Christian Mystics of the Middle Ages

An Anthology of Writings

Paul de Jaegher, Donald Attwater

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780486145563
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Mystik

Reflections by 13 men and women, conveniently gathered into one volume, encompass the works of Angela of Foligno, John Ruysbroeck, Henry Suso, Richard Rolle, John Tauler, the author of The Cloud of Unknowing, Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Siena, Walter Hilton, Catherine of Genoa, St. Teresa, John of the Cross, and Francis de Sales.

ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

1542-1591

JOHN’S father, Gonzalez de Yepes, was a ruined nobleman who earned his living as a weaver at Fontiberos in Castile, and his boyhood was poor and arduous. He became an infirmarian at the hospital of Medina, and in the time he could spare from the sick attended classes at the Jesuit college. When he was twenty-one he became a Carmelite, taking the name of John of St. Mathias. After his novitiate he was sent to the university of Salamanca, where he studied for four years and acquired the knowledge of the Bible, the scholastic discipline, and the solid precise style which are displayed in his writings, and he read the German and Flemish mystics assiduously.

While still there, and thinking of seeking an austerer life among the. Carthusians, he met St. Teresa, who fired him with her enthusiasm for the reform of the Carmelites. Together they founded the first house of reformed friars at Duruelo, and he changed his name to John of the Cross. A conflict then broke out between the two parties in the order, and John was imprisoned ; he escaped miraculously at the end of nine months, after undergoing scandalous ill-treatment. He was then prior at several places, but continued to suffer persecution. One day at Segovia he heard our Lord ask him, ‘John, what reward do you look for from your labours ? ’ ‘Lord,’ he replied, ‘To suffer hardship and contempt for Your sake.’

St. John attained to the sublime state of ‘spiritual marriage ’ and his union with God was complete and constant. St. Teresa said of him : ‘One cannot talk about God with Father John, for he goes into ecstasy at once and makes others do the same.’ He died at Ubeda in 1591, aged only forty-nine.

St. John is the mystical doctor of the Church, and from the psychological side he is unrivalled. One of his great achievements is to have made clear what he calls the ‘dark night of the senses,’ the way by which the soul passes from meditation to infused contemplation ; he was the first to distinguish and describe the great mystical trials as the ‘ dark night of the senses ’ and the ‘ dark night of the soul.’ In The Ascent of Mount Carmel he describes how to reach the summit of perfection, and the necessary perfect mortification of body and spirit is presented under the figure of might. But this might is double : the active might is the mortification which the soul imposes on herself, and this is described in The Ascent of Mount Carmel ; passive might is the far more intense purification with which God visits the soul in various ways, and St. John deals with this in The Dark Night. He distinguishes the two purifications as the ‘ dark night of the senses,’ which leads to mystical contemplation, and the yet more terrible ‘ dark night of the soul,’ which precedes the height of union. In The Spiritual Canticle and The Living Flame of Love he is concerned with the blessed condition of the soul in the perfect union of love and the divinization of all her faculties.

TRANSLATIONS: The Complete Works of St. John of the Cross. (The Newman Press, 1945.)

The Burning Soul of St. John of the Cross. By Rodolphe Hoornaert. Translated by Algar Thorold. (Burns Oates & Washbourne, 1931).

Life of St. John of the Cross. By Father Bruno, O.C.D. (London, 1932).

