Maxim 50

Maxims on Love of St. John of the Cross (Continued)

Commentaries by By Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi, ocd

Maxim 50.

The soul that has reached the union of love does not even experience the first motions of sin.

We can deduce from this Maxim, which in form is a statement of fact rather than a rule of conduct we are exhorted to follow, that St. John of the Cross had really attained the union of love he mentions here, because he would never tell us anything he didn't know from personal experience. Unfortunately, he doesn't tell us at the same time what he means by the first motions of sin. We will have to speculate upon that ourselves, hoping to come up with something of value for our own personal strivings for the union of love.

But before we do, one further fact that this Maxim tells us is that the soul that has reached the union of love never falls into sin again. This stands to reason, because for any human act there has to be a beginning, or first movement, or motion, followed by the carrying out of the act to completion. If the first motions are not experienced, the act never has a chance to exist. So we can deduce that the soul that has reached the union of love is a soul that has been confirmed in grace. What this means is not that the soul is incapable of sinning, what it means is that the probability of its falling into sin is zero. When the probability of an event occurring is zero that means it will never happen. When the probability that an event is 1, that means it is inevitable; it will happen, no matter what. In other words, a person confirmed in grace always remains free to choose other than God's will, but as a matter of fact, one is certain that the soul confirmed in grace will never choose anything foreign to the will of God.

Now concerning the first motions of sin, we would have to say that they differ from what are known as first movements. First movements are spontaneous reactions to external stimuli that escape the control of the human will. They are reflexes, and thus instinctive in nature. One very good example is something we all know very well by experience. If we catch a glimpse of an object flying through the air in the direction of our head, we instinctively duck our head out of its path. We didn't use our free will to choose to duck. Our faculty of physical perception has instructed the brain to order us to duck our head without giving the intellect and reason a chance to intervene. First movements then, are those actions or changes in the body that by-pass the higher faculties of intellect, memory and will.

Concerning the first motions of sin, we would have to say that these do not escape the control of our free will. A sin is always the free choice to do or not do something contrary to the Will of God. Therefore, the first motions of sin would be the very first, and therefore incomplete, steps in a process of carrying out a choice to commit sin. I say a process of carrying out a will to sin because if there were not a process, St. John of the Cross would not be able to speak about first motions of sin.

However, these first motions of sin have something in common with the first movements we spoke about above. That is, that they are experienced. It seems to me that this means that the individual is completely passive at the moment both occur. In other words, something or someone is acting upon the individual to produce the first motions and the first movements. In the case of the example of first movements, it is the perception of an immediate threat of physical harm, which causes a reaction (ducking to prevent being hit on the head by a moving object). But it could also be the awakening of a desire for a good. In the case of the first motions of sin, they would have to be caused by temptations. Every temptation is experienced as a push or a pull of some kind to violate the Will of God, a push or a pull to commit sin. We can envision then, a person who is well along the way toward reaching the union of love as experiencing the beginning of yielding to the temptation, but then catching himself and resisting the temptation and overcoming it. A person who has reached the union of love would not even begin to yield. In effect, the temptation would be powerless against someone enjoying the union of love. The push and pull would be there, but against such a person, confirmed in grace, the push or pull is too feeble and weak to threaten to damage or undo his adherence to the Will of God. It would be so weak it wouldn't be felt.

Actually, having said that, it occurs to me that a person who has attained the union of love and is thus confirmed in grace, never even experiences temptation. The union of love is clearly a complete union of Wills. The human will becomes one with, identical with, the Will of God. St. Teresa says as much when she speaks of the union of wills being like that of a drop of water falling into the sea. It is impossible to separate them. Because God is subsistent Holiness, He cannot experience a temptation to sin, a temptation to be what He is not. So it stands to reason that a person who has reached the union of love cannot experience any push or pull to separate himself from God, or to seek union with anything or anyone other than God.

As I said, this is not a true Maxim; it does not enjoin a rule of conduct to be followed. But we can make it part of a true Maxim. We could word it this way: "If you wish to attain the union of love, wherein you will not even experience the first motions of sin, seek to acquire all the virtues in their perfection." The reason why the virtues in their perfection confer immunity to the first motions of sin is because they divest our human apparatus of all disorderly tendencies, that is, tendencies contrary to God's will, the supreme moral law. When the virtues are perfect in a person, all of them perfect, each and every perception of that person, whether physical perceptions or perceptions of the spiritual faculties, always trigger a response that is in full conformity with the Will of God. Thus, the first motions of sin are automatically excluded.

