“All this is far from easy, therefore the brother quite understands that success does not come at once, but he wishes us to take great pains. Gradually we shall succeed. The exercise can, as it were, be ever more intensified, till at length it grows into something like an immediate seeing or grasping of God …
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said,“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law?How do you read it?”He said in reply,“You shall love the Lord, your God,with all your heart,with all your being,with all your strength,and with …
“The first step is the sacrifice of oneself and all creation to God. In doing this it is best to focus the offering all in one idea: that all is His, without drawing special attention to one particular work of His hands. We are to see God, not the creature; the creature only in so …
Jesus said to his Apostles:“No disciple is above his teacher,no slave above his master.It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher,for the slave that he become like his master.If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,how much more those of his household! “Therefore do not be afraid of them.Nothing …
“To attain this, the Venerable brother insists moreover on prayer and meditation, on a form of prayer which might be called the continuation and permanent fruit of prayer. Hendrik Herp, the Franciscan pupil of Ruusbroec, first employed the word which John of St. Samson has taken over in his school, not as something new in …
Jesus said to his Apostles:“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.But beware of men,for they will hand you over to courtsand scourge you in their synagogues,and you will be led before governors and kings for my sakeas a witness before them and …
“Next Brother John acknowledges openly that he fervently wishes to make known the splendor of God’s wisdom which wishes to do immensely more in man than it does, but is hampered by the hindrances offered by man and his frequent unworthiness. However, to him who pays due respect, God’s Wisdom is lovely. It will fill …
Jesus said to his Apostles:“As you go, make this proclamation:‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’Cure the sick, raise the dead,cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts;no sack for the journey, or a second tunic,or sandals, …
“Our Order resembles a classroom in which we acquire this practice of virtue, or a large family in which the members strive together toward a common goal with greater facility than is possible to individual effort. In the spiritual life, no more than in ordinary life, can we dispense with education, with teachers and with …
Jesus summoned his Twelve disciplesand gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them outand to cure every disease and every illness.The names of the Twelve Apostles are these:first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;Philip and Bartholomew,Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;James, the son of Alphaeus, …