W. David Phillips

We must find the freedom to step over our wounds and the courage to forgive those who have wounded us. The real danger is to get stuck in anger and resentment. Then we start living as "the wounded one," always complaining that life isn't "fair."

Jesus came to save us from these self-destructive complaints. He says: "Let go of your complaints, forgive those who loved you poorly, step over your feelings of being rejected, and have the courage to trust that you won't fall into an abyss of nothingness but into the safe embrace of a God whose love will heal all your wounds."

Henri Nouwen: Here and Now: Living in the Spirit, 57-58

God is a jealous lover. He will not share you, so don't give yourself to anyone but him. He's unwilling to work in your will unless you're willing to be entirely his, and his alone. He's not asking for your help. He's asking for you. He want you to lock your eyes on him and leave him alone to work in you. Your part is to protect the door and windows, keeping out intruders and flies. And if you're willing to do that, just ask him, praying humbly, and he will help you immediately.

The Cloud of Unknowing, translated by Carmen Acevedo Butcher

The word "obedience" comes from the Latin word ob-audire, which means to listen with great attentiveness. Without listening, we become "deaf" to the voice of love (Christ). The Lain word for deaf is surdus. To be completely deaf is to be absurdus, yes, absurd. When we no longer pray, no longer listen to the boice of love (Christ) that speaks to us in the moment, our lives become absurd lives in which we are thrown back and forth between the past and the future.

Henri Nouwen, Here and Now: Living in the Present, 22-23

Keep your goal before you and remember that lost time never returns. Only by careful diligence will you acquire virtue. If you begin to grow lukewarm, you will become spiritually ill; but if you see that you grow in ardor, you will find great peace and your labors will grow lighter, all because of God's grace and your love of virtue.

The fervent and diligent man is ready for anything that happens. It takes harder work to eradicate faults and subdue passions than to engage in strenuous physical labor. If you do absolutely nothing about your small faults, you will, little by little, fall into greater ones. If you spend your day profitably, then your evening will be enjoyable. Watch over yourself, admonish yourself, and spur yourself onwards, and no matter what happens to others, never neglect your spiritual welfare. 

The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis, 42-43

How many perish in the world because of useless learning and for caring little about the service of God! Because they prefer to be famous rather than humble, they lose themselves in intellectual acrobatics and come to nothing.

He is truly great who has abundant charity. He is truly great who is unimportant in his own eyes and considers the greatest of honors a mere nothing. He is truly wise who esteems all earthly things as dung so that he may gain Christ. Finally, he who does God's will and abandons his own is truly the most learned.

Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, 8-9

He who has a pure, simple, and constant spirit is not distracted by the many things he does, because he does all for the honor of God and endeavors to remain inwardly free of all seeking of himself. What greater hindrance or annoyance is there than our heart's uncontrolled passions?