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

John of the Cross

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John of the Cross
Age: 49 †
Born: 1542
Born: June 24
Died: 1591
Died: December 14
Carmelite Friar
Catholic Priest
Poet
Saint
Writer
Saint John of the Cross
Juan de la Cruz
Conscience
Works
Smallest
Desire
Purity
Perform
Desires
Saint
Degree
Degrees

More quotes by John of the Cross

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Not to follow the advice of our confessor is pride and a want of faith.
John of the Cross
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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.
John of the Cross
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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.
John of the Cross
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If you do not learn to deny yourself, you can make no progress in perfection.
John of the Cross
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A Christian should always remember that the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence, but on the love of God which prompts him to do these things.
John of the Cross
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Live in faith and hope, though it be in darkness, for in this darkness God protects the soul. Cast your care upon God for you are His and He will not forget you. Do not think that He is leaving you alone, for that would be to wrong Him.
John of the Cross
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However softly we speak, God is so close to us that he can hear us nor do we need wings to go in search of him, but merely to seek solitude and contemplate him within ourselves, without being surprised to find such a good Guest there.
John of the Cross
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Yearning: It needs to hurt in order to be worthy of the word. Otherwise it is just wanting.
John of the Cross
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To love is to be transformed into what we love. To love God is therefore to be transformed into God.
John of the Cross
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Have a great love for those who contradict and fail to love you, for in this way love is begotten in a heart that has no love.
John of the Cross
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At the end of our life, we shall all be judged by charity.
John of the Cross
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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.
John of the Cross
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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.
John of the Cross
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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.
John of the Cross
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There is nothing better or morenecessary than love.
John of the Cross
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Let my soul live as if separated from my body.
John of the Cross
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Contemplation is nothing else but a secret, peaceful, and loving infusion of God, which, if admitted, will set the soul on fire with the Spirit of love.
John of the Cross
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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.
John of the Cross
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They say, God told me, or God replied to me. And yet most of the time they are talking to themselves.
John of the Cross
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In search of my Love I will go over mountains and strands I will gather no flowers, I will fear no wild beasts And pass by the mighty and the frontiers.
John of the Cross