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Continuation of Commentaries
on the Maxims on Love of St. John of the Cross
by Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi, ocd
Maxim 40.
Immediately this maxim, which is really a teaching and
a statement of fact, puts us in mind of the teaching of St. John of the Cross
concerning the three signs that must be present before a person can safely
proceed from a lower form of prayer to a higher form of prayer. Or better, the three signs that indicate
it is imperative that a person goes on to a higher form of prayer in
order that one may continue to advance on the road to perfect union with God
in love. If we take a look at
his, St. John of the Cross', teaching or explanation of those signs, I'm sure
it will help us to understand and appreciate this maxim 40.
Chapter 13 of Book II of the Ascent of Mount Carmel
has as its Introductory head-note the following: "The signs for recognizing in spiritual
persons when they should discontinue discursive meditation and pass on to
the state of contemplation." In
the text, which goes on for seven + pages he gives those signs. They are: The First: is the realization that one cannot
make discursive meditation, nor receive satisfaction from it as before. Dryness is now the outcome of fixing the
senses upon subjects which formerly provided satisfaction." (paragraph 2)
The second: "is an awareness of a disinclination to
fix the imagination or sense faculties upon other particular objects, exterior
or interior. I am not affirming
that the imagination will cease to come and go (even in deep recollection
it usually wanders freely) but that the person is disinclined to fix it purposely
upon extraneous things." (paragraph
3)
The Third and surest:
"is that a person likes to remain alone in loving awareness of God,
without particular considerations, in interior peace and quiet repose, and
without the acts and exercises (at least discursive, those in which one
progresses from point to point) of the intellect, memory and will; and
that he prefers to remain only in the general, loving awareness and knowledge
we mentioned, without any particular knowledge or understanding." (paragraph 4)
In
comparing the three signs of maxim 40 and the three signs that indicate the
time to begin contemplative prayer, we notice both similarities and differences.
The
similarities include: a lack
of satisfaction and a liking for solitude.
One difference is attentiveness in the maxim and general
loving awareness in Ch. 13 of Book II.
Another difference is being hindered by meditations in the maxim, and
being unable to meditate in Ch. 13.
Perhaps one other similarity can be identified if we equate
the disinclination to fix the sense faculties and imagination upon
other particular objects, the second sign of Ch. 13, with a lack of satisfaction
in passing things of the maxim, since we are disinclined by nature to pursue
what fails to satisfy.
Reflecting upon both sets of signs, I think it would be
fair to conclude that the signs of Ch. 13 are the signs that a transition,
a process, is taking place, whereas the signs of this maxim 40 are the signs
of a stable, ongoing state of soul. In other words, once the transition from
discursive prayer to contemplative prayer is complete, an individual has reached
a state of ongoing inner recollection. As a stable state of soul, this
inner recollection would exist throughout a person's entire subsequent life.
That is, it would have to exist while a person is engaged in the daily
activities and duties demanded of him by his state in life and his vocation
within the Mystical Body. That this is so is suggested by St. John's
teaching in this maxim that a person possessing inner recollection brings
to prayer only Faith, Hope and Love. To bring something somewhere means, obviously,
that a person was elsewhere previously, and so not in prayer, but in
other necessary activities.
There
are some consoling truths to be derived from St. John of the Cross's teaching
regarding the signs of Ch. 13 of the Ascent. One of them arises out of his explanation
of the necessity of the second sign, which is the disinclination to
fix the senses and interior faculties purposely upon things that do
not pertain to God and Divine Truths.
The
first sign of Book II, Ch. 13, as we saw, is that one realizes it is impossible
to practice discursive meditation through fixing the senses and interior faculties
upon Divine Mysteries and Realities. St. John of the Cross is fully aware that
a cause of this impossibility could be dissipation, lack of diligence and
tepidity. This means that an
individual still has sins and voluntary imperfections that he/she is not yet
fully determined to overcome. A
result of this sinful and voluntary state of imperfection is characterized
by dissipation, tepidity and a distaste for the things of God.
Therefore, it is absolutely essential that a person in whom the first
sign appears also experience distaste for all other things as well,
and find no pleasure or satisfaction in them either.
If the cause of the distaste were sins and voluntary imperfections,
the individual would be inclined to fix the attention and the memory upon
worldly things for the sake of the satisfaction one derives from the things
he/she loves and is attached to. St. John of the Cross says that dissipated
and tepid souls yearn for those other things.
