When we are expecting only suffering the least joy surprises us: suffering itself becomes the greatest of joys when we seek it as a precious treasure.
HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. IX
There are people who take everything
in the way that gives them the
most pain; with me it is the reverse;
I see always the good side of things.
If I have naught but pure suffering,
without any break, well! I make of it
my joy.
COUNSELS AND REMINISCENCES
Joy is not in the things that surround
us, it resides in the interior of the soul.
One may possess it in the depths of a
gloomy prison as well as in a royal
palace. Thus am I happier in Carmel,
even in the midst of interior and exterior
trials, than in the world, where nothing
was wanting to me.
HIST. D'UNE AME, CH. VI
If now, amid trials, and in the thick
of the fight, we can already find such
