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Continuation of Commentaries
on the Maxims on Love of St. John of the Cross
by Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi, ocd
Maxim 37
The entire world is not
worthy of man's thought, for this belongs to God alone; any thought, therefore,
not centered on God is stolen from Him.
There are probably several ways
to understand the first part of this Maxim, all that precedes the first
comma. To help us find those ways,
we can think of other contexts in which we hear it said that one thing or
activity is not worthy of the person occupied with that thing or activity. That is to say, it is beneath the
dignity of that person to be so occupied.
An example of that would be for a grown up, well educated person to get
involved in petty, childish pursuits.
Or a person of noble character to be overly concerned or vindictive about
petty criticism or lack of due respect.
Perhaps a more clear example would be for any human being, endowed with
reason and free will, and therefore the image and likeness of God, to engage in
merely animal or fleshly pursuits.
Those brutish activities are not worthy of a human
being.
Looking at these same examples
from the point of view of the one applying himself to the things and pursuits
mentioned, we could say that the very act of thinking about something is the
same as conferring honor or worth upon that thing or activity, and to actually
engage in those pursuits would amount to bestowing an even greater value or
worth upon them. This first part of
the maxim, therefore, would be saying that the pursuits mentioned do not merit
the honor and value bestowed upon them by thinking of them or doing them. Indeed, it goes much much further. It says that no existing creature, no
creature that ever will or could exist, is ever deserving of the honor conferred
upon it by a human being thinking of it or being occupied with
it.
Now let's try to understand
this first part of the maxim in another way entirely. Instead of the thought of man
conferring a worth or value upon the objects of his thoughts we can say that the
object of a man's thought is what confers its worth in the scheme of things upon
the mind and person of the thinker.
Thus, a human being kind of invests himself with the dignity, worth, or
lack of some of the objects and activities he thinks of, or is engaged in. So now we can paraphrase the maxim up to
the first comma and say: No
material creature in this world, not even all created material things taken
together, equal the value and worth of a human soul or any of the faculties of
the human soul. Therefore man's
thinking about the world and its contents cannot confer upon them any dignity
that raises them to a dignity equal to himself, nor can they ever acquire a
dignity or worth in any other way to make them equal a human soul in dignity or
worth. Then what follows in the
maxim up to the semi-colon, tells us what alone deserves the thought and
activity of the human soul and person, on the one hand, and what on the other
hand, impresses its worth and dignity upon the thinking mind and person. That unique “what“, of course, is
God.
Perhaps before bringing in the
part of the maxim between the first comma and the semi-colon, I should have said
something about certain creatures that seem very much deserving of engaging our
thoughts and the activity of other faculties of our souls. These creatures being the Sacred
humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of
God and our Mother, the good angels and all the Saints in Heaven. Being so much more exalted in dignity
and worth than any of us on earth, how can they not rightfully be fitting
objects of our thought; how can not our mere thinking of them truly bring a
greater value and dignity upon ourselves?
Well the answer to that is
that we never are able to think of Our Lord, Our Lady, the Angels and Saints
in any way other than in their relationship to God. Although, theoretically, we should be
able to think of all the above as "mere creatures" in the abstract, practically
speaking, it is impossible. It
is almost as if their relationship to God and their part in His Plan for His
human creatures enters into the very essence of their being. Surely the reason we never have qualms
of conscience when occupying mind and heart with Jesus, Mary, the Angels,
the Saints, and even the souls in Purgatory is because instinctively and subconsciously
we know that we are concerning ourselves with Him. By what mechanism? Well, it is God's Will that we be united
to all of them in thought and affection, so doing that unites us to His Will.
And as we've said frequently already in these commentaries, Everything
in God IS God. Being occupied with God's Will is the
same as being occupied with God.
Now we look at the final part
of the maxim, all that follows the semi-colon. How can we observe this in
practice? How do we center our
thoughts on God so as not to steal them from Him? The answer is easy enough in theory,
namely, to see every object of our thoughts to be intimately related to God and
forming part of His plan for each and every one of us. In practice, though, how is this
done? As a start, can any of us
think of anything that cannot be related to God and partake of His Will for
us? Of course, we know that sin can
never be attributed to God or be a part of His Will for us.
Thus, for sure, any thought
given to what is sinful, even if we refrain from committing it. could not be
centered on God. What, though, if
sinful thoughts, temptations assail us?
Well, the very phrase, "temptations that assail us" indicates that they
are not our own, they never become our own until we admit them and make them our
own. Any thoughts by means of which
we reject these sinful thoughts, temptations, would by their very nature adhere
to God's Will and be centered on Him.
Thus they would not be stolen from Him.
Now what about thoughts and
enticements to do things that are not sinful in themselves. To admit them and to contemplate them
would be thinking of things and activities that remain neutral, neither morally
good nor morally evil. Would making
them the objects of our thought be robbing God of our thoughts? Well, if we take this maxim at face
value, then yes, we are robbing God of them. Clearly then, we must find a way of
relating these neutral thoughts to God so that they do become morally good and
centered upon Him.
If the neutral occasion or
circumstance of the moment involves only ourselves personally, then we relate
that to God by remembering that our bodies and souls are to be kept in good and
healthy working order so that we can be suitable instruments in the carrying out
of His Plan for the Salvation of the World and the establishment of His Kingdom,
and act accordingly.
If it turns out that despite
our reasonable, good efforts to keep our humanity in good working order, so as
to do God's Will, we are obliged to suffer in mind or body, we can seize the
opportunity to accept it and be grateful for it for the Love of God, and to see
ourselves as complying with the maxim preceding this one, which says "Love
consists... in suffering for the Beloved."
