little by little

"The creature is incapable of knowing anything except what God gives to it from day to day. If it knew beforehand what God intends for it, it would never be at peace. At times I have thought that my love was complete, but later, as my sight grew clearer, I became aware that I had many imperfections. I did not recognize them at first because God's love for me has it planned that I will achieve it little by little for the sake of preserving me and keeping me humble so as to be tolerable to myself and others!

Every day I feel the motes in my eyes being removed as God's pure love casts them out. We cannot see these imperfections because if we saw them, we could not bear the sight. Thus, God lets us imagine that we are complete. But never does God cease to remove them. From time to time I feel that I am growing only to see that I still have a long way to go. They become visible to me in the mirror of God's truth, of His pure love, where everything I thought was straight, appears crooked." ~Catherine of Genoa

all i need to do

"May this be our prayer: 'I do not want to turn my eyes from You, O God. There I want them to stay and not move no matter what happens to me. within or without.' For those who trust in God need not worry about themselves. As I think about you, my spiritual children, I see that God's pure love is attentive to all of your needs. It is because of this tender love that I need not ask anything of God for you. All I need to do is lift you up before His face." ~Catherine of Genoa

clever

"The selfishness that is within us, however, is so contrary to God, that God cannot induce us to do His will except by a clever strategy: promising us greater things than what the world can give--even in this life--and promising a kind of consolation that the world does not know. God does this, I think, because He knows how much we are attached to pleasure. He knows that we are the kind who will not leave our one little toy unless we are offered four!"  ~Catherine of Genoa

lift you up before His face

"May this be our prayer: ' I do not want to turn my eyes from You, O God. There I want them to stay and not move no matter what happens to me, within or without.' For those who trust in God need not worry about themselves. As I think about you, my spiritual children, I see that God's pure love is attentive to all of your needs. It is because of this tender love that I need not ask anything of God for you. All I need to do is lift you up before His face."  ~from Life and Teachings by Catherine of Genoa

mercy

"And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

~Luke 6:34-36 [NIV]

God's Clever Strategy

"The selfishness that is within us, however, is so contrary to God, that God cannot induce us to do His will except by a clever strategy: promising us greater things than what the world can give--even in this life--and promising a kind of consolation that the world does not know. God does this, I think, because He knows how much we are attached to pleasure. He knows that we are the kind who will not leave our one little toy unless we are offered four."

~Catherine of Genoa