a oscuras y segura
por la secreta escala disfrazada,
¡oh dichosa ventura!
a oscuras y en celada
estando ya mi casa sosegada.
In darkness and secure,
By the secret ladder, disguised
Oh fortuitous chance!
In darkness and in concealment,
My house being now at rest.
A surprise call from the Hospice, something I understand I will have to appreciate and respect. My anticipated Willoughby, Ohio Wednesday routine will not develop into a routine. The patient passed away over the weekend. It is good the Poor Clares are praying for him and his wife. He passed on Saturday, the day of Roger’s funeral. I will return to the Bagel Buddy though, attending mass at Our Lady by the Lake, purchasing Christmas baked goods on Wednesday in honor of the patient.
St John of the Cross. Euclid, Ohio.
Anonymity above all things, a veil of mystery always remains, yet I will say amidst professional confidentiality, regarding the tendering of care-to be of service to brother and sister, a retired priest has been assigned. I am humbled. A priest in need, God, You send my way? Mother Josephine pray for me. I open myself to the mysteries of life, worldly existence and the eternal, allowing an honest, willing heart to be shared. God allow me to be a minuscule lamp, a worm burning, amongst your mighty wonders.
Oh, Lamps of Fire,
In whose splendors the deep caverns of sense,
Which were dark and blind,
Oh, Lamps of Fire
With strange brightness
Give heat and light together to their Beloved!
…The soul gives deepest thanks to its Spouse for the great favors which it receives from union with Him, for by means of this union He has given it great and abundant knowledge of Himself, wherewith the faculties and sense of the soul, which before this union were dark and blinded by other kinds of love, have been enlightened and enkindled with love, and can now be illumined, as indeed they are, and through the heat of love can give light and love to Him who enkindled and enamored them and infused into them such Divine gifts. For the true lover is content only when all that he is, and all that there is, the greater is the pleasure that he receives in giving it. In the first place, it must be known that lamps have two properties, which are two give light and to burn.
…From this it follows that the delight and rapture of love which the souls receives in the fire of the light of these lamps is wondrous, boundless and as vast as that of many lamps, each of which burns with love, the heat of one being added to the heat of another, and the flame of one being added to the heat of another, and the flame of one to the flame of another, as the light of one gives light to another, and all of them become one light and fire, and each of them becomes one fire. The soul is completely absorbed in these delicate flames, and wounded subtly in each of them, and in all of them more deeply and subtly wounded in love of life, so that it can see quite clearly that that love belongs to life eternal, which is the union of all blessings. So that the soul in that state knows well the truth of those words of the Spouse in the Songs, where He says that the lamps of love were lamps of fire and flames.
And here it behooves us to note why it is that there are so few that attain to this lofty state. It must be known that this is not because God is pleased that there should be few raised to this high spiritual state—on the contrary, it would please Him if all were so raised—but rather because He finds few vessels in whom He can perform so high and lofty a work. For, when He proves them in small things and finds them weak and sees that they at once flee from labor, and desire not to submit to the least discomfort or mortification, or to work with solid patience, He finds that they are not strong enough to bear the favor which He was granting them when He began to purge them, and goes no further with their purification, neither does He lift them up from the dust of the earth, since for this they would need greater fortitude and constancy…..’If thou hast run with those who went on foot and hast labored, how canst thou contend with horses? And as thou hast had quietness in the land of peace, how wilt thou do in the pride of Jordan?’ (Jeremiah chapter 12) -St John of the Cross, ‘Living the Flame of Love’
The last thought from the Jeremiah quote implies the greatest danger to spiritual growth for many. The demand to stay simple, humble, malleable and prayerful, while advancing in effort and devotion to the spiritual life. Progress must center upon faith, hope, and charity. It must remain simple. It is enlightening to observe those concentrating upon the spiritual life and the fact so many fall victim to the temptation for power. The need to be right, a perceived authority, a voice of esteem within the Church, crushes good souls. Control, even amidst an authentic desire for humility, cannot be loosened. The need to dominate usurps the practicality of acquiescence. As knowledge, practice, years of serving the church accumulate, even moral behavior amassing, I am convinced, God is forced to forsake many do to their absolute insistence that they must wield control over others and within the church. The spiritual life is easy when things come easy, sweet consolations flowing, and one sees one’s self as wise. The opposite direction, trending toward littleness, is the proper path of self-knowledge. In the interior of our being, knowledge and wisdom dutifully attained can create an understanding lacking in spiritual growth. In our minds we become immense. In the interior of our being, morality, behaving according to all the laws and mandates of the church, subscribing slavishly and scrupulously to the finest details of the Church can create a disposition lacking in spiritual maturity. I heard it said once that the way of Christ is not for those convinced they are doing it right, rather it is for those intent upon doing it wrong. Beyond an intellectual rebellion, it is a commitment to follow God, rather than self-advancement—to follow God without defining and manipulating God. To go beyond the law and dogma, while abiding and obeying. ‘Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.’
