Great Throughts Treasury

"Consider that God reigns only in the peaceful and disinterested soul."

"Contemplation, by which the intellect has a higher knowledge of God, is called mystical theology, meaning the secret wisdom of God. St. Dionysius calls contemplation a ray of darkness."

"Dark Night of the Soul - On a dark night, kindled in love with yearnings?oh, happy chance!?I went forth without being observed, my house being now at rest. In darkness and secure, by the secret ladder, disguised?oh, happy chance!?In darkness and in concealment, my house being now at rest. In the happy night, in secret, when none saw me, nor I beheld aught, without light or guide, save that which burned in my heart. This light guided me more surely than the light of noonday to the place where he (well I knew who!) was awaiting me?A place where none appeared. Oh, night that guided me, oh, night more lovely than the dawn, oh, night that joined Beloved with lover, Lover transformed in the Beloved! Upon my flowery breast, kept wholly for himself alone, there he stayed sleeping, and I caressed him, and the fanning of the cedars made a breeze. The breeze blew from the turret as I parted his locks; with his gentle hand he wounded my neck and caused all my senses to be suspended. I remained, lost in oblivion; my face I reclined on the Beloved. All ceased and I abandoned myself, leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies."

"Death is the ?old man,? namely, the employment of the faculties ? memory, understanding and will ? and the use and occupation of them in things of the world, and the occupation of the desires in the pleasure afforded by created things. All this and the exercise of the old life, which is the death of the new, or spiritual life? In this new life, when the soul has reached the perfection of union with God, all the desires and faculties of the soul? are changed into Divine operations."

"Darkness and coarseness will always be with a soul until its appetites are extinguished. The appetites are like a cataract on the eye or specks of dust in it; until removed they obstruct vision. The affections and appetites deprive them of a treasure of divine light. Any appetite, even one that is but slightly imperfect, stains and defiles the soul."

"Deny your desires and you will find what your heart longs for. For how do you know if any desire of yours is according to God?"

"Despise me not, for if I was swarthy once thou canst regard me now; since Thou hast regarded me, grace and beauty hast Thou given me."

"Detached from exterior things, dispossessed of interior things, disappropriated of the things of God -- neither will prosperity detain you nor adversity hinder you."

"Do not contradict; by no means speak words that are not pure."

"Do not be suspicious of your brother, for you will lose purity of heart."

"Do not excuse yourself or refuse to be corrected by all; listen to every reproof with a serene countenance; think that God utters it."

"Divine wisdom possessed only by those who purport ignorant children neglect their knowledge and love serving God."

"Do not omit mental prayer from any occupation, for it is the sustenance of your soul."

"Do not complain about anyone, or ask for anything; and if it is necessary for you to ask, let it be with few words."

"Do not refuse anything you possess, even though you may need it."

"Do not refuse work even though it seems that you cannot do it. Let all find compassion in you."

"Do not rejoice in temporal prosperity, since you do not know if it gives you assurance of eternal life."

"Do not rejoice vainly, for you know how many sins you have committed and you do not know how you stand before God; but have fear together with confidence."

"Do not tire yourself, for you will not enter into the savor and sweetness of spirit if you do not apply yourself to the mortification of all this that you desire."

"Endeavor always that things be not for you, nor you for them, but forgetful of all, abide in recollection with your Bridegroom."

"Feed not your spirit on anything but God. Cast off concern about things, and bear peace and recollection in your heart."

"Endeavour to remain always in the presence of God."

"For, when the friendship is purely spiritual, the love of God grows with it; and the more the soul remembers it, the more it remembers the love of God, and the greater the desire it has for God; so that, as the one grows, the other grows also. For the spirit of God has this property, that it increases good by adding to it more good, inasmuch as there is likeness and conformity between them. But, when this love arises from the vice of sensuality aforementioned, it produces the contrary effects; for the more the one grows, the more the other decreases, and the remembrance of it likewise. If that sensual love grows, it will at once be observed that the soul's love of God is becoming colder, and that it is forgetting Him as it remembers that love; there comes to it, too, a certain remorse of conscience. And, on the other hand, if the love of God grows in the soul, that other love becomes cold and is forgotten; for, as the two are contrary to one another, not only does the one not aid the other, but the one which predominates quenches and confounds the other, and becomes strengthened in itself, as the philosophers say. Wherefore Our Saviour said in the Gospel: 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' That is to say, the love which is born of sensuality ends in sensuality, and that which is of the spirit ends in the spirit of God and causes it to grow. This is the difference that exists between these two kinds of love, whereby we may know them."

