Lord give me this seeing faith, then my work will never be monotonous. I will find joy in humoring the fancies and gratifying the wishes of all poor sufferers. O beloved sick, how doubly dear you are to me, when you personify Christ; and what a privilege is mine to be allowed to tend you.

Duty is a very personal thing. It is what comes from knowing the need to take action and not just a need to urge others to do something.

She lived almost fifty years of her life completely dedicated to the care of the poor and the marginalized. Astonishingly, for those nearly fifty years she identified completely with the poor she served by her own experience of being seemingly unwanted and unloved by God. In a mystical way — through this painful interior "darkness" — she tasted their greatest poverty of being "unwanted, unloved, and uncared for."

It is not the magnitude of our actions, but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.

The success of love is in the loving - it is not in the result of loving.

We serve life, not because it is broken, but because it is holy.

Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness.