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APPENDIX
THE PERFECTION OF LOVE AND THE MYSTICAL UNION
OR
THE MYSTICISM OF A Spiritual Canticle BY ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS (1) We reproduce here an article which appeared in La Vie
spirituelle (January, 1936). We thank its author for permitting
us to use it and also for having so well expressed what in our
opinion is the true teaching of St. John of the Cross on several
points of great importance. I. THE PERFECTION OF LOVE AND INFUSED CONTEMPLATION It has recently been affirmed that according to the spiritual
teaching of Carmel, and of St. Teresa in particular, the perfection
of
love is found in the ascetical way and that infused contemplation is
not at all necessary to sanctity.(2) God willingly grants these mystical graces to generous souls, they
say. Consequently the soul does well to desire them, to prepare
itself for them, and to tend to them, even to direct its whole life
toward the contemplative ideal; nevertheless, they add, the fact
remains that sanctity can be attained without them. Moreover, they distinguish two kinds of contemplation: acquired
contemplation and infused contemplation. The first may also be
called mixed or active-passive contemplation; it is a latent
mystical contemplation. They concede that this contemplation is in
the normal way of sanctity. The second, mystical contemplation
properly so called, experimentally passive or infused, especially in
its higher degrees (the betrothal and the spiritual marriage) , is
not, they maintain, in the normal way.(3) This opinion, it seems to us, is not in harmony with the teaching of
St. John of the Cross.(4) To affirm on the one hand that mystical contemplation is not
necessary to perfection, and to maintain on the other that it is
good to tend to it seems to us difficult to reconcile with the
teaching of the Mystical Doctor. We know with what insistence he
requires that the soul absolutely divest itself of all that is
accidental, accessory, extraordinary, and not essential or necessary to perfection.
(5) For St. John of the Cross the unique goal in this life is perfect
union with God through the theological virtues; everything that is
not necessary to this union - even graces in other regards precious
- is, as soon as one dwells excessively on it, an obstacle. These things
must be renounced, rejected, as far as possible; the soul must go
beyond them and thus rest in emptiness, in the most absolute nudity
of spirit. This is the very essence of the teaching of St. John of
the Cross in The Ascent of Mount Carmel and in The Dark Night.(6) How,
therefore, can we harmonize this doctrine of the void, excluding all
that is accidental, with the seeking after a mystical contemplation
that would be precisely something accidental? This mortification of every desire, with the exception of that of
divine union, this divesting oneself of all that is not God,
constitutes for the soul the dark night, which is at the center of
the saint's doctrine. If he leads the soul by this night to
mystical, obscure, and general contemplation,(7) is it not that, in
his opinion, this contemplation is part of the perfect union to
which the denudation of the purifications tends, and that there is a
necessary connection between perfect love, the fruit of denudation
and of the purifications, and the mystical contemplation to which
the soul has access through the dark night? This is especially clear in A Spiritual Canticle, and we should like
to show it. Our fundamental reason is summed up in the following
argument. The transforming union described in A Spiritual Canticle
is certainly a very lofty mystical state; no one can deny it. Now this
state is in the normal way of sanctity, since St. John calls it the
union of love, the state of perfection, full union with God, full
and perfect love.(8) Therefore even the most elevated mystical state,
at least in its essential character, is in the normal way of
sanctity. Besides it would be difficult to comprehend how the perfection of
love described by the saint in A Spiritual Canticle, could be
attained without the help of mystical graces and of infused
contemplation. We shall see this by an analysis of A Spiritual
Canticle. To the above we add a further consideration. If the connection
between the state of perfect love and the mystical state of the
betrothal or of the spiritual marriage were only accidental, St.
