our great God is an infinite good, and that nobody is capable of loving and praising Him as much as He deserves.
I rejoice in the infinite love which He bears Himself; I rejoice in the essential happiness which He enjoys in Himself, without need of any creature. But, mad that I am, would it not be better for me to rush into those flames of love and there remain in silence, consumed and lost in that infinite All?
Ah! this is the work of love, and I am never sufficiently disposed to lose myself in love.
My heart now experiences such a thirst that a river would not suffice to satisfy it; an ocean is needed to quench this thirst, but it is an ocean of fire and love that I wish to consume.
When shall we be all on fire as are the seraphim? What shall we do to please our sweet Jesus? Ah! would that the fire of our charity were so great that it would inflame all who are near us, and all who are afar, all peoples, of every tongue and nation; in a word, all creatures, that all might know and love the Supreme Being!
In all your actions purify your intention, renew it several times a day, often repeat: All for the greater glory of God!
I would believe myself damned if I robbed God of one atom of His glory. I would believe myself more wicked than Lucifer if I had anything else in view but God.
I recommend to you simplicity, purity of intention, and practical examen on this virtue; mark well that, in order to labor for the glory of God, our soul must be free and detached from all things, with God alone in view.
We must love God always, even when He sends us afflictions, looking up to God alone.
O my God, how good Thou art! I desire nothing else but Thee!
Divine love is a jealous love; one spark of irregular affection for any creature is sufficient to ruin all.
Let everything in creation draw you to God. Refresh your mind with some innocent recreation and needful rest, if it were only to saunter through the garden or the fields, listening to the sermon preached by the flowers, the trees, the meadows, the sun, the sky, and the whole universe. You will find that they exhort you to love and praise God; that they excite you to extol the greatness of the Sovereign Architect Who has given them their being.
- text taken from Flowers of the Passion, taken from the letters of Saint Paul of the Cross