With regard to our personal
relationships we have a very simple means of centering all our thoughts and
activities upon God. You know what
it is: the statement of Jesus. He tells us He will use at the Judgment
at the end of the World, namely: "What you did to the least of my brethren,
you did unto Me." It really
does take some effort to see that the person we are dealing with really and
truly represents Jesus. We have to
do this through Faith, of course, but that does not mean that the identification
of Jesus with others is less than real.
In fact, it is a good thing we don't perceive Him as physically standing
before us in another person.
Otherwise, how could we resist smothering that person with hugs and
kisses.
One other possibility is that
we are not dealing with people, and though alone, not really occupied with
merely personal things. Then we
have to think of ourselves and the things occupying our thoughts and other
faculties as related to God through the common good or through the Church, which
is, after all, the Mystical Body of Christ. In those circumstances we must try to
think and act in such a way as to foster and promote the interests of God for
Mankind in General and for the Church as the Presence of God in the world
through Christ, and thus as the Sacrament of His Salvific Will for all of
humanity. The motivation for
striving to do that, and to do all of what we said before is simply that we do
not want to steal anything from God.
I am positive that there is no thought, action or experience that we
cannot bring to focus on God and His Will.
If you can think of anything, sin excepted, tell us about it at a later
time, and we'll discuss it.
Maxim
38.
Not all the faculties and senses have to be employed
in things, but only those that are required; as for the others, leave them
unoccupied for God.
In effect, St. John of the
Cross is telling us that our entire humanity with all its powers and senses and
faculties does not ever have to be occupied with what is around us, or engaged
in our duties and activities all at the same time. He is saying that only some of them need
jointly to be put to use, as we go about trying to fulfill God's Will for
us. Hence, there would always be
powers and faculties of soul and body free to be used along with those required,
or free to be left unoccupied. What
might be an example of this?
Let us consider the very act of
my writing this conference. What
senses, powers and faculties am I obliged to use (because required) and which of
them am I not using.
Certainly I am using my sense
of sight, because I need to see what I am writing, and to whether I am spelling
properly and using proper punctuation.
I certainly have to use my faculty of thought and speech, even though the
words I use are not voiced. Also, I
have to use my memory, for otherwise I could not draw on learned knowledge or
experience as I try to reflect upon this maxim in a helpful and profitable
manner. I must use my imagination
as I try to relate knowledge acquired and experience to this maxim. I certainly make use of reason in
order to be sure that what I say is logical and makes some kind of sense. And certainly I must be using my free
will in order to begin and to complete the writing of the conference. I also clearly use the faculty of motion
- moving my right hand - as I write.
It seems that that is about all the powers and faculties
needed.
So which senses, powers, and
faculties are not needed? Certainly I don't need hearing to write
this, even though I can hear the pen making noise as I write, and I can hear
the phone when it rings, or the doorbell, or noises outside the building. I don't need my other senses, taste, smell,
touch, although I take a moment to take another sip of coffee I brought to
my room to drink as I write. I
don't need to walk, or talk, either.
Indeed, if I were walking and talking, I wouldn't be able to continue
writing. I can't think of any
other faculties that I have and am not using.
Other than the faculty to do math or sing, or exercise any other skill
that I may have.
Has this helped us understand
the maxim? Maybe not, because we
wonder: How the senses, powers and
faculties not used in writing this conference can be left unoccupied for
God?
To answer that, we have to
ask: Why should the
faculties and senses not needed be left unoccupied for God? Is it so that God can then act upon
those unoccupied senses and faculties? Or is it that they are to be occupied
with Him?
I don't think it is the former,
because if God were to begin acting upon my senses and other unused powers, how
could I continue in the writing of this conference? Also, it doesn't seem to be the latter,
because God is a pure spirit, so my senses cannot be occupied with Him. Even if I understand the latter to
mean: be occupied with those with
whom Jesus, who IS GOD, identifies, then I would not be able to continue with
these written reflections on this 38th maxim. So perhaps the only way we can
understand the latter part of this maxim is to see it as an extension of maxim
37. Just as any thought not
centered on God is stolen from Him, so also, perhaps, to occupy any of our
senses and powers and faculties not required in doing His Will with their
proper material objects, would be acts stolen from Him, because God alone
is worthy of any of our other powers and faculties besides that of
thought.
It would have been so much easier
if St. John of the Cross had said: "The senses and the spiritual faculties
do not have to be employed in all things, but only in those
things that require them. This
also would lead to some of the senses and faculties being unoccupied, because
obligations to engage in activities required of us as Christians, in virtue
of the Carmelite Rule and Spirit, in virtue of our state in life, our vocation
in the Church, are not always, that is, at every moment of our lives,
binding upon us. Thus not being
needed to do God's work at a given interval of time, they can be left unoccupied
for God, either so that we do not steal their activity from God, or so that
God can act upon them if He wishes. In this latter scenario, not only are
the powers of the body unoccupied, but also the powers of the soul, so that
God would find no opposition or contrary use of the senses or spiritual faculties
in the event He wished to confer mystical graces through or upon these same
faculties. In this latter scenario,
then, the altered version of the 38th maxim would say: Your senses and faculties don't always
have to be busy with things, necessary things, so when you are done with one
activity God expects of you, and it will be a little while before you go on
to the next thing that God's Will requires of you, lapse into contemplative
prayer, or at least, do not occupy them with things not related to God.
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