John of the Cross would at each step have caused an unbelievable
confusion by continually uniting them, without ever warning us that
one can exist without the other. He affirms explicitly, on the
contrary, that consummate perfection is obtained only in the state
of the espousals and of spiritual marriage and that before this
state is reached love is always imperfect. This is what we shall try
to establish by evidence.(9) We shall show, first of all, that the union described in
A Spiritual
Canticle is the highest mystical state. By analysis of the text we
shall then establish that this union is in the normal line of the
development of perfect charity, the necessary term of sanctity. II. THE UNION DESCRIBED IN A Spiritual Canticle IS MYSTICAL First of all, we can easily establish that the union described in
A Spiritual Canticle is the highest mystical union. I) St. John calls this union the spiritual espousals, in its lower
degree,(10) and, in its higher degree, the spiritual marriage.(11) Now,
these expressions are commonly attributed to the mystical union;
marriage denotes the most sublime union; the espousals refer to the
union which immediately precedes the spiritual marriage. The union
to which St. John of the Cross leads the soul is, therefore, the
highest mystical union. 2) St. John of the Cross calls this union the transforming union,
the transformation of the soul in God,(12) and these expressions, like
that of the spiritual marriage, fittingly designate the highest
mystical Union. 3) The Mystical Doctor attributes to the espousals the entrance into
the "sweet science" that God teaches to the soul in this union;
and "this science is mystical theology, which is the secret science
of God, and which spiritual men call contemplation."
(13) Evidently mystical contemplation is meant. It is God who "bestows on the soul
this science and knowledge in the love by which He communicates
Himself to the soul" (14) In this luminous union God transforms the
soul, "makes it completely His own and empties it of all that is
alien to Himself," (15) which cannot be done without the mystical
graces. In the higher degree of union we find infused contemplation more
clearly described: "When the soul has been raised to the high state
of spiritual marriage, the Bridegroom reveals to it, as His faithful
consort, His own marvelous secrets most readily and most frequently,
for he who truly and sincerely loves hides nothing from the object
of his affections. The chief matter of His communications are the
sweet mysteries of His Incarnation, the ways and means of the
redemption, which is one of the highest works of God, and so is to
the soul one of the sweetest." (16) The Bridegroom does all this in
this stanza which emphasizes with what tender love He discloses such
mysteries interiorly to the soul. The state which St. John of the Cross describes here is a state of
love linked to a state of infused contemplation. The connection is
owing to a necessity of love: "True and full love cannot hide
anything." This connection is not accidental, since this need is
connatural to perfect charity. The observation is important. 4) The Mystical Doctor repeatedly affirms that it is God alone who
acts and operates immediately in the soul in this state, that
therein the soul passively receives contemplation.(17) But passivity
characterizes precisely mystical contemplation. s) Lastly, Sr. John of the Cross speaks of divine touches, of the
contact of the divinity as characteristic of this union, as
ordinarily produced in this state. (18) These are, certainly, very
lofty mystical graces. There is not, it seems, any doubt that the union described in
A Spiritual Canticle is the most distinctly characterized and
the loftiest mystical union.(19) This union is in the normal way. St. John of the Cross
again and again describes the state to which the soul should tend:
the spiritual marriage as full union with God, as consummated union,
as the state of perfect love. He affirms that the full perfection of
love is obtained only in the spiritual marriage.(20) But full union with God, consummated perfection, perfect
love are certainly in the normal way: this is the whole end of our
life.(21) It will suffice, therefore, to establish solidly that, in
the opinion of the Mystical Doctor, the spiritual espousals, the
spiritual marriage are simply the state of perfect love in order to
conclude that he places them in the normal way of sanctity. The
texts will furnish us abundant proof of this. III. THE PERFECTION OF LOVE IN THE
SPIRITUAL ESPOUSALS St. 14. The Flight of Mystical Contemplation and the
State of Union In the thirteenth stanza St. John of the Cross describes
the flight of the soul in this state of ardent love and great
desires, which he set forth in the first stanzas. In the fourteenth stanza he continues: "This spiritual
flight signifies a certain high estate and union of love, whereunto,
after many spiritual exercises, God is, wont to elevate the soul: it
is called the spiritual betrothal of the Word, the Son of God." (22) Here we have two very important affirmations: (I) the
state of the spiritual espousals is nothing other than the state of
