John of the Cross Quotes

Where there is no love, put love — and you will find love.

To reach satisfaction in all, desire satisfaction in nothing. To come to possess all, desire the possession of nothing. To arrive at being all, desire to be nothing. To come to the knowledge of all, desire the knowledge of nothing. To come to enjoy what you have not, you must go by a way in which you enjoy not. To come to the possession you have not, you must go by a way in which you possess not. To come to what you are not, you must go by a way in which you are not.

John of the Cross

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

There He taught me the science full of sweetness. And there I gave to Him Myself without reserve; There I promised to be His bride. ~ 27

The will's operation is quite distinct from the will's feeling: By its operation, which is love, the will is united with God and terminates in him, and not by the feeling and gratification of its appetite that remains in the soul and goes no further. The feelings only serve as stimulants to love, if the will desires to pass beyond them; and they serve for no more. Thus the delightful feelings do not of themselves lead the soul to God, but rather cause it to become attached to delightful feelings. But the operation of the will, which is the love of God, concentrates the affection, joy, plea sure, satisfaction, and love of the soul only on God, leaving aside all things and loving him above them all.

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

says, “he who humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Worldly people are in the habit of censuring those who give themselves up in earnest to God, regarding them as extravagant, in their withdrawal from the world, and in their manner of life. They say also of them that they are useless for all matters of importance, and lost to everything the world prizes and respects! This reproach the soul meets in the best way; boldly and courageously despising it with everything else that the world can lay to its charge. Having attained to a living love of God, it makes little account of all this; and that is not all: it confesses it itself in this stanza, and boasts that it has committed that folly, and that it is lost to the world and to itself for the Beloved.

If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.

A thousand graces diffusing He passed through the groves in haste, And merely regarding them As He passed Clothed them with His beauty. ~ 5

The very pure spirit does not bother about the regard of others or human respect, but communes inwardly with God, alone and in solitude as to all forms, and with delightful tranquility, for the knowledge of God is received in divine silence.

4. The way in which they are to conduct themselves in this night of sense is to devote themselves not at all to reasoning and meditation, since this is not the time for it, but to allow the soul to remain in peace and quietness, although it may seem clear8 to them that they are doing nothing and are wasting their time, and although it may appear to them9 that it is because of their weakness that they have no desire in that state to think of anything.

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

This is the first and principal benefit caused by this arid and dark night of contemplation: the knowledge of oneself and of one’s misery.

«Verbo, esposo mío, muéstrame el lugar donde estás escondido».