Seeing the eternal recompense so disproportionate to the trifling sacrifices of this life, I longed to love Jesus, to love Him ardently, to give him a thousand proofs of tenderness while yet I could do so...

St. Therese of Lisieux
Story of A Soul, Chapter V

It is true that at times a very small ray of the sun comes to illumine my darkness, and then the trail ceases for an instant, but afterwards...the fog which surrounds me becomes more dense; it penetrates my soul and envelops it in such a way that it is impossible to discover within it the sweet image of my Fatherland; everything has disappeared!

St. Therese of Lisiux
Story of a Soul p 214

...faith...is no longer a veil for me, it is a wall which reaches right up to the heavens and covers the starry firmament. When I sing of the happiness of heaven and of the eternal possession of God, I feel no joy in this, for I sing simply of what I WANT TO BELIEVE.

St. Therese of Lisieux
Story of a Soul p 214

It's the reasoning of the worst materialists which is imposed upon my mind: Later, unceasingly making new advances, science will explain everything naturally; we shall have the absolute reason for everything that exists. ... In spite of this trial which has taken away all my joy, I nevertheless cry out: "You have give me DELIGHT, O Lord, in ALL your doings."

St. Therese of Lisieux
LC-257
SS-214

He permitted my soul to be invaded by the thickest darkness, and the thought of heaven...no longer anything but the cause of struggle and torment. This trial was to last not a few days or a few weeks, it was not to be extinguished until the hour set by God Himself and this hour has not yet come.

St. Therese of Lisieux
Story of a Soul p 211