Whoever wants to be a true monk ... must understand that all who are in the monastery are just workers whom God has placed there only to shape and polish Him through mortification, and that some will shape Him through words and tell Him what He would not want to hear; others will act against Him and do what He would not want to endure; others will be unpleasant and contrary to Him by their very nature and way of acting; others with their thoughts, where He will feel or think about them that they do not value Him or do not like Him at all ...
(John of the Cross, Four Counsels for a Monk, 3)
