John of the Cross

Excerpts from 'Devotional Classics' edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith John of the Cross (1542-1591) Introduction to the Author Born in Castile, Spain, John became a Carmelite monk in 1564. Ordained in 1567 he met with Theresa of Avila and she saw great potential in him and placed him in charge of the order. He got his name because of his suffering and commitment to the service of Catholic Reform. He was arrested and put in jail by those who opposed the reform. It was in this confinement that John wrote his most famous work 'The Dark Night of the Soul'. This book describes the work of God upon the soul, not through joy and light but through sorrow and darkness. The concept of the 'dark night of the soul' has become an integral part of understanding our spiritual journey. 'The Dark Night of the Soul' 1. To Purify the Soul At a certain point in the spiritual journey, God will draw a person from the beginning stage to a more advanced stage. At this stage the person will begin to engage in religious exercises (spiritual disciplines) and grow deeper in their spiritual life. Such souls will likely experience what is called 'the dark night of the soul'. This is when those persons lose all the pleasure that they once experienced in their devotional life. this happens because God wants to purify them and move them on to greater heights.God will remove the previous consolation from the soul in order to teach virtue and prevent it from developing vice. 2. Secret Pride Beginners in the spiritual life are apt to become very diligent in their exercises. The great danger is that they will become satisfied with their religious work and with themselves. This is the development of secret pride. Such persons become too spiritual. They like to speak of 'spiritual things' all the time. They become content with their growth. They would prefer to teach rather than be taught. They condemn others who are not as spiritual as they are. They begin to do spiritual exercises to be esteemed by others. They want others to realize how spiritual they are. But those who are at this time moving in God's way will counter this pride with humility. They will learn to think very little of themselves and their religious works. Instead they will focus on how great and deserving God is and how little it is that they can do for Him. 3. Attached to the Feelings These beginners will also begin to have spiritual greed. They will become discontented with what God gives them because they do not experience the consolation they think they deserve. their hearts grow attached to the feelings they get from their devotional life. They focus on the affect and not on the substance of devotion (God). But those who are on the right path will set their eyes on God and not on these outward things nor on their inner experiences. They will enter the dark night of the soul and find all these things removed. They will have all the pleasure taken away so that the soul may be purified. 4. Saints in a Day There are some who become angry when the benefits of the spiritual life are taken away by God. They begin to think that their loss of joy is a result of something that they have done or not done. The will strive to become saints in a day. They will make all kinds of spiritual resolutions to be more spiritual, but the greater the resolution, the greater the fall. Their problem is that they lack the patience that waits for whatever God would give them and when God chooses to give them They must learn spiritual meekness which will come about in the dark night. 5. Beyond the Limits of Moderation Spiritual gluttony is when souls become addicted to the spiritual sweetness of the devotional life and strive to obtain more and more of it. They pass beyond the limits of moderation and nearly kill themselves with spiritual exercises. They are not however walking in true obedience but rather are doing what they want in the time they want to do it and to the measure they have chosen. They do these things not for God but for themselves and for this reason they will soon grow weary in them. For this reason it is probably better for these persons to give up devotions entirely. (until this dark night has passed) The problem is this: they have received no pleasure for their devotions, they think they have accomplished nothing. But the truth is that the feelings we receive from our devotional life are the least of it's benefits. The invisible and unfelt grace of God is much greater and it is beyond our comprehension. 6. Weary with Spiritual Exercises Spiritual envy: People who fancy themselves as spiritual are quite often not pleased to hear about the spiritual growth of others. Their chief concern is to be praised themselves. They are not pleased that such attention is being given to someone else. Spiritual sloth: Such souls become weary with the spiritual exercises because they do not yield any consolation and thus they abandon them. They become angry because they are called to do that which does not fit their needs and they begin to loose interest in God. Such souls are too weak to bear the crosses that are given to us to help us grow, crosses we face in the dark night of the soul. 7. God Works Passively Let it suffice to say that God perceives the imperfections within us and because of His great love for us, He urges us to grow up. His love is not content to leave us in our weakness and for that reason He takes us into the dark night. He weans us from all pleasures by giving us dry times and inward darkness. Through the dark night pride becomes humility, greed becomes simplicity, wrath becomes contentment, luxury becomes peace, gluttony becomes moderation, envy becomes joy and sloth becomes strength. No soul will ever grow deep in the spiritual life unless God works passively in that soul by means of the dark night. Read: Psalm 42 Reflection 1. According to John of the Cross, why does God impose a 'dark night of the soul' upon a person? 2. Of the sins mentioned, which one do you struggle with the most? 3. Have you ever experienced a 'dark night of the soul' a time where the joys and delights of the Christian journey seemed to have vanished? 4. The psalmist cries out to God 'Why have you forgotten me?/ (Ps. 42:9) What advice or encouragement would John of the Cross give the Psalmist? 5. Of the virtues mentioned by John (humility, simplicity, contentment, peace, moderation, joy, strength) which do you feel most in need of? 6. Ask a close friend to identify your spiritual strengths. Using the counsel of John of the Cross, examine these virtues and resolve to keep them from becoming vices. By giving thanks for these strengths as gifts from God and not as your personal accomplishments. By doing this you will thus enable God to use them more in the future.