Before the Divine Fire of Love is introduced into the substance of the soul, and is united with it, by means of a purity and purgation which is perfect and complete, the Divine Fire of Love wounds the soul; destroying and consuming the soul’s imperfections from evil habits; and this is the operation of the Holy Spirit, wherein He prepares it for Divine Union and the transformation of its substance in God through love…..Thus at this time the soul suffers great darkness in the understanding, many aridities and afflictions in the will, plus grievous knowledge of its miseries in the memory, for the eye of its spiritual self-knowledge is very bright….For as the Divine Fire of Love is of the brightest light, assailing the soul, it is a light that shines in the darkness of the soul, which is as dark as the light is bright. In this brightness, the soul is conscious of its natural darkness, which opposes itself to the supernatural, and it is not conscious of the supernatural, because the darkness comprehends it not…only when the darkness has been driven out is the soul illumined and able to see the light, its eye having been cleansed and strengthened. –St John of the Cross ‘Living Flame of Love’
The other blind eye of whom we have spoken, who can hinder the soul in this kind of recollection, is the devil, who, being himself blind, desires the soul to be blind also. When the soul is in these lofty and solitary places wherein are infused the delicate unctions of the Holy Spirit (the devil has great grief and envy, for he sees the soul flying beyond him, and can in no wise lay hold on it, though he sees that it is gaining riches), the devil tries to cover this detachment and withdrawal, as it were, with cataracts of knowledge and mists of sensible sweetness, which are sometimes good, so that he may entice the soul more surely, and thus cause it to have commerce once more with sense, and to look at these things and embrace them, so that it may continue its journey to God in reliance upon this good knowledge and these delights. And herein he distracts it and very easily withdraws it from that solitude and recollection…the Holy Spirit is working these great things secretly….The soul, being of itself inclined to sensible enjoyment…is very easily led to cling to such kinds of knowledge and such delights, and withdraws itself from the solitude wherein God works. The soul reasons, previously it was doing nothing (stillness and quiet—adoration), this other state (the devil’s liking, supplied with sweet consolations) seems better, for now it is doing something (talking, instructing, educating, receiving attention as a knowledgeable knower of God, an elevated one amongst other religious advocates, one with a recognized righteous cause, a proponent, an esteemed identity). It is a great pity that the soul cannot realize how, for the sake of one mouthful, it is presenting itself from feeding holy upon God Himself…
In this way, with hardly any trouble, the devil works the greatest injuries, causing the soul to lose great riches, and dragging it forth like a fish, with the tiniest bait, from the depths of the pure waters of the spirit, where it had no support or foothold but was engulfed and immersed in God. And hereupon he drags it to the bank, giving it help and support, and showing it something whereon it may lean, so that it may walk up on its own feet with great labour instead of floating in the waters of Siloe, that go with silence, bathed in the unctions of God. –St John of the Cross ‘Living Flame of Love’
As He passed by, He saw a man blind from his birth. And his disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. We must work the works of Him who sent Me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” As He said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Silo’am” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, “Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he”; others said, “No, but he is like him.” He said, “I am the man.” They said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Silo’am and wash’; so I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.” -Gospel of Luke chapter 9
St John of the Cross ‘Living Flame of Love’
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