If you do not learn to deny yourself, you can make no progress in perfection.
JOHN OF THE CROSSIf you do not learn to deny yourself, you can make no progress in perfection.
JOHN OF THE CROSSGod leads every soul by a separate path.
JOHN OF THE CROSSDesolation is a file, and the endurance of darkness is preparation for great light.
JOHN OF THE CROSSGod passes through the thicket of the world, and wherever His glance falls He turns all things to beauty.
JOHN OF THE CROSSThe 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.
JOHN OF THE CROSSAll the powers of soul and body, memory, understanding, and will, interior and exterior senses, the desires of spirit and of sense, all workin and by love.
JOHN OF THE CROSSThey say, “God told me”, or “God replied to me”. And yet most of the time they are talking to themselves.
JOHN OF THE CROSSAt the end of our life, we shall all be judged by charity.
JOHN OF THE CROSSHe 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.
JOHN OF THE CROSSLove consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved.
JOHN OF THE CROSSNever give up prayer, and should you find dryness and difficulty, persevere in it for this very reason. God often desires to see what love your soul has, and love is not tried by ease and satisfaction.
JOHN OF THE CROSSIn the dark night of the soul, bright flows the river of God.
JOHN OF THE CROSSIf 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.
JOHN OF THE CROSSMy sole occupation is love.
JOHN OF THE CROSSWhen there is no love, pour in love and you shall draw out love.
JOHN OF THE CROSSHe who loses an opportunity is like the man who lets a bird fly from his hand, for he will never recover it.
JOHN OF THE CROSS