I once heard a spiritual man say that he was not so much astonished at the things done by a soul in mortal sin as at the things not done by it. May God, in his mercy, deliver us from such great evil, for there is nothing in the whole of our lives that so thoroughly deserves to be called evil as this, since it brings endless and eternal evils in its train.
Teresa of AvilaHis Majesty [the Lord] . . . rewards great services with trials, and there can be no better reward, for out of trials springs love for God.
Teresa of AvilaOut of suffering comes the serious mind; out of salvation, the grateful heart; out of endurance, fortitude; out of deliverance faith. Patient endurance attends to all things.
Teresa of AvilaIt will be as well, I think, to explain these locutions of God, and to describe what the soul feels when it receives them.
Teresa of Avila