consolata 5

WORDS ON TEMPTATION

'When I permit temptation, it is not through cruelty, but to give the soul an opportunity of merit.'

'Thou art in such aridity [dorheid,onvruchtbaarheid], thou canst not see what passes within thee. But be tranquil, these difficulties will disappear. Arm [wapen] thy will! And hast thou not thy God to sustain thee and make thee triumph? O how I love to see thee combat!'

WORDS ON MORTIFICATION

'If there are few saints, it is because there are few mortified souls.'

Sr. Benigna: 'How sad it is to think that by our im-mortification and self seeking, we may be guilty so to say of much evil, which would not have been committed, if we had the generosity to conquer ourselves and thus draw down the divine light and grace upon souls.'

'My Benigna, if souls had more faith, they would live on mortification as they live on bread, whereas they fly it as they would the plague... My Benigna, the farther thou dost advance in the way of mortification, the nearer thou wilt draw to God. It is only the first step that costs.'

'Cast a glance upon Jesus on the Cross, and thou wilt see thy program of mortification. Spiritual consolations will be thee recompense. The more thou dost mortify the flesh, the more capable thou wilt be of comprehending the things of God. Jesus will dwell in thee according to the capacity He finds there.'

'Why are there so few contemplatives, so few souls, even among religious, to whom I can impart extraordinary graces? It is because there is not enough mortification. I have sought in vain, I find very few... 

'This does not do you honour, My spouses! I love you so much, I compassionate you. What I say to you, I say through love. For My desire is to bestow on you great graces. But I cannot do so unless you are mortified.'

'Benigna, few souls walk with a rapid step in the way of love. Because there are very few who enter generously into the way of sacrifice. If one is constant in sacrifice, she is constant in love. If she falters [hapert,wankelt] in sacrifice, she falters in love.'

June 13th, 1915, the Feast of the Sacred Heart: 

He said to me in a sweet, sad tone: ‘My Benigna, give Me souls!’ 

The plaintive [klagend] words of my Adorable Master moved me profoundly. 

'How shall I give Thee souls, my Jesus?'

'By sacrifices,' He responded. 

'Souls are not saved if nothing is done for them. I died on the Cross to save them. I ask of thee no great thing - only a word withheld, a look repressed, a pleasant thought banished, in a word all that restrains  [in bedwang houdt] and mortifies nature. These little things, united to My infinite merits, acquire a great value.’

'The touchstone of sanctity is mortification... 

and the love of comforts is the ruin of sanctity.'

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'There is an austere sanctity and these souls honour Me by their sanctity. There is a sanctity more sweet, more accessible, and these honour Me by their sweetness.'

'My Jesus, and which pleases Thee the most?' 

'O My Benigna, it always pleases Me most where there is most Love. I prefer less austerity and more charity than more austerity and less charity. I love more the heart which beats only for Me than a body exterminated by fasts, but in which there still resides a little self-love.'

[bron]