One final observation. From what we have said striving to acquire all the virtues to their full perfection leads to union with God in love, or, the union of love. On the other hand, striving to grow in love of God to the point of attaining union with Him, the union of love, leads to the acquisition of all the virtues to their full perfection. Both lead to never experiencing the first motions of sin. Neither route should be ignored, but in my opinion, the easiest and quickest is the route of love.

Maxim 51. - Old friends of God scarcely ever fail Him; for they stand above all that can make them fail. The first thing that occurs to me is that there must be some very special meaning to the word old in this maxim. I don't think we are to interpret it to mean elderly friends of God, even though God must have many old friends among the elderly. I do think it means that old friends are long-time friends. Or, perhaps, many years ago the individuals involved had an active friendship going, which eventually became inactive as the friends moved away from each other to dwell in other parts of the state or country. When we apply these notions to God, we would have to say that God's old friends are long-time friends, because we can never move away from God in the sense of going somewhere where we don't have easy access to Him. As Psalm 38 says: Where could I go to escape your spirit? Where could I flee from your presence? If I climb the heavens you are there, there too, if I lie in Sheol. (vv 7,8) Thus old friends of God are those whose friendship with Him is active and of long standing.

Now we have to ask what is meant by failing God. The verb to fail has several meanings in English, and probably also its Spanish equivalent. One immediate meaning would be to fail a test. At first sight we would think this meaning is one that applies to this maxim. But on second thought, long time friends do not test one another's friendship. Perhaps when someone is beginning a life of prayer, an intimate friendship with God, that beginner might tend to think that he or she is a true and solid friend of God, since in his or her mind he or she puts no one or anything before that friendship. Now we all know that when we began our Carmelite way of prayer, God did have to test us by sending us those trials that showed us that indeed, we had not yet subordinated everyone and everything to our friendship with God and with Jesus. Of course, He did that for our benefit, He already knew we were not totally committed to Him with every fiber of our being. With long-time friends, it appears, then, that God no longer has to send tests that the old friend might fail.

Another meaning of to fail would be found in the sentences: He failed to live up to expectations, or it failed to perform as expected. This meaning seems better to fit the maxim, though somewhat related to the previous meaning we gave it. In the previous meaning a testing is deliberately devised to cause one either to pass or fail. In this second instance, the person or thing in question is not tested, but is living or functioning under ordinary conditions and circumstances. Because the worth and the capability are already known, one would not expect the person or thing to fail to perform successfully. If there were a failure then, that would cause wonderment. It seems this is indeed one of the meanings that apply to this Maxim 51, because St. John of the Cross' Spanish original contains that idea. It states that por maravilla an old friend of God lets Him down (fails Him) which means it causes surprise both to God and to others who know he is an old friend of God. Thus, this maxim suggests that an old friend of God possesses all the attributes necessary to go through life without ever letting God down, without ever failing to live up to God's expectation of him. That is why the Maxim says: scarcely ever. Tried and true friends scarcely, if ever, let one another down.

Before leaving this idea of failing to live up to God's expectations, we should note that any failure would not necessarily be a sin. We would be safe in thinking that this maxim refers to the area of good, better and best. In other words, God knows that His old friends are very generous and self-sacrificing and He depends upon them for that. This maxim says that it would be rare that such an old friend would be less generous or less self-sacrificing than God knew he was capable of being.

A third meaning of to fail applies when one speaks about projects that are undertaken, or goals that are pursued. No doubt all of us have undertaken to achieve certain results or to attain certain goals. And again, no doubt, all of us know what it means to fail to achieve those results and to attain those goals.

It is certainly within the meaning of this maxim that old friends of God would undertake certain projects leading to His greater honor and glory, projects that would please Him more than anything else in that they lead to the salvation of souls that otherwise would be lost. Another goal would be suggested by the previous maxim, namely, to reach that union of love in which one does not even experience the least motions of sin.

