Lent 2022

To Put the Candle Down

We all know that Lent is a time of fasting and abstinence, and it’s a time to intensity our prayer and our charity.  But why?  Saint John of the Cross has the answer.

“To reach satisfaction in everything, desire satisfaction in nothing.  To come to possession of everything, desire the possession of nothing.  To arrive at being all, desire to be nothing.  To come to the knowledge of everything, desire the knowledge of nothing.”

– Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book One, Chapter 13

Saint John of the Cross

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“Mine are the heavens and mine is the earth.  Mine are the nations, the just are mine and mine are the sinners.  The angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine; and God himself is mine and for me because Christ is mine and all for me.  What do you ask, then, and seek my soul?  Yours is all of this, and all of this is for you.  Do not engage yourself in something less or pay heed to the crumbs that fall from your Father’s table.  Go forth and exult in your Glory!  Hide yourself in it and rejoice, and you will obtain the supplications of your heart.”

– Saint John of the Cross, Sayings of Light and Love, 26-7