John of the Cross Quotes - Page 3

The conditions of a solitary bird are five: The first, that it flies to the highest point; The Second, that it does not suffer for company, not even of its own kind; The Third, that it aims its beak to the skies; The Fourth, that it does not have a definite color; The Fifth, that it sings very softly.

The divine awakening produces in the soul of the perfect a flame of love which is a participate of that living flame which is the Holy Spirit Himself...this is the operation of the Holy Spirit in the soul that is transformed in love.

At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.

Obedience is a penance of reason, and, on that account, a sacrifice more acceptable than all corporal penances and mortifications.

Seek in reading and thou shalt find in meditation; knock in prayer and it shall be opened in contemplation.

Desolation is a file, and the endurance of darkness is preparation for great light.

Strive always to confess your sins with a deep knowledge of your own wretchedness and with clarity and purity.

My spirit has become dry because it forgets to feed on You.

Oh, night that guided me, Oh, night more lovely than the dawn,Oh, night that joined Beloved with lover, Lover transformed in the Beloved!

If you lose an opportunity you will be like one who lets the bird fly away; you will never get it back.

The purest suffering bears and carries in its train the purest understanding.

When there is no love, pour in love and you shall draw out love.

The virtuous soul that is alone and without a master is like a long lone burning coal; it will grow colder rather than hotter.

Never relax, for you will not attain to the possession of true spiritual delights if first you do not learn to deny your every desire.

The eternal spring is hidden in this living bread for our life's sake, although it is night. It is here calling out to creatures; and they satisfy their thirst, although in darkness, because it is night. This living spring that I long for, I see in this bread of life, although it is night.

Though the path is plain and smooth for men of good will, he who walks it will not travel far, and will do so only with difficulty, if he does not have good feet: that is, courage and a persevering spirit.

Let all find COMPASSION in YOU.

If it were given to a man to see virtue's reward in the next world, he would occupy his intellect, memory and will in nothing but good works, careless of danger or fatigue.

Let my soul live as if separated from my body.

He who interrupts the course of his spiritual exercises and prayer is like a man who allows a bird to escape from his hand; he can hardly catch it again.

For true devotion must issue from the heart, and consist in the truth and substances alone of what is represented by spiritual things; all the rest is affection and attachment proceeding from imperfection; and in order that one may pass to any kind of perfection it is necessary for such desires to be killed.

Beloved, all that is harsh and difficult I want for myself, and all that is gentle and sweet for thee.

All the powers of soul and body,memory, understanding, and will, interior and exterior senses, thedesires of spirit and of sense, all workin and by love.

I have said this to explain the stanza that follows, in which the soul replies to those who call in question its holy tranquillity, who will have it wholly occupied with outward duties, that its light may shine before the world: these persons have no conception of the fibres and the unseen root whence the sap is drawn, and which nourish the fruit.

Who teaches the soul if not God?