Yesterday, Jan posted this beautiful quote from St. Teresa of Avila's The Way of Perfection: "Prayer is an act of love, words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love."
She reminded me of this passage, written back in the 7th century by one of my favourite writers, St. Isaac of Nineveh:
Love is the kingdom of which our Lord spoke symbolically, when he promised his disciples that they would eat in his kingdom: "You shall eat and drink at the table of my kingdom." What should they eat, if not love?... When we have reached love, we have reached God and our way is ended: we have passed over to the island that lies beyond the world, where is the Father with the Son and the Holy Spirit: to whom be glory and dominion.
(quoted in Bp. Kallistos Ware's The Power of the Name, SLG Press 1974, Marshall Pickering 1989, pp. 39-40 - I couldn't find the original source online, or in Sebastian Brock's selection of St. Isaac's writings, which is all I have to hand.)
1 comment:
Thank you for the corresponding quote.
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