Things were in God’s plan which I had not planned at all. I am coming to the living faith and conviction that – from God’s point of view – there is no chance and that the whole of my life, down to every detail, has been mapped out in God’s divine providence and makes complete and perfect sense in God’s all-seeing eyes.
–Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942)
And when night comes, and you look back over the day and see how fragmentary everything has been, and how much you planned that has gone undone, and all the reasons you have to be embarrassed and ashamed: just take everything exactly as it is, put it in God’s hands and leave it with Him.
— Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942)
They no longer live their life, but the life of Christ; they no longer suffer their own pain, but rather, the passion of Christ. Therefore they also rejoice in the life of grace that the Lord enkindles in other souls when the spark of divine love touches them and the wine of this love causes in them holy inebriation.
–Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942)
I feel that there is no healthier nor more nourishing spiritual fare than the Sacred Scriptures and the Fathers [of the Church].
–Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942)
The Lord is present in the tabernacle in his divinity and in his humanity. He is not present for his own sake but for ours: it is his delight to be with the ‘children of men.’ He knows, too, that, being what we are, we need his personal nearness. In consequence, every thoughtful and sensitive person will feel attracted and will be there as often and as long as possible. And the practice of the Church, which has instituted perpetual adoration, is just as clear.
–Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (1891-1942)
