Three Images of the Spiritual Life

 

THREE IMAGES OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

 

The desert of Elijah

The dark night of Saint John of the Cross

The mountain of God

 

The desert of Elijah

 

Mortally afraid, Elijah flees a day’s journey into the desert until, overwhelmed by exhaustion, he lays himself down beneath a broom tree, praying, “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” Roused by an angel from sleep, he is refreshed by a hearth cake and a jug of water. Descending into sleep a second time, he is awakened by the angel, who exclaims, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” Afterwards, so fortified is he that at once he walks forty days and forty nights to Mount Horeb. (1 Kings 19:1-8)

In this image of the desert the traveller is preoccupied not with their progress upward or inward but with advancing in love toward their destination, often in darkness and struggle, but also as God wills resting in oases of light and peace.

The image offers the advantage that it is a spur to prayer and ascetical practice yet at the same time a check upon self-conscious introspection or prideful dwelling upon “spiritual progress.”

The image of a journey across a flat desert combines the images of the dark night of the soul of Saint John of the Cross and the desert oasis of Saint Bruno the Carthusian.

The dark night of the soul is a desert because it is a period of purification of the senses and the spirit—painful, mysterious, yet despite it all, ardent. Saint John of the Cross says it cannot be adequately described:

“So numerous and burdensome are the pains of this night, and so many are the scriptural passages we could cite that we would have neither the time nor the energy to put it all in writing; and, doubtless, all that we can possibly say would fall short of expressing what this night really is.” [Saint John of the Cross, “The Dark Night of the Soul,” II, 7, op. cit., p. 406] 

 

Saint John compares it to a “dark dungeon” where a prisoner, “bound hands and feet,” is “able neither to move nor see nor feel any favor from heaven or earth.” The soul in this condition is “humbled, softened, and purified, until it becomes so delicate, simple, and refined that it can be one with the Spirit of God, according to the degree of union of love that God, in his mercy, desires to grant.” [Ibid., pp. 407-408] 

 

Souls who endure this suffering “know that they love God and that they would give a thousand lives for him (they would indeed, for souls undergoing these trials love God very earnestly)” yet “they find no relief. This knowledge instead causes them deeper affliction.” [Ibid., p. 409]

In contrast, the desert oasis is the foretaste of the fruits of Paradise, the vision of God in purity of heart that for reasons entirely hidden to the soul and out of sheer gratuitousness God wishes to bestow upon the soul.

Saint Bruno’s letter to his friend, Raoul, offers us glimpses of this rarefied spiritual attainment. He writes, “In any case only those who have experienced them can know the benefits and divine exultation that the solitude and silence of the desert hold in store for those who love it.” They “enter into themselves,” “rest in quiet activity,” “eat the fruits of Paradise with joy,” even “see God himself.” [Saint Bruno the Carthusian, Letter to Raoul, Dean of the Cathedral Chapter at Rheims, 7, retrieved on April 2, 2017 from http://www.chartreux.org/en/texts/bruno-raoul-le-verd.php]

Of this divine exultation, Saint John speaks as well.

 

“There are intervals in which, through God’s dispensation…the soul, like one who has been unshackled and released from a dungeon and who can enjoy the benefit of spaciousness and freedom, experiences great sweetness of peace and loving friendship with God in a ready abundance of spiritual communication.” [Saint John of the Cross, op. cit., p. 408]

Thus the spiritual journey may be conceived and understood as a trek across the flats of Elijah’s desert. 

 

“Symbols of the Spiritual Journey”:

 

https://essaysofgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2017/07/symbols-of-spiritual-journey.html

 

The dark night of Saint John of the Cross

 

Saint John of the Cross’ “dark night” has been popularly misunderstood as a state of psychological depression or the convergence in a person’s life of especially difficult and trying events.

We will examine Saint John’s own words to clarify and explain in what the “dark night” essentially consists.

“We may say that there are three reasons for which this journey made by the soul to union with God is called night. The first has to do with the point from which the soul goes forth, for it has gradually to deprive itself of desire for all the worldly things which it possessed, by denying them to itself; the which denial and deprivation are, as it were, night to all the senses of man. The second reason has to do with the mean, or the road along which the soul must travel to this union—that is, faith, which is likewise as dark as night to the understanding. The third has to do with the point to which it travels—namely, God, Who, equally, is dark night to the soul in this life. These three nights must pass through the soul—or, rather, the soul must pass through them—in order that it may come to Divine union with God.”

—Saint John of the Cross, “The Dark Night,” Ascent of Mount Carmel, Chapter 2

The “dark night” is a period of sensual and spiritual purgation, the latter subsuming the former.

The soul that enters the “dark night” seeks union with God and undertakes the mortification of the senses and of the spirit—the spiritual faculties of the intellect and will—for this purpose, mortification which is not only active but also passive.

Saint John expounds the first two stanzas of his mystical masterpiece, “The Dark Night,” to explain this point.

“One dark night, fired with love’s urgent longings—ah, the sheer grace! —I went out unseen, my house being now all stilled.

“In darkness, and secure, by the secret ladder, disguised—ah, the sheer grace!—in darkness and concealment, my house being now all stilled.”

—Saint John of the Cross, “Stanzas of the Soul,” The Dark Night of the Soul, Prologue

“In this first stanza, the soul speaks of the way it followed in its departure from love of both self and all things. Through a method of true mortification, it died to all these things and to itself. It did this so as to reach the sweet and delightful life of love with God. And it declares that this departure was a dark night. As we will explain later, this dark night signifies here purgative contemplation, which passively causes in the soul this negation of self and of all things.”

—Saint John of the Cross, “Explanation of the Stanzas,” The Dark Night of the Soul, Book I

The “dark night,” consists, therefore, in the first place, in habitual sensual and spiritual abnegation.

