From a Spiritual Canticle of St John of the Cross, priest

The knowledge of the mystery hidden within Christ Jesus

Though holy doctors have uncovered many mysteries and wonders, and devout souls have understood them in this earthly condition of ours, yet the greater part still remains to be unfolded by them, and even to be understood by them.

We must then dig deeply in Christ. He is like a rich mine with many pockets containing treasures: however deep we dig we will never find their end or their limit. Indeed, in every pocket new seams of fresh riches are discovered on all sides.

For this reason the apostle Paul said of Christ: In him are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God. The soul cannot enter into these treasures, nor attain them, unless it first crosses into and enters the thicket of suffering, enduring interior and exterior labours, and unless it first receives from God very many blessings in the intellect and in the senses, and has undergone long spiritual training.

All these are lesser things, disposing the soul for the lofty sanctuary of the knowledge of the mysteries of Christ: this is the highest wisdom attainable in this life.

Would that men might come at last to see that it is quite impossible to reach the thicket of the riches and wisdom of God except by first entering the thicket of much suffering, in such a way that the soul finds there its consolation and desire. The soul that longs for divine wisdom chooses first, and in truth, to enter the thicket of the cross.

Saint Paul therefore urges the Ephesians not to grow weary in the midst of tribulations, but to be steadfast and rooted and grounded in love, so that they may know with all the saints the breadth, the length, the height and the depth – to know what is beyond knowledge, the love of Christ, so as to be filled with all the fullness of God.

The gate that gives entry into these riches of his wisdom is the cross; because it is a narrow gate, while many seek the joys that can be gained through it, it is given to few to desire to pass through it.

RESPONSORY 1 Corinthians 2:9-10

No eye can see, no ear can hear, no heart can imagine

– the marvels that God has prepared for those who love him.

Yet God has revealed them to us through his Spirit.

– The marvels that God has prepared for those who love him.

O God, who gave the Priest Saint John an outstanding dedication to perfect self-denial and love of the Cross, grant that, by imitating him closely at all times, we may come to contemplate eternally your glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

First, it describes this dark contemplation as ‘secret,’ since, as we have indicated above, it is mystical theology, which theologians call secret wisdom, and which, as Saint Thomas says is communicated and infused into the soul through love.[213] This happens secretly and in darkness, so as to be hidden from the work of the understanding and of other faculties. Wherefore, inasmuch as the faculties aforementioned attain not to it, but the Holy Spirit infuses and orders it in the soul, as says the Bride in the Songs, without either its knowledge or its understanding, it is called secret. And, in truth, not only does the soul not understand it, but there is none that does so, not even the devil; inasmuch as the Master Who teaches the soul is within it in its substance, to which the devil may not attain, neither may natural sense nor understanding.

And it is not for this reason alone that it may be called secret, but likewise because of the effects which it produces in the soul. For it is secret not only in the darknesses and afflictions of purgation, when this wisdom of love purges the soul, and the soul is unable to speak of it, but equally so afterwards in illumination, when this wisdom is communicated to it most clearly. Even then it is still so secret that the soul cannot speak of it and give it a name whereby it may be called; for, apart from the fact that the soul has no desire to speak of it, it can find no suitable way or manner or similitude by which it may be able to describe such lofty understanding and such delicate spiritual feeling. And thus, even though the soul might have a great desire to express it and might find many ways in which to describe it, it would still be secret and remain undescribed. For, as that inward wisdom is so simple, so general and so spiritual that it has not entered into the understanding enwrapped or cloaked in any form or image subject to sense, it follows that sense and imagination (as it has not entered through them nor has taken their form and colour) cannot account for it or imagine it, so as to say anything concerning it, although the soul be clearly aware that it is experiencing and partaking of that rare and delectable wisdom. It is like one who sees something never seen before, whereof he has not even seen the like; although he might understand its nature and have experience of it, he would be unable to give it a name, or say what it is, however much he tried to do so, and this in spite of its being a thing which he had perceived with the senses. How much less, then, could he describe a thing that has not entered through the senses! For the language of God has this characteristic that, since it is very intimate and spiritual in its relations with the soul, it transcends every sense and at once makes all harmony and capacity of the outward and inward senses to cease and be dumb. —St John of the Cros ‘Dark Night of the Soul’

What cure for my disease?
Give up, give up in earnest; make an ending.
These foreign deputies,
I implore you, stop sending.
They cannot touch my heart with their pretending.

All those that come and go
Bring news of you and many a dazzling rumor.
I feel each like a blow;
Sink stricken at the glimmer
Of something I can’t catch they stand and stammer.

How manage to draw breath
So long, my soul, not living where life is?
Brought low and so near death
By those bowmen of his –
To each inroad of love sharp witnesses.

Why not come and undo
The trouble in this heart? – you know you broke it.
You know you stole it too –
Just to forsake it?

St John of the Cross

The pattern is repeated consistently: desire for something, followed by a choice for it, followed by a subsequent satisfaction in that choice. The momentum does not stop on its own; once activated, it returns and repeats itself. Desire is felt again for what has previously been chosen with some delight. The pattern tends to repeat itself. This is precisely the nature of all vice. Habits of repetitive sin, especially involving sensual matters, follow this pattern of a rotation through desire, indulged choice, temporary and fleeting delight, and the return again of desire. The great harm that takes place, if desires are indulged and delight is experienced in this repeated manner, is that the mind itself dulls in it’s relationship with God. The pursuit of satisfaction can dominate the soul in ways that do not necessarily involve grave sin but, nonetheless, pour sand, as it were, upon what could otherwise be a fire of longing for God. If a soul is indulging itself in attached ways in this manner, it is very unlikely to experience much desire at all for God and, therefore, little desire for prayer. And how common is this truth to this very day, even among those dedicated by a chosen profession as priests or religious to the service of God, Saint John of the Cross thus identifies a principal harm when a soul takes joy in self-centered and self-oriented delights: “dullness of mind and darkness of judgment in understanding truth and judging well of each thing as it is in itself” (AMC 3.19.3). That dullness of mind translates into a tepidity toward God and spiritual matters. –“Saint John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation” Fr. Donald Haggerty