And though they may have many scruples that they are wasting time, and that it may be better for them to betake themselves to some other good work, s… - John of the Cross

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And though they may have many scruples that they are wasting time, and that it may be better for them to betake themselves to some other good work, seeing that in prayer and meditation they are become helpless; yet let them be patient with themselves, and remain quiet, for that which they are uneasy about is their own satisfaction and liberty of spirit. If they were now to exert their inferior faculties, they would simply hinder and ruin the good which, in that repose, God is working in the soul; for if a man while sitting for his portrait cannot be still, but moves about, the painter will never depict his face, and even the work already done will be spoiled.

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About John of the Cross

Saint John of the Cross, or San Juan de la Cruz (24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591) was a Spanish Carmelite mystic and poet.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Native Name: Juan de la Cruz
Alternative Names: Saint John of the Cross
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Additional quotes by John of the Cross

Happiness is not a destination, it's a method of travel.

Therefore, if we would listen to the voice of God15 with due reverence, the soul must stand upright, and not lean on the affections of sense for support. As the prophet Habakkuk says of himself, “I will stand upon my watch, and fix my step upon the munition, and I will behold to see what may be said to me.”16 To stand upon the watch is to cast off all desires; to fix the step, is to cease from reflections of sense, that I may behold and understand what God will speak to me. Thus out of this night springs first the knowledge of one’s self, and on that, as on a foundation, is built up the knowledge of God. “Let me know myself,” says St. Augustine, “and I shall then know Thee, O my God,” for, as the philosophers say, one extreme is known by another.

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