union of love; (2) God is wont to elevate the soul to this state
when it has greatly exercised itself in the spiritual life; which is
equivalent to saying that this state is normal. St. 24. The State of the Spiritual Espousals, the State
of Perfect Love St. John describes the state of the spiritual espousals
as the state of perfect love and of perfect and heroic virtues. The
soul says clearly that it is now united to the Beloved, since it has
the solid virtues together with perfect charity. Therefore it calls
this union of love a bed of flowers.(23) Moreover, the soul says
that the bed is of flowers because in this state the virtues in the
soul are perfect and heroic, a condition impossible before there was
a bed of flowers, the fruit of perfect union with God. Perfect and heroic virtues cannot, therefore, exist
before the union of the spiritual espousals; such virtues are the
fruit of this union. Similarly, each of the virtues (the soul now
possesses them in perfection) becomes like a den of lions. "The
soul's bed is encompassed by these dens of the virtues, because in
this state its virtues are so perfectly ordered, and so joined
together and bound up with one another in the consummate perfection
of the soul, each supporting the other, that no part of it is weak
or exposed. Not only is Satan unable to penetrate within it, but
even worldly things, whether great or little, fail to disturb or
annoy it, or even move it; for being now free from all molestation
of natural affections, and a stranger to the worry of temporal
anxieties, it enjoys in security and peace the participation of
God." (24) It is clear that for St. John the state of the spiritual
espousals is the initial stage of the state of consummate
perfection. St. 26. The Inner Cellar and the Union of Most Intimate
Love St. John of the Cross describes here the state of the
espousals and of the spiritual marriage as full union with God and
as the supreme degree of love to which the soul can attain in this
life. The soul sets forth in this stanza the very great grace that
God gave it by making it enter the secret depths of His love which
is the union or transformation of love in God. The cellar of which
the soul speaks is the supreme degree of the most intimate love to
which the soul can attain in this life; consequently the soul calls
it the inner cellar, that is, the most secret. It uses this term
because there are others less interior: such are the degrees of love
through which the soul ascends to the highest. We may say that there
are seven of these cellars. The soul will enter them all when it has
in perfection the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. In the inmost
cellar is wrought the perfect union with God, the union of the
spiritual marriage, of which the soul is now speaking.(25) Thus for St. John of the Cross the spiritual marriage is
identified with full union with God. The effects of this union are
then described: "Until the soul reaches the state of perfection,
however spiritual it may be, there always remains a troop of
desires, likings, and other imperfections, sometimes natural,
sometimes spiritual, after which it runs, and which it tries to feed
while following and satisfying them. . . . As to this flock, some
men are more influenced by it than others; they run after and follow
it, until they enter the inner cellar, where they lose it
altogether, being then transformed in love. In this cellar the flock
of imperfections is easily destroyed, as rust and mould on metal in
the fire." (26) It is evident that in the opinion of St. John of the
Cross the highest degree of love and perfection is attained only in
the state of the espousals and the spiritual marriage, in the "inner
cellar." Hence no one can say that the highest degree of love is
outside the normal way of the saints. St. 27. The State of the Spiritual Espousals and the
Complete Impulsion of the Soul toward God In this stanza St. John describes the state of the
spiritual espousals as the state of perfect love, in which even the
first movements of the will and the sensible appetites are directed
toward God. It would be futile to wish to obtain such perfection
actively by one's own efforts in the purely ascetical life. And
besides, St. John teaches explicitly that it is God Himself who
causes this perfection in the soul by means of "mystical theology,"
that is, by infused contemplation. St. John states that the "science
full of sweetness" which God has taught the soul is mystical
theology, "which is the secret science of God, and which spiritual
men call contemplation. . . . God is the Author of this union, and
of the purity and perfection requisite for it; and as the
transformation of the soul in Himself makes it His, He empties it of
all that is alien to Himself. Thus it comes to pass that, not in
will only, but in act as well, the whole soul is entirely given to
God without any reserve whatever, as God has given Himself freely
unto it. . . . The soul is, as it were, absorbed in God, and even
its first movements have nothing in them - so far as it can
comprehend them - which is at variance with the will of God. . . .
