Saint John of the Cross

<h4>Saint John of the Cross: Wisdom Sayings</h4><p><br></p><p>To the men and women he was guiding along a spiritual path Saint John of the Cross occasionally gave <em>apophthegmata </em>(wisdom sayings) for them to ponder prayerfully and make their own. They are designed to catch the reader's attention and to provoke thought. They take various forms including plain statement exclamation admonition and prayer and they are usually arresting sometimes disturbing and often puzzling or moving too. They demand to be read like Scripture in a contemplative way: devoutly thoughtfully and repeatedly with a view to discerning God's will.</p><p><br></p><p>This edition presents the sayings in Spanish with an English version designed to assist a meditative reading.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Terence O'Reilly</strong> is Professor Emeritus of Spanish at University College Cork and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.</p>