Against that vice you should lay hold of those arms to which you feel most moved, and not sound the retreat until, by God’s guidance, you have conquered it.
St. Ignatius Loyola
Believe me, for I know, you will find something far greater in the woods than in books. Stones and trees will teach you that which you cannot learn from the masters.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux
We have broken up for ourselves the fallow ground of divinity so as not to sow upon thorns, and have levelled the surface of the ground, being formed and forming others by Holy Scripture.
St. Gregory of Nazianzus
And in the time of joy I might have said with Saint Paul: Nothing shall dispart me from the charity of Christ; and in the pain I might have said with Peter: Lord, save me: I perish!
Julian of Norwich
O sorrowful Mother, why those tears shed in the wild solitude, on the rock which thou madest for a while thy earthly throne?
My child, happy would I be, if my grief should inspire you with a heart-felt sorrow for your sins, and with a firm resolution to lead a better life! The land of your heart, as the Prophet says, is made desolate, because of your love for the world and its empty pleasures, because of your forgetfulness to meditate upon the most important truths of faith, i.e., your last end, together with the dreadful consequences, both here and hereafter, of your thoughtlessness. Retire into solitude and there my Son will speak to your heart, and will breathe into your soul the proper means of securing your salvation.
O Mother, the motives that urge me to mingle my tears with thine are innumerable. I will not resist Jesus’ call any longer. Henceforth, with thy powerful aid, my thoughts, words and actions shall correspond to the wishes of the Divine Heart of Jesus.
Amen.