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

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