Spiritual Poverty from the writings of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross
The Carmelite masters explain the first Beatitude.
The first Beatitude is:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Who are the ‘poor in spirit?’ Quite simply, they are the humble and detached.
Humility and detachment are like sister virtues, they go hand in hand. We all hear a great deal about humility: from the saints, from the pulpit, from catechism class. But how often do we hear about humility’s sister, detachment? I know I personally was an adult before I ever heard mention of this virtue. It turns out, it’s as indispensable as humility.
Both St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross haven given us incredible works that explain the importance — nay, the necessity — of both humility and detachment for entering into the Kingdom of God.
Notes, Quotes and Highlights from the first chapter of “St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross on The Beatitudes” by Thomas M. Reid, OCDs.
I think this book might be out of print, but you can check these used book-sellers: AbeBooks, Thrift Books, Books a Million
The Kingdom of God
What is the meaning of “the Kingdom of God"?
Choice
“When Christ uses the word kingdom, there is a different meaning introduced by Him to the usual understanding: He introduces an element of choice on the part of those who would be subject to the sovereignty of His Kingdom.” (pg 1)
God invites rather than coerces souls into His Kingdom.
All remain free to reject the sovereignty of God and His Kingdom.
Gradual
Christ tells us that this Kingdom grows gradually in souls.
(The Parable of the Mustard Seed and the Parable of the Leaven/Yeast)
But the man who finds the treasure in the field, and the merchant who finds a pearl of great price – both sell all they have to obtain the treasure/pearl. After evaluating the treasure and understanding its value, they chose to sell all they had to obtain it. They saw that the treasure and the pearl were worth more than all their other possessions, and so were willing to give up all they had in order to have it.
“That choice can only follow on the accurate evaluation of the Kingdom as the most desirable goal of all. Notice that the requirement to obtain the pearl or treasure is to sell all to acquire it. If one sells all, he cannot easily turn back from that decision. But the complete divestment of all only occurs gradually, like the gradual growth of the mustard seed.” (pg. 2)
If one continues on this journey of spiritual perfection and to acquire the Kingdom of God, eventually everything else contrary to the kingdom will be forsaken.
“The treasure” and “the pearl” replace every attachment of the heart.
What about those who choose not to acquire these treasures? They are like the young man who asked Christ how to gain the Kingdom, but went away sad because he could not part with his many possessions.
Finally, in Mt. 13:47-50, Christ describes another aspect of the Kingdom: a net gathers in every kind of fish, and then they are laid out on the beach for separation. The good fish are placed in vessels and the bad fish are thrown away. Christ likens this separation to the angels separating the just from the wicked. The wicked are cast into eternal fire.
The Kingdom is limited to the just (those who have chosen and sought to acquire the treasure).
Thus, Christ has described the three essential elements of establishing the Kingdom:
Chosen
Gradual
Limited
We must choose to give up everything in order to acquire it. But not all choose to enter the Kingdom.
The First Beatitude, the “Poor in Spirit”
When Our Lord speaks of “the poor in spirit,” He is not talking about those who lack material possessions, but he is speaking of a frame of mind and heart which is necessary to gain the gift of Eternal Life.
This attitude of poverty has two parts:
Detachment: our attitude towards the world’s goods; a holy detachment from all that is not God.
Humility in our relationship with God; recognizing the truth of our relationship as creatures to our Creator, and our utter dependence on Him for all things, both body and soul.
The “poor in spirit” are detached and humble.
“Prayer of the Quiet” is the Entryway into the Kingdom
St. Teresa of Avila says the only way the Kingdom will come into our souls is to dispose ourselves and humbly ask for it to come.
The kingdom cannot be taken. It can only be received when given by God in response to our petition.
According to St. Teresa, “the prayer of the quiet” is necessary for our soul to be receptive to receive the Kingdom. The prayer of the quiet is a supernatural state that enables us to passively receive the gifts God wants to give us. The soul must be humble, passive, and in solitude to receive the Kingdom that is given by God.
