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Maxims on Love
Taken from Minor Works of St. John of the Cross
Commentaries by Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi, ocd
(Sayings of Light & Love #80 & 81)
1. Bridle your tongue and your thoughts very much, direct your
affection habitually toward God, and your spirit will be divinely enkindled.
2. Feed not your spirit on anything but God. Cast off concern about things, and bear
peace and recollection in your heart.
(Sayings of Light & Love #82 & 83)
3. Keep spiritually tranquil in a loving attentiveness to God, and
when it is necessary to speak, let it be with the same calm and peace.
4. Preserve a habitual remembrance of eternal life, recalling that
those who hold themselves the lowest and poorest and least of all will enjoy
the highest dominion and glory in God.
(Sayings of Light & Love #84)
5. Rejoice habitually in God, Who is your salvation, and reflect that
it is good to suffer in any way for
Him Who is good.
(Sayings of Light & Love #85)
6. Let them reflect how necessary it is to be enemies of self and to
walk to perfection by the path of holy rigor, and let them understand that
every word spoken without the order
of obedience is laid to their account by God.
(Sayings of Light & Love #86 & 87)
7. Have an intimate desire that His Majesty grant you what He knows
you lack for His honor.
8. Crucified inwardly and outwardly with Christ, you will live in
this life with fullness and satisfaction of soul, and possess your soul in
patience.
(Sayings of Light & Love #88, 89, 90)
9. Preserve a loving attentiveness to God with no desire to feel or
understand any particular thing concerning Him.
10. Habitual confidence in God, esteeming in yourself and in your
sisters those things which God most values, which are spiritual goods.
11. Enter into yourself and work in the presence of your Spouse, Who
is ever present loving you.
(Sayings of Light & Love #91 & 92)
12. Be hostile to admitting into your soul things that of themselves
have no spiritual substance, lest they make you lose your liking for devotion
and recollection.
13. Let Christ crucified be enough for you, and with Him suffer and
take your rest, and hence annihilate yourself in all inward and outward things.
(Sayings of Light & Love #93 & 94)
14. Endeavor always that things be not for you, nor you for them, but
forgetful of all, abide in recollection with your Spouse.
15. Have great love for trials and think of them as but a small way
of pleasing your Spouse, Who did not hesitate to die for you.
(Sayings of Light & Love #95 & 96)
16. Bear fortitude in your heart against all things that move you to
that which is not God, and be a friend of the passion of Christ.
17. Be interiorly detached from all things and do not seek pleasure
in any temporal thing, and your soul will concentrate on goods you do not know.
(Sayings of Light & Love #97)
18. The soul that walks in love neither rests nor grows tired.
(Sayings of Light & Love #98)
19. The poor man who is naked will be clothed, and the soul that is
naked of desires and whims will be clothed by God with His purity,
satisfaction, and will.
(Sayings of Light & Love # 99 & 100)
20. There are souls that wallow in the mire like animals, and there
are others that soar like birds, which purify and cleanse themselves in the
air.
21. The Father spoke one Word, which was His Son, and this Word He
speaks in eternal silence, and in silence must It be heard by the soul.
(Sayings of Light & Love #101)
22. We must adjust our trials to ourselves, and not ourselves to our
trials.
(Sayings of Light & Love #102)
23. He who seeks not the cross of Christ seeks not the glory of
Christ.
(Sayings of Light & Love #103)
24. To be taken with love for a soul, God does not look upon its
greatness, but upon the greatness of its humility.
(Sayings of Light & Love #104 & 105)
25. "He who is ashamed to confess Me before men, I shall be
ashamed to confess him before My Father," says the Lord. (Mt. 10:32: Luke
9:26).
26. 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 Spouse will look upon
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.
(Sayings of Light & Love #106 & 107)
27. 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 resemble God Who does not move forever.
28. Eat not in forbidden pastures (those of this life), because
blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice sake, for they shall be
filled. (Mt. 5:6) What God seeks, He being Himself God by
nature, is to make us gods through participation, just as fire converts all
things into fire.
(Sayings of Light & Love #108)
29. All the goodness we possess is lent to us, and God considers it
His own work.
God and His work is God.
