Expect a twofold help from God in the course of your spiritual life: correction and consolation. One controls the exterior, the other works within; the first curbs arrogance, the latter inspires trust; the first begets humility, the latter strengthens the faint-hearted; the first makes one discreet, the latter devout. The first imbues us with fear of God, the latter tempers that fear with the joy of salvation, as the words of Scripture indicate: ‘Let my heart rejoice that it may fear your name’; and ‘Serve the Lord with fear,and rejoice before him with reverence’.
Bernard of Clairvaux