St. Teresa describes the prayer of quiet as a state of peace and presence given by God, as a result of His entry into the soul. (The Way of Perfection, Chapter 3) She refers to the “outside” of the soul as the “rind,” and says the happiness of the world touches the rind, the outside, but the prayer of the quiet allows the soul to enter into the Kingdom of God in the interior depths of the soul.
It is in the interior depths of the soul that God dwells; here is where God alone reigns as Sovereign Master.
This state cannot be produced by the soul itself. It must be given by God. Only He can grant this state to the soul, when and how He pleases.
^ This intimate, Divine touch is the soul’s entry into the Kingdom.
Continued detachment and “the treasure in the field.”
The soul which has sold all to acquire the field, or the merchant who does the same to acquire the pearl of great price: they built up to that point by choice.
First, they made the choice to allow God to give their souls the benefits of His Kingdom. Then, they did not offer any resistance, and they did not love anything more than God. This started with a choice, but the choice is not made once; it is repeated over and over again.
The soul is brought gradually closer to God as it progresses in spiritual growth. At each stage, as the soul progresses on this path toward God, the path gets increasingly more difficult.
We are progressing on a path toward God. As we move forward, we are presented with choices. And each choice becomes increasingly more difficult to make. Thus, detachment is necessary to advance. Each new detachment brings severe suffering, until finally, the most severe suffering we experience is from the detachment from self.
Summary so far:
We progress on the path → we make choice after choice to detach from the world as we attach more and more to God → the detachments get progressively harder as we move closer to God → until the final choice is made, in which we can no longer live without intimate closeness with God and therefore nothing will hold us back from pursuing this one and only goal, no matter what it requires of us.
We are asked for more and more surrender from God as we bid farewell to what has been most important to us in our life. At each new surrender, we have an increasingly difficult choice to make: either go on toward God or pull back away from Him.
The merchant gave everything to God and kept nothing for himself. The Kingdom of God must be everything to us, and we must allow no competitors.
Contrast this with the rich young man who went away sad because he was not willing to part with his possessions. He was not willing to sell all he had for the only treasure that matters.
God wants total detachment from us, which is why choosing the Kingdom of God is excruciatingly difficult. But remember: nothing will be asked of us that He will not provide the grace to accomplish.
“The seeker of God’s Kingdom must renounce and surrender his very self, his will, his life.” (pg. 9)
“The renunciation that allows entry into God’s kingdom divests the soul of all willfullness except that aspect of his will that conforms perfectly to the will of God, not matter what His will is. This soul merged his will with the will of God, and the two wills become one: God’s will. He wills what God wills. His life belongs to God and he lives his life according to that form.”
This man recognizes that the values of the world are incompatible with his despite to enter the Kingdom of God, and would actually prevent him from entering. Life now means only loving and serving God. He sells all else to acquire this treasure.
Our abandonment is what allows us to enter into God’s Kingdom
“It is the abandonment of all things that allows the entry into God’s Kingdom: the selling of everything to acquire the treasure in the field or the pearl of great price.” (pg. 8)
“The abandonment required is interior. It is a detachment so complete that we cease to worry about our circumstances and position in the world. The will of God becomes the only end of all one’s actions and desires. When this occurs, one has truly chosen the pearl of great price.” (pg. 8)
A Distinction Must Be Made:
A detached soul who chooses his detachment
One who has no possessions through circumstance.
The second is poor, but not by choice. He has not chosen his condition. Although actually poor, he may long for riches in his heart. He may wish for power and fame in his heart. If he could choose riches and power and fame, he would. This man is not disposed to receive the Kingdom.
The first may have an abundance of wealth, but he has disposed himself to receive the Kingdom by detachment. He would easily give up all his possessions if required to do so, so that God can retain predominance in his life. If asked to do to so, or in order to save his soul, he would willingly give up everything he has. He has chosen the Kingdom interiorly.
Therefore, detachment is not always physical, but an interior disposition and willingness. It is a state of mind and heart. You could outwardly have everything but be interiorly detached. You could outwardly have nothing and be interiorly attached.
Similarly, if a man is physically and outwardly detached from things, but in his heart he longs for them, then he is not detached. He is still interiorly attached to what he does not have. Physically disposing of one’s goods and claiming detachment is not real detachment if one retains a longing for these things in his heart.