The
consoling Truth, therefore, that a person to whom the signs of maxim 40 applies
may derive is to have assurance that he/she has indeed overcome all deliberate
sin and all deliberate imperfections.
That this is so is also confirmed by that part of the second sign of
maxim 40 that states a person having attained the stable state of inner recollection
is always attentive to that which is more perfect. Such a person has not only gotten beyond
deliberate sin and imperfection, but has also gotten beyond mediocrity in
its spiritual life.
Another consoling truth arises out of the explanation
of the third sign of the Book II, Ch. 13 of The Ascent, which has to
do with remaining alone without particular considerations and in loving awareness
of God. According to St. John
of the Cross, both the first and second signs of Ch. 13 could have a common
cause. He says they could proceed
from "...melancholia or some other kind of humor in the heart or brain
capable of producing a certain stupefaction and suspension of the sense faculties."
Thus a person who has attained to the inner recollection of maxim 40
can be assured that he or she enjoys good and stable mental health.
Again, the mention in that part of the second sign of attentiveness
to what is more perfect also confirms the fact of a well balanced psyche
in one who has attained inner recollection.
After all, attentiveness and stupefaction are mutually exclusive.
When
we think about the differences mentioned above, we realize that the signs
of Ch. 13, Book II pertain only
to the practice of mental prayer. That
is because the state of being attentive and resting in a general
loving awareness are also mutually exclusive. Attentiveness requires a focusing of the
perceptive faculties. In a general,
loving awareness, the perceptive faculties are inoperative, even though the
memory and imagination may be active.
Actually, St. John already indicates that the signs of Book II, Ch.
13 of The Ascent pertain only to times of prayer when he says they
are signs of when to give up discursive meditation and begin to practice contemplative
prayer.
The
other difference noted above, the inability to meditate of Ch. 13 of Book
II, and the experience of being hindered by meditation of the maxim, is another
indication of how the soul that has attained inner recollection practices
its mental prayer, and how it differs from those who have not attained
it.
Those
of us still striving for a stable state of recollection, a proximate preparation
for mental prayer is necessary. That
proximate preparation requires that a person try to wind down, that is, try
to calm down the activity of mind and heart that have been burdened with the
cares and preoccupations of its state in life. This requires not only seeking silence
and solitude, but also perhaps reading from scripture or a spiritual book. At least one would have to be mindful
that he/she is about to enter into the inter-relationship with God that we
call prayer.
The
person who enjoys inner recollection as described in maxim 40 does not need
to make any proximate preparation for mental prayer. Indeed, the way St. John of the Cross
describes it, such a person is perpetually disposed and ready for the
practice of contemplative prayer. All
that prevents someone with inner recollection from being in a state of
prayer is the attentiveness we've already mentioned. But is it not true that we all have a
limited attention span? When
we have reached the end of our attention span, we usually lapse into "day
dreaming." But a person with
inner recollection would not lapse into "day dreams." He/she would lapse into contemplative
prayer. So, when that person
deliberately begins mental prayer, he/she need no other preparation than to
stop being attentive, and to let the general loving awareness of God begin. As St. John of the Cross says, the Theological
Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity support that person in his/her contemplative
prayer.
Now,
fortunately for us, St. John of the Cross, in speaking further about the three
signs, gives us a valuable teaching upon the nature of contemplation. We find it in Ch. 14, paragraph 2 of The
Ascent, Book II.
After giving the first of two reasons why a person cannot derive satisfaction from discursive meditation, namely, that person has already gotten all possible benefit from it, and there is nothing more that can be gained from it, St. John of the Cross says that the second reason is that such a person "has acquired the substantial and habitual spirit of meditation." This "habit of meditation" is the result of a long time spent making discursive meditation and gaining "particular" knowledge of God and love that flows from that knowledge. But now that knowledge and love becomes so continuous that it is transformed into "general and loving" knowledge. In effect, once this habitual and substantial habit of meditation is established in the soul, one has reached the stage of "acquired contemplation."
St.
