Jane says that in her opinion - and she adds the disclaimer that her opinion is hers alone and not representative of official church doctrine - you suffer Purgatory right here on earth in your lifetime. And to prevent the soul from becoming complacent, God will test it and try it to the point of despair.įast forwarding 40 years to a nun I know now: Sr. John, the Dark Night could last for years. Ultimately, what I gleaned from it is that in order for the soul to be united with God it must free itself of all earthly chains. That's a beautiful thought, so I read the book. WHAT THE HELL IS IT? Apparently, mysticism is the state of transcending human existence to be one with God. It's like "partnership" and "passive activities" in accounting. The only mystic I ever knew of was Pete Townsend of the Who and mysticism is a word that I just can't comprehend. I should have put it back on the shelf when I saw the word "mysticism". The next day I told the priest I had borrowed this book from the library and he just rolled his eyes. I immediately went to the library, anticipating that this would be a story of his personal struggles and would be inspirational. John of the Cross struggled to found a religious order against heavy opposition from the church hierarchy, and that he wrote this book. In his sermon, the priest told of how St. That particular Saturday just happened to be the Feast of St. It wasn't Sunday, but I wanted to appreciate that Advent is different from the rest of the year and clean my spiritual house for the arrival of Jesus. So why did I read this book? One fine Saturday morning during Advent I went to mass. Gertrude Margaret's answer: How do you know? Did you visit Purgatory and come back to tell us? John of the Cross that I asked (secretly) about Sr. The entire month or so that it took me to read this difficult book I kept asking myself the same question of St. And, like a log, its composition changes as the fire burns. John of the Cross while your soul is in Purgatory the love of God ignites it like a log. The old nun sneered, "They're burned out of you!" Now I know where she heard that. One fine day in the fourth grade at Immaculate Conception School, one of my classmates raised her hand and asked how were your sins cleaned out of you in Purgatory. It rises perpetually upward, yearning to be absorbed at its very center." But to know God means to know yourself, and as Jung said, "The way to light is through the darkness."įor anyone who is "inflamed by love-longing," this book is a beautiful and validating guide. She feels like she is dying with love for him." Mind, body and soul are purified and illuminated in preparation for total union - and the process, according to John, is excruciating. Like a lioness or a she-bear that goes looking for her lost cubs, the wounded soul goes anxiously forth in search of her God. "In the darkness of night, the wounded soul rises up in response to the affections of the will. John of the Cross posits the soul as lover and God as Beloved. Like Rumi's devotional poetry to the eternal presence within, St. The 'Dark Night of the Soul' is not merely a period of intense depression - it is the annihilation of the ego, the final stage when spiritual rituals, symbols and beliefs no longer suffice and there is no comfort but emptiness: the awareness that 'I Am Nothing.' In every major religion from Buddhism to Judaism, enlightenment or spiritual union or perfect consciousness is described as the ultimate Nothing. John of the Cross's description of the phases of the soul as she ('el alma') nears unity with God far transcends any traditional definitions of Catholicism. In the translation by mystic scholar Mirabai Starr, St. I took this book up on my 10-day Mount Shasta retreat and it became the reverberating background of my whole experience.
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