Saint John gives a second reason why this passage in the spiritual life is a “dark night.” God is darkness to the soul and indeed will always be so while the soul animates the mortal body, because God, being pure spirit, cannot be apprehended by the corporeal sense of sight.

True, the soul in beatitude—in heaven—apprehends or “sees” God not in darkness but in light, according to the capacity of the soul, but we are assured that in this mortal life the soul always experiences God as darkness, in varying degrees.

Scripture testifies that God is light, yes, but also affirms that God is darkness.

“He made darkness his cloak around him.” (Psalm 18:12)

“Darkness is not dark for you, and night shines as the day. Darkness and light are but one.” (Psalm 113:12)

“Solomon said, ‘The Lord intends to dwell in the dark cloud.’” (1 Kings 8:12)

A third reason why Saint John describes this stage of the spiritual journey as a “dark night” is because the pilgrim soul advancing towards union with God travels in the darkness of faith.

 

...[Saint John] writes:

“The soul, if it desires to pay close attention, will clearly recognize how on this road it suffers many ups and downs, and how immediately after prosperity some tempest and trial follows, so much so that seemingly the calm was given to forewarn and strengthen it against further penury. It sees, too, how abundance and tranquility succeed misery and torment, and in such a way that it thinks it was made to fast before celebrating that feast. This is the ordinary procedure in the state of contemplation until one arrives at the quiet state: the soul never remains in one state, but everything is ascent and descent.” [boldface mine]

—Saint John of the Cross, “How this Secret Wisdom Is Also a Ladder,” The Dark Night of the Soul, Book II, Chapter 18, 3 

 

“Three Metaphors for Prayer”:

 

https://poetryofgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2020/12/three-metaphors-for-prayer.html

 

The mountain of God 

 

Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord? 

Who shall stand in his holy place? 

The man with clean hands and pure heart, 

who desires not worthless things, 

who has not sworn so as to deceive his neighbor. 

 

He shall receive blessings from the Lord 

and reward from the God who saves him. 

Such are the men who seek him,

seek the face of the God of Jacob.—Psalm 24:3-5 

 

Who will climb the mountain of God? Psalm 24 answers this question. 

 

First point: “The man with clean hands” 

 

All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.—Romans 3:23 

 

If we say, “We are without sin,” we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.—1 John 1:8 

 

And yet:

 

If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.—1 John 1:9 

 

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.—Hebrews 9:13-14 

 

Notably, Jesus says: 

 

“You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”—John 15:3 

 

Second point: “and pure heart, who desires not worthless things” 

 

In Commentary on the Word of Life (November 1999), Chiara Lubich says: 

 

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Mt. 5:8) 

 

…First of all, Jesus points out the very best way to be purified: “You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.” (Jn 15:3) His Word, more than the practice of religious rites, is what purifies our inner self. The Word of Jesus is not like human words. Christ is present in his Word, as he is present, in a different way, in the Eucharist. Through his Word Christ enters within us and, provided we allow him to act, he makes us free from sin and therefore pure in heart. 

 

Thus purity is the fruit of living the Word, of living all the Words of Jesus which free us from our so-called attachments, which we inevitably fall into if our hearts are not in God and in his teachings. These can be attachments to things, to people and to ourselves. But if our heart is focused on God alone, all the rest falls away. 

 

To achieve this, it can be useful to repeat throughout the day to Jesus, to God, the invocation of the psalm that says: “You, Lord, are my only good!” (see Ps. 16:2) Let’s try to say it often, especially when various attachments seek to pull our heart towards those images, feelings and passions that can blur our vision of what is good and take away our freedom. 

 

…Living the Word makes us free and pure because the Word is love. It is love, with its divine fire, that purifies our intentions and the whole of our inner self, because our ‘heart,’ according to the Bible, is the deepest seat of our intelligence and our will. 

 

But there is a type of love that Jesus commands us to practise and that enables us to live this beatitude. It is mutual love, being ready to give our life for others, following the example of Jesus. This love creates a current, an exchange, an atmosphere characterised above all by transparency and purity, because of the presence of God who alone can create a pure heart in us (see Ps. 50:12). It is by living mutual love that the Word acts with its purifying and sanctifying effects. 

 

As isolated individuals we are incapable of resisting the world’s temptations for long, but in mutual love there is a healthy environment that can protect purity and all other aspects of a true Christian life. 

 

Blessed are the pure in heart, 

for they shall see God. 

 

So, then, the fruit of this constantly re-acquired purity is that we can ‘see’ God, which means we can understand his work in our lives and in history, hear his voice in our hearts, and recognise him where he is: in the poor, in the Eucharist, in his Word, in our communion with others, in the Church. 

 

It is a foretaste of the presence of God which already begins in this life, as we ‘walk by faith, not by sight’ (2 Cor. 5:7), until the time when, ‘we will see face to face’ (1 Cor. 13:12) forever.

 

http://www.centrochiaralubich.org/en/documents/texts/145-text-en/545-blessed-are-the-pure-in-heart-for-they-shall-see-god.html 

 

—Chiara Lubich, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” Centro Chiara Lubich, October 25, 1999

 

Chiara Lubich expounds the following points about developing purity of heart: 

 

- Hear and do the Word

- Receive the Word in the Eucharist

- Rectitude of intention

- Practice of mutual love 

 

Third Point: “who has not sworn so as to deceive his neighbor” 

 

“Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all; not by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one.”—Matthew 5:33-37 

 

The man who confesses his sins, seeks God as his only good, and speaks the truth without the pretense of professing oaths, will climb the mountain of the Lord.

 

“The Mountain of God”:

 

https://oddsandendsgonzalinhodacosta.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-mountain-of-god.html