It is easy to be difficult.  All we have to do is stay away from people, and in that way, avoid suffering.  That way, we don't have to risk love, disappointment, frustrated dreams.

It is easy to be difficult.  We don't have to be concerned about phone calls we should have made, people who ask us for help, charity that should be extended.

It is easy to be difficult.  We just have to pretend that we live in an ivory tower, and never shed a tear.  We just have to spend the rest of our lives playing a role.

It is easy to be difficult.  All we have to do is reject everything good that life offers.

The patient said to his physician, "Doctor, I am ruled by fear, and fear has taken away all joy."

"Here in my office, there is a mouse that nibbles at my books," the doctor said.  "If I become desperate over the mouse, he will hide from me, and I'll do nothing else with my life but hunt for him.  Instead, I have put all of my best books in a safe place, and I allow him to eat at some of the others.

"That way, he continues to be only a mouse, and not a monster.  Fear a few things, and concentrate all of your fear on them -- so you can be courageous in facing the important things."

The master says:

"Often it is easier to love than to be loved.

"We find it hard to accept the help and support of others.  Our attempts to appear independent deprive others of the opportunity to demonstrate their love.

"Many parents, in their old age, rob their children of the chance to show them the same affection and support they received as children.  Many husbands (and wives), when they are overtaken by affliction, feel ashamed at depending upon others.  As a result, the waters of love do not spread.

"You should accept a gesture of love from someone.  You have to allow others to help you, to give you the strength to go on.

"If you accept such love with purity and humility, you will understand that Love is n
>ther giving nor receiving -- it is participating."

Eve was walking through the Garden of Eden, when the serpent approached her.

"Eat this apple," he said.

Eve, well taught by God, refused.

"Eat this apple," the serpent insisted.  "Because you have to become more beautiful for your husband."

"I don't need it," Eve answered.  "He has no one else but me."

The serpent laughed: "Of course he does."

Since Eve did not believe him, he took her to the top of a hill where there was a well.

"She's down there.  That's where Adam hid her."

Eve looked in and saw a beautiful woman reflected in the water.  And then she ate the apple the snake offered.

Excerpts from a "Letter to my Heart:"

"My heart, I will never condemn you or criticize you.  Nor will I ever be ashamed of what you say.  I know that you are a beloved child of God, and that He protects you within a glorious and loving radiance."

"I believe in you, my heart.  I am on your side, and I will always ask for blessing in my prayers.  I will always ask that you find the help and support you need."

"I believe in you, my heart.  I believe that you will share your love with anyone who needs or deserves it.  That my path is your path, and that we will walk together to the Holy Spirit."

"I ask of you: trust in me.  Know that I love you and that I am trying to give you all the freedom you need to continue beating joyfully in my breast.  I will do everything I can so that you never feel uncomfortable with my presence surrounding you."

The master says:

"When we decide to act, it is natural that unexpected conflict should arise.  It is natural that we will be wounded as a result of such conflict.

"Wounds heal: they stay on as scars, and that is blessing.  Such scars stay with us for the rest of our lives, and are of great help to us.  If at some point -- for whatever reason -- our desire to return to the past is strong, we have only to look at our scars.

"Scars are the marks of handcuffs, and remind us of the horrors of prison -- and with that reminde we move forward again."

In his Epistle to the Corinthians, Saint Paul tells us that sweetness is one of the main characteristics of love.

Let us never forget: love is tenderness.  A rigid soul does not allow the hand of God to mold it in accordance with His desires.

The wanderer was traveling a narrow road in the north of Spain, when he saw a man stretched out in a bed of flowers.

"Aren't you crushing those flowers?" the wanderer asked.

"No," the man answered.  "I'm trying to take a bit their sweetness from them."

The master says:

"Pray every day.  Even if your prayers are wordless and ask for nothing, and can hardly be understood.  Make a habit of your prayers.  If that is difficult at the beginning, decide for yourself: 'I am going to pray every day this week.'  And renew that promise for each of the next seven days.

"Remember that you are creating not only a more intimate link with the spiritual world; you are also training your will.  It is through certain practices that we develop the discipline needed for life's combat. 

"It does no good to forget the resolution one day and pray twice the next.  Nor to pray seven times the same day, and go through the rest of the week thinking that you have completed your task.

"Certain things have to occur with the right pace and rhythm."

An evil man, about to die, meets an angel at the gates to Hell.

The angel says to him: "It is enough for you to have done one good thing in your life, and that will help you."

"Think hard," the angel said.

The man remembers that one time, as he was walking through a forest, he saw a spider in his path and detoured so as not to step on it.

The angel smiles and a spider web comes down from the sky, allowing the man to ascend to Paradise.  Others among the condemned take advantage of the web, and begin to make the climb.  But the man turns on them and begins to push them off, fearing that the web will break.

At that moment, it breaks, and the man is once again returned to Hell.

"What a pity," the man hears the gel say.  "Your concern with yourself turned the only good thing you ever did into evil."

The master says:

"A crossroad is a holy place.  There, the pilgrim has to make a decision.  That is why the gods usually sleep and eat at crossroads.

"Where roads cross, two great forces are concentrated -- the path that will be chosen, and the path to be ignored.  Both are transformed into a single path, but only for a short period of time.

"The pilgrim may rest, sleep a bit, and even consult with the gods that inhabit the crossroad.  But no one can remain there forever: once his choice is made, he has to move on, without thinking about the path he has rejected.

"Otherwise, the crossroad becomes a curse."