COMPLETE MORTIFICATION NECESSARY FOR DIVINE UNION

1. THE reason for which it is necessary for the soul, in order to attain Divine union with God, to pass through this dark night of mortification of the desires and denial of pleasures in all things, is because all the affections which it has for creatures are pure darkness in the eyes of God, and, when the soul is clothed in these affections, it has no capacity for being enlightened and possessed by the pure and simple light of God if it cast them not first from it ; for the light cannot agree with darkness ; since, as St. John says : Tenebra eam non comprehenderunt. That is : The darkness could not receive the light.
2. The reason is that two contraries (even as philosophy teaches us) cannot coexist in one person ; and that darkness, which is affection for the creatures, and light, which is God, are contrary to each other, and have no likeness nor accord between one another, even as St. Paul explained to the Corinthians, saying : Quœ conventio luci ad tenebras ? That is to say : What communion can there be between light and darkness ? Hence it is that the light of Divine union cannot dwell in the soul if these affections first flee not away from it.
3. In order that we may the better prove what has been said, it must be known that the affection and attachment which the soul has for creatures renders the soul like to these creatures ; and the greater is its affection, the closer is the equality and likeness between them ; for love creates a likeness between that which loves and that which is loved. For which reason David, speaking of those who set their affections upon idols, said thus : Similes illis fiant qui faciunt ea : et omnes qui confidunt in eis. Which signifies : Let them that set their heart upon them be like to them. And thus he that loves a creature becomes as low as is that creature, and, in some ways, lower ; for love not only makes the lover equal to the object of his love, but even subjects him to it. Wherefore in the same way it comes to pass that the soul that loves anything else becomes incapable of pure union with God and transformation in Him. For the low estate of the creature is much less capable of union with the high estate of the Creator than is darkness with light. For all things of earth and heaven, compared with God, are nothing, as Jeremiah says in these words : Aspexi terram, et ecce vacua erat, et nihil ; et coelos, et non erat lux in eis. I beheld the earth, he says, and it was void, and it was nothing ; and the heavens, and saw that they had no light. In saying that he beheld the earth void, he means that all its creatures were nothing, and that the earth was nothing likewise. And, in saying that he beheld the heavens and saw no light in them, he says that all the luminaries of heaven, compared with God, are pure darkness. So that in this sense, all the creatures are nothing ; and their affections, we may say, are less than nothing, since they are an impediment to transformation in God and the loss thereof, even as darkness is not only nothing, but less than nothing, since it is loss of light. And even as he that is in darkness comprehends not the light, so the soul that sets its affections upon creatures will be unable to comprehend God ; and, until it be purged, it will neither be able to possess Him here below, through pure transformation of love, nor yonder in clear vision. And, for greater clarity, we will now speak in greater detail.
4. All the being of creation, then, compared with the infinite being of God, is nothing. And therefore the soul that sets its affections upon the being of creation is likewise nothing in the eyes of God, and less than nothing ; for, as we have said, love makes equality and similitude, and even sets the lover below the object of his love. And therefore such a soul will in no wise be able to attain to union with the infinite being of God ; for that which is not can have no agreement with that which is. And, coming down in detail to certain examples, all the beauty of the creatures, compared with the infinite beauty of God, is the height of deformity, even as Solomon says in the Proverbs : Fallax gratia, et vana est pulchritudo. Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain. And thus the soul that is affectioned to the beauty of any creature is as the height of deformity in the eyes of God. And therefore the soul that is deformed will be unable to become transformed in beauty, which is God, since deformity cannot attain to beauty ; and all the grace and beauty of the creatures, compared with the grace of God, is the height of misery and of unattractiveness. Wherefore the soul that is ravished by the graces and beauties of the creatures has only supreme misery and unattractiveness in the eyes of God ; and thus it cannot be capable of the infinite grace and loveliness of God ; for that which has no grace is far removed from that which is infinitely gracious ; and all the goodness of the creatures of the world, in comparison with the infinite goodness of God, may be described as wickedness. For there is naught good, save only God. And therefore the soul that sets its heart upon the good things of the world is supremely evil in the eyes of God. And, even as wickedness comprehends not goodness, even so much a soul cannot be united with God, who is supreme goodness. All the wisdom of the world and human ability, compared with the infinite wisdom of God, are pure and supreme ignorance, even as St. Paul writes ad Corinthios, saying : Sapientia hujus mundi stultitia est apud Deum. The wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God.
5. Wherefore any soul that makes account of all its knowledge and ability in order to come to union with the wisdom of God, is supremely ignorant in the eyes of God and will remain far removed from that wisdom ; for ignorance knows not what wisdom is, even as St. Paul says that this wisdom seems foolishness to God.
6. Wherefore the soul that is enamoured of prelacy, or of any other such office, and longs for liberty of desire, is considered and treated, in the sight of God, not as a son, but as a base slave and captive, since it has not been willing to accept His holy doctrine, wherein He teaches us that he who would be greater must be less, and he who would be less must be greater. And therefore such a soul will be unable to attain to that true liberty of spirit which is encompassed in His Divine union. For slavery can have no part with liberty ; and liberty cannot dwell in a heart that is subject to desires, for this is the heart of a slave ; but it dwells in the free man, because he has the heart of a son. It was for this reason that Sarah bade her husband Abraham cast out the bond-woman and her son, saying that the son of the bondwoman should not be heir with the son of the free woman.
7. And all the delights and pleasures of the will in all the things of the world, in comparison with all those delights which are God, are supreme affliction, torment and bitterness. And thus he that sets his heart upon them is considered in the sight of God, as worthy of supreme affliction, torment and bitterness ; and thus he will be unable to attain to the delights of the embrace of union with God, since he is worthy of affliction and bitterness. All the wealth and glory of all the creatures, in comparison with the wealth which is God, is supreme poverty and wretchedness. Thus the soul that loves and possesses creature wealth is supremely poor and wretched in the sight of God, and for this reason he will be unable to attain to that wealth and glory which is the state of transformation in God ; since that which is miserable and poor is supremely far removed from that which is supremely rich and glorious.

SPIRITUAL WISDOM

—In order to arrive at having pleasure in everything,
Desire to have pleasure in nothing.

—In order to arrive at possessing everything,
Desire to possess nothing.

—In order to arrive at being everything,
Desire to be nothing.

—In order to arrive at a knowledge of everything,
Desire to know nothing.

—In order to arrive at that wherein thou hast no pleasure,
Thou must go by a way wherein thou hast no pleasure.

