Quote of the day, 3 December: St. John of the Cross

In that boundless love, proceeding
From the Father and the Son,
Words to Him the Father utter’d
Comprehensible by none.
 
Words of deepest satisfaction,
Words of infinite delight,
That the Son alone rejoic’d in,
For to do so was His right.
 
One such word alone is told us
Which He utter’d lovingly:
‘Son, in naught can I take pleasure
If Thou be not here with Me.
 
When in aught I find contentment,
That I seek alone in Thee.
Who resembles Thee most nearly,
He most truly pleases Me.
 
Who resembles Thee in nothing
Finds no echo in My soul.
Thou alone dost give Me pleasure,
Satisfaction deep and whole.
 
Very light art Thou of My light,
Truest wisdom art to Me,
Very Figure of My Substance,
Right well pleas’d am I in Thee.
 
Gift of gifts on him that loves Thee,
Mine own Self will I bestow.
All the love that binds Me to Thee
In him will I cause to grow.
Since He loves My own Beloved
I this grace to him will show.’

Saint John of the Cross

Romance II, Of the Communication of the Three Persons

John of the Cross, St; de Santa Teresa, S; Peers, E 1934–1935, The complete works of Saint John of the Cross, doctor of the Church, translated from the Spanish by Peers, E, Burns Oates & Washbourne, London.

Featured image: The Phantom Galaxy M74 shines at its brightest in this combined optical/mid-infrared image, featuring data from both the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. With Hubble’s venerable Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Webb’s powerful Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) capturing a range of wavelengths, this new image has remarkable depth. The red colours mark dust threaded through the arms of the galaxy, lighter oranges being areas of hotter dust. The young stars throughout the arms and the nuclear core are picked out in blue. Heavier, older stars towards the galaxy’s centre are shown in cyan and green, projecting a spooky glow from the core of the Phantom Galaxy. Bubbles of star formation are also visible in pink across the arms. Such a variety of galactic features is rare to see in a single image. Scientists combine data from telescopes operating across the electromagnetic spectrum to truly understand astronomical objects. In this way, data from Hubble and Webb complement each other to provide a comprehensive view of the spectacular M74 galaxy. Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team; ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Chandar Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt / Flickr (Some rights reserved)