Saturday, February 12, 2011

"We must base our judgments on the virtues."

"And let none of you imagine that, because a sister has had such experiences, she is any better than the rest; the Lord leads each of us as He sees we have need.  Such experiences, if we use them aright, prepare us to be better servants of God; but sometimes it is the weakest whom God leads by this road; and so there is no ground here either for approval or for condemnation.  We must base our judgments on the virtues.  The saintliest will be she who serves Our Lord with the greatest mortification and humility and purity of conscience.  Little, however, can be known with any certainty about this on earth, nor until the true Judge gives each his deserts.  Then we shall be amazed to see how different His judgment is from the ideas which we have formed on earth."

St. Teresa of Avila, Interior castle, Sixth mansions, chap. 8 (Complete works of St. Teresa of Jesus, translated and edited by E. Allison Peers, vol. 2 (London: Sheed & Ward, 1946), 314).

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