Spiritual Ascents (Part 6)

Miriam – Little Arab Girl

36. To prefer the right path. – We do not need to hear a word from an angel; we have commandments and established rules. Everything is given in writing, the path ahead is marked out for us. But we must walk forward and walk the straight path. If you stray off somewhere or remain standing still, what good will the light be to you? But if you walk the straight path, ¹ marked out before you, you will have light; you will find many stones and obstacles along the way, but Jesus will guard you. Do not get bogged down by peculiarities. When they come to you saying that the Virgin Mary has appeared here or there, or that there is some extraordinary soul here or there, do not go there. When it is said that there is such and such a revelation somewhere, do not concern yourself with it, do not worry about it. The Lord tells you: be faithful to your faith, to the Church, to the Gospel. If you run to see and discuss where something extraordinary is, your faith will weaken. I tell you what I have from the Lord. He told me that if you are faithful to the Church and the Gospel, He will always be with you and will never leave you. I must tell you that today the devil uses souls that are good and that others respect for their efforts towards perfection and holiness. But a truly upright soul will not remain deceived for long. And those that are not simply upright will plunge deeper into delusion. Satan will say many beautiful things, pronounce prophecies that will not be fulfilled, and thus weaken faith. And that is precisely what he aims for. But everything (eventually) will end and be revealed...

37. Guidance on patience in trials. – St. Teresa gave me four pieces of advice on how to achieve patience:

1. When you suffer, think of your weakness and helplessness; think that such a zero as you deserves nothing but to suffer. Look at Jesus suffering; accept all suffering with love and give thanks.
2. To maintain patience in trials, meditate on Jesus on the cross. Everyone mocked and scorned Him and His agony; He bore all silently. Everything passes away.
3. In your distress, think that you are glorifying God. On earth, the Lord does everything for you; suffer everything for Him. Think of the Virgin Mary, that she is your Mother.
4. Think that after punishments and humiliations, you will be in paradise. Oh! How great your glory, your joy will be then!...

38. To get honey from thorns. – The Shepherd says: Make use of the time, life is short. Do it like the bees, which gather honey bit by bit from every flower; they gather it from everywhere. So you too constantly gather honey. Gather it from thorns; gather it from roses. Thorns are suffering, sorrows, difficulties, trials. Roses are joys, pleasures. On all paths, we find honey, but much more often on thorns than on roses.

39. Satan is indeed like the wind. – He enters through the smallest cracks ...

40. Love is wounded. – Every time you wound love, you wound Jesus, who is love itself...

41. Purity and love. – God forgives transgressions against purity more readily than those against love.

42. Model of silence. – Jesus gave me five instructions for silence:

1. Day and night pass by without noise, they go by in silence. Keep silence as well; walk through the world quietly, so that you may find the joy of paradise.
2. When water flows from a spring, it makes no noise or commotion; it flows silently onward.
3. When herbs, flowers, and roses shoot up from the ground, they do so quietly, grow quietly, spread their fragrance quietly; they fall and wither quietly as well; everything is done in silence. Do likewise.
4. Grapes are harvested in silence, they are quietly poured into the press and pressed silently as well; then the wine is sweet. Good fruit ripens quietly. Maintain your silence.
5. Imitate the wood; it allows itself to be cut in silence, allows itself to be painted in pleasing colors quietly, allows itself to be burned quietly. Let yourself be humbly brought low; work, suffer, do everything in silence. Silence (will) preserve us for paradise.

43. Pride. – I saw that pride is the source of all sins, and humility is the source, the foundation of all virtues. Pride destroyed the most beautiful angel: he fell because of pride... Had he humbled himself, had he behaved towards God as he ought, he would have become even more beautiful; pride created the devil. Had Adam and Eve humbled themselves after the sin, God would have forgiven them. Even Judas himself, had he humbled himself, would have received forgiveness. Pride brings us all to misfortune; from pride the will of man rises up against God. A humble soul becomes a light; lives in truth; comes to God and God humbles Himself to her. Humility prepares her way to attain all other virtues. I have told Jesus many things that I would not want to repeat. I have seen that I put pride into everything; I asked Jesus to grant me humility, and I resolved to practice this virtue in everything. Oh, how I long to be humble, not to cling to anything created! God is ready to forgive a sinner who humbles himself; with much greater love, He looks upon a soul that returns to Him humbly than upon a faithful soul that delights in her virtues. She exposes herself to the danger of falling from pride, while a sinner, when he humbles himself, receives mercy.

44. Jesus is always born in caves. – I ask the Most High, Where do you dwell? He tells me: every day I seek a dwelling place anew, to be reborn in a cave, in a poor dwelling ... I am happy in a humble soul, in a stable. I always ask Jesus where He dwells. – In the cave. Do you know how I crushed the enemy? By being born in such humiliation ...

45. Stay little chicks. – Be little; be and remain little, so that your mother may protect you under her wings, as a hen guards her little ones and drives them away when they grow up. Be little, little... Be little, little; Jesus will protect you. Look at the hen with her chicks: as long as they are little, she feeds them from her beak, hides them under her wings, and they lack nothing. Be little, the Lord will protect you, He will give you to eat. When the chicks grow up, then the hen, instead of feeding them, drives them away, pecks them with her beak. When they are little and the enemy appears, the hen gathers them, covers them, fluffs up, and rages against the enemy. But when they are big, she does not worry; let them take care of themselves, even if they are torn apart!...

