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Continuation of Commentaries
on the Maxims on Love of St. John of the Cross
by Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi, ocd
Maxim 46 - Part
II
Detached from the exterior, dispossessed of the interior,
disappropriated of the things of God - neither will prosperity detain you, nor adversity
hinder you.
In
part I of our commentary on this maxim, we ended by saying we still had to
consider the phrase:
disappropriated of the things of God, as well as the
meaning of detain and hinder, prosperity and
adversity. So let's plunge
right into it.
We
recall first of all the meanings the dictionary gave to the verb to
appropriate. We said in Part I
that we would have to think of dis-appropriated as a past-participle,
because the opposite of the adjective appropriate is inappropriate. Thus, the word dis-appropriate
means to undo what is done by an act that appropriates. Once again, to appropriate has
two main meanings. The first
is: to set aside for a specific
use; and the second is:
to take possession of, or make use of, exclusively for oneself, often
without permission. According
to the first meaning of to appropriate, dis-appropriated
means: to no longer be
set aside for a specific use.
Specific here means a unique, just one particular use from
among many possible uses. According
to the second meaning of to appropriate, disappropriated
means having the possession of something for one's exclusive use taken
away. That is, a person no longer
has that something available for his exclusive use. If the word exclusive pertains to
the essence of the meaning, then that something becomes available for other
folks to use.
Now
right off the bat, we have to exclude the first meaning of dis-appropriated
given above, because that, obviously, applies to things that are used or can be
applied to, specific uses. But St.
John of the Cross clearly is speaking in Maxim 46 of persons, souls that are to
be dis-appropriated. Thus, only the
second meaning of dis-appropriated is possible for the interpretation of the
phrase in this Maxim: "dis-appropriated of the things of God." Namely, they are no longer available for
a person's use.
And
again, right away, an apparent difficulty arises. We know that the things of God are for
everybody. It is true that at the
very beginnings of Christianity, the Jewish Christians thought that the things
of God given with and through Jesus were meant for Jews only. Some of them, the Judaizers, were
demanding that Gentiles first become Jews so as to be able then to obtain
the things of God given through Jesus, notably the Holy Spirit. But very quickly in the early history of
the Church, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, the things of God
leading to reconciliation with Him were to be offered to everyone. How then, is it possible for any
believer to be deprived of the use and benefit of the things of God? As this phrase seems to
assert.
I
think the answer can be found by reflecting upon the various categories of
things we mentioned in Part I of this commentary on Maxim 46 as being included
in the phrase: the things of
God. Some we will see are
absolutely necessary for salvation, and so maybe there are some that are not
absolutely necessary. Let me list
them once again:
1. knowledge of the
existence of God, of His Trinitarian Nature, of the Divine Attributes,
especially His Infinite Mercy, Wisdom and power, of His Divine Will and of His
desires for His human children.
2. Jesus Himself, the
Incarnate Word and only-begotten Son of the Father, His Sacred Humanity and all
that He has done and taught, and the Church as the Whole Christ, Head and
members, Jesus' Mystical Body, of which the baptized are members, The Holy
Spirit, third Divine Person & Soul of the Church.
3. The Sacraments and
Sacramentals of the Church, the Sanctifying and Actual graces that come to us
through the sacraments and sacramentals.
4. Prayer (intimate
conversation with God Whom we know loves us), acts of devotion by means of which
we worship, praise and thank God, acts by means of which we petition God for
what is good for our souls and the souls of those we love; acts of Faith, Hope
and Love, Charity, acts of contrition and repentance for having offended Him,
acts of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy by means of which we carry out
Jesus' command that we love others as He has loved us, acts by means of which we
embrace or at least accept with resignation, all the sufferings God permits to
befall us, acts of rejoicing in His Goodness.
5. Anything else you all can think of that
is not included in the above four categories.