John goes on to say at the end of paragraph 2, Ch. 14, Book II of the Ascent: ... "This knowledge is neither
distinct nor particular as the previous [knowledge gained by meditation]
Accordingly, the moment prayer begins, the soul, as one with a store of
water, drinks peaceably, without the labor and the need of fetching the water
though the channels of past considerations, forms and figures. At the moment it recollects itself in
the presence of God, it enters upon an act of general, loving, peaceful and
tranquil knowledge, drinking wisdom, love and
Although it appears that nothing more needs to be said
about maxim 40 and the three signs of inner recollection which are also signs
one has reached the stage of acquired contemplation, I would like to consider
other signs that St. John speaks of in the companion book to The Ascent,
namely The Dark Night. This
is the head-note for Chapter 9, book I of the Dark Night: "Signs for discerning whether a spiritual
person is treading the path of this sensory [dark] night and purgation.
They sound very familiar:
The
First is that as these souls do not get satisfaction or consolation from
the things of God, they do not get any out of creatures, either.
The
Second ...is that the memory ordinarily turns to God solicitously and
with painful care, and the soul thinks it is not serving God but turning back,
because it is aware of this distaste for the things
of God.
The
Third ...is the powerlessness, in spite of one's efforts, to meditate
and make use of the imagination, the interior sense, as was one's
previous custom.
Of
these three signs, the only new one is the second. And although they seem to be more similar
to the signs of when to stop trying to practice meditation and go on to a
simpler more contemplative form of prayer, than to the signs of these maxim
40, at the same time, they seem to indicate a stable state of soul. It is a state of being purged,
or undergoing purification. The
soul is now experiencing a purgatory, a stable, but passive state. But at the same time though, a process of transition is taking place,
it is one in which the soul plays no part, because God is active in
this soul. In fact, after giving the first sign in
Dark Night, Chapter 9, paragraph 2, Book I, St. John of the cross states
immediately: "Since God puts
a soul in this dark night in order to dry up and purge its sensory appetite,
He does not allow it to find sweetness or delight in anything."
It
seems that we run into some difficulty when comparing this other stable condition
of soul with the one described by the signs of inner recollection of Maxim
40, which begins after the transition to acquired contemplation has
been completed. It seems they
are incompatible. In this stable
purgative state, or dark night of the senses, one experiences dryness and
aversions for the things of God. In
the other states, there is a "general loving knowledge" of God from
which the soul drinks wisdom, love and delight." How can we reconcile the two states whose
signs are so much alike?
Well,
it seems to me that we do this by saying that the state of purgation follows
the state of inner recollection and acquired contemplation. Judging from the titles of the two books,
the Ascent of Mount Carmel, the first, and The Dark Night, the
second, I think we can say that The Ascent has to do with the soul's
own personal effort and initiative.
It helps us know what we must do ourselves to advance on the
road to union with God. But then,
when we have done all that is in our power, we discover that there remain
impediments and obstacles to complete union with God in love. Because a soul has unmistakenly manifested
it's good will and determination to reach that perfect union by doing all
in its power, God Himself then takes over and completes the work.
But
what would these obstacles and impediments be? Well, that is what St. John of the Cross
talks about in the first eight chapters of The Dark Night that these
beginners have been "resolutely converted to His (God's) service,"
and that they find joy in spending a great deal of time in prayer, and find
pleasure in penances, happiness in fasting, and find consolation in receiving
the sacraments and in spiritual conversations. We can rightly assume, then, that
these things are characteristic of someone who has reached inner recollection,
since they drink wisdom, love and delight.
And
it is here, apparently where the imperfections to be purged are found. St. John says: "Since their motivation in their
spiritual works and exercises is the consolation and satisfaction they experience
in them.... they possess many faults and imperfections in the discharge of
their spiritual activities." These,
then, would have to be imperfections that they are not able to root out because
they are so intimately related to our human condition.
Interestingly, where, in the commentary on the 39th maxim
we spoke of the imperfections eradicated in terms of defects in the
practice of the four Cardinal Virtues, here in the Dark Night, Chapters
2 to 8 inclusive of Book I, St. John speaks of "spiritual" vices, the seven
Capital Sins. He calls them "spiritual"
vices because they escape the notice of the intellect as one practices virtue,
that is, they are not perceptible to the soul that has done all in its
power. Therefore, it follows
that God must take over, and it is He who places the soul, capable of enduring
it in this dark night of sense, which "signifies... purgative contemplation,
which passively causes in the soul this negation of self and of all things."
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