The Fulfillment of All Desire Quotes

“What the spiritual journey is all about is uniting our will with God's will, wanting what He wants, loving what He loves, living a life that in all its aspects honors Him and gives Him glory.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire

“Francis de Sales makes clear that the essence of holiness is to be completely ordered towards love—love of God and neighbor, thereby being fully conformed to God's will.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“There's a certain progression in the journey to God regarding our attitude towards suffering. In the beginning, we flee from suffering. As we mature, we reluctantly accept it as necessary. As the Spirit works more deeply in our hearts, we little by little lose our fear of suffering and become able to rejoice in it, even to love it.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“It is not the consolations we seek but the Consoler, not their sweetness but the sweet Savior, not their tenderness but him who is the delight of heaven and earth. In this spirit we must resolve to stand fast in a holy love of God even though we may never find any consolation throughout our whole life.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“the surest way to love our neighbor, Teresa advises, is not to dream of doing big deeds for our neighbor “one day,” but to take advantage of the little, everyday opportunities that present themselves in ordinary life.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“More strictly defined, meditation is thinking about God. Prayer is actually speaking to God, either in words or in silent contemplation.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“The Father tells Catherine that the more the soul grows in love for God, the more the soul will also grow in love for its neighbor. Some of the specific ways of loving our neighbor that Catherine lists are intercessory prayer, good example, counsel, advice, and spiritual and material help.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“We have to receive, not achieve, in order to be saved.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“The most beautiful thoughts are nothing without good works.34”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“What if we don't have a strong desire for God? What if we only half-heartedly desire to make progress on the path to full union with God? The Scripture and the teaching of the saints makes clear that when we lack something essential for the spiritual journey—such as a strong desire for God—then we are to ask for it, and it will be given. Not all at once necessarily, but gradually, over time, as we persevere in asking.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“humility and compassion are among the chief fruits of bearing such an ongoing condition of weakness in patience and in faith.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“When there is union of love, the image of the Beloved is so sketched in the will, and drawn so intimately and vividly, that it is true to say that the Beloved lives in the lover and the lover in the Beloved. Love produces such likeness in this transformation of lovers that one can say each is the other and both are one.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“True union can very well be reached with God's help, if we make the effort to obtain it by keeping our wills fixed only on that which is God's will.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“The experience of union in prayer, Teresa makes very clear, is intended to help make more possible the union of our wills with God's will, in a more profound obedience and love.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“As we dispose ourselves for union by turning from sin and from all inordinate attachments as best we can, and as we focus our lives on God, the Lord by degrees gives us graces in prayer such as Teresa has been describing, which help to bring about the transformation.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“Even if our prayer doesn't seem to be bearing fruit on the level of our conscious intellect, it may very well bear fruit on the level of strengthening our will. By persevering we embrace the Cross. For there are many who begin, yet they never reach the end. I believe this is due mainly to a failure to embrace the cross from the beginning; thinking they are doing nothing, they become afflicted. When the intellect ceases to work, they cannot bear it. But it is then perhaps that their will is being strengthened and fortified, although they may not be aware of this.8”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“Teresa witnesses to the fact that even if we are not fully attentive in our prayer, little by little, even imperfect prayer will change us. Simply “showing up” for prayer time evidences our desire to be with the Lord. Even though sometimes it seems that we are more there physically than spiritually, our desire allows Him to draw us closer.7”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“The focus now is not on what we are getting from the relationship but on what we can give, by way of profound filial love, faithful friendship, and spousal union. Our focus is on the Other and how to please Him.15”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“As regards illness, we should follow the advice of competent physicians, and desire to get well so we can serve God, but not refuse to remain ill if that would serve Him better. In the meantime, while we are sick and the outcome is not known, we can very meaningfully offer our suffering in union with the suffering of Jesus for the salvation of the world.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“Knowing what we are called to is important, but so is desiring it with all our heart.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“Such painful awareness of one's sin easily tempts one to despair, discouragement, and deep “depression”; thinking reform is hopeless, one may “surrender irrevocably to the world.” Bernard calls this despair the greatest evil of all, and insists that God's mercy is always available whenever a sinner turns to Him.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“Here John very helpfully, and very realistically, explains that a genuine purifying dryness may coexist with some elements of emotional problems, such as depression; nevertheless, if the concern to serve and please God persists in the midst of the difficulty, it is a sign of God's purifying work.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“the spiritual journey is all about is uniting our will with God's will, wanting what He wants, loving what He loves, living a life that in all its aspects honors Him and gives Him glory.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“There is a particular spiritual practice that Francis highly recommends that is possible for all of us: even on those “impossible” days when we are perhaps unable to undertake our normal spiritual practices, we can stay rooted in prayer by constantly addressing brief prayers to the Lord. These can be acts of love, of adoration, of faith, of hope, of petition, or simply of saying the name of Jesus—throughout the course of the day.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“Teresa of Avila makes the point that it isn't whether the prayers are memorized or not or said out loud or not that determines their value, but whether we pay attention to what we're saying and to whom we're speaking.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“Hatred for sin is important. Confidence in the mercy of God is even more important.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“Bernard also counsels us to be careful how we respond when a wrong has been done to us. So when an offence is committed against you, a thing hard to avoid at times in communities like ours, do not immediately rush, as a worldly person may do, to retaliate dishonorably against your brother; nor, under the guise of administering correction, should you dare to pierce with sharp and searing words one for whom Christ was pleased to be crucified; nor make grunting, resentful noises at him, nor mutter and murmur complaints, nor adopt a sneering air, nor indulge the loud laugh of contempt, nor knit the brow in menacing anger. Let your passion die within, where it was born; a carrier of death, it must be allowed no exit or it will cause destruction, and then you can say with the Prophet: “I was troubled and I spoke not.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“Perceiving the ugliness and selfishness of the soul marred by sin and the effects of sin can produce scrupulosity or despair if the mercy and goodness of God is not seen in close proximity. Bernard describes well the despair that can result from a partial knowledge of self, aware only of areas of sin, isolated from knowledge of God. If he does not know how good God is (Ps. 72:1), how kind and gentle (Ps. 85:5), how willing to pardon (Is. 55:7), will not his sensually-inspired reason argue with him and say: “What are you doing?”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“My mortifications consisted in breaking my will, always so ready to impose itself on others, in holding back a reply, in rendering little services without any recognition, in not leaning my back against a support when seated, etc., etc. It was through the practice of these nothings that I prepared myself to become the fiancée of Jesus.18”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“The saints tell us that usually, even in the very midst of exterior and interior trials, a deep-seated peace is felt. Persevering in the midst of these trials is a very important part of uniting our will to God's—and in His will is our peace.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints