If you only knew how necessary suffering is if you are to reach union with God! If you understood this you would take up the cross with the vinegar and gall and account this a priceless favour, knowing that by dying to the world and your own selves you would then live for God in spiritual joy. It is necessary for the soul to endure tribulations with great patience, accepting all as coming from God's hand for its healing and its good.
St. John of the Cross |
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O crystal well!
O that on your silvered surface
You would mirror forth at once
Those eyes I have desired.
Which I bear sketched deep
within my heart.
Faith is called crystal for two reasons: because it is of Christ the Bridegroom, and because it has the property of crystal, pure in its TRUTH, a limpid well without error or natural forms in it.
It is a well because the waters of spiritual goodness flow from it to the soul. Christ our Lord speaking to the Samaritan woman calls faith a well saying "The water that I shall give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." This water is the Spirit, which those who believe receive through faith in him.
I know the fountain well which flows and runs
Though of the night.
That everlasting fountain is a SECRET well,
And I know well its home,
Though of the night
I know that nothing can be in beauty like it.
And that of it heaven and earth do drink,
Though of the night.
St. John of the Cross |
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She said to Him, "My Lord, how deep is my well? I've been told my love has not been tested, that the kindness and love which abound in my heart is superficial for I have been cherished. I wonder how deep my well of love would be if I never received love in return."
"The question you ask, my love, is a true one, for how are you ever to know who you truly are, and have the confidence to go on until you are sure," He replied.
"You have chosen the hard road. Your courage will be tested beyond limits you have yet endured, for there will be no quick end to your suffering. Love will elude you, moments of joy will give way to years of despair. You will be tested at every turn, and your testings will come when you are least able to cope with them, usually at times of personal tragedy and hardship. You will feel failure without victory; endure physical and emotional pain beyond your comprehension now to understand; yet you will continue on even when you have lost faith in Me and yourself, for the strength you have within is My strength and I will never leave you nor forsake you. If you choose this road, you will surely know at its end that you are mine, for in choosing you have put your faith and trust in Me." |
