Great Throughts Treasury

"Happiness is not a destination; it's a method of travel."

"Have an intimate desire that His Majesty grant you what he knows you lack for his honor."

"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."

"Have great love for trials and think of them as but a small way of pleasing your Bridegroom, who did not hesitate to die for you."

"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."

"Hence it is that when we are careless and asleep in God's presence, it seems to us it is God who is asleep and neglectful of us!"

"Heaven is stable and is not subject to generation; and souls of a heavenly nature are stable and not subject to the engendering of desires or of anything else, for in their way they resemble God who does not move forever."

"Human beings know neither how to rejoice properly nor how to grieve properly, for they do not understand the distance between good and evil."

"How can you venture to live without fear, seeing that you must appear before God to give an account of your lightest words and thoughts?"

"How is it you dare to relax so fearlessly, since you must appear before God to render an account of the least word and thought?"

"Humble recipients of supernatural experiences obtain new satisfaction, strength, light and security after consulting about them with the proper person."

"I abandoned and forgot myself, laying my face on my Beloved; all things ceased; I went out from myself, leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies."

"I came into the unknown and stayed there unknowing rising beyond all science. I did not know the door but when I found the way, unknowing where I was, I learned enormous things, but what I felt I cannot say, for I remained unknowing, rising beyond all science. It was the perfect realm of holiness and peace. In deepest solitude I found the narrow way: a secret giving such release that I was stunned and stammering, rising beyond all science. I was so far inside, so dazed and far away my senses were released from feelings of my own. My mind had found a surer way: a knowledge of unknowing, rising beyond all science. And he who does arrive collapses as in sleep, for all he knew before now seems a lowly thing, and so his knowledge grows so deep that he remains unknowing, rising beyond all science. The higher he ascends the darker is the wood; it is the shadowy cloud that clarified the night, and so the one who understood remains always unknowing, rising beyond all science. This knowledge by unknowing is such a soaring force that scholars argue long but never leave the ground. Their knowledge always fails the source: to understand unknowing, rising beyond all science. This knowledge is supreme crossing a blazing height; though formal reason tries it crumbles in the dark, but one who would control the night by knowledge of unknowing will rise beyond all science. And if you wish to hear: the highest science leads to an ecstatic feeling of the most holy Being; and from his mercy comes his deed: to let us stay unknowing, rising beyond all science."

"I didn't know you, my Lord, because I still desired to know and relish things."

"I entered into unknowing, yet when I saw myself there, without knowing where I was, I understood great things; I will not say what I felt for I remained in unknowing transcending all knowledge. That perfect knowledge was of peace and holiness held at no remove in profound solitude; it was something so secret that I was left stammering, transcending all knowledge. I was so ?whelmed, so absorbed and withdrawn, that my senses were left deprived of all their sensing, and my spirit was given an understanding while not understanding, transcending all knowledge. He who truly arrives there cuts free from himself; all that he knew before now seems worthless, and his knowledge so soars that he is left in unknowing transcending all knowledge. The higher he ascends the less he understands, because the cloud is dark which lit up the night; whoever knows this remains always in unknowing transcending all knowledge. This knowledge in unknowing is so overwhelming that wise men disputing can never overthrow it, for their knowledge does not reach to the understanding of not understanding, transcending all knowledge. And this supreme knowledge is so exalted that no power of man or learning can grasp it; he who masters himself will, with knowledge in unknowing, always be transcending. And if you should want to hear: this highest knowledge lies in the loftiest sense of the essence of God; this is a work of his mercy, to leave one without understanding, transcending all knowledge."

"I have said this to explain the stanza that follows, in which the soul replies to those who call in question its holy tranquility, 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."

"I have said that God is pleased with nothing but love; but before I explain this, it will be as well to set forth the grounds on which the assertion rests. All our works, and all our labours, how grand soever they may be, are nothing in the sight of God, for we can give Him nothing, neither can we by them fulfil His desire, which is the growth of our soul. As to Himself He desires nothing of this, for He has need of nothing, and so, if He is pleased with anything it is with the growth of the soul; and as there is no way in which the soul can grow but in becoming in a manner equal to Him, for this reason only is He pleased with our love. It is the property of love to place him who loves on an equality with the object of his love. Hence the soul, because of its perfect love, is called the bride of the Son of God, which signifies equality with Him. In this equality and friendship all things are common, as the Bridegroom Himself said to His disciples: I have called you friends, because all things, whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you."

"I no longer tend the herd nor have I any other work now that my every act is love."

"I shall sully the purity of your floor, said he..."

"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."

