Maria Lucia Tcherassi, OCDS

“You have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." St. Paul comes to bring us a light to guide us on the pathway of the abyss. "You have died"! What does that mean but that the soul that aspires to live close to God "in the invincible fortress of holy recollection" must be "set apart, stripped, and withdrawn from all things"" (in spirit). This soul "finds within itself a simple ascending movement of love to God, whatever creatures may do; it is invincible to things which" pass away, "for it transcends them, seeking God alone.” (St. Elizabeth of the Trinity. I Have Found God. Third day. Second Prayer)

"As long as our will has fancies that are foreign to divine union, whims that are now yes, now no, we are like children; we do not advance with giant steps in love for fire has not yet burnt up all the alloy; the gold is not pure; we are still seeking our-selves; God has not consumed" all our hostility to Him. But when the boiling cauldron has consumed "every imperfect love, every imperfect sorrow, every imperfect fear," "then love is perfect and the golden ring of our alliance is larger than Heaven and earth. This is the secret cellar in which love places his elect," this "love leads us by ways and paths known to him alone; and he leads us with no turning back, for we will not retrace our steps." (St. Elizabeth of the Trinity. Heaven in Faith. First day. Second Prayer)

“Father, I will that where I am they also whom You have given Me may be with Me, in order that they may behold My glory which You have given Me, because You have loved Me before the creation of the world."' Such is Christ's last wish, His supreme prayer before returning to His Father. He wills that where He is we should be also, not only for eternity, but already in time, which is eternity begun and still in progress. It is important then to know where we must live with Him in order to realize His divine dream. "The place where the Son of God is hidden is the bosom of the Father, or the divine Essence, invisible to every mortal eye, unattainable by every human intellect”….The Trinity — this is our dwelling, our "home," the Father's house that we must never leave.” (St. Elizabeth of the Trinity. Heaven in Faith. First day. First Prayer)

“How sweet will be the death of the soul that has done penance for all its sins, of one who won't have to go to purgatory! Even from here below you can begin to enjoy glory! You will find no fear within yourself but complete peace.” (St.Teresa of Jesus. The Way of Perfection. Chap. 40.9)

“O souls that without fear already have fruition of your joy and are always absorbed in praises of my God, happy has been your lot! What great reason you have for being ever engaged in these praises. How my soul envies you, for you are already free from the sorrow such terrible offenses committed against my God cause in these unfortunate times, and from the sorrow of seeing so much ingratitude, and seeing that there is no awareness of the multitude of souls carried away by Satan. O blessed heavenly souls! Help our misery and be our intercessors before the divine mercy that we may be given some of your joy and a share in this clear knowledge you possess.” (St. Teresa of Jesus. Soliloquies. Chap. 13)

“…I have understood so well the little bit of power he has, provided I'm not against God, that I have almost no fear. The powers of devils are nothing if these devils do not find souls cowardly and surrendered to them; it is with such souls that they show their power.” (St. Teresa of Jesus. The Book of Her Life. Chap. 31.11)

“Oh, what a great thing it is to have resisted offending the Lord so that his slaves and servants in hell may be bound; for in the end all must serve him despite themselves. But those in hell do so by force, whereas we do so willingly. Therefore, if we please the Lord, those in hell will be kept bound; they will not do anything that may be harmful to us however much they might draw us into temptation and set secret snares for us.” (St. Teresa of Jesus. The Way of perfection. Chapter 41,2)

“I often experience that there is nothing the devils flee from more-without returning-than holy water. They also flee from the cross, but they return. The power of holy water must be great.” (St. Teresa of Jesus. The Book of Her Life. Chap. 31.4) “Keep some holy water near you, for there is nothing which puts an evil spirit to flight so effectively.” (St. Teresa of Jesus. Letter 168. To Don Lorenzo de Cepeda. February 10, 1577.)