The first movements (in the understanding, the memory, the will, and
the desires) of the soul which has attained to the spiritual state
of which I am speaking are ordinarily directed to God, because of
the great help and courage it derives from Him, and its perfect
conversion to goodness." Evidently this degree of perfection is superior to human
efforts; it can be attained only in the mystical way. On the other
hand, it is the effect of a "union by exchange" which is in the
normal development of charity. St. 28. The Spiritual Espousals and the Activity of Love St. John here describes the state of the spiritual
espousals as the state of perfect love, in which all the higher and
lower powers "are consecrated no longer to its own interests, but to
those pertaining to the service of the Bridegroom." The saint says:
"Even its communion with God Himself is nothing else but acts of
love." The soul declares: "My soul is occupied, and all my substance
in His service." In these words it reveals the gift it has made of
itself to the Beloved in this union of love in which the soul is,
with all its powers (intellect, will, and memory), dedicated and
engaged in His service, devoting its intellect to the understanding
of what is of most consequence to His cause that it may put it into
practice; its will to the preference of all that gives pleasure to
God, to the direction of its affections in everything to God; its
memory to the seeking of what may serve Him and give Him the
greatest pleasure. The soul continues: "And all my substance in His
service." By all its substance, the soul means here all that relates
to its sensible part. The soul says here that it has consecrated its
sensible as well as its rational and spiritual part to His service. All this, it says, is consecrated to His cause: the soul
orders the body according to God "in all its interior and exterior
senses, all the acts of which are directed to God. The four passions
of the soul are also under control in Him; for the soul's joy, hope,
fear, and grief are conversant with God only; all its appetites and
all its anxieties also are directed unto Him only." "The whole substance of the soul is now so occupied with
God, so intent upon Him, that its very first movements, even
inadvertently, have God for their object and their end. The
understanding, memory, and will tend directly to God." "Now I guard no flock." By these words the soul means: "I
do not now go after my likings and desires; for having them fixed
upon God, I no longer feed or guard them. The soul not only does not
guard them now, but has no other occupation than to wait upon God.
'Nor have I any other employment.' Before the soul succeeded in
effecting this gift and surrender of itself, and of all that belongs
to it, to the Beloved, it was entangled in many unprofitable
occupations. . . . It may be said that its occupations of this kind
were as many as its habits of imperfection."
The soul still has a blemish, which it never rids itself
of as long as it does not once and for all consecrate all its
substance to the service of God so that, as we have said, all its
words, thoughts, and works are directed to God. " 'My sole occupation is love.' The soul means: 'All my
occupation now is the practice of the love of God, all the powers of
soul and body, memory, understanding, and will, interior and
exterior senses, the desires of spirit and of sense, all work in and
by love. All I do is done in love; all I suffer, I suffer in the
sweetness of love.' . . . "When the soul has arrived at this state all the acts of
its spiritual and sensual nature, whether active or passive, and of
whatever kind they may be, always occasion an increase of love and
delight in God; even the act of prayer and communion with God, which
was formerly carried on by reflections and divers other methods, is
now wholly an act of love. . . . The soul, in the state of spiritual
betrothal, is for the most part living in the union of love - that is,
the will is habitually waiting lovingly on God." It is impossible to conceive of such perfection of love, of such a
gift of self extending even to the first movements of all the
powers, in the purely ascetical way. According to St. John of the
Cross, this perfection, obtained only in the spiritual espousals, is
the effect of the mystical graces bestowed in this state.(27)
Thus once more the state of perfect love is identified in the
teaching of St. John of the Cross with the state of the spiritual
espousals. St. 29. The Soul Lost to the World for Its Beloved This stanza also refers to the state of the spiritual espousals:
"Having attained to a living love of God [that is, practicing the
virtues solely for love of God], it makes little account of all
this; and that is not all. It boasts that. . . it is lost to the
world and to itself for the Beloved. . . . Such is he that loves
God; he seeks neither gain nor reward but only to lose all, even
himself, according to God's will; this is what such a one counts
gain." This is still another description of perfect love; it is the way of
pure faith and pure love, as the following words show: "When a soul
has advanced so far on the spiritual road as to be lost to all the
natural methods of communing with God; when it seeks Him no longer
by meditation, images, impressions, nor by any other created ways,
or representations of sense, but only by rising above them all, in
the joyful communion with Him by faith and love, then it may be said
to have found God of a truth, because it has truly lost itself as to
all that is not God, and also as to its own self." IV. THE PERFECTION OF LOVE IN THE SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE St. 12. The Spiritual Marriage and the
Transforming Union In this stanza St. John himself declares that he is discussing the
spiritual marriage. First of all, he tells us that the perfection of
this state is not obtained by our own efforts, but by the breathing
of the Holy Ghost: that is, it belongs, not to the ascetical, but to
the mystical way. The soul has again implored and obtained the
breathing of the Holy Ghost which remains the indispensable means
and instrument of the perfection of this state. St. John then describes the spiritual marriage as the state of
perfect love. It is a complete transformation into the Beloved: God
and the soul give each other total possession of each other by the
union of love consummated in the measure possible on earth. The soul
as a result becomes divine and God by participation, as much as this
life permits. By the consummation of the spiritual marriage between
God and the soul, two natures are in one single spirit and love of
God. The spouse is introduced, that is, she has got rid of all that
is temporal, all that is natural, of all attachments, ways, and
spiritual manners. . . in the transformation of this sublime
embrace. . . . The soul is transformed in its God. The
transformation is complete. What St. Paul says to the Galatians may
be applied to it: "I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me."
