1.
There is a picture of the Crucified Christ and beneath it is the following statement: Behold the book of the Chosen, behold the school of perfection, behold the collection of all knowledge (. . .) Read this book often and study it and you will hate sin, you will be overcome with the fear of the judgment of God; you will learn about humility; obedience, patience, love of God and neighbor; you will hold all earthly things in contempt and you will imitate Jesus Christ . . . Who knows Him, knows all and will possess all. (III, 111)
2.
Let us love our Lord Jesus Christ, but let us love Him on the cross because His heart is overjoyed when He finds love, pain and silence in one and the same heart. (III, 110)
3.
What does it matter from what kind of wood our cross is hewed out as long as it is a cross to which love keeps us nailed. Let us try above all, to carry our cross in humility and silence because the cross is a great treasure which we must hide so that it is not taken away from us. I do not know what would console us in this long and difficult life nor what would be able to strengthen us more than constant suffering in love. (III, 110)
4.
Let us suffer without complaining, realizing that every moment not spent on the cross is lost. Oh, how good it is to live and to die on the cross! The cross is an expensive balm. Let us hide it carefully so that it would not lose its fragrance before God. (III, 110)
5.
Oh, how good and helpful is the cross at all times and in all places. Let us thank God if He sometimes sends it to us and let us ask Him to forgive us if we do not bear it well, and that possessing such a great treasure we still remain in such poverty of soul. (III, 110)
6.
The most perfect thing is never to ask for anything nor decline something, but leave it to the love of God so that it may crucify us according to its will and mercy. We should not look for any consolation but this: not to seek the joy of the world but to suffer with the Crucified Christ in silence. (III, 111)
7.
Every morning as soon as you open your eyes, offer yourself to God as willing to accept with your whole heart all the crosses which He may want to send you during the day. Keep repeating the words: May your Will be done. These words were constantly on the lips of the Saints. (III, 113)
8.
Blessed Father Avila teaches that one Glory Be prayed in misfortune has more value than a thousand thanksgivings in propitious moments. We must accept even those crosses which God sends us through people like: calumny, insults, humiliations, because everything comes from Him. (III, 117)
9.
Let Him crucify you; trust Him completely. He knows best your spiritual needs. (I, 27)
10.
Take up your cross, a heavy one, no doubt; but a blessed one, because you will carry it out of obedience to God’s Will and it will lead you to heaven if you bear it lovingly. (I, 42)
11.
Keep your eyes fixed upon Jesus and learn from Him how to carry your cross. (I, 42)
12.
You, too, my dear sister, with your gaze fixed on your Heavenly Spouse, carry the cross accepted out of obedience to God’s Will, carry it not from coercion but out of love and with a ready heart, never regretting your sacrifice. (I, 42)
13.
Yearn for the cross and in this valley of tears and exile love only the cross. (I, 43)
14.
Even if you should collapse from pain, do not abandon your cross, do not let go of those who are a cross to you even for a moment but love and respect them as instruments of your sanctification. (I, 43)
15.
Never release yourself from the cross, but wait patiently for God’s Will to free you. (I, 43)
16.
Our sadness is a joy, because truly, he who suffers shares a portion with Our Lord. And to have a portion with your Beloved, oh, my Sister, is that not happiness? (I, 151)
17.
Mainly, try to bear willingly those daily crosses of which there are so many in our lives from which no position is exempt. (I, 98)
18.
May Our Lord bless you beneath that cross, my dearest, may the Most Blessed Virgin Mary draw you to Her heart. Be calm and patient. (I, 101)
19.
That Jesus loves you very much there can be no doubt, for do you not have evidence of it in those daily crosses and tribulations which He sends you? (I, 131)
20.
From that what you write, I realize that Jesus is leading you along a difficult road, that you suffer much, that your state is very exhausting and yet, I cannot be sad but rather I rejoice that you are beyond childish delights of the spiritual life; that Jesus has already led you onto that royal road, the road of the cross, which is difficult and painful, yet leading directly to heaven. (I, 143)
21.
Let love and not compulsion or need stretch and hold you on the cross-not the love which manifests itself in consolations, in tears, in elation, in visions but in perfect and willing fulfillment of God’s Will. (I, 106)
22.
Look upon Christ as a sacrifice and try to emulate Him. From Him you will gather strength and courage. (I, 81)
23.
I know well, my dear Sister, that being a superior is a heavy burden for you. I trust, however, that Jesus who placed it on you will Himself help you carry it. (I, 127)
24.
I want with all my soul to console you, but you know, my dearest, that whom Jesus crucifies, human consolation will not help much, because He sometimes takes much delight in suffering souls, so pleasing to Him are His spouses on the cross, that He does not permit, and in a way prevents, any comfort from reaching them. It seems to me, dear daughter, that something similar is happening to you. Jesus is crucifying you, there is ever more sadness, ever more pain in your heart, from all sides you suffer affliction, you are forsaken interiorly and exteriorly, far from the place and persons which could offer you some comfort. (I, 134)
25.
During Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament I asked Jesus to bless you at every moment, to fill your soul with joy and peace, and that this blessing be the foretaste of that eternal blessing which He will give to His chosen ones. As Jesus who at His death entrusted us to His Mother, so I also entrust you to the Sorrowful Mother hoping that she may take you into her care and at every moment of your life show herself a Mother to you. (I, 163)
26.
Remain on the cross until the end, so that in the final hour you might be able to say: “Everything that you have asked of me has been fulfilled.” Let those be the last words with which you bid farewell to the cross on earth and then may be at once hear those consoling words in heaven: Come, my spouse, receive the crown. (I, 43)
27.
Therefore, on your road, the road of the cross, always have love and submission as your holy companions. (I, 145)
28.
. . . even if we had no crosses, already the putting up with our own misery is sufficient and is supposedly the heaviest cross from which nothing can free us. (I, 98)
29.
I do not approve of those, who, more in an ardor of self-love rather than out of love of God, call for great crosses and assert themselves strongly but when the Lord sends them the smallest trial, they grow weary. (I, 98)
30.
We must remember that we are exiles on this earth, that we always need something to keep us mindful of our heavenly home. (I, 110)
31.
Install Christ Crucified in your heart, then all your crosses will seem as roses. (III, 123)