There are also those who maintain a false image of detachment for the sake of appearance. They desire to elicit praise and admiration from others, so they act detached. This is fake detachment.
Purgation and Purification
The surrender and renunciation required to enter the Kingdom is an arduous task, requiring perseverance through severe trials.
Why? → Because the lifting of a soul from its natural state of sin and imperfection to supernatural union with God is an enormous elevation that cannot be accomplished easily or quickly.
“When God bestows grace, it must be accepted. It is the amount of grace bestowed and accepted that determines the length of the journey, along with the degree of imperfections being rooted out.”
Every step on the journey is accompanied by suffering, and the suffering increases in intensity as the purgation goes deeper. As we come closer to God, the light of God shines on the soul, exposing and illuminating our previously unknown faults and failings. Often, the soul recoils at this exposure. It can only be sustained on the journey by grace. We need grace in order to bear the humiliation and the painful purification of our failings.
This process is re-making the soul into the image of Christ.
It is difficult to imitate Christ. But it is the end result, the pearl of great price, that gives us the strength and courage to persevere to the end.
The Kingdom is a choice, therefore man is free to reject it.
The kingdom of God must be chosen by each soul.
The possibility exists for souls to choose not to enter the kingdom.
Man may choose to enter God’s Kingdom, or to choose not to enter.
There is no being half in the Kingdom. You cannot forsake a few certain things. You can not cling to certain sins. You can not place a limit on God’s power and influence on the soul. You can not give God only so much and refuse to give the rest. All of these are obstacles to entering the kingdom. Half-hearted efforts prevent entry.
^ This is an erroneous order of priorities. The failure to properly order everything is a choice against the Kingdom.
In order to enter the Kingdom of God, we must subject all to the will of God.
The most important detachment is the hardest to achieve and causes the most pain.
“The most important detachment is detachment from self and all that one thinks is best for him. This detachment is the hardest to achieve and causes the soul the most pain. It is a dying of sorts. Our fallen nature rebels against this death to self every single time we are faced with any event or circumstance that advances this death. However, this death is indispensable to union with God. There is no room for God in a soul that is full of itself.” (pg 13)
Humility
Humility is an indispensable virtue. It occupies an essential place in our quest for union with God. St. Teresa’s simple definition of humility is: “Humility is truth.” Recognizing our true place in relation to God (creature vs. Creator) should be enough to render us humble.
St. Teresa considers detachment and humility as inseparable ‘sister virtues.’ (Way of Perfection, 10) Where there is one, there is the other. One cannot detach from things or self unless humility enables a soul to accomplish the separation.
A proud man cannot detach because he believes he is entitled to all he wants.
The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila is a metaphor for the soul’s growth in the spiritual life.
The name of St. Teresa’s work evokes the image of a king exercising His sovereignty over His castle.
But this castle is interior. It is the spiritual realm that the soul seeks to enter. At the deepest center is where God dwells. The ‘interior castle’ is the domain of the sovereign Lord who rules over it.
In this metaphor of the interior castle, St. Teresa imagines seven dwellings, each containing many rooms. This castle is a reflection of the Kingdom of God, which Christ says is within us.
St. Teresa treats on all the various stages and experiences of the soul’s spiritual journey. The Interior Castle is the journey along the road that leads to the Kingdom of God.
On this journey, the soul is decluttering itself from the world, the flesh and the devil in order to be a suitable habitat for God. The soul is gradually entering the Kingdom of God. The soul enters the Kingdom slowly.
This conversion process requires tearing down and rooting out sin and attachments. Then the soul can make room for God and union with Him.
“A soul that is tied to any attachment, to the things of this world, cannot achieve union with God in its fullness.”
The First Three Dwelling Places:
→ The First Dwelling: Entry into the Kingdom and the first stirrings of Love.
The First Dwelling is the “outer wall” or the human body. In this first and early stage, the soul is unable to submit itself to God’s sovereignty because there are too many deeply ingrained attachments and evil habits in the soul, and these attachments/sins have control of the heart and actions. However, this is where the soul experiences its first stirrings of love and fear of God. If the soul is responsive to these stirrings, it will begin its journey of ever-increasing submission to the King.
