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Continuation of Commentaries
on the Maxims on Love of St. John of the Cross
by Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi, ocd
Maxim 20.
There are souls that wallow in the mire like animals,
and there are others that soar like birds, which purify and cleanse themselves
in the air.
In
order to make the most sense out of this maxim, it seems to me that we must not
put too disreputable an interpretation on the phrase in the maxim "to wallow in
the mire." Perhaps our first
instinct is to think that that means "to wallow in sin." I hesitate to do that, and will not so
interpret that phrase because St. John of the Cross is speaking to Friars &
Nuns and lay people desirous of obtaining union with God. After all, another word for "mire" is
mud. Mud is made by mixing water
with earth. I say earth rather than
"dirt." Let us suppose the mire is
made of water mixed with "good clean earth." In this way we can show, or hope to
show, that "wallowing in the mire" can apply to the souls of good people, who
are sincerely trying to lead good, holy lives.
In
order to help us see how that is possible, we have to remember why it is that
certain animals "wallow in mud."
There comes to mind, first of all, that characteristic of pigs, whom, we
are told, love to roll around in mud.
I am also aware of the fact that water buffalo seek out water quite
frequently in the course of a day, and how peoples who use water buffalo as
beasts of burden and work animals (I learned about water buffalo from the
Filipino Friars who were my classmates in Theology), bring them to rivers or
ponds in which they may cool off.
It
so happens that both pigs and water buffalo do not have sweat glands. As you know, sweat glands serve to
regulate body temperature, to keep it from rising too high either on very hot
days or as a result of physical exertion.
Sweat glands produce moisture on the surface of our bodies, all over, and
when the moisture evaporates it takes heat from the body and keeps the
temperature of the body down in a safe range. Thus, pigs and water buffalo, and the
other animals St. John+ has in mind have to immerse themselves in mud or in
water in order to cool off. And
even we ourselves, who do have sweat glands, also very often go for a refreshing
swim when our sweat glands don't cool us off well enough or fast
enough.
So
what, then would the wallowing in the mud be symbolic of? We can say that there are times when the
human soul, even the souls of good people are in need of some kind of
"refreshment." Or perhaps better,
in need of consolation. We all know
by experience that, just as the body is in need of rest when exertion, or even
being awake several hours, causes it to feel weary, so also the soul can suffer
from a type of fatigue, and must also find ways of replenishing the lost
energy. It is, after all, the loss
of available energy that gives rise to the feeling of
fatigue.
However, the human soul can also lose other valuable
resources in the course of living out its daily routine in life. The soul is in need of motivation, in
need of enthusiasm, in need of a sense of accomplishment and of personal
worth. These are very often
diminished by the trials, the set-backs and failures, and the weight of ongoing
obligations and duties. Therefore,
the human soul seeks to surround itself with all those experiences, at least
every so often, that provide the replenishment and renewal of all those things,
namely, vigor, motivation, enthusiasm, morale, sense of value and a sense of
accomplishment. These experiences
would be the equivalent of the cooling mud or the cooling water for the
overheated pigs and water buffaloes.
Now
what are the sources of consolation and refreshment we seek for our souls? It seems to me that they are both
physical and non-physical in nature.
Certainly, some kind of lawful sense pleasure can help to provide that
renewal we seek. Sometimes a little
snack helps to overcome the fatigue of soul we call stress. Certainly wholesome entertainment, which
gives lawful pleasure to both the sense and to the mind and spirit can restore
those basic qualities we need to continue to persevere in bearing the burdens
and obligations of our vocation in life and in the Church. Most certainly it is the companionship
and interaction with dear, like-minded friends that is one of the most powerful
sources of the consolations that renew our motivation, our enthusiasm and morale
and our sense of being valuable in human society.
Now
all of the things I have mentioned are of earth. That is, they involve creatures. Thus we can call them essentially
natural (as opposed to supernatural) forms of consolation that we can identify
with the cool refreshing mud (or mire) of the maxim. then we can say that "wallowing" in them
is the same as seeking these forms of consolation "exclusively." But perhaps I should modify that. Many of those natural forms of
refreshing and renewing the soul are what God Himself, in His loving Providence,
wills that we have recourse to.
That is to say, it is His Will that we find and enjoy them in the context
of family life, both natural and religious. They cease to be merely natural
if we remember that these are His gift to us and we are grateful for them, and
we seek these forms in preference to others that are available outside of the
context of family life and outside the context of friendship with other folks
dedicated to serving Him and seeking union with Him in
love.
Now
if we look at this maxim again, we notice that St. John of the cross is merely
making an observation. He
seems only to say he notices that some souls wallow in the mire, i.e. are
like certain animals, and there are others who are like birds. That is, he does not seem to be making
any value judgment about either. He
doesn't suggest we should avoid being like the animals and strive to be like the
birds. Perhaps in doing that,
namely not enjoining anything upon the Friars, Nuns and lay people who
read this maxim, he hopes to avoid discouraging or blaming some souls who feel
incapable to soaring like birds. It
seems he wants to leave the making of value judgments to the individual
reader.
Well then, if that is the case, we have to meditate on
what he means to symbolize by "soaring like birds." Once we find a reasonable interpretation
for that symbol, we can then be more accurate in making a value judgment
involving the notions of good, better, best, and also of should (or ought) and
must.
In
arriving at the meaning of the expression "to soar like birds," we can observe first of all that a bird
in flight has no contact with the earth below. It is supported by the air. Air of course, being invisible to the
eye, is a good symbol for spirit.
Also, though we can feel air when it moves, we cannot "touch air"
or hold it in our hands, that is, we cannot get a firm grasp on air. Thus it is an apt symbol for what is
im-material, even though of itself it is a creature of matter. Thus also, moving air, wind, is apt
symbol for the Eternal, uncreated Spirit, the Holy Spirit, one of the three
Divine Persons.
Since St. John mentions "wallowing" and "soaring" in this
one maxim, it seems he is saying that, although different activities, they
still serve the same basic purpose.
that is to find the consolation that is necessary to replenish the
resources and strengths of the soul that have been depleted in doing the work
of God in and through the obligations of our vocations. We remember that we not only go for a
swim to cool off in a
It
thus seems safe to say that the souls
that soar like birds seek all their consolation and refreshment in God
alone, or in Divine things alone.
Divine things would be also the deeds of God Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
and those things expressly willed by God or in some way intimately related to
Him.
So
if we want to renew our spiritual energy, if we seek to renew and revitalize our
motivation, our enthusiasm and morale, we can go first and foremost to the
remembrance of all that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have done. The Father created us in His Image and
Likeness. When we sinned He sent
His Son in the likeness of our sinful flesh to Redeem us. After the act of Redemption was
completed in Jesus' suffering, death, resurrection and ascension, Father and Son
sent us the Holy Spirit to transform us into children of God by adoption and to
give us a created share in Divine Life.
The mere thought of that does help to renew in us our souls energy and
morale. The thought that we are so
precious to all Three is in itself a consolation and re-affirms the sense of
self-worth we all need and makes us want, motivates us, to undertake to
show our gratitude by loving Him in return and serving
Him.
We
also soar like birds when we seek our spiritual nourishment and renewal in the
receiving of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. "Jesus says: Unless you eat my flesh and drink My
Blood you shall not have LIFE in you."
And scripture, in speaking of the Manna says:
"You have given them bread from Heaven, having all
sweetness in itself (within it)".
That refers best to the Eucharistic Jesus, and He gives the sweetness
that is capable of overcoming all possible bitterness that can be experienced by
us on earth.
Thus it seems that all good Christians both wallow and
soar. Which good Catholic Christian
would ever fail to limit him/herself to only those natural consolations that are
gifts of God and which He wills that we make use of? And which good Catholic Christian would
ever fail to remind him/herself from time to time of the evidence of God's
infinite love or fail to receive Jesus frequently in Holy
Communion.
As
to which we are to consider the best and most effective, St. John seems to
suggest the latter, for he says that the birds that soar also purify and
cleanse themselves in the air. He
does not say the same for "wallowing in mire."
In
what sense does seeking divine consolations only purify and cleanse the
soul? It most likely means it
purifies and cleanses from attachment to the consolations themselves,
whether merely natural, or with a supernatural aspect because given or
willed by God. An example of
defilement is that caused by the two kinds of gluttony, material and
spiritual. In both types, gluttony
focuses on the pleasure or delight associated with the activity that causes
refreshment and renewal and re-vitalization. Because there is so little felt pleasure
for the senses and the ego to rejoice in when seeking the renewal and
refreshment in seeking God and in seeking Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, the
danger of defilement doesn't exist, or is negligible.
However, persistent efforts to purify one's motivation
in using the created means God gives through family and like-minded friends
for refreshment and renewal, can result in having recourse to them ONLY because
they are God's will for us, and so everyone would be capable of soaring like
birds.
* * * * * *
Maxim 21
-
The Father spoke one Word, which was His Son, and this
word He always speaks in eternal silence, and in silence It must be heard by the
soul.
This maxim introduces us into the Inner Life of God, the
Most Holy Trinity, which we may recall briefly to refresh our memory. Let us remember that we would have known
nothing about God's inner Life unless He Himself revealed it to us in Holy
Scripture. In particular, we would
never have known that God is One in Three and Three in One, that is to say Three
Distinct Persons possess the One Divine Nature. Each distinct Person is neither of the
other two, yet each One is God. We
know that One is a Father and One is a Son, and One is the Spirit of the Father
and the Son. Through scripture, we
know that the Son is both only-Begotten and spoken. We also know from scripture that God is
LOVE. We know that the Father loves
the Son and we know the Son loves the Father because Scripture tells us the 1st
outright, and we surmise from scripture the 2nd because Jesus was obedient
(perfectly) to His Father's Will, since obedience is the highest form of Love
for God. Probably all the rest we
can say about the Persons of the Holy Trinity and their inner life or
relationships, comes from reasoning and meditating upon what is revealed.
Thus, for Yahweh, God the Father to beget the Son means
speaking the Word that says everything that can be said about Him, the Father,
He expresses Him perfectly. We
probably also have deduced (that is Saintly learned men - who alone deserve to
be called Theologians have deduced) that the mutual embrace of Love of Father
and Son is such a perfect act of mutual self giving, that that embrace IS
the 3rd person, the Holy Spirit.
So, the Father is unbegotten, and the 1st Principle (to differentiate
from cause) in the Trinity: the Son
is begotten, not made, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from Father and
Son. He is not begotten or
created by Them. And it is the
contemplation of God as he is in Himself, observing the inner life and
relationships of the Most Holy Trinity face to face in Heaven that constitutes
our Eternal Beatitude. We say
see as a symbol of understanding.
Actually, we are not given an idea of the Trinity, since no idea
can contain Him, but God Himself the Trinity takes the place of an idea in our
intellect.
Having said all that, what does St. John mean by the
silence He speaks of, and in which the Father spoke, and is
speaking. We know that God,
being a pure Spirit, has no vocal chords, so when He speaks there is no
noise. Also, we know that another
meaning of silence can be applied to the Father's speaking His Word,
namely, the absence of background noise.
Since the Holy Trinity existed from all eternity, The Holy Trinity simply
IS, there were no creatures existing yet, so God the Creator was not
"speaking" the words "Let there be such" to be a kind of background noise. But that is not strictly true, since
creation did not alter the inner Life of the Trinity. By, and after, creation the Entire
Trinity as One began to have exterior relationships with created persons: angelic natures and men, rational pure spirits and rational
embodied-spirits.
Now
what does St. John+ mean by hearing the Word of God. As we said, The Father does not have
vocal chords, so for Him to speak is for Him to think. But every human word is a
communication, a sharing of ideas. So for the Father to speak His Word to
us means for Him to share His Word, His Son, with us, to actually communicate
His Son to us. In doing that, the
Father communicates Himself, since the Son is the "image and splendor of the
Father, the perfect representation of Himself." Jesus, Himself, says: .."whoever sees me sees
the Father. the Father and I are
one." What we are told then, is
that to hear, that is, to receive the Son - a share of Him - from the Father, we
have to be in a state of silence.
For
us, silence is more than just the absence of background noise. We can extend it to mean the absence of
all sense perception. That
is the "darkness" St. John+ speaks of.
Of course, we cannot completely shut out sense experience, so we try to
do the next best thing, we go into a solitude created by being free of as many
as possible distractions. Absence
of noise is the key element here.
But
also, we have to maintain inner silence, in the sense that we try to stop
communicating with God, that is sharing our thoughts and ideas with Him. We have to try to silence the stream of
conscious thoughts that arise in our soul.
Then there is another kind of noise we have to reduce
and diminish to the extent possible.
That is the clamor of our sense appetites and our natural ego for
gratification. The more we indulge
our senses' demand for pleasure and absence of pain (discomfort) the more they
clamor for more and better of the same.
The more our prideful egos are indulged by seeking to acquire honors and
privileges and to be freed from burdens and other humbling experiences, the more
they cry out for more and better of the same. Thus, silence requires a rigorous
asceticism - namely gaining complete mastery over our lower nature. that silence is complete when Faith,
Hope and Charity govern our intellect and will, and when these keep lower nature
(emotions, feelings, etc.) perfectly subordinate to themselves (intellect and
will).
Finally, we can ask, what are some of the things we hope
the Father will say to us in His Word, Who is Jesus?
I guess that is unique for each person, though we can guess that in a general way it is the same: namely, those communications or sharings of His Divine attributes that will bring us ever closer to being perfect copies of Jesus, His Beloved Word and Son, in Whom He is well pleased.
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MISSION
STATEMENT: This web site was created for the purpose of completing the work
of Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi, O.C.D These conferences may be reproduced for private
use only. Publication of this material is forbidden without permission of
the Father Provincial for the Discalced Carmelites, Holy Hill, 1525 Carmel
Rd., Hubertus, WI 53033-9770. Texts for the Maxims on Love were taken from
The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, by Fr. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D.
and Fr. Otilo Rodriguez, O.C.D. 1979 Edition. Copies of the book are available
at ICS Publications, 2131 Lincoln Rd., N.E., Washington, D.C. 2002-1199, Phone:
1-800-832-8489.