Paul of the Cross' Spirituality

"...Keep yourself in the recollection that has been recommended to you and lose yourself always more in God with faith and holy love and with a despoilment of everything created so that you may be reborn every moment in the Divine Word, Christ Jesus, to a new life of holy love..."

Paul of the Cross to Lucy Burlini
3rd letter on May 25, 1751 in Vol. 2 on Page 255

"...Now I want you to enter always more into the depth of the desert. There in that divine solitude, which is within you in your essence, in the intimacy of your soul, be reborn in the Divine Word to a new life of love. God reposes in you. God penetrates you completely and you are completely in God, all transformed in his love..."

Paul of the Cross to Thomas Fossi
41st letter on June, 1751 in Vol. 2 on Page 264

"...Oh, how much I recommend holy interior solitude, remaining like an infant in that sacred interior desert! When your occupations distract you a bit from this divine solitude, arouse your faith sweetly, and peacefully concentrate your attention on God in your interior kingdom. Oh, what riches this is! If you will do this, without losing sight of your horrible nothingness and without curiously spying on the divine work and your own feelings and gifts, but in a pure, simple glance of faith and love without images, you will be in a filial repose on the bosom of the Heavenly Father. Every time you do this, you will be reborn to a new life of love in the Divine Word, Jesus Christ. Oh, what a grand thing I have just said! Read this with attention and practice it with childlike simplicity..."

Paul of the Cross to Lucy Burlini
4th letter on August 17, 1751 in Vol. 2 on Page 273

"...divine work takes place in the most intimate part of your spirit, in the deepest room, etc. So, dead mystically to all that is not God, and with highest abstraction from every created being, enter all alone into that sacred interior solitude of the sacred desert. This entry is made by an annihilation. It is made with faith and holy love, with a high detachment from all sensible pleasure, however holy it might be. One must never look at that or take repose in that. Every time this holy turning inward or interior withdrawal occurs, standing in sacred silence of faith and love, the soul is reborn every moment to a new life of love in the Divine Word, whom she always hears and loves, etc..."

Paul of the Cross to John Anthony Lucattini
9th letter on December 16, 1751 in Vol. 2 on Page 293

"...I offer all Christmas greetings, and I will extend them to one and all from the holy altar, especially on the Holy Night of Christmas. Dearest one, “Prepare your hearts for the Lord,” so that there may be born spiritually in you the Divine Word-Made-Man. Oh, fortunate that soul who, well purged from vices, detached from everything created, and in a profound annihilation, remains in a holy, divine solitude with profound interior recollection, and then in that sacred desert reposes on the bosom of the Father and is reborn every moment in the Divine Word to a new life of holy love, a divine life...."

Paul of the Cross to Colomba Gertrude Gandolfi
20th letter on March 22, 1755 in Vol. 2 on Page 443

"...Every time your spirit centers once more in God, allowing your horrible nothing to be dissolved in that Infinite All that is God, it is certain that then your soul is reborn in the Divine Word to a new life of love and grace. It is not necessary to be curious about such a divine birth since it is effected by the Highest God in the deepest essence of the soul. These are deepest secrets, and you need nothing beyond purity of heart, fidelity in virtue, remaining in one’s own nothingness, and giving all the glory to God by becoming a victim of love, sacrificed as a holocaust in the flames of divine love in continual thanksgiving for the gifts of the Lord..."

Paul of the Cross