Can a victim of love find anything her Spouse sends terrible? - Thérèse of Lisieux

to dedicate oneself as a Victim of Love is not to be dedicated to sweetness and consolations; it is to offer oneself to all that is painful and bitter, because Love lives only by sacrifice . . . and the more we would surrender ourselves to Love, the more we must surrender ourselves to suffering.

God would never inspire me with desires which cannot be realized; so in spite of my littleness, I can hope to be a saint.

Without the interior light of grace I would have undoubtedly pitied myself, but in the midst of darkness I found myself divinely illumined.