Paradise is no more pleasing than the miseries of this world, if the divine good pleasure be equally in the miseries as in paradise. Labour is paradise, if the divine will be found in it, and paradise labour, if the divine will be not in it.
360.
The divine good pleasure is the sovereign object of the detached soul; wherever it sees it, it runs in the odour of its perfumes, unceasingly seeks the places where it most abounds, regardless of all other things.
361.
In the monastery of the devout life each one considers himself a novice, and a lifetime is devoted to a probation according to the rule of the order; it is not the solemnity of the vows but their fulfilment which makes novices professed.
362.
He who ardently loves God does not turn back his gaze upon himself to discover what he is doing, but keeps his heart occupied with God, the object of his love. A heavenly chorister takes so much delight in pleasing God, that he desires no pleasure from the melody of his voice, save as it is pleasing to his Sovereign.
363.
There is nothing so sad as to serve a master who knows nothing of our devotion, or who, if he knows it, gives no sign of being satisfied with it; and it must be a strong love which sustains itself alone, unsupported by any pleasure or aspiration. Thus does it happen in the exercises of sacred love; like deaf choristers we do not hear our own voice, on the contrary, we are oppressed by a thousand fears, and by the uproar which the devil makes about our heart, suggesting that we are not pleasing to our Master, that our love is useless, yea, even false and vain. Oh, my dear Theotime! it is then we must manifest an invincible fidelity to our Saviour, serving Him purely for love of his will, not only without pleasure, but in the midst of this deluge of sadness, terrors, alarms, and temptations.