Selected quotes from the great reformer of the Carmelites and Doctor of the Church:
“Trust God that you are where you are meant to be.”
“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 humility.”
“God aids the valiant…both to you and to me He will give the help needed.”
“It is here, my daughters, that love is to be found / not hidden away in corners but in the midst of occasions of sin. And believe me, although we may more often fail and commit small lapses, our gain will be incomparably the greater.”
“Take God for your spouse and friend and walk with Him continually, and you will not sin, will learn to love, and the things you must do will work out prosperously for you.”
“I had many friends to help me to fall; but as to rising again, I was so much left to myself, that I wonder now I was not always on the ground. I praise God for His mercy; for it was He only Who stretched out His hand to me. May He be blessed for ever! Amen.”
“To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience.”
“How is it, Lord, that we are cowards in everything save in opposing Thee?”
“Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life…. If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.”
“We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can, namely, surrender our will and fulfill God’s will in us.”
“Let nothing disturb thee, nothing affright thee; all things are passing; God never changeth.”
“Time is but a shadow, a dream; already God sees us in glory and takes joy in our eternal beatitude. How this thought helps my soul! I understand then why He lets us suffer….”
“More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.”
“What a great favor God does to those He places in the company of good people!”
“To have courage for whatever comes in life — everything lies in that.”
Happy feast! -nvp
St.Teresa was renowned for her sense of humour so…
A holy anecdote:
St.John of the cross was only 5 feet tall.
One day, St.Teresa met him and another good friar on her travels and exclaimed “Aha! Here we have a saint and a half!“
As I toy with the idea of ending my life at age 47, after years of God’s silence, having spent the last 8 years with a broken back, unemployed, and watching my father get sick and having no way to help him, having prayed to the point of sickness and received deafening silence, having spent 27 years of my adult life grappling with a mental illness that foreclosed on any dreams of a career, a wife, a family, a legacy, an illness I didn’t deserve, I’d like to know why I am “where I am meant to be”.
You and Barnhardt should get back to us on that.
Be assured of my prayers. Suffering is always meant to bring about a greater good. Don’t quit.
Jmy, don’t despair, you have the makings of a great saint! Real saints get mansions in heaven, ask St. Teresa, she’ll help you.
I think from what you’ve said, you are blaming yourself for your fathers I’ll health. I’ve been both caregiver for loved ones in my family and been the one others had to take care of, so I have felt something of that, but I can honestly tell you that I would give everything I had again and again to take care of my loved ones who are gone — if you depart now on purpose you will hurt your father in a way you can’t conceive of. Do not despair — by being there you are aiding your father more than a perfect body could as he knows he’s needed and loved by you. All of us who read here will be praying for you and your father that you can cherish each other. I, too, thought of ending things, but God does love you. I have to fight at time. I can’t see what I’m typing,so I’ll quit, but please don’t give in to the despair. My life after a