John of St. Samson: Quotes about God

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John of St. Samson: 96 quotes1 like

“To possess nothing and to be nothing is to be full of God.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.
Context: Whoever refuses to follow Christ in His poverty will never possess Him in the abundance of His graces and virtues in this life, nor in His glory in the next. To possess nothing and to be nothing is to be full of God.

“The corruption of the world and of the worldliness is a consequence of the fact that men have no eye whatever for the majesty of God in and around themselves;”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.
Context: The corruption of the world and of the worldliness is a consequence of the fact that men have no eye whatever for the majesty of God in and around themselves; therefore has God delivered them to the natural and brutal motions of their heart.

“God takes such great pleasure in the sanctity of His saints that in the interests of a few, He often allows the whole Church to suffer great loss.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“The obedience of those, purified in soul and body in the furnace of humiliation, is of infinite worth to God.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“You are within, my Love, and I too am there with you and will be there constantly. No, I will never look for you outside, for you are not there. Rather will I retire into the deepest center of my being, where I shall possess you in a singular repose and delight. IN this simple union, we shall take the greatest delight in each other. And I shall rejoice only in this: that you are my God. With this I am happy, completely satisfied that you are such, and that you will never be understood by any created being. p. 183”

John of St. Samson

From Prayer, Aspiration, and Contemplation

“Love does not always choose the same dwelling place, it makes many exploits in men here below; It has its night, its day, and its many levels: only the one who has overall happiness is content. It moves, it suffers in God, its first cause and the unique happiness of the celestial Spirits; It is there that it is always equally enraptured, by the Seraphic love which is above all things.”

John of St. Samson

From The Holy Sepulchre Canticle

“This is what the Son of God desires of you: that he might be able to embellish, perfect and gain you lustre with the fullness of his gifts. Since he is so taken by your Beauty, which flows and gushes from him to you, as I have said, what he desires of you is that he might have the supreme pleasure of an eternity enjoying you and his gifts. Thus, everyone who proceeds to live in a way that is contrary to his own self, lives in God; his whole being is God-orientated; he sees nothing but God and himself.”

John of St. Samson

From, A Letter to a Religious

“The method for practicing this ardent love is short and easy. Its subject is constant and loving aspiration. But to be perfect, aspiration must be practice so eagerly and continually that it becomes as easy as breathing. It has a number of degrees, all of which can be reduced to four. The first consists in offering oneself and all created things to God. As far as possible, this should be done in an abstract manner. The second degree consists in making requests of the divine Spouse, asking him for his gifts in him and for his own sake. The third degree consists in being resigned and completely conformed to him. This conformity is very lofty and perfect, and is characterized by a great love. Moreover, the soul also desires it for creatures who are capable of such exalted love. The fourth degree is that of unitive love which unites the soul to God. Here the souls yearns for him and pursues him with acts of love until he opens his loving and super essential bosom to it. Here it feast upon his immense beauty in great abundance and intoxication, eating and drinking at the table of the Blessed. But since this does not last very long, the soul soon returns to itself to feed upon its former spiritual fare. From this it derives renewed strength, until God again receives it into his bosom with the same effect.”

John of St. Samson

From Prayer, Aspiration, and Contemplation

“True solitude is in the soul. The soul has as its desert and homeland God Himself, the father and teacher of all souls”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“Aspiration, practiced as a familiar, respectful and loving conversation with God, is such an excellent method, that, by means of it, one soon arrives at the summit of all perfection, and falls in love with Love.”

John of St. Samson

From The Goad, the Flames, the Arrows and the Mirror of the love of God
Variant: Aspiration, practiced as a familiar, respectful and loving conversation with God, is such an excellent method, that, by means of it, one soon arrives at the summit of all perfection, and falls in love with Love.

“Every soul, touched by God, feels and believes in the depths of its being that it is more sinful than all men together.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“The sight of the intuitive and ravishing Beauty of God holds her as if asleep in its delectable bosom…This state surpasses all human definition and comparison.”

John of St. Samson

From The Goad, the Flames, the Arrows and the Mirror of the love of God

“If the visitations the soul receives are from God, it first feels fear, then gladness accompanied by a hunger and thirst for virtue. If they are from the devil, the soul at first feels gladness and thereafter remains in confusion and darkness. Whether the visitations be from God or from the devil, we should always despise and humiliate ourselves; God is exceedingly glad to visit the humble, but the devil cannot stomach them.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“The soul’s pleasure is to enter and to go forth: to enter into the profound abyss of God where it is irretrievably lost in the sight of his infinite grandeur and beauty which it contemplates continually with the eye of its understanding; and to go forth from there to the ravishing sight of our Savior, the God-Man, whom it is inspired to follow by a lively imitation both interiorly and exteriorly. p. 59”

John of St. Samson

From Prayer, Aspiration, and Contemplation

“The worst of all human miseries is not to know God, not to feel Him, not to desire Him, not to taste Him.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“The more a person strives after God, the more earnest he will become--the les he will converse with men.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“No one can be a true mystic who is not thoroughly versed in the ways of nature. The more nature is attracted by spiritual favors, the more it is inclined to make itself the master of them. Nature always mingles its own spirit with the spirit of God. unless we keep a close watch over it, it will always remain so. Natures most subtle snare is to lead us to confuse what is licit with what is expedient. When we doubt the inspiration of an impulse, whether from grace or nature, we should picture a similar object which is without doubt acceptable to nature. If this representation pleases us, it is a sign that the first inclination also comes from nature and is consequently to be rejected.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.

“It is a wonder that any religious at all preserves a love for the true spirit of religious life in the midst of all these adversaries, and remains resolved to be really spiritual in spite of them and even of hell itself. Although their number is small, it does not matter. These few sparks will help to keep the religious state alive to God's honor and glory. p. 188”

John of St. Samson

From Prayer, Aspiration, and Contemplation

“When the soul has been deeply touched, it is by love alone that it desires to be intimately joined to God. This is why we advocate reducing ardent aspiration to a few words, even to the mere word ‘love’. This love sends forth ardent and fiery flames with all its strength. As a result. A blazing divine fire is enkindled in the soul. It is in this way that God stirs up the soul and draws it strongly inward. p. 86”

John of St. Samson

From Prayer, Aspiration, and Contemplation

“Simplicity is the loving inclination of the soul elevated by God, Who efficaciously drawn it into His own heart. There He reduces all its faculties to unity of spirit, that it may live there, in a n abstract, simple and essential condition, without sensible desire to reason or think of order or disorder. It is continually lost in the eternity of God.”

John of St. Samson

From, Light on Carmel: An Anthology from the Works of Brother John of Saint Samson, O.Carm.