(Sayings of Light & Love #109)
30. Wisdom enters through love, silence, and mortification.
(Sayings of Light & Love #109, 110, 111)
It is great wisdom to know how
to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives
of others.
31. All for me and nothing for You.
32. All for You and nothing for me.
(Sayings of Light & Love #112)
33. Allow yourself to be taught, allow yourself to receive orders,
allow yourself to be subjected and despised, and you will be perfect.
(Sayings of Light & Love #113)
34. Any appetite causes five kinds of harm in
the soul: first, disquiet; second, turbidity; third, defilement; fourth,
weakness; fifth, obscurity.
(Sayings of Light & Love #114)
35. Perfection does not lie in the virtues which the soul knows it
has, but in the virtues which Our Lord sees in it. Thus is a closed book, and hence one has no reason for
presumption, but must remain prostrate on the ground with respect to self.
(Sayings of Light & Love #115)
36. Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great
detachment and in suffering for the Beloved.
(Sayings of Light & Love #116 & 117)
37. The entire world is not worthy of a man's thought, for this
belongs to God alone; any thought, therefore, not centered on God is stolen
from Him.
38. Not all the faculties and senses have to be employed in things,
but only those which are required; as for the others leave them unoccupied for
God.
(Sayings of Light & Love #118)
39. Not observing 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.
(Sayings of Light & Love #119)
40. There are three signs of inner recollection: first, a lack of satisfaction in passing
things; second, a liking for solitude and silence and an attentiveness to all
that is more perfect; third, the considerations, meditations, and acts which
formerly helped the soul now hinder it, and it brings to prayer no other
support than faith, hope, and love.
(Sayings of Light & Love #120 & 121)
41. If a person has more patience in suffering and more forbearance
in going without satisfaction, it is a sign that he is more proficient in
virtue.
42. The traits of the solitary bird are five: first, it seeks the
highest place; second, it withstands no company; it holds its beak in the air;
fourth, it has no definite color; fifth, it sings sweetly. These traits must be possessed by the
contemplative soul. It must rise above
passing things, paying no more heed to them than if they did not exist. It must likewise be so fond of silence and
solitude that it does not tolerate the company of another creature. It must hold its beak in the air of the Holy
Spirit, responding to His inspirations, that by so doing it may become worthy
of His company. It must have no
definite color, desiring to do nothing definite other than the will of God. It must sing sweetly in the contemplation and
love of its Spouse.
(Sayings of Light & Love #122)
43. Habitual voluntary imperfections which are never completely
overcome not only hinder the divine union, but also the attainment of
perfection. Such imperfections
are: the habit of much talking; some
small unconquered attachment, such as to a person, an article of clothing, a
cell, a book, or some kind of food, or other conversations and little
satisfactions in tasting things, and knowing, and hearing, and the like.
(Sayings of Light & Love #123)
44. 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 of which make men 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.
(Sayings of Light & Love #124)
45. Oh, how sweet Your presence will be to me, You Who are the
supreme good! I must draw near You in
silence and uncover my feet before You that You may be pleased to unite me to
You in marriage (Ruth 3:7), and I will not rest until I rejoice in Your
arms. Now I ask You, Lord, not to
abandon me at any time in my recollection, for I am a squanderer of my soul.
(Sayings of Light & Love #125)
46. Detached from the exterior, dispossessed of the interior,
disappropriated of the things of God --neither will prosperity detain you nor
adversity hinder you.
(Sayings of Light & Love #125 & 126)
46. Detached from the exterior, dispossessed of the interior,
disappropriated of the things of God --neither will prosperity detain you nor
adversity hinder you.
47. The devil fears a soul united to God as he does God Himself.
(Sayings of Light & Love #127)
48. The purest suffering produces the purest understanding.
(Sayings of Light & Love #127)
48. The purest suffering produces the purest understanding.
(Sayings of Light & Love #128)
49. The soul that desires God to surrender Himself to it entirely
must surrender itself entirely to Him without keeping anything for itself.
(Sayings of Light & Love #129 & 130)
50. The soul that has reached the union of love does not even
experience the first motions of sin.
51. Old friends of God scarcely ever fail Him, for they stand above
all that can make them fail.
(Sayings of Light & Love #131 & 132)
52. My Beloved, all that is rugged and toilsome I desire for myself,
and all that is sweet and delightful I desire for You.
