Ralph Martin > 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

“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

“For God does not command the impossible, but by commanding he instructs you both to do what you can and to pray for what you cannot, and he gives you his aid to enable you.333”
― Ralph Martin, A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward

“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

“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

“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 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

“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

“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

“Are you incapable of doing what these men and women have done? Do you think them capable of achieving this by their own resources and not by the Lord their God? . . . Why are you relying on yourself, only to find yourself unreliable? Cast yourself upon him, do not be afraid. He will not withdraw himself so that you fall. Make the leap without anxiety, he will catch you and heal you.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“There is a powerful tendency in fallen human nature to drift from God-reliance to self-reliance, with the woeful results to which Teresa of Avila testified. At the very heart of the biblical revelation is a profound insight into the incapacity of the human being, apart from Christ, to live the Christian life. The primacy of grace, and our response in faith to this gift, is the clear biblical witness and an absolutely foundational element of the spiritual life. We have to be very clear on this as we proceed in exploring the elements of the spiritual journey. To neglect the very foundation, the primacy of grace, is to build a shaky structure that won't stand.”
― Ralph Martin, The Fulfillment of All Desire: A Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints

“Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time for granting mercy. If you keep silent now you will be answerable for a great number of souls on that terrible day.”
― Ralph Martin, The Final Confrontation

“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

“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

“Repentance must involve a change of life, bringing our lives into harmony with God’s will. This means turning away from sin and yielding to the transforming work of the Spirit so we may grow in virtue.”
― Ralph Martin, The Final Confrontation

“shun rash judgment. Even if you should see your neighbor doing what is wrong, refuse to pass judgment on him, excuse him instead. Excuse his intention even if you cannot excuse his act, which may be the fruit of ignorance or surprise or chance.27”
― 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

“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

“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

“Self-love, self-esteem, judging one's neighbors (even though in little things), a lack of charity for them, and not loving them as ourselves” are like little worms gnawing away at our life with God.”
― 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

“One of the most common reasons why people begin the spiritual journey but then turn back is because they find themselves failing, wearing out, or getting tired or discouraged as a result of relying on their own strength or intellect rather than on the Lord. In”
― 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

“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

“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

“Human pride and self-reliance must be broken for salvation to break in.”
― 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 message of Divine Mercy is that no sinner should be afraid to approach the Lord who is infinitely merciful and eager to forgive sin. But mercy cannot be applied to souls unless they acknowledge that they need mercy and respond to the offer of mercy with humility, repentance and faith.”
― Ralph Martin, The Final Confrontation