Joy

"Technological society has succeeded in multiplying the occasions of pleasure, but finds great difficulty in giving birth to happiness.  For happiness has its origin elsewhere:  it is a spiritual thing.  Money, comfort, hygiene, material security etc, may often not be lacking, but nevertheless, despite these advantages, boredom, suffering and sadness are frequently to be found supervening in the lives of many people."  (Pope Paul VI)

"God asks us to lose our fear of pain and tribulation and unite ourselves to him, as He waits for us on the Cross.  Our soul will then be more purified, our love stronger.  And we will realize that joy is inseparable from the Cross.  Not only that, but we will also understand that we can never be happy if we are not united to Christ on the Cross, and that we will never know how to love if we do not at the same time love sacrifice...If we humbly have recourse to God, He will make us see that everything, even events and circumstances apparently least likely to do so, work together for the good of those who love him.  Suffering, when seen in its true light, when it serves as a means of loving more, produces great peace and deep joy.  That is why God often blesses us with the Cross.

"That is how we must travel along the way of self-giving:  the Cross on our shoulders, a smile on our lips and light in our hearts."  --from In Conversation with God, Vol. 2, pp. 159-160.

Confession

While any spiritual exercise can be helpful in our journey, I find regular Confession to be a particularly powerful tool. As I've travelled the world, it has become apparent that this sacrament has been abandoned during our own time. I believe this has happened because a tragic mediocrity has gripped the Church.

People striving to excel in any area of life want to know their weaknesses so they can work to overcome them. This striving for excellence is precisely what needs to be re-ignited in Catholics today. Confession is the perfect spiritual practice to rekindle our passion for excellence in the spiritual life.
Rediscover Catholicism by Matthew Kelly p. 151

Examination of conscience

Some Pharisees were converted and became friends and faithful disciples of the Lord. But many others did not know how to recognize the Messiah who walked through their streets and squares. Pride led them to lose sight of the true meaning of their existence: their religious life which they were so proud of was hallow and empty.

Our Lord warned the disciples don't become like the Pharisees and explained: all their deeds are done so as to be seen by men. He called them hypocrites. They were frauds and separated from God. Through their pride they became severe, inflexible and demanding of their fellow-men, while being complacent and indulgent towards themselves.

Self love makes us hypersensitive, inflexible, proud, impatient; it causes us to exaggerate our own importance and our rights, to be cold, indifferent, unjust in our judgements and in word. One delights in speaking about one's actions, of one's insights and experiences, difficulties, of sufferings, even when there is no need to do so.  In practices of piety, one takes pleasure in looking at others, observing and judging them: one is inclined to make comparisons with them and to believe oneself better; to see only defects in them and deny their good qualities; to attribute to them intentions and aims which are not noble, and even to wish them ill. Self love...leads us to feel offended when we are humiliated, insulted or passed over, or when we are not considered, esteemed or made a fuss of as we had hoped for.

While the publican says, and repeats often, My God, have mercy on me, for I am a sinner. This fosters in the soul a love for humility.               In Conversations with God, Vol 2, pps 152-155

Return

"Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God!" (Hos 14:2)

"Few of us are guilty of out-and-out idolatry.  Many of us are guilty of allowing our decisions to be governed by many powers other than the one true God:  desire for approval, addiction to work or other escapes from reality, greed for gain, need for control.  So powerful can these dictators become that we no longer recognize the voice of God, who speaks a different language than they do."  Magnificat, p.239

"Certainly it is the great secret of the spiritual life to abandon to God all that we love by abandoning ourselves to all that He wills."  St Louise de Marillac

"Jesus let himself be cruelly condemned and put to death to make expiation for the "original sin" committed by our first parents, as well as for the terrible tide of sin which flows throughout all of human history.  the events on Golgotha are thus revealed as an act of supreme love."  Blessed John Paul II (quoted in Magnificat, p. 183)

In His Hands

"The safest way is to want only what God wants.  He knows more than we ourselves do, and he loves us.  Let us place ourselves in his hands so that his will may be done in us, and we cannot err if with a determined will we always maintain this attitude."  --St Teresa, Interior Castle, 6.ch 9 #16.

Truth

"In that experience she was given knowledge of a truth that is the fulfillment of all truths.  She clearly understood that it was Truth itself telling her:'...all the harm that comes to the world comes from its not knowing the truths of Scripture in clarity and truth;  not one iota of Scripture will fall short.'  To enter into the last dwelling place one must be free of every lie."  --from the interpretive notes after chapter 10 of the 6th dwelling places in the study edition of Interior Castle, by St Teresa of Jesus. (p. 368)