Grow by subtraction…
The soul does not grow by addition but by subtraction.
–Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)
I ought to sing…
When first I was converted, and became single-minded, I used to think I would be like the little bird which pines for love of its beloved, but which can rejoice in the midst of its longing when he, the loved one, comes. While it sings its joy, it is still yearning, though in sweetness and warmth. It is said that the nightingale will sing her melody all night long to please him to whom she is united. How much more ought I to sing, and as sweetly as I can, to my Jesus Christ, my soul’s spouse, through the whole of this present life.
–Richard Rolle (c. 1300-1349)
Desire to be…
Because it is not what you are nor what you have been that God looks at with his merciful eyes, but what you desire to be.
–Cloud of Unknowing (Fourteenth Century)
True spiritual counsel…
I agree that there are many who appear to have forsaken the world, who do fall away and have fallen away in the past; and instead of becoming God’s servants and his contemplatives, have become the devil’s, because they would not permit themselves to be governed by true spiritual counsel. And so they turn out to be hypocrites or heretics, or they fall into frenzies and many other kinds of misfortune, to the scandal of all holy Church.
–Cloud of Unknowing (Fourteenth Century)
A jealous lover…
[God] is a jealous lover and allows no other partnership, and he has no wish to work in your will unless he is there alone with you, by himself. He asks no help, but only you yourself. His will is that you should simply gaze at him, and leave him to act alone. Your part is to keep the windows and the door against the inroads of flies and enemies. And if you are willing to do this, all that is required of you is to woo him humbly in prayer, and at once he will help you.
–Cloud of Unknowing (Fourteenth Century)
When Jesus is near…
When Jesus is near all is well and nothing seems difficult. When He is absent, all is hard. When Jesus does not speak within, all other comfort is empty, but if He says only a word, it brings great consolation.
–Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471)
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