Never relax, for you will not attain to the possession of true spiritual delights if first you do not learn to deny your every desire.
John of the CrossStrive always to confess your sins with a deep knowledge of your own wretchedness and with clarity and purity.
John of the CrossLove consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved. The soul that is attached to anything, however much good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of Divine union. For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for until the cord be broken, the bird cannot fly.
John of the Cross