"If by chance you see
him who I love the most,
tell him I am sick, I suffer, and I die."
him who I love the most,
tell him I am sick, I suffer, and I die."
— St. John of the Cross (via shortbreadsh)
(via shortbreadsh)
"
I live, but not in myself,
and I have such hope
that I die because I do not die.
I no longer live within myself
and I cannot live without God,
for having neither him or myself
what will life be?
It will be a thousand deaths,
longing for my true life
and dying because I do not die.
This life that I live
is no life at all,
and so I die continually
until I live with you;
hear me, my God:
I do not desire this life,
I am dying because I do not die.
When I am away from you
what life can I have
except to endure
the bitterest death known?
I pity myself,
for I go on and on living,
dying because I do not die.
A fish that leaves the water has this relief:
the dying it endures
ends at last in death.
What death can equal my pitiable life?
For the longer I live, the more drawn out is my dying.
When I try to find relief
seeing you in the Sacrament,
I find this greater sorrow:
I cannot enjoy you wholly.
All things are affliction
since I do not see you as I desire,
and I die because I do not die.
I will cry out for death
and mourn my living
while I am held here
for my sins.
O my God, when will it be
that I can truly say:
Now I live because I do not die?
— St. John of the Cross (via shortbreadsh)
"Why, since you wounded
this heart, don’t you heal it?
And why, since you stole it from me,
do you leave it so,
and fail to carry off what you have stolen?"
this heart, don’t you heal it?
And why, since you stole it from me,
do you leave it so,
and fail to carry off what you have stolen?"
— St. John of the Cross (via shortbreadsh)
"When a soul tries its best to be united to God and on the other hand finds no peace in the tasks and in the place where it is, it is a sign that His Divine Majesty desires something else of it."
—
-St. Paul of the Cross. (via ancilladomini)
On a side note, our parish used to have a first class relic of his, until someone recently stole it. It was a sad day.
(Source: victoryofjustice, via badwolfcomplex)
Young Shepherd
A lone young shepherd lived in pain
withdrawn from pleasure and contentment,
his thoughts fixed on a shepherd-girl,
his heart an open wound with love.
He weeps, but not from the wound of love,
there is no pain in such affliction,
even though the heart is pierced;
he weeps in knowing he’s been forgotten.
That one thought: his shining one
has forgotten him, is such great pain
that he bows to brutal handling in a foreign land,
his heart an open wound with love.
The shepherd says: I pity the one
who draws herself back from my love,
and does not seek the joy of my presence,
though my heart is an open wound with love for her.
After a long time he climbed a tree,
and spread his shining arms,
and hung by them, and died,
his heart an open wound with love.
-St. John of the Cross