“Entry into God’s Kingdom is a gradual process, just like the growth of the mustard seed grows gradually into a great shrub.”
“The soul must eventually be exposed. Its inner motivations, attachments and goals must be excised and replaced with a life heretofore unknown to it. This is the first beginning of the ‘emptying’ required. The mustard seed begins to die. As each miniscule change occurs, the soul suffers an ever increasing pain of loss, bewilderment, and insecurity over what is happening what has happened to its old self.”
If the soul perseveres, the change will be profound and unimaginable. But the soul is truly proceeding in ‘blind faith,’ animated only by love for God, which grows with each advancement.
The immediate issue of the First Dwelling is detachment. This soul is still very enamored with the things of the world, although it is beginning to stir interiorly toward seeking God.
The Second Dwelling: God is beginning to call.
Now the soul is beginning to practice prayer and comes to an awareness of how futile the world and all its allurements are. The Lord is beginning to call the soul to come closer, and it is hearing God’s invitation to come. Yet the soul is still unable to respond to His voice because it is not spiritually equipped to do so! Its natural attachments still dominate its life.
This inability causes great suffering. The soul hears God’s voice calling, but not being able to respond is a great suffering.
The mustard seed is growing, but now the devil is aware of what is happening and he becomes very active in trying to get the soul to turn away from God. There can be a lot of confusion for the soul.
The object of this stage is to not give up the battle.
Do not give up the quest, even if you fall. Get up and keep going.
What is needed more than anything else in the second dwelling is a determination to keep going. And what is needed for that is humility.
! Remember: what we consider best for us is frequently the very worst thing for our souls. In our natural state, we yearn for ease, consolations, and rest. Yet, what is needed for our advancement is the opposite of these things!
! Remember: the requirement to enter into God’s Kingdom is to sell all and to “take up your cross daily and come follow me.”
“Lack of humility, if not corrected, is an insurmountable obstacle to union with God and to acceptance of His sovereignty.” (pg. 19)
If humility is lacking in the soul, it cannot advance.
Pride will block all attempts at growth and progress.
If the soul is prideful, it will choose other goals and will not grow in the ‘emptying’ necessary for advancement.
The Third Dwelling:
The struggle continues to continue in its desires to advance toward God. There is great temptation to abandon the journey, and humility is needed more than ever to overcome and endure.
“And if souls aren’t determined about becoming His slaves, let them be convinced that they are not making much progress, for this whole building, as I have said, has humility as its foundation. If humility is not genuinely present, the Lord will not construct a high building, lest the building fall to the ground.” - St. Teresa of Avila (Interior Castle VII:4:8)
The Last Four Dwelling Place:
The Fourth Dwelling:
“In the fourth dwelling, St. Teresa describes the divine touches that are now given to the soul by God. She calls them spiritual delights.”
While the first three dwelling places are tough and laborious, this second stage is more like a “spring of water” that transports water without effort. This is God at work in the soul. He works as the agent in the 4th - 7th stages.
“The water comes from its own source, which is God.”
God has now taken charge of the soul’s path to the Kingdom and will bring the journey to a wonderful conclusion if the soul will surrender to His sovereignty over it. The soul’s job here is to surrender in humility, and to avoid setting up obstacles to God’s work.
The soul had to reach a high degree of detachment to come to this place where it can receive these gifts from God, but now the soul must go further in detachment. It must not only give up its attachments from the things of the world, but now it must also give up its attachments to its own spiritual preferences. This is in order to enter deeper into the King’s realm.
The mustard seed is becoming a shrub because it has sold all to acquire the treasure.
The Fifth Dwelling:
The soul has advanced in spiritual growth. It could not have reached this place without a great deal of holy detachment, but it will not remain in this state unless that detachment is preserved.
Great vigilance is required because the devil sees that this soul is escaping his grasp. Here, there may be a revival of old attachments to the world and even to old sins. The only way to persevere in the pursuit of union with God is constant prayer and great grace.
The Sixth Dwelling:
The soul has entered a new aspect of the Kingdom of God. Far from the world and its allurements, the soul now faces profound interior suffering.
