Book excerpt: Mornings with Saint Therese is a compilation of short excerpts (no more than 1-3 pages) taken from the Little Flower’s writings and also from those of her close family members and friends. This hardcover book is beautifully designed inside and out, making it a perfect gift for those you love, or as a daily tool for deepening your own spiritual life — all for just $12.95! The following passages have been carefully selected as examples of the countless pearls of wisdom to be found in this special book. On Mortification "I resolved to lead a life of greater devoutness and mortification than ever before. When I speak of mortification, I don’t mean the kind of penance practiced by the saints. There are great souls who practice every sort of mortification from childhood, but I am not like them." "All I did was to break my self-will, check a hasty reply, and do little kindnesses without making a fuss about them — and lots of similar things. So, I prepared myself to become a bride of Jesus." Give, with No Thought of Results! On working with the Carmelite novices: "I throw to the right and the left to my little birds the good seed that the good God puts in my little hand. And then, the seed does what it will!" "I don’t concern myself about it. Sometimes the results are as if I had thrown nothing; other times, something good results. But the good God says to me, 'Give, give always without concerning yourself with results.'" Keeping the Fire of Love Burning "When I am feeling nothing, when I am incapable of praying, of practicing virtue, then is the moment for seeking opportunities, ‘nothings’ which please Jesus more than mastery of the world when suffered with generosity." "For example, a smile, a friendly word, when I would want to say nothing, or put on a look of annoyance, etc." Infinite Love "Oh! How beautiful is our religion; instead of contracting hearts (as the world believes), it raises them up and renders them capable of loving, or loving with a love almost infinite, since this love must continue after this mortal life which is given to us only for meriting the homeland of heaven, where we shall find again the dear ones whom we have loved on earth! Wanting Only to Die of Love "How gentle and merciful God is…I no longer want anything except to love until I die of love. I am free and fear nothing. I am not even afraid — and it used to be my greatest fear — that my illness will drag out and make me a burden to the community." "I do not refuse the struggle: 'The Lord is a rock upon which I stand; He teaches my hands to fight and my fingers to war. He is my protector and I have hoped in Him.'"