Charles Williams : The New Christian Year

Do not suppose that our Lord has need of any works of ours; He only expects us to manifest our goodwill.

St. Teresa of Avila: The Interior Castle.

21st Wednesday after Trinity

Let humility be always at work, like the bee at the honey-comb, or all will be lost.  But, remember, the bee leaves its hive to fly in search of flowers and the soul should sometimes cease thinking of itself to rise in meditation on the grandeur and majesty of its God.

St. Teresa of Avila: The Interior Castle.

18th Monday after Trinity

Do not build towers without a foundation, for our Lord does not care so much for the importance of our works as for the love with which they are done.  When we do all we can, His Majesty will enable us to do more every day.

St. Teresa of Avila: The Interior Castle.

God gave us faculties for our use; each of them will receive its proper reward.  Then do not let us try to charm them to sleep, but permit them to do their work until divinely called to something higher.

St. Teresa of Avila: The Interior Castle.

15th Thursday after Trinity

Love does not consist in great sweetness of devotion, but in a more fervent determination too strive to please God in all things, in avoiding, as fas as possible, all that would offend Him, and in praying for the increase of the glory and honour of his Son and for the growth of the Catholic Church.

St. Teresa: The Interior Castle.

Our souls may lose their peace and even disturb other people's if we are always criticising trivial actions which often are not real defects at all, but we construe them wrongly through ignorance of their motives.

St. Teresa of Avila: The Interior Castle.

11th Wednesday after Trinity

I can find no simile more appropriate than water by which to explain spiritual things, as I am very ignorant and have poor wits to help me.  Besides I love this element so much that I have studied it more attentively than other things.  God, Who is so great, so wise, has doubtless hidden secrets in all things He created, which we should greatly benefit by knowing, as those say who understand such matters.

St. Teresa of Avila: The Interior Castle.

8th Tuesday after Trinity

Beg our Lord to grant you perfect love for your neighbour, and leave the rest to Him.  He will give you more than you know how to desire if you constrain yourselves and strive with all your power to gain it, forcing your will as far as possible to comply in all things with your sisters' wishes, although you may sometimes forfeit your own rights by so doing.  Forget your self-interests for theirs, however much nature may rebel; when opportunity occurs take some burden upon yourself to ease your neighbour of it.

St. Teresa of Avila: The Interior Castle.

6th Friday after Trinity

How many maggots remain in hiding until they have destroyed our virtues.  These pests are such evils as self-love, self-esteem, rash judgement of others in small matters, and a want of charity in not loving our neighbour quite as much as ourselves.  Although, perforce, we satisfy our obligations to avoid sin, yet we fall far short of what must be done in order to obtain perfect union with the will of God.

St. Teresa of Avila: The Interior Castle.

5th Friday after Trinity

The only remedy for having given up a habit of recollection is to recommence it, otherwise the soul will continue to lose it more and more every day, and God grant it may realize its danger.

St. Teresa of Avila: The Interior Castle.