If this is true, namely that this third meaning of to fail applies to this maxim 51, then no matter what particular project an old friend undertakes to bring happiness and joy and enriching experiences to God, his Friend, it would routinely be brought to a successful conclusion. But let me not speak only of joy, and happiness and enrichment. An old friend also undertakes to comfort an afflicted friend; to console a friend in sorrow; to assist a friend to bear a heavy burden. These also would be among the projects or goals undertaken and pursued by old friends of God. Thinking specifically of the revelations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary, we can say that the latter are the works that old friends of God, and Jesus, would routinely undertake. Remember the old saying: a friend in need is a friend indeed. We are only true friends of God, of Jesus, when we find ourselves eager and anxious to console and comfort Jesus, and to help Him carry His Cross. Surely, all His old friends do this. It would indeed be a surprise if they failed to come to His aid in this way. So sure I am of that, that I would say that the only way to know whether we are God's and Jesus' long time friends is by examining our efforts to comfort, console and make reparation for the wounds inflicted on His Heart and that of His Immaculate Mother. If we don't do this spontaneously and willingly, we have yet to become His old, His long-time friends.

But when I finished re-reading that last paragraph, it occurred to me that there is still another way in which a person might fail God and Jesus. This is, however, a subdivision of the second meaning we gave to the phrase, namely, failure to perform as expected in the normal course of one's life. We cannot overlook the fact that God and Jesus often, if not always, desire to make use of each of us to further and bring to completion their plans for the world, and to fulfill their desires for individuals in the world. Jesus and His Father wants us to be the instruments by whom and in whom they bestow graces and favors upon the people we deal with daily, by whom and through whom they desire to share more and more of their Life and Love. Perhaps, Jesus needs our bodies to suffer physical pain in union with His sufferings to win graces of conversion and salvation for souls. Perhaps, He needs our psyches to share in His emotional and psychological sufferings for the same reason. But also, He would need the talents and abilities of our respective humanities. He would need at times our material resources to be applied to perform one or more of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. On those occasions, it would be the old friends of His that Jesus and His Father would turn to, knowing that such friends rarely, if ever, fail to lend themselves, their talents, and their goods to Him for the fulfillment of His loving and merciful purposes. Still again, even when there is not a need to use one of us for redemptive and charitable purposes as just mentioned, it remains true that Jesus wants each of us to be His surrogates when we socialize with others, so that it is really He and His Father acting in and through us who are socializing with our companions. Long-time friends scarcely fail Him in this way, also, according to this Maxim 51.

Now, it behooves us to try to identify what all those things are which could cause a friend, who is not an old friend, of God to fail. An old friend of God is above all those things.

Perhaps the best approach is to consider that meaning of to fail which we associated with undertaking projects and pursuing goals. What would be the things that cause a person to fail to complete a project successfully?

One is suggested by Jesus asking the question: Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down to calculate whether he has the resources to finish it, lest starting the project, he is unable to finish, and others mock him saying: this man started to build what he could not finish Lk. 14:28-30. Jesus gave a similar instance of a king wondering whether he could enter into a war and come away victorious against another king with more formidable resources (Lk. 14:31-33).

Well, old friends of God are certainly not lacking the resources to be utterly reliable and successful no matter what God expects of them or entrusts to them. Old (long-time) friends of God know that they have all the resources of God's infinite Wisdom and Power at their disposal. So just as old friends of God rarely, if ever, fail to place themselves completely at the disposal of God and Jesus, neither do God and Jesus ever fail to put all Their infinite resources at the disposal of their old friends.

But there are other things that could cause someone to fail in a project undertaken to promote the interests of God. Even if a person knows the resources are there, certain states of soul could easily be obstacles making it impossible for him to reach out and appropriate those resources.

One of these might be fear: fear of the painful effort required to accomplish the work; fear of the harm opponents of the project might inflict upon him, fear based upon his own weaknesses and sinful tendencies, fear of the contempt and scorn that worldly people heap upon humble and self-effacing individuals; fear of the unknown and unforeseen obstacles that always crop up when someone undertakes a noble project.

I was going to say that another reason would be lack of motivation, yet that, too could be the result of the fears we just mentioned. So the only other one I can think of is lack of faith. Jesus is very forceful in saying that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we will be able to move mountains. Of course with that faith comes Hope, by means of which we do appropriate and make good use of all God's resources by relying upon Jesus' promises and His infinite merits.

Do the old friends of God stand above these obstacles? Fear, want of faith and hope? If we have identified them correctly, as the things that could cause one to fail, then yes, old friends of God are above them. Friendships seldom remain static. They either deepen and grow or weaken and disappear. Thus, long-time friendships cannot help but grow and deepen, and so the love, which is the basis of friendship, has grown and deepened. Thus old friends scarcely fail God because LOVE conquers all!!

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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.