Twelve stars for reaching the highest perfection: love of God, love of neighbor, obedience, chastity, poverty, attendance at choir, penance, humility, mortification, prayer, silence, peace.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
What does it profit you to give God one thing if he asks of you another? Consider what it is God wants, and then do it. You will satisfy your heart better than with something toward which you are inclined.
–Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Know that when you seek anything of your own, you will never find God, because you do not seek God purely. You are seeking something along with God, and you are acting just as if you were to make a candle out of God in order to look for something with it. Once one finds the things one is looking for, one throws the candle away. This is what you are doing.
–Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)
The moment has come when you should more than ever die to all that is not God, that you may the more lovingly commune with Him alone. Let your life be as hidden as possible. Lock yourself up in the great sanctuary of the divine Heart, for there the soul is nourished by her divine Spouse with that wine which strengthens, vivifies, inflames the soul, and causes her to take flight to the contemplation of the supreme Monarch; it is in that sanctuary that the soul learns the science of the saints, which is taught only to the humble.
–Saint Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)
Finally, …you must plant in your heart the following four dispositions and spiritual activities, … namely: (a) never rely on yourself in anything; (b) bear always in your heart a perfect and all-daring trust in God alone; (c) strive without ceasing; and (d) remain constantly in prayer.
–Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite (1749-1809)
Faith is the womb that conceives this new life, baptism the rebirth by which it is brought forth into the light of day. The Church is its nurse; her teachings are its milk, the bread from heaven is its food. It is brought to maturity by the practice of virtue; it is wedded to wisdom; it gives birth to hope. Its home is the kingdom; its rich inheritance the joys of paradise; its end, not death, but the blessed and everlasting life prepared for those who are worthy.
–Saint Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 – c. 395)