(28) Thus the spiritual marriage is for St. John of the Cross the union
of perfect love. But perfect love is in the normal way; all are
called to perfect love, the final end of life on earth: "Now the end
of the commandment is charity." (29)
Besides, St. John of the Cross affirms it: "In all the works of the
soul, God and the soul have only one ambition, one end: the
consummation and plenitude of this state." If, therefore, the state
of spiritual marriage is the end of all the actions of the soul, as
well as of the divine operation, it is necessarily identified with
perfect love and cannot be in purely accidental relation to it.
Consequently we conclude that it incontestably brings the spiritual
marriage, an eminently mystical state, into the normal way of
sanctity. The analysis of the following stanzas will but strengthen
this conclusion. St. 20-21. The Spiritual Marriage and the Total Death of the
Passions In this stanza St. John describes the spiritual marriage as the
state of perfect love in which God "commands all vain distractions
of the fancy and imagination from henceforth to cease, and controls
the irascible and concupiscible faculties which were hitherto
the sources of so much affliction. He brings, so far as it is
possible in this life, the three powers of memory, understanding,
and will to the perfection of their objects. . . . He adjures also
all these actions which depart from the true mean, and bids them
cease before the soft lyres and the siren strains, which so
effectually charm the powers of the soul as to occupy them
completely in their true and proper functions, so that they avoid
not only all extremes, but also the slightest tendency to them."
This is a new degree of love which manifestly surpasses our own
efforts and the purely ascetical life. Moreover, St. John of the
Cross says so explicitly: "The Beloved adjures the affections of
these four passions, compels them to cease and to be at rest." St. 18. The Perfect Calm of the Powers and Senses The spiritual marriage is represented here as the state of
perfection which excludes even the imperfection of the inordinate
first movements of the powers and senses. "And touch not our
thresholds, that is to say: Let not even your first movements touch
the higher part, for the first movements of the soul are the
entrance and thresholds of it. When the first movements have passed
into the reason, they have crossed the threshold; but when they
remain as first movements only, they are then said merely to touch
the threshold, or to cry at the gate, which is the case when reason
and sense contend over an unreasonable act." Thus, in this state, this sensible part with all its powers, its
energies, and its weaknesses has yielded to the spirit. This
constitutes
even now a blessed life, similar to that of the state of innocence,
when all the resources and capacities of the sensible part of man
enabled him to know and to love God. St. 35. The Solitude of the Soul with the Bridegroom In this stanza St. John shows clearly that the spiritual marriage is
a mystical state and that perfect love is not obtained in the
ascetical way, but that it is God who produces it in the soul in the
mystical way. In this stanza the Bridegroom declares not only that
He guides the soul, "but that He is its only guide, without any
intermediate help." " 'Alone hath the Beloved guided her.' That is, the Beloved not only
guides the soul in its solitude, but it is He alone who works in
it directly and immediately. It is of the nature of the soul's union
with God in the spiritual marriage that God works directly, and
communicates Himself immediately, not by the ministry of angels or
by the help of natural capacities. For the exterior and interior
senses, all created things, and even the soul itself, contribute
very little toward the reception of those great supernatural favors
which God bestows in this state; yea, rather, inasmuch as they do
not fall within the cognizance of natural efforts, ability, and
application, God effects them alone. "The reason is that He finds the soul alone in its solitude, and
therefore will not give it another companion, nor will He entrust
His work to any other than Himself. There is a certain fitness in
this; for the soul having abandoned all things, and passed through
all the ordinary means, rising above them unto God, God Himself
becomes the guide and the way to Himself. The soul in solitude,
detached from all things, having now ascended above all things,
nothing now can profit or help it to ascend higher except the
Bridegroom Word Himself." In this stanza St. John admirably distinguishes between the ascetical
and the mystical ways. To the ascetical way belongs the preparation
of the soul for the divine operation by denuding it of all that is
created; to the mystical, consummate perfection, which God produces
in the soul. St. 37-38. Perfect Purity and Equality of Love St. John of the Cross shows first in this stanza that the soul
desires mystical contemplation, designated here by "the caverns of
the rock," because mystical contemplation is the means to obtain