Now
that I've listed the things I can think of, it seems to me that all of them are
required for our salvation. That is
because Faith, Hope and Charity are necessary for salvation. It is by these three supernatural
virtues (1) that we know and embrace the truth about God and all the other
things of God with our intellect, (Faith) (2) that we rely upon and make use of
all the things of God, which are stored up in our memory (Hope) and (3) by means
of which we give expression and evidence that we do indeed share the life of
God, which is LOVE (Charity).
It
seems true to say then, that anyone who does not have Faith, Hope and Charity,
the Theological Virtues cannot possibly have available for his use any of the
things of God just mentioned. And
consequently, it seems then only someone who has lost the virtues of
Faith, Hope and Charity, could possibly be dis-appropriated of the things of
God. And at the same time too, it
is perfectly clear that that is not what St. John of the Cross means by
that phrase in this Maxim 46.
So what, then, could he
possibly mean?
I
think the answer can be found by consulting once again what St. John of the
Cross tells us in Maxim 40. It
offers the beginning of an answer in the third of three signs of when a soul has
attained "inner recollection," namely:
the considerations, meditations acts which formerly helped the
soul now hinder it. If the soul
that enjoys inner recollection cannot draw fruit from considerations and
meditations, that is, by discursive reasoning about the things of God,
but rather is hindered, then it stands to reason that, practically speaking, the
things of God are not available to the thinking mind as they were
previously. That is to say that the
thinking mind, the soul, has been dis-appropriated of the things of God. I believe that this is the meaning, or
at least part of the meaning, that St. John of the Cross has in mind by this
phrase.
Now
the fact that St. John does say that the inwardly recollected soul brings
nothing to prayer but Faith, Hope and Charity, which reside in the Intellect,
Memory and Will, should not weigh against this partial meaning of the phrase or
beginning of an answer to our question about its meaning. Faith. Hope and Charity lift the soul
above the natural powers and operations of the mind, memory and will in order to
give them the possession of God as He is in Himself. Thus, all the natural powers of
the soul are dis-appropriated of God and the things of God when only
Faith, Hope and Charity are operative.
Now
the reason why I say that we have in Maxim 40 only the beginning of an answer to
the question: What does St. John of
the Cross mean by the phrase "disappropriated of the things of God"? is
because the third sign given above applies only to the time the soul possessed
of inner recollection devotes to prayer.
To try to find a complete answer, we ask a more specific question. How is a soul Dis-appropriated of the things of God in the course of
its other daily activities?
Now
we go to the commentary on Maxim 40, where we had occasion to speak about the
"signs for discerning whether a spiritual person is treading the path of this
sensory night and purgation."
(Dark Night, Bk I, Ch. 9. headnote) At the very beginning of this Treatise,
St. John explains why God wants to introduce souls into this path of
sensory night and purgation. It is
because they make use of the things of God with feebleness and many
imperfections. He states that the
soul in need of this purgation:
"finds its joy... in spending lengthy periods of prayer, perhaps even
entire nights; its penances are pleasures; its fasts happiness, and the
sacraments and spiritual conversations are its consolations." (Dark Night, Bk I, Ch. 1, par.
3). He goes on to say that
these souls are motivated by the consolation and satisfaction they experience in
these exercises which we have seen are among the things of God. Then from Ch. 2 to Ch. 7 inclusive of
Bk. I Dark Night, St. John tells us what the deeper causes are that move
them to make use of these same things of God. They are secret, spiritual vices, all
pertaining to the seven Capital sins:
spiritual pride, spiritual anger, spiritual
gluttony, spiritual avarice, spiritual lust, and finally
spiritual envy and sloth.
Thus, in order to prevent the harm done by these spiritual vices, God
places willing souls in this purgative night of the sensory part, so that in
place of joy, happiness, consolations and satisfactions in their spiritual
exercises, these souls find distaste, bitterness, aridity and aversion. St. John says these souls are not put
off from approaching the sacraments and other acts pertaining to God, but merely
that they find no sweetness and delight in them.
