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"Elias was a man of like passions as we are," says St. James, "to wean Christians from that false idea which makes us reject the examples of the saints as disproportioned to our own condition; these were saints, we cry, and not men like us. We look on them as being crowned in glory; and now that time has cleared up things, it does really appear so. But at the time when the great Athanasius was persecuted, he was a man who bore that name; and St. Teresa, in her day, was like the other religious sisters of her order."—Pascal.

"Fain would I know thy present feelings towards thy Brother, thy beloved, if indeed it is permitted to one bathing in the floods of Divine radiance, and transported with the happiness of eternity, to call to mind our misery, to be occupied with our grief. For perhaps though thou hast hitherto known us according to the flesh, yet now thou knowest us no longer. He who is joined to God is one spirit with God; he can have no thought, no desire, save for God and for the things of God, with whose fulness he is filled. Yet 'God is love,' and the more closely a soul is bound to God, the more does it abound in love. It is true that God is impassible, but He is not insensible, for His 'nature is to have mercy and to forgive;' so then, thou must be merciful, since thou art joined to Him who showeth mercy, and thine affection, though transformed, is no whit diminished. Thou hast laid aside thine infirmities, but not thy love, for 'love abideth,' saith the Apostle, and throughout eternity thou wilt not forget me. It seems to me that I hear my Brother saying, 'Can a woman forget her sucking child? Yea, they may forget, yet will I never forget thee.' Truly it is not expedient. Thou hast found greater consolations. Thou art in the everlasting presence of the Lord Jesus, and hast angels for thy companions; but what have I to fill up the void thou hast left? In all that has since happened I have looked to Gerard as I had been wont, and he is not."—St. Bernard on the death of his Brother.