The theology of St John of the Cross is focused on the necessity of self-discipline, but it begins and ends in love. This is not the dull path of obligation. It is an adventure, into a wild freedom.

Rather than the psychological models of the self propounded by Freud and Jung, we should learn from St. John of the Cross how to understand ourselves. Only then can we begin to be at peace with our clamoring appetites.

Progressing in prayer is not like working out at the gym. You don't progress by just doing it. You have to be willing to enter a dry and empty experience of prayer. You have to enter the desert.

Spiritual writers often describe the progress of soul through the use of metaphors. We sometimes need to be reminded that these are representations, not reality, and St. John of the Cross has an image that works in this way. Beginners in prayer are like babies at their mothers' breasts.