John of the Cross Quotes - Page 2

At the end of our life, we shall all be judged by charity.

Seek in reading and you will find in meditation; knock in prayer and it will be opened to you in contemplation.

When a soul has advanced so far on the spiritual road as to be lost to all the natural methods of communing with God; when it seeks Him no longer by meditation, images, impressions, nor by any other created ways, or representations of sense, but only by rising above them all, in the joyful communion with Him by faith and love, then it may be said to have found God of a truth, because it has truly lost itself as to all that is not God, and also as to its own self.

Whoever does not seek the cross of Christ doesn't seek the glory of Christ.

God passes through the thicket of the world, and wherever His glance falls He turns all things to beauty.

The soul of one who serves God always swims in joy, always keeps holiday, is always in her palace of jubilation, ever singing with fresh ardor and fresh pleasure a new song of joy and love.

My sole occupation is love.

Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved.

Do not let your "eye" be drawn by the false "beacon lamps" -of wealth, or position, or fame, or possessions. Be vigilant over your will and desires, for these are the corrupt forces that dwell within, and keep you from living free.

Faith is a dark night for man, but in this very way it gives him light.

Take God for your spouse and friend and walk with him continually, and you will not sin and will learn to love, and the things you must do will work out prosperously for you.

In tribulation immediately draw near to God with confidence, and you will receive strength, enlightenment, and instruction.

He who loves is not ashamed before men of what he does for God, neither does he hide it through shame though the whole world should condemn it.

However high be your endeavors, unless you renounce and subjugate your own will - unless you forget yourself and all that pertains to yourself - not one step will you advance on the road to perfection.

There is nothing better or morenecessary than love.

See that you are not suddenly saddened by the adversities of this world, for you do not know the good they bring, being ordained in the judgments of God for the everlasting joy of the elect.

The soul that journey's to God, but doesn't shake off it's cares and quiet it's appetities, is like someone who drags a cart of dirt uphill.

Live as though only God and yourself were in this world, so that your heart may not be detained by anything human.

Yearning: It needs to hurt in order to be worthy of the word. Otherwise it is just wanting.

Faith is the union of God and the soul.

The centre of the soul is God; and, when the soul has attained to Him according to the whole capacity of its being, which is the strength and virtue of the soul, it will have reached the last and the deep centre of the soul, which will be when with all its powers it loves and understands and enjoys God.

God desires the smallest degree of purity of conscience in you more than all the works you can perform.

Abide in peace, banish cares, take no account of all that happens, and you will serve God according to his good pleasure and rest in him.

Never listen to accounts of the frailty of others; and if anyone should complain to you of another, humbly ask him not to speak about him at all.

Would that men might come at last to see that it is quite impossible to reach the thicket of the riches and wisdom of God except by first entering the thicket of much suffering, in such a way that the soul finds there its consolation and desire. The soul that longs for divine wisdom chooses first, and in truth, to enter the thicket of the cross.