"Enter within yourself and work in the presence of your Bridegroom, who is ever present loving you."

"For the insensible, what you do not feel; for the sensible, the senses; and for the spirit of God, thought."

"For whereas speaking distracts, silence and work collect the thoughts and strengthen the spirit. As soon therefore as a person understands what has been said to him for his good, there is not further need to hear or to discuss; but to set himself in earnest to practice what he has learnt with silence and attention, in humility, charity, and contempt of self."

"Frequent combing gives the hair more luster and makes it easier to comb; a soul that frequently examines its thoughts, words, and deeds, which are its hair, doing all things for the love of God, will have lustrous hair. Then the Bridegroom will look on the neck of the bride and thereby be captivated; and will be wounded by one of her eyes, that is, by the purity of intention she has in all she does. If in combing hair one wants it to have luster, one begins from the crown. All our works must begin from the crown (the love of God) if we wish them to be pure and lustrous."

"From the aridities and voids of this night of the desire, the soul draws spiritual humility."

"God brought them to this solitude and emptiness of their faculties and operations that He may speak to their hearts."

"God desires the least degree of obedience and submissiveness more than all those services you think of rendering him."

"God communicates? by pure spirit. From this time forward imagination and fancy can find no support in any meditation."

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

"God does not bestow these favors on a possessive soul, since He gives them out of a very special love for the recipient. For the individual receiving them is one who loves God with great detachment."

"God dwells secretly in all souls and is hidden in their substance, for otherwise they would not last."

"God greatly esteems having brought them to this solitude and emptiness of their faculties and operations that He may speak to their heart, which is what He ever desires."

"God is bearing the soul in His arms? and thus, although it is making progress at the rate willed by God Himself, it is not conscious of such movement. Three kinds of love: 1. the soul now loves God, not through itself but through Himself. 2. the soul is absorbed in the love of God and God surrenders Himself to the soul with great vehemence. 3. the soul love Him for Who He is."

"God has to work in the soul in secret and in darkness because if we fully knew what was happening, and what Mystery, transformation, God and Grace will eventually ask of us, we would either try to take charge or stop the whole process."

"God is leading you through the state of solitude and recollection and withdrawing you from your labors of sense. Return not to sense again. Lay aside your operations for they will now be a great obstacle and hindrance to you, since God is granting you the grace of Himself working within you."

"God is never absent."

"God is more pleased by one work, however small, done secretly, without desire that it be known, than a thousand done with the desire that people know of them. Those who work for God with purest love not only care nothing about whether others see their works, but do not even seek that God himself know of them. Such persons would not cease to render God the same services, with the same joy and purity of love, even if God were never to know of these."

"God is secretly speaking to the solitary soul while the soul keeps silence."

"God values in you the inclination to dryness and suffering for love of him more than all the consolations, spiritual visions, and meditations you could possibly have."

"God is the substance and concept of faith and faith is the secret and the mystery. Faith and love are like the blind man?s guides. They will lead you along a path unknown to you, to the place where God is hidden."

"God transfers to the spirit the good things and the strength of the senses? if it is not immediately conscious of spiritual sweetness and delight, but only of aridity and lack of sweetness, the reason for this is the strangeness of the exchange."

"God wars against all the imperfect habits of the soul and, purifying the soul with the heat of His flame, He uproots these habits from it and prepares it so that at last He may enter it and be united with it by His sweet, peaceful and glorious love, as is the fire when it has entered the wood."

"God will enlighten the soul, giving it knowledge, not only of its lowliness and wretchedness, but of the greatness and excellence of God. He cleanses and frees the understanding that it may understand the truth."

"God's first language is silence."

"Habitual voluntary imperfections that are never completely overcome not only hinder the divine union, but also the attainment of perfection. Such imperfections are: the habit of being very talkative; a small unconquered attachment, such as to a person, to clothing, to a cell, a book, or to the way food is prepared, and to other conversations and little satisfactions in tasting things, in knowing, and hearing, and the like."

"Going everywhere, my God, with you, everywhere things will happen as I desire for you."

"God will give to the soul a new understanding of God in God, the old human understanding being cast aside ? and a new love of God in God."