PROLOGUE
1. C. G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul (New York, Harcourt, Brace and Company), p. 264.
2. Menti Nostrae, Sept. 23, 1950.
3. I Pet. 3:15.
4. John 17:22â23.
5. Sancti Thomae buc omnis theologia spectat ut ad intime vivendum in Deo nos adducat. Pius XI, Studiorum Ducem, June 29, 1927.
6. Apostolic Letter, August 24, 1926, declaring Saint John of the Cross a Doctor of the Universal Church.
I: VISION AND ILLUSION
1. Blaise Pascal, Les Pensées (Paris, Ed. Giraud, 1928), p. 66.
2. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Commentary on the Psalms, P.G. 44: 464â465. Cf. DaniĂ©lou, Platonisme et ThĂ©ologie Mystique, p. 133.
3. Homily 1 on Ecclesiastes, P.G. 44:628. Cf. Daniélou, op. cit., p. 136.
4. I am not insisting that Pascal had read Saint Gregory of Nyssa. His thoughts on divertissement may have been drawn from a reading of Saint Bernardâs De Gradibus Humilitatis. It is in any case in the full tradition of Saint Augustineâs De Trinitate, Bk. xii (on the fall of Adam).
5. Pascal, op. cit., p. 67.
6. Ibid., n. 171, p. 75.
7. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Commentary on the Psalms, C. 5. P.G. 44:450â451.
II: PROBLEM OF UNBELIEF
1. Commentarium in Epistolam ad Romanos, cap. 10, lectio ii.
III: ON A DARK NIGHT
1. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, In cantica canticorum, Hom. 11, P.G. 44:999.
2. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Hom. 7 on Ecclesiastes, P.G. 44:729. Cf. Daniélou, op. cit., p. 139.
3. It is generally forgotten that at the beginning of The Ascent of Mount Carmel (which for convenience I shall hereafter list in references as Ascent), Saint John of the Cross makes this threefold division of his night into a night of sense, night of faith, and night of pure contemplation or mystical union with God. We generally think of a twofold division. In reality, the second and third of the three nights above both belong to the âNight of the Spirit.â See Ascent, i, 1 and ii, 1 and 2. Peers tr., vol. i, pp. 20â21, 66â69.
4. Ascent, Bk. i, c. 13, n. 11. Peers, vol. i, p. 62.
5. Cf. Ascent, Bk. iii, c. 16, n. 5. Peers, vol. i, p. 260.
6. Ascent, Bk. iii, c. 16, n. 1. Peers, vol. i, p. 259.
7. Ascent, Bk. i, c. 13, n. 4. Peers, vol. i, p. 60.
8. Ascent, Bk. i, c. 8, n. 1. Peers, vol. i, p. 41.
9. Ascent, Bk. iii, c. 20, n. 2. Peers, vol. i, pp. 272â273.
IV: FALSE MYSTICISM
1. The statements appeared in front-page article in the official Vatican newspaper, Osservatore Romano, February 3, 1951.
V: KNOWLEDGEâUNKNOWING
1. Ascent, Bk. i, c. 4, n. 5. Peers, vol. i, pp. 26â27.
2. The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. i, c. 1, n. 1. Peers, vol. i, p. 350.
3. Ascent, Bk. i, c. 4, n. 1. Peers, vol. i, p. 24.
4. John 14:6.
5. Ascent, Bk. ii, c. 7, n. 8. Peers, vol. i, p. 91.
6. Ascent, Bk. ii, c. 7, n. 12. Peers, vol. i, p. 93.
7. Life, 13. Peers, vol. i, p. 81.
8. Life, 13. Peers, vol. i, p. 82.
9. Living Flame of Love, 1st redaction, iii, n. 29. I have translated the passage differently from Professor Peers, who does not bring out with full force Saint Johnâs contrast between knowledge and discretion, on the one hand, and experience on the other. Cf. Peers, vol. iii, p. 75.
10. Life, 13. Peers, vol. i, p. 78.
11. See, for instance, Ascent, Bk. iii, c. 21, n. 2. âThe spiritual man must purge his will . . . bearing in mind that beauty and all other natural gifts are but earth,â etc. Peers, vol. i, p. 275.
12. Ibid., Bk. i, c. 13, n. 3. âFirst let him have a habitual desire to imitate Christ in everything that he does, conforming himself to His life: upon which he must meditate so that he may know how to imitate it, and to behave in all things as Christ would behave.â Peers, vol. i, p. 60.
13. Ascent, Bk. ii, c. 8, nos. 1 and 7. Peers, vol. i, pp. 94 and 98.
14. Ascent, Bk. ii, c. 15, n. 3. Peers, vol. i, p. 128.
15. Ascent, Bk. ii, c. 11, nos. 2 and 3. Peers, vol. i, pp. 102â103.
16. Ascent, Bk. ii, c. 15. Peers, vol. i, p. 128.
17. Ibid.
VI: CONCEPTSâCONTEMPLATION
1. Summa Theologica, i, 13, a. 5.
2. Summa, loc. cit.
3. Cf. Saint Bernard, De Consideratione, v, 13. Saint Thomas, Summa, i, 13, a. 4.
4. II, Sent. D. 33, a. 2, q. 3.
5. Collatio ii in Hexaemeron, n. 32.
6. See Jacques Maritain, Degrees of Knowledge (New York, 1938), p. 278.
7. De Potentia, vii, 5, ad. 14.
8. In Boetium de Trinitate, i, 2, ad. 2.
VI...