This is part of the selling of all that one possesses.
The soul is passively having all its attachments (to anything that is not God) extracted, much like a dentist pulling a tooth.
One cannot enter fully into the Kingdom of God in a state of imperfection, no matter how small and insignificant the imperfection is. (pg. 26)
This stage is not easy to get to.
The trials of this stage are very great, but also necessary to enter completely into God’s Kingdom.
It is like the mustard bush has grown, but now it must be pruned, fed, and watered in order to become the great shrub that God intends it to be.
The pruning process is the trials.
The feeding and watering are the graces received, but also the suffering, all given as gifts by God so that the soul can advance.
The Seventh Dwelling:
The seventh dwelling place is the furthest development that the soul can make in this life.
St. Teresa says: the summit of perfection possible in this life is complete conformity of our will with the Will of God, so that there is only one will - God’s.
The effects on the soul in the seventh dwelling place:
Forgetfulness of self. The soul knows now that what it does by its own effort amounts to nothing.
Great desire to suffer and interior joy when persecuted.
This soul has great detachment from everything and a desire for solitude.
The only thing that willingly arouses the soul from its solitude is to help another soul.
This soul is encapsulated in the Kingdom of God, peacefully resting.
“It is one of the peculiarities of the spiritual life that the further one advances the more the soul encounters affliction and spiritual suffering. However, there does come a time when the afflictions diminish and in fact disappear. St. Teresa discusses the gradual elimination of afflictions in the 6th and 7th dwelling places. The sufferings endured previously have produced a purified soul. Attachments have been purged and the soul is now entirely bound up within the very substance of God.” (pg 29)
In the seventh dwelling, the battle for holy detachment has been won. All things are now in their proper order of importance, and peace and joy have become the norm in this soul.
Peace and Joy come from proper order.
The Ascent of Mt. Carmel with St. John of the Cross.
While St. Teresa describes the journey of the soul to God in the metaphor of a castle with many dwellings, St. John describes the same journey as an arduous climb up a mountain. Let us leave St. Teresa and the Interior Castle and join St. John of the Cross on the Ascent of Mt. Carmel.
St. John divides the stages of the spiritual life into two main divisions:
The active nights
The passive nights
Each of these two stages is then further sub-divided:
Active Night of the Sense
Active Night of the Spirit
Passive Night of the Sense
Passive Night of the Spirit
The soul first moves through the active nights of sense and spirit first, then through the passive nights of sense and spirit. One night prepares the soul for the next, and each night has its own characteristics that prepare it for the next one. Each progression is a step forward toward union with God. And each step is more difficult than the last.
As each step is reached, God’s sovereignty over the soul increases, until finally the soul’s advancement relies completely on the work of God.
Step 1:
The soul is looking for the Kingdom of God and begins to go out from its inordinate appetites and imperfections. This first step is what the rich young man in the gospel could not do. He was unwilling to relinquish his attachments to his possessions.
→ There can be no “going out” from one’s inordinate appetites and imperfections so long as the soul remains self-willed and self-centered.
What begins this movement? Love’s urgent longing. God draws the soul slowly into His Kingdom. Gradually, slowly, by an increase of love. Just like the gradual growth of the mustard seed.
Only when the soul has “still its house” and “quieted its natural appetites” will the mustard seed be ready to grow.
It is super-natural grace that prods the soul to begin this journey.
St. John says that the annihilation of the objects of both memory and the will are a prerequisite to union with God.
Memory → Objects stored in the memory are stirred by the passions and inordinate appetites; they are a source of temptation. We can also store falsehoods in our memories which can lead the soul in the wrong direction.
Will → The will also has passions that must be purified of all inordinate feelings and thoughts. If even one passion reigns inordinately in the soul, the soul is held captive by it. Only when these passions are reasonably regulated by the will can God occupy the soul.
! Remember: all must be sold to acquire the Kingdom. Nothing less than that will suffice. One must detach from all that the heart clings to that is less than God.
The soul who wishes to acquire the treasure in the field or the pearl of great price must be prepared to abandon all that does not lead directly to that goal.
God must have total sovereignty over the soul. Interior conversion is necessary for this union with God.
