Marc Foley > Quotes

“I understood how all the flowers He has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the Lily do not take away from the perfume of the little violet or the simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty, and the fields would no longer be decked out with little wild flowers. And so it is in the world of souls, Jesus’ garden. He willed to create great souls comparable to Lilies and roses, but He has created smaller ones and these must be content to be daisies or violets destined to give joy to God’s glances when He looks down at His feet. Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He wills us to be” (S,”
― Foley OCD, Marc, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“Well, that shoots the morning.” As I heard myself saying these familiar words, I was struck by their strangeness. Why would an act of charity shoot my morning? Isn’t growing in love what life is all about? Yes, but the purpose of life often gets in the way of my agenda!”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“a soul in the state of grace has nothing to fear from demons who are cowards, capable of fleeing before the gaze of a little child!”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“But whatever we use, the essential question that we must ask ourselves is whether it helps us to love.”
― Marc Foley, The Context of Holiness: Psychological and Spiritual Reflections on the Life of Saint Therese of Lisieux

“He is therefore free to use me to give a good thought to a soul; and if I think this inspiration belongs to me, I would be like “the donkey carrying  the relics”313 who believed the reverence paid to the saints was being directed to him.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“God is love. Thus when we love with the love of charity, our actions are the actions of God.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“So often, the issues that we are so quick to defend or take offense at too readily are indicative of either a wounded or inflated ego.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“What Thérèse is proposing is more difficult than it seems, for when we are filled with guilt and a sense of our own wretchedness, it is hard to believe in the mercy of God, for guilt tends to project upon the face of God a stern grimace. Our sins do not alter God’s merciful love toward us; they simply make it more difficult for us to believe in it.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“feel that my mission is about to begin, my mission to make God loved as I love Him, to teach souls my little way.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“I had no need to raise my head to see and, in fact, no longer raised it but to contemplate heaven which to me was filled with joy. All my trials had come to an end and the winter of my soul had passed on [20]forever.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“Perfection consists in [20]doing His will, in being what He wills us to be.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“what an interesting study the world is when one is ready to leave it!”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“On those days when you get up in the morning and you don’t feel like praying or don’t have the energy to love your neighbor, isn’t it wonderful to know that these are the times that you can truly prove your for love God, because it is precisely at these times that your love arises from your will alone without the support of emotion.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“I was not thinking then of those other words of Jesus: “And I appoint to you a kingdom even as my Father has appointed to me…”148 In other words, I reserve crosses and trials for you, and it is thus you will be worthy of possessing this kingdom after [20]which you long; since it was necessary that the Christ suffer and that He enter through it into His glory,149 if you desire to have a place by His side, then drink the chalice He has drunk!150 This chalice was presented to me by the Holy Father and my tears mingled with the bitter potion I was offered.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“Never have I heard Him speak, but I feel that He is within me at each moment; He is guiding and inspiring me with what I must say and do” (S 276).”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“all of the goods of earth and heaven are meant to help us on the way to salvation, but they can become obstacles if we relate to them with possessiveness.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“it is impossible for our life to be put on hold, for whatever is happening in the moment is our life.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“charity consists in bearing with the faults of others, in not being surprised at their weakness, [15] in being edified by the smallest acts of virtue we see them practice.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“Teresa says that false peace in the spiritual life is a state of complacency, which is the result of two factors working together. The first is the untroubled conscience of a soul that has gradually grown lax in the obligations of life. The second is settling into a comfortable lifestyle. The false peace that is engendered by these two factors is not the peace that is the fruit of doing God's will but of the complacent soul that lives an unruffled, undisturbed life because it has cloistered itself from the demands of charity (See Teresa's Meditations of Song of Songs , ch. 2).”
― Marc Foley, St. Teresa of Avila: The Book of Her Foundations A Study Guide

“Perhaps one of the truths that Dante is trying to convey to us in this passage is that we can only ascend into the joy of God when we lighten up; when we can look down and smile upon our foolishness. Chesterton once said that the devil cannot laugh at himself and that he fell from heaven because of his gravity and that angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“Charity is the EXCELLENT WAY that leads most surely to God.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“In the morning you used to come to me and [10]ask me if I had raised my heart to God, and then you dressed me. While dressing me you spoke about Him and afterward we knelt down and said our prayers together.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“joy isn’t found in the material objects surrounding us but in the inner recesses of the soul.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“for a soul that is burning with love cannot remain inactive. No doubt, she will remain at [10]Jesus’ feet as did Mary Magdalene, and she will listen to His sweet and burning words. Appearing to do nothing, she will give much more than Martha who torments herself with many things”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“Like Marie, we can erroneously believe that our desires and fervor are the measure of our love for God; this is an example of judging our spiritual life with an emotional yardstick. Thérèse tells us that the opposite is true, namely, that our love for God is proved when we act in a loving manner without the support of affect.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“There but for the grace of God go I.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“only the day of the first, the unique, [36r°] the eternal Communion of Heaven will be endless!”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“If you are a parent, how do you differentiate offering your children advice and guidance from imposing your dreams upon them?”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“And I see that all is vanity and vexation of spirit under the sun,64 that the only good is to love God with all one’s heart and to be poor in spirit here on earth.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition

“But the joy I was experiencing was calm, the lightest breeze did not undulate the quiet waters upon which my little boat was floating and no cloud darkened my blue heaven.”
― Marc Foley, Story of a Soul The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Study Edition