"I wish I could persuade spiritual persons that the way of perfection does not consist in many devices, nor in much cogitation, but in denying themselves completely and yielding themselves to suffer everything."

"If the soul has not reached the state of unitive love, it is necessary for it to make acts of love, as well in the active as in the contemplative life. But when it has reached it, it is not requisite it should occupy itself in other and exterior duties ? unless they be matters of obligation ? which might hinder, were it but for a moment, the life of love in God, though they may minister greatly to His service; because an instant of pure love is more precious in the eyes of God and the soul, and more profitable to the Church, than all other good works together, though it may seem as if nothing were done."

"If a soul has more patience in suffering and more forbearance in going without satisfaction, the sign is there of its being more proficient in virtue."

"If those souls to whom this comes to pass knew how to be quiet at this time? then they would delicately experience this inward refreshment in that ease and freedom from care? it is like the air which, if one would close one?s hand upon it, escapes."

"If you desire that devotion be born in your spirit and that the love of God and the desire for divine things increase, cleanse your soul of every desire, attachment, and ambition in such a way that you have no concern about anything. Just as a sick person is immediately aware of good health once the bad humor has been thrown off and a desire to eat is felt, so will you recover your health, in God, if you cure yourself as was said. Without doing this, you will not advance no matter how much you do."

"If you desire to discover peace and consolation for your soul and to serve God truly, do not find your satisfaction in what you have left behind, because in that which now concerns you may be as impeded as you were before, or even more. But leave as well all these other things and attend to one thing alone that brings all these with it (namely, holy solitude, together with prayer and spiritual and divine reading), and persevere there in forgetfulness of all things. For if these things are not incumbent on you, you will be more pleasing to God in knowing how to guard and perfect yourself than by gaining all other things together; what profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of one's soul? [Mt. 16:26]."

"If you do not learn to deny yourself, you can make no progress in perfection."

"If you desire to be perfect, sell your will, give it to the poor in spirit, come to Christ in meekness and humility, and follow him to Calvary and the sepulcher."

"If you make use of your reason, you are like one who eats substantial food; but if you are moved by the satisfaction of your will, you are like one who eats insipid fruit."

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

"If you do not fear falling alone, do you presume that you will rise up alone? Consider how much more can be accomplished by two together than by one alone."

"If you wish to attain holy recollection, you will do so not by receiving but by denying."

"If you only wait upon God with loving and pure attentiveness (detach the soul from everything and set it free). God will feed your soul for you with heavenly food, since you are not hindering Him."

"If you wish to glory in yourself, but do not wish to appear ignorant and foolish, discard the things that are not yours and you will have glory in what remains. But certainly if you discard all that is not yours, nothing will be left, since you must not glory in anything if you do not want to fall into vanity. But let us descend now especially to those graces, the gifts that make people pleasing in God's sight. It is certain that you must not glory in these gifts, for you do not even know if you possess them."

"If, then, on the common land I am no longer seen or found, you will say that I am lost; that, being enamored, I lost myself; and yet was found."

"Ignoring the imperfections of others, preserving silence and a continual communion with God will eradicate great imperfections from the soul and make it the possessor of great virtues."

"Images will always help a person toward union with God, provided he allows himself to soar ? when God bestows the favor ? from the painted image to the living God."

"In joys and pleasures, immediately draw near to God in fear and truth, and you will be neither deceived nor involved in vanity."

"In detachment, the spirit finds quiet and repose for coveting nothing."

"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."

"In solitude she lived, and in solitude built her nest; and in solitude, alone hath the Beloved guided her, in solitude also wounded with love."

"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."

"In order to find Him you should forget all your possessions and all creatures and hide in the interior, secret chamber of your spirit. And there, closing the door behind you, you should pray to your Father in secret. Remaining hidden with Him, you will experience Him in hiding, and love and enjoy Him in hiding."

"In the serene night, with the flame that consumes, and gives no pains."

"In the midst of these dark and loving afflictions the soul feels within itself a certain companionship and strength, which bears it company and so greatly strengthens it that, if this burden of grievous darkness be taken away, it often feels itself to be alone, empty and weak."

"In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human successes, but on how well we have loved."

"In this state of contemplation? it is God Who is now working in the soul. He binds its interior faculties, and allows it not to cling to the understanding, nor to have delight in the will, nor to reason with the memory."

"It being certain that in this life we know God better by what he is not then by what he is, it is necessary, if we are to draw near unto him, that the soul must deny, to the uttermost, all that may be denied of its apprehensions, both natural and supernatural."

"In these apprehensions coming from above (like spiritual feelings), a person should only advert to the love of God they interiorly cause."

"It is best to learn to silence the faculties and to cause them to be still, so that God may speak."