Spiritual Poverty in the Ascent of Mt. Carmel
“The core of St. John’s teaching concerns the dying of the soul to all attachments.” (pg. 35)
Each ‘night’ requires an increasingly painful separation from deeply embedded attachments to creatures.
Why attachments are obstacles→ because they are treated as ends in themselves rather than as means to the true end: union with God.
! Attachments are obstacles to spiritual poverty because they bind the soul to practices and methods of approaching God that are contaminated with self-interest. They seek, as their object, something that is less than God.
The overall scheme of St. John’s spiritual doctrine.
Purify and mortify the senses first,
Followed by purification of the spirit.
The First Dark Night:
The first effort of the soul: mortify the voluntary appetites.
These are the inordinate attachments to creatures or things in the natural realm. They are road-blocks that must be removed in order to proceed ahead along the rough road and narrow way. This is the very beginning of spiritual poverty.
Poverty of spirit requires that God be the master of the soul.
! If one has two glasses, one filled with water and the other wish wine, and he wishes to put the wine into the glass filled with water, the water must first be removed.
Purify the senses first, then the soul.
Then both are brought into unity with each other.
Purifying the sense is a dark night; purifying the soul is darker night (harder)
The passive night of the spirit is an ever-increasing painful experience, because it is much more difficult to purge the spirit than it is to purge the senses.
The work of the spirit is accomplished in the “darkness of faith,” unseen as the soul is purified. Faith and understanding cannot co-exist. Where there is understanding, there is no need of faith. Where faith is necessary, understanding cannot be.
No soul comes before God in eternal life with imperfections remaining it. The soul must open itself to the work of God, and to stay the course as He purifies the soul with painful purgations and afflictions.
The final state will be extreme: complete emptiness of the soul of all that is not God.
But this end comes about gradually, just as the mustard seed grows gradually.
Humility
Accord to St. John, humility is necessary for the soul to abandon its own power and faculties as the means of striving for union with God. But the soul will never achieve this level of humility unless it accepts that the path to God is beyond its own capacity and faculties. Unless our faculties are stilled and darkened, they will create an obstacle to progress. Then, in all humility, we must admit our own limitations and have confidence in God to be our guide.
“I should like to persuade spiritual persons that the road leading to God does not entail a multiplicity of considerations, methods, manners, and experiences … but demands only one thing necessary: true self-denial, exterior and interior, through surrender of self both to suffering for Christ and to annihilation in all things.” - St. John of the Cross (AS II:7-8)
Poverty of Spirit must include separation from the things of this world.
Active Nights vs. Passive Nights
In the active nights, the principal agent is the soul supported by God’s grace. But the principal characteristic of the passive nights is that the primary agent and cause of growth is God.
^ This difference is significant.
When a soul enters upon a spiritual journey, it is in darkness regarding what lies ahead. The soul must undergo significant changes at each step as it progresses, or else it will fall back. Grace is constantly prodding the soul forward, but it is his choice to continue seeking the Kingdom or not. It’s an act of the will, supported by grace. The will remains free to stop and retreat.
St. John says → many enter the passive night of the senses, but only a few enter into the passive night of the spirit. Many times, the soul is offered by God entrance into the passive night of the spirit, but it is the soul that refuses. The soul may ask itself, ‘Is the pain and cost worth what is being asked of me?’ This is when the soul decides if it will submit to God’s sovereignty, or else go away sad like the rich young man.
Christ meant what he said about selling all to enter His Kingdom.
“As fire consumes the tarnish and rust of metal, this dark contemplation annihilates, empties, and consumes all the affections and imperfect habits the soul has contracted throughout its life.” - St. John of the Cross (DN II:6:5)
The passive night of the spirit digs deep into the heart and soul to eradicate all imperfections and attachments. If the soul has committed completely into entering the Kingdom at any cost, then the soul will not refuse God’s invitation. Even if the road has become rough and narrow, the soul’s great yearning for God has also increased, and now nothing else appears worthwhile to the soul. It cannot live without God’s love and now it must respond to that love.
