I am really far from holiness, this alone is proof: instead of rejoicing in my dryness, I should attribute it to my little fervor and faithfulness; I should be troubled that (for seven years now) I fall asleep during my inner prayer and during thanksgiving, but I truly do not mind… I think that small children please their parents when they sleep, just as when they are awake, I think of the fact that during surgeries doctors put their patients to sleep. And finally, I think that "the Lord knows how we are formed; He remembers that we are only dust."
(Thérèse of Lisieux, manuscript A, 75v–76r)
