I desired that, like the face of Jesus, "my face be truly hidden, that no one on earth would know me." I thirsted after suffering, I longed to be forgotten.

St. Therese of Lisieux
Story of a Soul 152

One Sunday, looking at a picture of Our Lord on the cross, I was struck by the blood flowing from one of His divine hands...I resolved to remain in spirit at the foot of the cross and receive this divine dew. I understood then, I was to pour it out upon souls. The cry of Jesus on the cross sounded continually in my heart: "I Thirst!" these words ignited within me an unknown and very living fire.

St Therese of Lisieux
SS p 99

The little bird wills to fly towards the bright Sun which attracts its eye, imitating its brothers, the eagles, whom it sees climbing up towards the Divine Furnace of the Holy Trinity. But, alas, the only thing it can do is raise its little wings; to fly is not within its little power.

St. Therese of Lisieux
Story of a Soul p 198

In order to live in one single act of perfect love, I OFFER MYSELF AS A VICTIM OF HOLOCAUST TO YOUR MERCIFUL LOVE, asking You to consume me incessantly, allow the waves of infinite tenderness, shut up within You, to overflow into my soul...I want, O my Beloved, at each beat of my heart to renew this offering to you an infinite number of times, until the shadows having disappeared I may be able to tell You of my Love in an Eternal Face to Face!

St. Therese
Story of a Soul p 277

Why speak of a delirious joy? No, this expression is not exact, for it was rather the calm and serene peace of the navigator perceiving the beacon which must lead him to the port...O luminous Beacon of love, I know how to reach You, I have found the secret of possessing Your flame.

St. Therese
Story of a Soul p 195

Then, in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love...my vocation, at last I have found it...MY VOCATION IS LOVE!... In the heart of the Church, my Mother, I shall be Love. Thus I shall be everything, and thus my dream will be realized.

St. Therese of Lisieux
Story of a Soul p 194

I finally had rest....If the Church had a body composed of different members, the most necessary and most noble of all could not be lacking to it, and so I understood that the Church had a heart and this heart was BURNING WITH LOVE....I understood that LOVE COMPRISED ALL VOCATIONS, THAT LOVE WAS EVERYTHING THAT IT EMBRACED ALL TIMES AND PLACES...IN A WORD THAT IT WAS ETERNAL!

St. Therese of Lisieux
Story of a Soul p 194

Is Your disdained Love to remain closed up within Your Heart?...It seems to me You would be happy not to hold back the waves of infinite tenderness within You. If Your justice loves to release itself,...how much more does Your Merciful Love desire to set souls on fire...O my Jesus let me be this happy victim; consume Your holocaust with the fire of Your Divine Love.

St. Therese of Lisieux
SS 181

I feel it more than ever before, Jesus is parched, for He meets only the ungrateful and indifferent among His disciples in the world, and among His own disciples, alas, He finds few hearts who surrender to Him without reservations, who understand the real tenderness of His infinite Love.

St. Therese of Lisieux
SS 189

Ah! my Jesus, pardon me if...my desires and longings reach even unto infinity...I feel within me the vocation of the WARRIOR, THE PRIEST, THE APOSTLE, THE DOCTOR, THE MARTYR...O Jesus, my love, my life, how can I combine these contrasts? How can I realize the desires of my poor little soul?

St. Therese
SS 192