In the passive nights of sense and spirit → God now takes control of the soul’s advancement and introduces great purging of its imperfections. This level of purgation cannot be carried out by the soul itself because the roots of the imperfections are beyond the soul’s reach and even its awareness. God alone can see the imperfections and choose the affliction to purge it. It must be imposed by God on the soul.
God is the activating agent and the soul must remain passive to receive the graces that God bestows to purge the defects.
When the active night is finished, the soul can no further on its own. There will come a point in every soul’s journey when it hits a wall that it cannot go through. This is the period of aridity, and it is the interval between the active night and the passive night. Now, in the passive night, God must conduct the soul forward.
A soul could never accept this passive role without great humility. If he tries to retain control of his spiritual life, he will spoil the whole thing. But a humble soul that accepts God’s sovereignty over it will advance quickly.
The Interior Battle
First passive night of sense → A soul that surrenders itself to God’s Providence will engage in interior battles against aridity, desolation, and all the afflictions that come with purgation of imperfections. Sometimes the exposure of deep sin in the soul can overwhelm it with grief. But all this suffering ultimately brings benefit to the soul. The result of God’s work is divine illumination - first to find the causes and roots of imperfections. God’s divine grace is necessary to see these causes and roots, and to extricate them from the soul.
As the soul moves from the first passive night of sense to passive night of spirit, there is nothing to cling to except blind trust in God as He is moving the soul.
The torments of this stage can be truly horrible and hard to bear. No relief or consolation is found here as the attachments, imperfections, and affections of the soul are divinely illuminated and annihilated.
Addressing the Errors of Beginners:
A soul beginning its spiritual journey is full of enthusiasm and consolation, but often falls into defects which coincide with the seven capital sins, particularly spiritual gluttony, spiritual avarice, and spiritual pride.
→ As it enters the journey, it thinks it has climbed to a high state of spiritual perfection and exceeds those around it.
→ It becomes envious if its own holiness is not being recognized.
→ It desires more spirituality than what God is willing to give it at this stage.
As God introduces aridity, affliction, and knowledge of itself, desolation descends upon the soul. As the soul suffers terribly, its first conclusion is that God has rejected and abandoned it, but this is erroneous. God is actually doing valuable work. Like a skilled surgeon, He is removing vices from the soul that it cannot remove by itself, nor even see. The result of this ‘dark night’ should be a deep humility and poverty of spirit.
The Spiritual Canticle, or the ‘betrothal’ and ‘spiritual marriage.’
The final stage → Union with God
The soul, having been divested of all its inordinate attachments to the world, has now completely submitted itself to the sovereignty of God. This complete surrender is indispensable for union.
A soul that is entirely in God’s possession and has surrendered completely to God now has its reward: Divine Love. Divine Love is flowing into the soul like a great river, and all other considerations and interests are subordinated to this Divine Love. Creatures of the world have no participation here. The soul has sold all and acquired the pearl of great price, and it now knows that it has been well worth the detachment and suffering to enter here.
“As the union grows closer and deeper, the soul receives supernatural graces capable of absorbing the soul completely into divine union.” (pg 48)
The soul is now all God’s, and He is all to it.
God is always willing to bring a soul to this union, but only for the soul that is prepared to receive Him, and much purification and purgation must occur first before the soul is disposed and able to engage with God in this way.
The soul that has entered into ‘the spiritual marriage’ has detached itself from all attractions and allurements of the world. If it had not, it never could have arrived at this lofty state.
A soul full of God necessarily empties itself of all that is not God.
The soul has reached such a degree of poverty of spirit that it has entered substantially into God. The only veil remaining between the soul and God will be torn by natural death.
In fact, unity is so strong that, for this soul, natural death is simply another movement closer to the Kingdom. Death is simply the final veil that completes union with God.
“The death of such a person is very gentle and sweet, sweeter and more gentle than their whole spiritual life on earth. For they die with the most sublime impulses and delightful encounters of love, resembling a swan whose song is much sweeter at the moment of death.” -St. John of the Cross (LF 1:30)
Saint Teresa of Jesus and Saint John of the Cross, help us to pray....
Incredible. I needed to read this today. The confusion is so great. The cloud of unknowing. The pain. Thank you 🙏🏻