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Jean de la Croix citations
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Juan de Yepes Álvarez , né à Fontiveros le 24 juin 1542 et mort au couvent d'Úbeda le 14 décembre 1591, est un prêtre carme, saint mystique espagnol, souvent appelé le réformateur et « Saint du Carmel ». Ses écrits mystiques, toujours populaires, font qu'il fut déclaré Docteur de l'Église en 1926. Liturgiquement il est commémoré le 14 décembre.

Né dans une famille aristocratique d'Espagne, il devient carme après ses études alors qu'il songeait à se faire ermite chez les chartreux. Thérèse d'Avila, réformatrice de l'ordre du Carmel, lui demande de prendre en charge l'ordre masculin du carmel. Il accepte et fonde l'ordre des Carmes déchaux. Il accompagne spirituellement les sœurs du Carmel, avant d'être enfermé par les autorités de l'Ordre qui refusent sa réforme. Jean de la Croix fait alors l'expérience mystique qu'il appelle La Nuit obscure . Il la décrit et développe tout au long de sa vie à travers des traités tels que La Montée du Carmel , La Nuit obscure , La Vive Flamme d'amour , ou encore Le Cantique spirituel . Il cherche à y témoigner du chemin des âmes vers Dieu. Après avoir été nommé prieur de divers couvents de carmes déchaussés, il finit par être mis au ban de sa communauté avant de mourir en décembre 1591.

Après sa mort, il est très vite considéré comme un saint et comme l'un des plus grands mystiques espagnols, au même titre que Thérèse d'Avila. L'Église catholique le béatifie en 1675 puis le canonise en 1726. Il est fêté le 14 décembre. Les querelles sur l'illuminisme conduisent cependant à remettre ses écrits en cause, mais la religieuse carmélite française Thérèse de Lisieux contribue fortement à promouvoir l'importance de sa doctrine. Il est proclamé « docteur de l'Église » entre les deux guerres mondiales, le 24 août 1926.

Il est reconnu comme l'un des plus grands poètes du Siècle d'or espagnol. Il est depuis 1952 le saint patron des poètes espagnols. Certains philosophes s'appuient sur ses écrits pour conceptualiser le détachement. Wikipedia  

✵ 24. juin 1542 – 14. décembre 1591   •   Autres noms San Giovanni della Croce
Jean de la Croix photo
Jean de la Croix: 48   citations 0   J'aime

Jean de la Croix: Citations en anglais

“There is nothing better or more necessary than love.”

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John of the Cross

Note to Stanza 28 part 1
Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom, Notes to the Stanzas

“If the soul has not reached the state of unitive love, it is necessary for it to make acts of love, as well in the active as in the contemplative life. But when it has reached it, it is not requisite it should occupy itself in other and exterior duties — unless they be matters of obligation — which might hinder, were it but for a moment, the life of love in God, though they may minister greatly to His service; because an instant of pure love is more precious in the eyes of God and the soul, and more profitable to the Church, than all other good works together, though it may seem as if nothing were done.”

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John of the Cross

Note to Stanza 28 part 2
Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom, Notes to the Stanzas

“Oh, night that guided me, Oh, night more lovely than the dawn,
Oh, night that joined Beloved with lover, Lover transformed in the Beloved!”

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John of the Cross

O guiding night! O night more lovely than the dawn!
O night that has united the Lover with his beloved, transforming the beloved in her Lover.
Variant translation by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (1991)
Oh night thou was my guide
Oh night more loving than the rising sun
Oh night that joined the lover to the beloved one
transforming each of them into the other.
Variant adapted for music by Loreena McKennitt (1994)
Dark Night of the Soul

“Reveal Thy presence,
And let the vision and Thy beauty kill me,
Behold the malady
Of love is incurable
Except in Thy presence and before Thy face. ~ 11”

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John of the Cross

Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom

“My sole occupation is love.
All my occupation now is the practice of the love of God, all the powers of soul and body, memory, understanding, and will, interior and exterior senses, the desires of spirit and of sense, all work in and by love. All I do is done in love; all I suffer, I suffer in the sweetness of love.”

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John of the Cross

Explanation of Stanza 28 part 8
Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom, Notes to the Stanzas

“Live as though only God and yourself were in this world, so that your heart may not be detained by anything human.”

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John of the Cross

The Sayings of Light and Love

“There thou wilt show me
That which my soul desired;
And there Thou wilt give at once,
O Thou, my life!
That which Thou gavest me the other day. ~ 38”

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John of the Cross

Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom

“One human thought alone is worth more than the entire world, hence God alone is worthy of it.”

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John of the Cross

The Sayings of Light and Love

“O crystal well!
Oh that on Thy silvered surface
Thou wouldest mirror forth at once
Those eyes desired
Which are outlined in my heart! ~ 12”

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John of the Cross

Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom

“Worldly people are in the habit of censuring those who give themselves up in earnest to God, regarding them as extravagant, in their withdrawal from the world, and in their manner of life. They say also of them that they are useless for all matters of importance, and lost to everything the world prizes and respects! This reproach the soul meets in the best way; boldly and courageously despising it with everything else that the world can lay to its charge. Having attained to a living love of God, it makes little account of all this; and that is not all: it confesses it itself in this stanza, and boasts that it has committed that folly, and that it is lost to the world and to itself for the Beloved.”

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John of the Cross

Note to Stanza 29 part 1
Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom, Notes to the Stanzas

“The very pure spirit does not bother about the regard of others or human respect, but communes inwardly with God, alone and in solitude as to all forms, and with delightful tranquility, for the knowledge of God is received in divine silence.”

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John of the Cross

The Sayings of Light and Love

“I have said this to explain the stanza that follows, in which the soul replies to those who call in question its holy tranquillity, who will have it wholly occupied with outward duties, that its light may shine before the world: these persons have no conception of the fibres and the unseen root whence the sap is drawn, and which nourish the fruit.”

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John of the Cross

Note to Stanza 28 part 4
Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom, Notes to the Stanzas

“In the happy night, In secret, when none saw me,
Nor I beheld aught, Without light or guide, save that which burned in my heart.”

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John of the Cross

Dark Night of the Soul

“Deny your desires and you will find what your heart longs for. For how do you know if any desire of yours is according to God?”

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John of the Cross

The Sayings of Light and Love

“Upon my flowery breast
Kept wholly for Himself alone
There He stayed sleeping
And I caressed Him
And the fanning of the cedars made a breeze.

The breeze blew from the turret as I parted His locks.
With His gentle hand He wounded my neck
And caused all my senses to be suspended.”

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John of the Cross

Dark Night of the Soul

“The breathing of the air,
The song of the sweet nightingale,
The grove and its beauty
In the serene night,
With the flame that consumes, and gives no pains. ~ 39”

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John of the Cross

Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom

“We shall go at once
To the deep caverns of the rock
Which are all secret,
There we shall enter in
And taste of the new wine of the pomegranate. ~ 37”

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John of the Cross

Spiritual Canticle of The Soul and The Bridegroom

“Blessed are they who, setting aside their own pleasure and inclination, consider things according to reason and justice before doing them.”

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John of the Cross

The Sayings of Light and Love

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