John of St. Samson: Quotes about the soul

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John of St. Samson: 96   quotes 1   like

“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.

God , Soul

“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

Love , God , Beauty , Soul

“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.

God , Soul , Solitude , Teachers

“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.

Men , God , Feeling , Soul

“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.

Hunger , God , Fear , Feeling

“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

God , Pleasure , Beauty , Soul

“The way to attain love is to love. A less excellent love leads to a greater love, and a greater love in turn leads to the highest love, as well as to the most excellent and ultimate fruits of active love. Each of these degrees has its own theory and practice. All of them, especially the last degrees, possess a simple, exalted, and singular contemplation of the divine Object, which constantly exerts a powerful influence on the soul and ravishes it with delight.”

John of St. Samson

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

Love , Way , Soul

“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

Love , God , Way , Soul

“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.

Love , God , Soul , Thinking