My secret is quite simple: I pray. And through my prayer I become one with the love of Christ and see that praying is loving him, that praying is living with him, and that means making his words come true…. For me, praying means being one with the will of Jesus twenty-four hours a day, living for him, through him and with him.

–Mother Theresa

When we are not afraid to enter into our own center and to concentrate on the stirrings of our own soul, we come to know that being alive means loved. This experience tells us that we can love only because we are born out of love, that we can give only because our life is a gift, and that we can make others free only because we are set free by God whose heart is greater than ours.

–Henry Nouwen, The Wounded Healer

To discover the Trinity is to discover a deeper solitude. The love of the Three Divine Persons holds your heart in its strength and builds about you a wall of quiet that the noise of exterior things can only penetrate with difficulty.

–Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas

I would create the whole universe again, just to hear you say that you love me.

–Jesus in a vision to Saint Teresa of Avila

St. John of the Cross taught that God has to work in the soul in secret and darkness, because if we fully knew what was happening and what Mystery/transformation/God/grace will eventually ask of us, we would either try to take charge or stop the whole process. …. God has to undo our illusions secretly as it were, when we are not watching and not in perfect control say the mystics.

Father Richard Rohr, Falling Upward

“God does not ask of us anything that he himself has not first given us.  He is not aloof from us. Each one of us has a place in his heart. He knows us by name, he cares for us and he seeks us out whenever we turn away from him.  He is interested in each of us; his love does not allow him to be indifferent to what happens to us.”

— Pope Francis

God, it is my deepest desire to love and serve you.  Guide me in deepening my relationship with you so that I may hear your call more clearly. Help me to remain faithful to your call despite my stumbling and falling along the way.

–Sisters of Bon Secours, Thoughts in Solitude

Learn to get in touch with yourself, and know that everything in life has purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences, all events are blessings given to us to learn from.

–Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack.

In green pastures you let me graze; to safe water you lead me; you restore my strength. You guide me along the right path for the sake of your name,

Even when I walk through a dark valley, I fear no harm for you are at my side; your rod and staff give me courage

–Psalm 23: 1-4

Loving God, you startle us with your love. When we expect to wait, you say now! When we say we need to prepare, you say my day is at hand. Bless us, God, with passion for this day.  Bless us with the courage to walk with you – into that bright future which is your holy now!

–Sisters of Bon Secours Prayer Book, Volume 2