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“You do very well, O soul, to seek Him ever as one hidden, for you exalt God immensely and approach very near Him when you consider Him higher and deeper than anything you can reach.”
St. John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, Stanza 1.12
Topics
Beginning with St. John of the Cross
There is a difference between beginners in prayer and those who are more advanced. It has to do with where we must focus our efforts.
The Narrow Gate
For St. John of the Cross, Jesus’ admonition is a piece of good advice about how to make progress, in prayer, and in the spiritual life generally. It is about the spiritual nights.
What is the dark night of the senses?
The dark night is perhaps the most well-known expression from the writings of St. John of the Cross. But there also are a lot of misunderstandings about what he meant by this.
Fr Ripperger on Attachments
Fr. Ripperger covers the topic thoroughly. He starts with a metaphysical definition of attachment: A quality in one of the faculties by which it is fixed on or inclined toward a particular object to a particular degree.
Why You Should Read St. John of the Cross
St. John of the Cross is one of those great Catholic writers that most people know about but probably not many people read.
The Spiritual Canticle
St. John of the Cross began composing his poem, "The Spiritual Canticle," when he was imprisoned by his brother friars in Toledo, Spain. The Carmelite order at that time was at war with itself. During the previous centuries, the disciplines required of the nuns and friars had slowly been relaxed, although they still were austere by modern standards.
Making Friends with a Saint
On a warm Ohio springtime in 1988, just shy of 30 years old, I purchased a copy of The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross and sat down to read.
The Dark Night
In The Dark Night, St. John of the Cross seeks to give us an understanding of the spiritual attachments that impede the soul.
The Living Flame of Love
The Living Flame of Love is sometimes described as the most accessible of St. John’s major works and therefore a good place to begin becoming acquainted with his ideas.
The Ascent of Mount Carmel
The Ascent of Mount Carmel is really the first part of what St. John of the Cross intended to be a single work. The second part comes to us as a separate volume, The Dark Night. The two are intended to be read together, beginning with The Ascent, which contains the practical introduction to a life of deeper prayer.
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St. John of the Cross tells us, “"He that journeys on the road and makes the ascent to God must needs be habitually careful to quell and mortify the desires.” But all mortification is futile, unless it is mystically joined to the redemption Jesus wrought. The point of contact is love.