Thus, the sensory night and purgation really does
dis-appropriate these souls of the things of God, but only in so far as
they are no longer available as causes and sources of the sweetness, joy
and delight which were attracting them to have recourse to them. Because the motivation is not pure,
those acts are of little or no merit because of those secret, spiritual Capital
sins.
Thus we conclude that St. John of the Cross means by
"disappropriated of the things of God" the state of soul, the
characteristic quality, of a person who has been placed upon and is treading the
path of the Dark sensory night and purgation.
At
last we come to the words:
hinder and detain; prosperity and
adversity. In regard to the
first pair, the effect of what hinders is the same as the effect of what
detains. And that is that it causes the person who is on a
journey to come to a stand-still.
Both cause the progress of a person to be halted. But they are different in so far as they
are causes. To detain means "to
hold back." To hinder means to
place an obstacle in the path of the person that prevents further progress. This we have to keep in mind when we
consider how adversity hinders.
But
what does St. John of the Cross mean by those two words: prosperity and adversity? All of us know that not all "apparent"
adversity is true adversity, since all that we include in the concept of the
CROSS is experienced as adversity, but in reality must be considered a grace or
a favor bestowed on us by God. Of
course, to know and embrace crosses as gifts and favors, a very strong and
lively supernatural Faith is required.
Thus, it seems to me that the adversity and prosperity St. John speaks of
here in this Maxim 46 is restricted to what a worldly soul, or a soul whose
Faith is very weak, perceives as adversity and as
prosperity.
So,
what is adversity to someone devoid of Faith? It is, I'm sure, whatever such a soul
does not want. It is
whatever such a soul tries to avoid and to escape, or to prevent from
happening. It includes all that
causes the sensory part of the soul to suffer pain, and all that causes the
spiritual faculties of the soul to suffer grief, sorrow and loss. It includes all that the "natural" man
perceives as evil.
From this, then, we know what
prosperity means in this Maxim.
It is the exact opposite of adversity. As used in this Maxim, prosperity
includes all that the sensory part experiences as pleasant and gratifying, as
well as all that the spiritual part experiences as satisfying and joyful. It includes all that the "natural" man
perceives as good.
It
ought to be clear why, in the mind of St. John of the Cross, prosperity
detains. God has created us in such
a way that we seek to find our final goal and happiness in what is perceived as
good. When found, the soul
rests in that good. It does
not want to proceed beyond the good in which it finds rest and contentment. Thus, prosperity brings a soul to a halt.
So
when St. John of the Cross says that the soul that is detached, dispossessed,
and dis-appropriated is not detained by prosperity, it is because by the grace
of God, the things the natural man perceives as good and bringing contentment,
are perceived by the soul described in this Maxim as bitter and distasteful to
both the sensory and spiritual parts of the soul. Thus, such a soul cannot rest, and so it
continues the journey toward what alone can cause it to find rest and delight
and contentment and joy, namely Union with God, the True Supreme and Eternal
GOOD.
Almost the same things can be said with regard to the
teaching that a soul that is detached, dispossessed and disappropriated will not
be hindered by adversity.
Since adversity consists of all the things that are bitter and
distasteful to the natural man, these cannot place an obstacle to the soul
described in this Maxim because to such a soul they are the purifying agents God
sends to rid the soul of all defilement caused by attachments and appetites, and
also to rid the soul of the spiritual vices that must be rooted out to prepare
the human soul for union with God.
Also, all the things included in the term adversity can also be
thought of as Crosses, and as means of identifying with Jesus our
Beloved, and as helping the soul described by this Maxim to "put on the mind
(and heart) of Christ." But such a
soul does not shrink from nor try to escape this adversity, as suggested a few
lines earlier, they help the detached, dispossessed and dis-appropriated soul to
run swiftly along the path of the Dark sensory Night and
Purgation.
Maxim
47 - The devil fears a soul united to
God as he does God Himself.
