I just finished reading a short book with excerpts from the letters of Fenelon, and thought I'd share a few that impacted me.
"Our salvation is the work of every day and every moment of our life. There is no time more fit for it than that which God mercifully grants us now; because we have time today, and perhaps we shall not have it tomorrow."
"It seems to me that a soul which sincerely desires to belong to God never looks to see whether a thing is small or great; it is enough for it to know that He for whose love it is done is infinitely great, and that it is His due to have all creation solely devoted to His glory, which can only be by fulfilling His will."
"The future is not yet ours; perhaps it never will be. If it comes it may come wholly different from what we have foreseen. Let us shut our eyes then to that which God hides from us, and keeps in reserve in the treasures of His deep counsel. Let us worship without seeing; let us be silent; let us abide in peace."
"Be simple with Him who loves to communicate Himself to simple souls."
"Do you need to be so learned in order to know how to love God and deny yourself for His love? You know much more of good than you practice. You have much less need of gaining fresh knowledge than of putting in practice that which you have already acquired."
"Make use even of these times in the day when you are only partially occupied with external things, to occupy yourself inwardly with God."
"You cannot expect to find interior nourishment if you live only for what is exterior."
"In order to be satisfied even with the best people, we need to be content with little and to bear a great deal."
"I should be less grieved to see you petulant, cross, abrupt, wanting in self-command, and, as a result, thoroughly ashamed of yourself, than strictly correct and externally irreproachable, but fastidious, haughty, harsh, hard, ready to take offense, and self-sufficient."
"Let us not be content to pray morning and evening, but let us live in prayer all day long."
"Each day will bring its own crosses and sacrifices; when God wills you to pass into another state of things, He will prepare you for it, unconsciously to yourself."
"I do not care to have you a wise, strong, and virtuous woman on a grand scale; I want everything on a small scale. Be a good little child."