46. Worm underground. – Be little, little, like little worms. If you are underground and people walk above, nothing threatens you. But when you appear above, you will be crushed.

47. Hide like a seed. – When a seed falls to the ground, it is not right for it to remain above. Otherwise, although it will be well, when the sun or frost comes, it will be burned and dry up; even the smallest trial, the slightest adversity will destroy it. It is necessary to place it in the ground, it is necessary to toil and hide it, to cover it with earth, to be little, to be little... Humility will preserve us.

48. Blessed are the little ones. – Happy are the little ones! There is always a place for them. The great, however, bump everywhere.

49. Holiness. – Today holiness – it is not prayer, it is not visions or revelations, it is not the art of speaking beautifully, penitent dress or scourging, but humility. Humility is peace. Humility is the queen; a humble soul is always happy. When she experiences battle or punishment, she humbles herself; she believes she deserves (that unpleasantness) even more; she does not ask to have it better. She is always at peace. Pride causes unrest. A humble heart is a vessel, a chalice containing God. The Lord says: A humble soul, truly humble, will perform miracles greater than the ancient prophets... In paradise, there will be trees, ² which sinned the most, with the most beautiful. They laid their sins like good manure at their roots... In hell, all kinds of virtues are found except humility; in paradise, all kinds of sins are found except pride.

50. Models of humility. – I have received four instructions for humility:

1. Pride is like an ear of grain placed in water: it swells up, increases. Expose such a grain to the sun or fire: it shrivels, burns. Humility is like an ear of grain placed in the ground; it loses itself, hides, disappears, dies, but in order to green again in paradise.
2. When olives are harvested, great care is taken; all that falls to the ground is gathered, in order to obtain oil. With the same care, seek (every) opportunity to practice humility. Oil gives light; humility gives God's light, allows one to see God.
3. Consider the bees; they flit from flower to flower, then they fly into the hive to lay honey there. Imitate them; gather humility's juice wherever you can. Honey is sweet; humility has God's taste; it allows one to experience God.
4. Make an effort every day to acquire humility. When we forget to water the trees we have planted, these trees will die. When you forget to practice humility daily, the tree of your soul will wither.

51. Poverty. – When you do good, giving, you give it for Jesus. A straw given for Jesus gains immense value, but if you give the entire world, but not for Jesus, it would be like nothing.

52. To love and work. – It is not enough to love; to love and to work, that is everything. To love is a seed, to work means that it sprouts, flourishes, and bears fruit.

53. Spirit of willfulness. – When a novice works miracles but is not obedient, or when she brought (into the convent) a million and then wants to control even just one (holy) image or clings to it extraordinarily, Mother Teresa says: Send her away along with what she brought. A soul that has not given God her will completely, absolutely, has given nothing.

54. The spirit of the rule is the spirit of the cross. – Mother Teresa was faithful in little things. Souls often err when they seek great penances. It is pointless if we are not faithful to the rule. The rule of Mother Teresa is so wise! It stands entirely against our inclination to sin. ³ The rule is our mother. Sometimes we think that if we do not do more than what is in the rule, we will not be saved; that is a mistake. Behold, what the mother says: ⁴ If the sister fulfills all aspects of the rule, without adding anything to them, she will go straight to paradise. If another sister who does more than the rule commands does not have the true spirit of the rule, she will not go directly to paradise. Let us preserve the rule, the whole rule, in the true spirit of the rule, and we will receive everything from God. The spirit of the rule is entirely the spirit of the cross.

55. Faithfulness to little inspirations. – Oh my God, make me faithful to little lights, little inspirations, that I do not end up in hell.

56. Faithfulness in little things. – Pay attention to little things; before the Lord, everything is great. The Lord does not want big offerings from which we have kept something for ourselves. Give Him everything.

57. Spiritual sighs. – My God, just to come to you! I am willing to go water, fire, through hell itself, if you want. But let me find you!...

Lord, I need brothers and sisters. Give me brothers and sisters, that I may worship you...

If you desire rest, you must work. If you desire pleasure, you must suffer.

It is not enough to preach; it is necessary to put it into practice. (Written in her own hand.)

My God, I want to suffer constantly, as long as you are pleased.

To suffer until the end of the world, oh my God, if that is your will. To suffer continually, whatever you wish. I desire nothing else but to please you, Jesus; grant me to fulfill your will.

It is pleasant to suffer with the thought of eternal comfort.

Happy, thrice happy is the soul that suffers! Time is short, very short. After the suffering she endured for a moment here on earth, this soul will be forever with the Son at the heavenly Father’s side...

I thirst, I thirst only for Jesus! Happy are the souls that suffer in secret, known only to God!... How I love a soul that patiently bears suffering, in secret, alone with God!...

Jesus is my love and joy; his cross is my delight and my peace.

Day and night my heart burns with the desire to possess the God of love. (Written in her own hand.)

Translated from Italian by P. Jindřich Zdík Charouz, O.Praem.