perfect love and perfect purity. In the following stanza he
describes perfection and the purity of the state of the spiritual
marriage. "The reason why the soul longed to enter the caverns was
that it might attain to the consummation of the love of God, the
object of its continual desires; that is, that it might love God
with the pureness and perfection wherewith He has loved it, so that
it might thereby requite His love." If the connection between perfect love and the mystical
contemplation designated by the "caverns of the rock" were purely
accidental, if perfect love and perfect purity could be obtained
without mystical contemplation, this desire of the soul would be
imperfect, according to the principles of St. John of the Cross. He continues: "In the present stanza the bride says to the
Bridegroom that He will there show her what she had always aimed at
in all her actions, namely, that He would show her how to love Him
perfectly, as He has loved her. And, secondly, that He will give her
that essential glory for which He has predestined her from the day
of His eternity.
'There Thou wilt show me
That which my soul desired.'
"That which the soul aims at is equality in love with God, the
object of its natural and supernatural desire. He who loves cannot
be satisfied if he does not feel that he loves as much as he is
loved." The desire for equality of love is, therefore, essential to love; it
is in the nature and the grace of love. The saint continues: "When
the soul sees that in the transformation in God, such as is possible
in this life, notwithstanding the immensity of its love, it cannot
equal the perfection of that love wherewith God loves it, it desires
the clear transformation of glory wherein it shall equal the
perfection of love wherewith it is itself beloved of God; it
desires. . . the clear transformation of glory wherein it shall
equal His love. . . . "The will of the soul will then be the will of God. . . . Though in
heaven the will of the soul is not destroyed, it is so intimately
united with the power of the will of God, who loves it, that it
loves Him as strongly and as perfectly as it is loved of Him; both
wills being united in one sole will and one sole love of God. Thus
the soul loves God with the will and strength of God Himself,
being made one with that very strength of love wherewith itself is loved
of God. This strength is of the Holy Ghost, in whom the soul is
there transformed. He is given to the soul to strengthen its love;
ministering to it, and supplying in it, because of its
transformation in glory, that which is defective in it. In the
perfect transformation also of the state of spiritual marriage, such
as is possible on earth, in which the soul is all clothed in grace,
the soul loves in a certain way in the Holy Ghost, who is given to
it in that transformation." Again St. John identifies the state of the spiritual marriage with
the state of perfect love, of perfect conformity to the will of God;
it is the normal end of all life on earth. He then explains the
purity of this state, saying that it presupposes evidently that God has
given to the soul in this state of transformation a great purity,
like to that of original justice or that of baptismal innocence.(30)
The soul here adds, therefore, that this purity is going to be
granted to it by the Spouse as the fruit of this transformation of
love. It says also:
"And there Thou wilt give me at once,
0 Thou, my life,
That which Thou gavest me the other day."
"By 'other day' is meant the day of the eternity of God, which is
other than the day of time. In that day of eternity God predestined
the soul unto glory, and determined the degree of glory which He
would give it and freely gave from the beginning before He created
it." The soul declares in these verses that it will find this gift again
in this union of love. That is indeed what it meant in the last
verse by the words "that which Thou gavest me the other day," since,
as we have said, the soul, in its state of perfection, attains to
the same purity and the same cleanness. St. John therefore affirms here that in the spiritual marriage the
soul reaches a purity similar to that of original justice or of
baptismal innocence. This is an important statement. From this
affirmation we may draw two conclusions which interest us: (I) the
spiritual marriage is normal; (2) it is mystical. It is normal, for the purity of original justice or of baptismal
innocence, which the soul receives in the spiritual marriage,
excludes every moral imperfection; and this exclusion is the normal
end to which all souls can and must tend. This state is mystical,
for in the present order a permanent state, similar to that of
original or baptismal innocence, without moral imperfection, in the
full activity of the spiritual faculties, cannot be attained in the
purely ascetical way by our own efforts, but only in the mystical
way by the special operation of the Holy Ghost. It requires the
grace of infused contemplation and the activity of the gifts of the
Holy Ghost, as is evident from all the texts from the works of St.