—In order to arrive at that which thou knowest not,
Thou must go by a way that thou knowest not.

—In order to arrive at that which thou possessest not,
Thou must go by a way that thou possessest not.

—In order to arrive at that which thou art not,
Thou must go through that which thou art not.

HINDERING CONTEMPLATION

A FAVOURITE theme with St. John is the importance for those whom God has led to contemplation not to hinder it by the activity of their reasoning and imaginative powers.

6. Great, therefore, is the error of many spiritual persons who have practised approaching God by means of images and forms and meditations, as befits beginners. God would now lead them on to further spiritual blessings, which are interior and invisible, by taking from them the pleasure and sweetness of discursive meditation ; but they cannot, or dare not, or know not how to detach themselves from those palpable methods to which they have grown accustomed. They continually labour to retain them, desiring to proceed, as before, by the way of consideration and meditation upon forms, for they think that it must be so with them always. They labour greatly to this end and find little sweetness or none ; rather the aridity and weariness and disquiet of their souls are increased and grow, in proportion as they labour for that earlier sweetness. They cannot find this in that earlier manner, for the soul no longer enjoys that food of sense, as we have said ; it needs not this, but another food, which is more delicate, more interior and partaking less of the nature of sense ; it consists not in labouring with the imagination, but in setting the soul at rest, and allowing it to remain in its quiet and repose, which is more spiritual. For, the farther the soul progresses in spirituality, the more it ceases from the operation of the faculties in particular acts, for it becomes more and more occupied in one act that is general and pure ; and thus the faculties that were journeying to a place whither the soul has arrived cease to work, even as the feet stop and cease to move when their journey is over. For if all were motion, one would never arrive, and if all were means, where or when would come the fruition of the end and goat ?

7. It is piteous, then, to see many a one who, though his soul would fain tarry in this peace and rest of interior quiet, where it is filled with the peace and refreshment of God, takes from it its tranquillity, and leads it away to the most exterior things, and would make it return, and retrace the ground it has already traversed, to no purpose, and abandon the end and goal wherein it is already reposing for the means which led it to that repose, which are meditations. This comes not to pass without great reluctance and repugnance of the soul, which would fain be in that peace that it understands not, as in its proper place even as one who has arrived, with great labour, and is now resting, feels pain if they make him return to his labour. And, as such souls know not the mystery of this new experience, the idea comes to them that they are being idle and doing nothing ; and thus they allow not themselves to be quiet, but endeavour to meditate and reason. Hence they are filled with aridity and affliction, because they seek to find sweetness where it is no longer to be found ; we may even say of them that the more they strive the less they profit, for, the more they persist after this manner, the worse is the state wherein they find themselves, because their soul is drawn farther away from spiritual peace ; and this is to leave the greater for the less, and to retrace the road already traversed, and to seek to do that which has been done.

8. To such as these the advice must be given to learn to abide attentively and wait lovingly upon God in that state of quiet, and to pay no heed either to imagination or to its working ; for here, as we say, the faculties are at rest, and are working, not actively, but passively, by receiving that which God works in them ; and, if they work at times, it is not with violence or with carefully elaborated meditation, but with sweetness of love, moved less by the ability of the soul itself than by God, as will be explained hereafter.

THE TWO MYSTICAL NIGHTS

1. THIS night, which, as we say, is contemplation, produces in spiritual persons two kinds of darkness or. purgation, corresponding to the two parts of man’s nature—namely, the sensual and the spiritual. And thus the one night or purgation will be sensual, wherein the soul is purged according to sense, which is subdued to the spirit ; and the other is a night or purgation which is spiritual ; wherein the soul is purged and stripped according to the spirit, and subdued and made ready for the union of love with God. The night of sense is common and comes to many ; these are the beginners ; and of this night we shall first speak. The night of the spirit is the portion to very few, and these are they that are already practised and proficient, of whom we shall treat hereafter.
2. The first purgation or night is bitter and terrible to sense, as we shall now show. The second bears no comparison with it, for it is horrible and awful to the spirit, as we shall show presently. Since the night of sense is first in order and comes first, we shall first of all say something about it briefly, since more is written of it, as of a thing that is more common ; and we shall pass on to treat more fully of the spiritual night, since very little has been said of this, either in speech or in writing, and very little is known of it, even by experience.

THE NIGHT OF THE SENSES : WHAT IT IS

3. SINCE, then, the conduct of these beginners upon the way of God is ignoble, and has much to do with their love of self and their own inclinations, as has been explained above, God desires to lead them farther. He seeks to bring them out of that ignoble kind of love to a higher degree of love for Him, to free them from the ignoble exercises of sense and meditation (wherewith, as we have said, they go seeking God so unworthily and in so many ways that are befitting), and to lead them to a kind of spiritual exercise wherein they can commune with Him more abundantly and are freed more completely from imperfections. For they have now had practice for some time in the way of virtue and have persevered in meditation and prayer, whereby, through the sweetness and pleasure...