Mystics Quotes

“no mystical writing incarnates the divine power and presence as does the Bible. Within that same tradition, no other book has more often been prostituted for purposes other than those for which it was intended. It has been used as a scientific treatise, a political weapon, a substitute for a liberal education, a justification for anything from an unjust war to the death penalty to the exclusion of those who are of a different point of view or philosophy. God’s word has been used throughout history to confirm and validate human words, becoming a verbal tower of Babel that divides rather than unites us in God. No other Judeo-Christian text demands more of the reader because it demands the humility to listen to God, not our own prejudices. The Bible, in short, demands that we abdicate our need to be gods.”
― Murray Bodo, Mystics: Ten Who Show Us the Ways of God

“In his “Canticle of the Creatures,” Saint Francis says, “Blessed are those whom death will find in your most holy will, for the second death shall do them no harm.”
― Murray Bodo, Mystics: Ten Who Show Us the Ways of God

“Toward the end of his life, Saint Francis of Assisi, the gentlest of saints, asked forgiveness of his own Brother Body. As a young man swept up in the enthusiasm of his conversion, he had dubbed it Brother Ass and had required great sacrifices from it. His initial penances were as much to punish himself for his earlier worldly excesses as they were attempts to grow closer to Christ. As he grew closer to Christ, he came to see that it is not self-imposed suffering that matters, but as with Christ himself, it is surrender to God’s will out of love of God, whatever that will asks of us. That surrender brings its own pain and suffering because of our human condition and because of human sin.”
― Murray Bodo, Mystics: Ten Who Show Us the Ways of God