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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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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
Otherwise
Hurt
Word
Order
Needs
Yearning
Longing
Wanting
Worthy

More quotes by 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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Abide in peace, banish cares, take no account of all that happens, and you will serve God according to his good pleasure and rest in him.
John of the Cross
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If 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 Cross
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Whoever does not seek the cross of Christ doesn't seek the glory of Christ.
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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The window of the soul cleansed perfectly and made completely transparent by the divine light
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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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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God leads every soul by a separate path.
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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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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In the dark night of the soul, bright flows the river of God.
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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Let my soul live as if separated from my body.
John of the Cross
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Never 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 Cross
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Seek in reading and thou shalt find in meditation knock in prayer and it shall be opened in contemplation.
John of the Cross
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He who loves is not ashamed before men of what he does for God, neither does he hide it through shame though the whole world should condemn it.
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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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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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