John of the Cross. In this state the soul "experiences interiorly a
sort of fruition, a sweetness which makes it overflow with praise."
The purity to which it has attained is "bestowed on it by the Bridegroom
as the fruit of this transformation of love." The touches of the
passive graces are evident in this state. Is not this also a normal
growth of perfect love? St. 39. The Flame of Sweet Transformation The spiritual marriage is described in this stanza as the state of
the most sublime perfection and transformation in God. St. John
bases his teaching on the words of St. Paul: "And because you are
sons, God hath sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying:
Abba (Father)"; (31) on the words of our Lord: "Father, I will that
where I am, they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me; that
they may see My glory which Thou hast given Me"; (32) and on the words
of St. Peter: "He hath given us most great and precious promises,
that by these you may be made partakers of the divine nature."
(33)
All these quotations admirably confirm our thesis that in the
opinion of St. John of the Cross the spiritual marriage is the full
and normal development, the flowering of the life of grace, the
normal end of supernatural life on earth. St. John of the Cross also teaches in this stanza that perfect love
is obtained in the mystical way by the "breathing of the air," that
is, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, and that it is accompanied
by mystical contemplation, which is not only the means,(34) but also
the effect of perfect love.(35) The spouse, we said, wishes two things in the preceding stanza:
first, what her soul had as an end; then, what the Bridegroom had
given her the other day. The soul sets forth in the present stanza
the parts of its end: that is, not only perfect love, but also all
that comes to the soul through it. Therefore the soul enumerates five things which detail all that it
admits having in view here: first the breathing of the air; then the
love of which we have spoken, the principal object that it has in
view; . . . fourthly, the pure and clear contemplation of the divine
essence. "The breathing of the air." This is a property of the
Holy Ghost
which the soul asks for here in order to love God perfectly. It
calls it the "breathing of the air" because it is a touch or a very
delicate feeling of love, ordinarily produced in the soul in this
state by the presence of the Holy Ghost. Thus, according to St. John of the Cross, to love God
perfectly the "breathing of the air," or the touch of the Holy
Ghost, is necessary; this is certainly a mystical grace ordinarily
produced in the spiritual marriage.(36) The fourth request is " 'In the serene night.' That is,
contemplation, in which the soul desires to behold the grove. It is
called night because contemplation is dim; and that is the reason
why it is also called mystical theology, that is, the secret or
hidden wisdom of God, where, without the sound of words, or the
intervention of any bodily or spiritual sense, as it were in silence
and in repose, in the darkness of sense and nature, God teaches the
soul - and the soul knows not how - in a most secret and hidden way.
. . . "Some spiritual writers call this 'understanding without
understanding,' because it does not take place in what philosophers
call the active understanding, which is conversant with the forms,
fancies, and apprehensions of the physical faculties, but in the
understanding as it is possible and passive, which without receiving
such forms, receives passively only the substantial knowledge of
them free from all imagery. This occurs without effort or exertion
on its part, and for this reason contemplation is called night. "Still, however clear may be its knowledge, it is dark
night in comparison with that of the blessed, for which the soul
prays. Hence, while it prays for clear contemplation, that is, the
fruition of the grove, and its beauty with the other objects here
enumerated, it says, let it be in the night now serene; that is, in
the clear beatific contemplation." This magnificent description of mystical contemplation
proves conclusively to us that the spiritual marriage is a mystical
state. But this mystical contemplation, according to the terms of
St. John of the Cross, is "that which comes to the soul through
perfect love." It is, therefore, not purely accidental, but is the
essential effect, the distinctive characteristic, of perfect love,
as it was also, we have seen, the means, the disposition to obtain
this love.(37) But if mystical contemplation is the characteristic
of perfect love and its necessary disposition, it is surely in the
normal way, as perfect love itself is.