As
we begin to reflect upon this Maxim, there are a couple of difficulties that
arise immediately. One of them
arises out of our remembrance that some saintly souls, souls undoubtedly united
to God in Love, suffered greatly at the hands of the devil. I have in mind one saint in particular,
the Cure' d'Ars, St. John Marie
Baptist Vianney. We know for a fact
that the devil inflicted frightful torments upon him. If the devil feared this holy man as he
feared God Himself, how did he manage to draw close enough to the Cure' to make
him suffer so? I think that the
answer is found in the Holy and Blessed Will of God alone, for the purpose of
glorifying the Saint and inflicting humiliating defeat upon the devil. In other words, I believe God, in His
Infinite Wisdom and Power, suspended for a time the natural fear the devil has
of God and souls united to Him, so that he would approach St. John Marie Vianney
and vent his hatred upon him.
So,
what, then, is the natural fear that the devil has of God? I think it is the natural fear that his,
the devil's, torments of hell would be increased. We get an idea of what causes that fear
by considering the Church's doctrine on Purgatory, or rather, on St. John of the
Cross's teaching on the cause of purgative suffering of souls in
Purgatory.
According to St. John of the Cross the sufferings of
Purgatory are caused by the naked Spirit of God coming into direct contact with
the naked human soul, or spirit.
Because of the difference between the All-Pure and Holy Good, and the
soul still stained and defiled by the remnants of sin left in the soul after all
its sins have been forgiven, the soul in Purgatory experiences the contact of
God's spirit as grievous torment.
But those torments act as flames that consume the impurities and stains
left in the soul until eventually they are all gone and the soul is admitted
into Heaven. That is, it is granted
the Beatific Vision, and sees God face to face in the light of glory, by which
the soul possesses God the Supreme Good for all eternity.
Actually, the suffering of the souls in Purgatory are
very similar to the sufferings endured by souls treading the Dark Night of the
sensory part and the path of purgation we have spoken about in commenting on the
previous Maxim. I don't think there
is fear in Purgatory caused by God coming close to the human souls there, but
there certainly is fear on the part of souls on earth whom God wishes to
introduce into the Purgative nights of sense and spirit. Love casts out fear, Jesus told
us, and the love of souls in Purgatory for God frees them from fear. When love for God on earth is weak, fear
does exist in someone God wants to draw into purgative
suffering.
Applying all this to the devil, who is incapable of
loving, we note that he is so different from God that the close proximity of God
to him is a most frightful suffering.
All of God's attributes are so vastly different from the attributes of
the devil, that the devil's awareness of them also are a source of hellish
torment. God is humble, God is
True, God is faithful, God is compassionate, God is Mercy, etc. The very opposites are found in the
devil. Hence, the devil is afraid
to come close to God because it makes him suffer all the
more.
Well, the soul united to God shares with God all His
attributes in proportion to the intensity of its love for Him and the degree
of its participation in His Divine
Life. Thus, the devil would suffer
coming close to a soul so different from himself. We are talking of course of souls still
living here on earth. And if that
were not torment enough for the devil there is the additional torment of being
humiliated. Despite his misery, the
devil remains a very proud spirit, and he can't stand the fact that a human
being, a creature of a lower order of being than his own, has surpassed him and
has been elevated to membership in the family of God. It hurts the devil to see good things
happening to any being, human or angelic, and so he is grievously tormented to
see the joy and the happiness enjoyed by all souls and angels who have remained
obedient and faithful to God.
I
am not aware of the exact place in her works that Holy Mother St. Teresa says
it, but somewhere she says that the devil eventually stops bothering humble
souls because no matter how the devil tries to hurt them, these souls make
his attacks and the temptations he places in their path so many stepping stones
to advancement in virtue and to closer union with God. So although she uses different terminology,
St. Teresa does concur in the truth of the Maxim 47 that the devil does indeed
fear the soul united to God as he does God Himself.
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