“Jesus does not want us to be attached to possessions, to human honors, to creatures. He asks humility. But his love and his generosity make this detachment less difficult and less cruel to our nature. Nothing else matters to me anymore, nothing has any value for me but Jesus, no place, no thing, no person, no idea, no feeling, no honor, no suffering, nothing that can turn me away from Jesus. For me, Jesus himself is my honor, my delight, my heart, my spirit, he whom I love, what I love, my home. Heaven here on earth. Jesus is my treasure and my love and Jesus crucified is my only happiness.” Bernadette of Lourdes (1844-1879)
Bernadette of Lourdes as cited by Patricia A. McEachern in A Holy Life: The Writings of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005) 40-41.