…the Church is a garden patterned with countless variety of flowers, so there must be a variety of sizes, colors, scents- of perfections, after all. Each has its value, its charm, its gaiety; while the whole vast cluster of these variations makes for beauty in its most graceful form.
Treatise on the Love of God II, 7It is not natural it seems to me, for a rose to be white, for the red ones are more beautiful and have more a delicious perfume; but it is natural for the lily to be white. Let us be what we are, then, and let us be so simply for the honor of the Creator, whose work we are.
Letter to a Lady June 10, 1605What are the flowers of our heart, Philothea? Our Good desires, certainly. As soon as they appear we should get hold of a pruning knife to cut off from our conscience every deed that is useless and irrelevant.
Introduction to the Devout Life I, 5The longing for holiness should be like the orange trees of the sea-coast of Genoa, which are covered with fruits flowers and leaves, nearly all the year round. For your desires should daily ripen into fruit on every occasion of doing good that offers, while it should never cease to yearn after fresh opportunities for advancement. These yearnings are the flowers of the tree; its leaves, the frequent acknowledgment of your weakness, which preserves both your good works and your good desires.
Letter to Jane de Chantal, May 3,1604