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1. By Father Alexander Rozwadowski, S.]. 2. We take the word "ascetical" in its ordinary meaning, to
characterize acts that can be produced by our personal activity
aided by common grace. In these acts the soul is active rather than
passive. On the other hand, we use the term "mystical" to
characterize acts that cannot be produced by our
personal activity aided by common grace, but that require a special
inspiration and illumination of the Holy Ghost. In these acts the soul is
passive rather than active: patiens divina, as St. Thomas says,
using the expression of Dionysius. Such are the acts of infused
contemplation. This terminology is
conformable to the usage common and proper to classical authors.
3. Cf. Father Gabriel of St. Magdalen, "La Mistica Teresiana," Vita
Cristiana, Florence, 1934. Father Gabriel of St. Magdalen, however,
comes
far nearer to our way of looking at the matter in a more recent
book: S.Giovanni della Croce, Dottore dell' Amore divino, Florence, 1936.
See also
the note at the end of this appendix.
4. We believe that there is no essential divergence on this point between the
teaching of St. Teresa and that of St. John of the Cross. The
opinion stated in the text does not seem to us conformable either to the teaching
of the great Teresa. The thesis that the doctrine of St. Teresa on
the normal character of the mystical life does not differ essentially from that of St.
John of the Cross is upheld and solidly proved by Arintero, Garate, Garrigou-Lagrange,
Lamballe, Saudreau, and others. Cf. the works of these authors.
5. Cf. The Ascent, II, chaps. 20, 22, 27.
6. Cf. The Ascent, I, chaps. 1-5; II, chaps. 1-8.
7. Ibid., II, chap. 9; A Spiritual Canticle, st. 38.
8. A Spiritual Canticle, st. 15, 17, 18-20, 27, 29, 31, 34, 37-39.
9. Our demonstration, as is evident, is completely independent of the lively
debated question regarding the frontier between asceticism and
mysticism. Our proof prescinds from this controversy. As our point
of departure we take the states of the espousals and of the spiritual marriage; they
are not states of transition, they are incontestably at the summit of mysticism.
10 Cf. st. 13, 15, 18, 19, 27.
11. Cf. st. 17, 27-29, 34, 36, 37.
12. Cf. st. 17, 27, 29, 36-38.
13. A Spiritual Canticle, st. 27. 3.
14. Ibid., 27. 3.
15. Ibid., 27, 4.
16. Ibid., st. 22, note.
17. Cf. st. 13, 34, 38.
18. Cf. st. 13, 14, 16, 32, 38.
19. In describing, with St. John of the Cross, the espousals and the spiritual marriage as forms of perfect charity, we shall again have
occasion to point out the mystical character of these states.
20. What we say of the spiritual marriage corresponds also, due
proportion being kept, to the spiritual espousals which precede it.
21. St. Thomas, IIa IIae, q. 184, a. I, 3.
22. A Spiritual Canticle, st. 14.
23. St. 24, par. 2, 3.
24. Ibid., par. 6.
25. A Spiritual Canticle, st. 26, par. 2, 3. It is love that opens
the way into each cellar, and the soul advances therein according to
its degree of love. St. John of the Cross says: "Many souls reach
and enter the first cellar, each according to the perfection of its
love, but the last and inmost cellar is entered by few in this
world." The reason for this is that few souls attain on earth the
final perfection of love possible in this world. It is not, however,
that we are not all called to it, since the perfection of charity is
the very goal of our whole life.
26. Ibid., par. 20, 21.
27. Cf. st. 15, 17, 18, 27, 34.
28. Gal. 2: 20.
29. Cf. I Tim. 1:5. See also St. Thomas, IIa IIae, q.184, a.I, 3. Pius
XI, Encyclical Rerum omnium perturbationem, January 16, 1913, and
Encyclical Studiorum ducem, June 29, 1923.
30. Cf. st. 32.
31. Gal. 4:6.
32. John 17:24.
33. Cf. II Pet. 1:4.
34. Cf. st. 19, 38.
35. St. Thomas, IIa IIae, q. 180, a.I.
36. Cf. st. 28. 37. Cf. st. 19, 38.
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