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

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
Bird
Lose
Loses
Opportunity
Away
Back
Never
Like
Lets

More quotes by 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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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.
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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Lord, I shall see you no more with the eyes of the flesh.
John of the Cross
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God passes through the thicket of the world, and wherever His glance falls He turns all things to beauty.
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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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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God is a dark night to man in this life.
John of the Cross
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The soul of one who serves God always swims in joy, always keeps holiday, is always in her palace of jubilation, ever singing with fresh ardor and fresh pleasure a new song of joy and love.
John of the Cross
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Beloved, all that is harsh and difficult I want for myself, and all that is gentle and sweet for thee.
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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At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.
John of the Cross
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Now that I no longer desire all, I have it all without desire.
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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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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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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The centre of the soul is God and, when the soul has attained to Him according to the whole capacity of its being, which is the strength and virtue of the soul, it will have reached the last and the deep centre of the soul, which will be when with all its powers it loves and understands and enjoys God.
John of the Cross
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Live as though only God and yourself were in this world, so that your heart may not be detained by anything human.
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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My sole occupation is love.
John of the Cross