Sermons & Devotionals by St. John of the Cross

CHAPTER I Sets down the first stanza. Describes two different nights through which spiritual persons pass, according to the two parts of man, the lower and the higher. Expounds the stanza which follows. STANZA THE FIRST On a dark night, Kindled in love with yearnings -- oh, happy chance! -- I went f... Read More

CHAPTER II Explains the nature of this dark night through which the soul says that it has passed on the road to union. On A Dark Night WE may say that there are three reasons for which this journey[80] made by the soul to union with God is called night. The first has to do with the point from which ... Read More

CHAPTER III Speaks of the first cause of this night, which is that of the privation of the desire in all things, and gives the reason for which it is called night. WE here describe as night the privation of every kind of pleasure which belongs to the desire; for, even as night is naught but the priv... Read More

CHAPTER IV Wherein is declared how necessary it is for the soul truly to pass through this dark night of sense, which is mortification of desire, in order that it may journey to union with God. THE reason for which it is necessary for the soul, in order to attain to Divine union with God, to pass th... Read More

CHAPTER IX Wherein is described how the desires defile the soul. This is proved by comparisons and quotations from Holy Scripture. THE fourth evil which the desires cause in the soul is that they stain and defile it, as is taught in Ecclesiasticus, in these words: Qui tetigerit picem, inquinabitur a... Read More

CHAPTER V Wherein the aforementioned subject is treated and continued, and it is shown by passages and figures from Holy Scripture how necessary it is for the soul to journey to God through this dark night of the mortification of desire in all things. FROM what has been said it may be seen in some m... Read More

CHAPTER VI Wherein are treated two serious evils caused in the soul by the desires, the one evil being privative and the other positive. IN order that what we have said may be the more clearly and fully understood, it will be well to set down here and state how these desires are the cause of two ser... Read More

CHAPTER VII Wherein is shown how the desires torment the soul. This is proved likewise by comparison and quotations. THE second kind of positive evil which the desires cause the soul is in their tormenting and afflicting of it, after the manner of one who is in torment through being bound with cords... Read More

CHAPTER VIII Wherein is shown how the desires darken and blind the soul. THE third evil that the desires cause in the soul is that they blind and darken it. Even as vapours darken the air and allow not the bright sun to shine; or as a mirror that is clouded over cannot receive within itself a clear ... Read More

CHAPTER X Wherein is described how the desires weaken the soul in virtue and make it lukewarm. THE fifth way in which the desires harm the soul is by making it lukewarm and weak, so that it has no strength to follow after virtue and to persevere therein. For as the strength of the desire, when it is... Read More

CHAPTER XI Wherein it is proved necessary that the soul that would attain to Divine union should be free from desires, however slight they be. I EXPECT that for a long time the reader has been wishing to ask whether it be necessary, in order to attain to this high estate of perfection, to undergo fi... Read More

CHAPTER XII Which treats of the answer to another question, explaining what the desires are that suffice to cause the evils aforementioned in the soul. WE might write at greater length upon this matter of the night of sense, saying all that there is to say concerning the harm which is caused by the ... Read More

CHAPTER XIII Wherein is described the manner and way which the soul must follow in order to enter this night of sense. IT now remains for me to give certain counsels whereby the soul may know how to enter this night of sense and may be able so to do. To this end it must be known that the soul habitu... Read More

CHAPTER XIV Wherein is expounded the second line of the stanza. Kindled in love with yearnings. NOW that we have expounded the first line of this stanza, which treats of the night of sense, explaining what this night of sense is, and why it is called night; and now that we have likewise described th... Read More

CHAPTER XV Wherein are expounded the remaining lines of the aforementioned stanza. . . . oh, happy chance! -- I went forth without being observed, My house being now at rest. THESE lines take as a metaphor the miserable estate of captivity, a man's deliverance from which, when none of the gaolers' h... Read More

CHAPTER I In darkness and secure, By the secret ladder, disguised -- oh, happy chance! -- In darkness and in concealment, My house being now at rest. IN this second stanza the soul sings of the happy chance which it experienced in stripping the spirit of all spiritual imperfections and desires for t... Read More

CHAPTER II Which begins to treat of the second part or cause of this night, which is faith. Proves by two arguments how it is darker than the first and than the third. WE now go on to treat of the second part of this night, which is faith; this is the wondrous means which, as we said, leads to the g... Read More

CHAPTER III How faith is dark night to the soul. This is proved with arguments and quotations and figures from Scripture. FAITH, say the theologians, is a habit of the soul, certain and obscure. And the reason for its being an obscure habit is that it makes us believe truths revealed by God Himself,... Read More

CHAPTER IV Treats in general of how the soul likewise must be in darkness, in so far as this rests with itself, to the end that it may be effectively guided by faith to the highest contemplation. IT is now, I think, becoming clear how faith is dark night to the soul, and how the soul likewise must b... Read More

CHAPTER IX How faith is the proximate and proportionate means to the understanding whereby the soul may attain to the Divine union of love. This is proved by passages and figures from Divine Scripture. FROM what has been said it is to be inferred that, in order for the understanding to be prepared f... Read More