You who created me, save me. Since I’m unworthy to pronounce Your most sweet name because it would bring me consolation, I dare, being annihilated, to implore Your infinite mercy.
Yes, I’m ungrateful. I acknowledge this. I’m a rebellious bit of dust. I’m a criminal nothingness.
But are You not the Good Shepherd? Are You not the One who came in search of the Samaritan woman to give her eternal life? Aren’t You the One who defended the adulterous woman and the One who wiped away the tears of Mary the sinner?
It’s true that they knew how to respond to your tender looks. They recognized Your words of life. And I—how many times have I not been transported by Your love, how many times have I not felt Your Heart beating without my own by listening to Your melodious accents—yet still I don’t love You.
But pardon me. Remember that I’m a criminal nothingness, that I’m only capable of sin.
Oh, my adored Jesus, by Your divine Heart, forget my ungratefulness and take me to Yourself completely. Free me from all that’s going on around me. May I live by always contemplating You. May I live submerged in Your love, so that it will consume my miserable being and transform me into You.
Saint Teresa of the Andes
Prayer, Retreat of September 1919
Griffin, M D & Teresa of the Andes, S 2021, God, The Joy of My Life: A Biography of Saint Teresa of the Andes With the Saint’s Spiritual Diary, ICS Publications, Washington DC.
!["[Perfect love] will be our eternal life, and here we have to seek to come as close to it as possible. Jesus became incarnate in order to be our way."](https://scontent-iad3-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/338273479_3403408046565587_3161977190221199289_n.webp?stp=dst-jpg&_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8ae9d6&_nc_ohc=_uLkZrcaljIAX--NzJr&_nc_ht=scontent-iad3-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&oh=00_AfCN68Wuc3VR_v6dJFM-PKrwlFwANl-MFjFX_1XC2bNg5w&oe=642E2A0B)
Carmelite Quotes 
I absolutely love this piece and the way it speaks to the reader. It’s a great reminder of the infinite mercy that our Lord has to offer, even to those of us who feel undeserving. It’s a reminder that He is always there, waiting for us to turn to Him with open hearts and find solace and peace in His presence. My question is: How can we better learn to recognize God’s words and love in our everyday lives?
Thanks, Frances! If I have a friend waiting for me, I want to drop what I’m doing so that I can spend some time with them. How much more can and should I make time to drop everything so that I can spend more time with Jesus? After all, he’s my friend. 😊
It is 00.22 on the 22nd now, here, so may I wish all at Carmelite Quotes a very blessed Ash Wednesday and a holy, fruitful Lenten season, which has just begun.
Blessings to you, too, Kathie! 💜
But from this earth, this grave, this dust,
My God shall raise me up, I trust.
– Sir Walter Raleigh.
Beautiful, Kathie!