53. What we need most in order to make progress is to be silent
before this great God with our appetites and our tongue, for the language He
best hears is silent love.
(Sayings of Light & Love #133 & 134)
54. Simple faith is necessary in seeking God. In outward things, light helps to prevent
one from falling; but in the things of God just the opposite is true: it is better for the soul not to see if it
is to be more secure.
55. More is gained in one hour from God's good things than in a whole
lifetime from our own.
(Sayings of Light & Love #135
56. Love is unknown both by yourself and by others. Never look at the good or evil of others.
(Sayings of Light & Love #136
57. Walk in solitude with God; act according to the just measure; hide the blessings of God.
(Sayings of Light & Love #137)
58. To lose always and let everyone else win is a trait of valiant
souls, generous spirits, and unselfish hearts; it is their manner to give
rather than receive even to the extent of giving themselves. They consider it a heavy burden to possess
themselves and it pleases them more to be possessed by others and withdrawn
from themselves, since we belong more to that infinite Good than we do to
ourselves.
(Sayings of Light & Love #138)
59. It is a serious evil to have more regard for God's blessings than
for God Himself: prayer and detachment.
(Sayings of Light & Love #139)
60. Look at that infinite knowledge and that hidden secret. What peace, what love, what silence is in
that divine bosom! How lofty the
science God teaches there, which is what we call the anagogical acts that so
enkindle the heart.
(Sayings of Light & Love # 140 & 141)
61. Secrecy of conscience is considerably harmed and damaged as often
as a person manifest its fruit to men, for then he receives as his reward the
fruit of fleeting fame.
62. Speak little and do not meddle in matters about which you are not
asked.
(Sayings of Light & Love #142 & 143)
63. Strive always to keep God present and to preserve within yourself
the purity He teaches you.
64. Do not excuse yourself nor refuse to be corrected by all; listen to every reproof with a serene
countenance; think that God utters it.
(Sayings of Light & Love #144 & 145)
65. Live as though only God and yourself were in this world so that
your heart may not be detained by anything human.
66. Consider it the mercy of God that someone occasionally speak a
good word to you, for you deserve none.
(Sayings of Light & Love #146 & 147)
67. Never allow yourself to pour out your heart, even though it be
but for the space of a creed.
68. Never listen to talk about the faults of others, and if someone
complains of another, you can tell him humbly to say nothing of it to you.
(Sayings of Light & Love #148)
69. Do not complain about anyone, nor ask for anything; and if it is
necessary for you to ask, let it be with few words.
(Sayings of Light & Love #149 & 150)
70. Do not refuse work even though it seems that you cannot do
it. Let all find compassion in you.
71. Do not contradict; in no manner speak words that are not pure.
(Sayings of Light & Love # 151 & 152)
72. Let your speech be such that no one may be offended, and let it
concern things which would not cause you regret were all to know of them.
73. Do not refuse anything you possess, even though you may need it.
(Sayings of Light & Love #153 & 154)
74. Be silent concerning what God may have given you and recall that
saying of the bride: My secret for
myself. (Is. 24:16)
75. Strive to preserve your heart in peace and let no event of this
world disturb it. Reflect that all must
come to an end.
(Sayings of Light & Love #155 & 156)
76. Take neither great nor little notice of who is with you or
against you and try always to please God.
Ask Him that His will be done in you.
Love Him intensely, as He deserves to be loved.
77. 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.
(Sayings of Light & Love #156)
77. 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.
(Sayings of Light & Love #156)
77. 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.
(Sayings of Light & Love #156)
77. 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.
(Sayings of Light & Love #157 & 158)
78. Never take a man for your example in the tasks you have to
perform, however holy he may be, for the devil will set his imperfection before
you. But imitate Christ, who is
supremely perfect and supremely holy, and you will never err.
79. Seek in reading and you will find in meditation; knock in prayer
and it will be opened to you in contemplation.
80. Once being asked how one becomes enraptured, the Venerable Father
Fray John of the Cross, replied: by
denying one's own will and doing the will of god; for an ecstasy is nothing
else than going out of self and being caught up in God; and this is what he who
obeys does; he leaves himself and his desire, and thus unburdened plunges
himself in God.