“…pay no attention to the scarecrows the devils set up in order to cause fear. We should know that each time we pay no attention to them they are weakened, and the soul gains much more mastery.” (St. Teresa of Jesus. The Book of Her Life. Chap. 31.10)

“Oh, how different this life would have to be in order for one not to desire death! How our will deviates in its inclination from that which is the will of God. He wants us to love truth; we love the lie. He wants us to desire the eternal; we, here below, lean toward what comes to an end. He wants us to desire sublime and great things; we, here below, desire base and earthly things. He would want us to desire only what is secure; we, here below, love the dubious. Everything is a mockery, my daughters, except beseeching God to free us from these dangers forever and draw us at last away from every evil.” (St. Teresa of Jesus. The Way of Perfection. Chap. 42.4)

“Terrible are the wiles and deceits used by the devil so that souls may not know themselves or understand their own paths.” (St. Teresa of Jesus. The Interior Castle. Chap.1:2)

“… if we fail in love of neighbors we are lost… When you see yourselves lacking in this love, even though you have devotion and gratifying experiences that make you think you have reached this stage, and you experience some little suspension in the prayer of quiet (for to some it then appears that everything has been accomplished), believe me you have not reached union. And beg our Lord to give you this perfect love of neighbor.” (St. Teresa of Jesus. The Interior Castle. The Fifth Dwelling Places. Ch. 3)

“Do you realize what you are doing? By suffering so many trials you are letting Our Lord light the fire of His love in your soul, and that fire will gradually enkindle others. So your Ladyship must be brave, and at this season consider the sufferings of the Lord. Life is short and our trials last only for a moment.” (The letters of Saint Teresa of Jesus. Letter 15. To Doña Maria de Mendoza. From Toledo, end of March 1569)

“Saint Teresa's originality is in putting prayer in the category of friendship or relationship. Prayer is something interpersonal. Prayer is something you live. She has a number of reasons for putting prayer in this category. The first observation about this friendship of prayer is that it is God's friendship. It is His friendship to which we are invited. We are not invited to begin a communication with Him. We are invited to participate in a communication a conversation that is already taking place. The communication between the Father and the Son, and between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is a communication that has been taking place since before creation and will eternally take place. We are called to be part of that communication, that conversation, that friendship, that relationship.” (Reflections on the teachings of Saint Teresa of Jesus and Saint John of the Cross. Volume 1. Fr. Aloysius Deeney OCD)

“… the great good that it seems to me there will be in the kingdom of heaven, among many other blessings, is one will no longer take any account of earthly things, but have a calmness and glory within, rejoice in the fact that all are rejoicing, experience perpetual peace and a wonderful inner satisfaction that comes from seeing that everyone hallows and praises the Lord and blesses his name and that no one offends him. Everyone loves him there, and the soul itself doesn't think about anything else than loving him; nor can it cease loving him, because it knows him.” (St. Teresa of Jesus. The Way of Perfection. Chap. 30. 5)

“The flesh is very fond of comfort - you have already seen this. If we could understand we would realize that to seek one's peace in comforts is very dangerous. I often think about the matter and cannot understand how there can be so much peace and calm in persons who live very comfortably. Does the most sacred body of our Model and Light perhaps deserve less comfort than our own bodies? What did the Lord do to suffer so many trials? Have we read in the lives of the saints, those who we know for sure are in heaven, that they had a comfortable life? Where does this tranquillity in comfort come from? Who has told us that comfortable living is good? What is this, that some persons spend their days eating well and sleeping and seeking recreations and all the rest they can? I'm stunned when I consider this. It doesn't seem to them there will be another world and they think that the things mentioned are the least dangerous of this present world.” (St. Teresa of Jesus. Meditations on the Song of Songs. Chap. 2)

“At times when you are sad and upset, do not abandon the good works of prayer and penance which you have been in the habit of doing. The devil will try to unsettle you and persuade you to abandon them, but rather than this you should do more of them than usual and you will see how quickly the Lord comes to your aid.” (Maxims of the Mother Teresa of Jesus written to her nuns)

“…perfection is not attained quickly, unless the Lord wants to grant someone this favor by a special privilege.” (St. Teresa of Jesus. The Book of Her Life. Chap. 31)

“…if when he went about in the world the mere touch of his robes cured the sick,? why doubt, if we have faith, that miracles will be worked while he is within us and that he will give what we ask of him, since he is in our house?” (St. Teresa of Jesus. The Way of Perfection. Chapter 34)

“..And while I was feeling really desolate, the Lord said to me: "Don't you know that I am mighty? What do you fear?" (Saint Teresa of Jesus. Life. Chapter 36)