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Continuation of Commentaries
on the Maxims on Love of St. John of the Cross
by Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi, ocd
Maxim 80.
Once
being asked how one becomes enraptured, the Venerable Fray John of the Cross
replied: “by denying one’s own will and doing the will of God; for an ecstasy
is nothing else than going out of self and being caught up in God; and this
is what he who obeys does; he leaves himself and his desire, and thus unburdened
plunges himself in God.”
This
final Maxim on Love of St. John of the Cross could easily have been given to us
without the introduction. However, it
was apparently necessary because this is a verbal, and not a written Maxim of
our saint. For an editor to include it
with the preceding 79 would have given the wrong impression And so we will never know whether St. John
did not want to include it with all the others, which were given only one or
two at a time to his spiritual sons and daughters, i.e., those under his
spiritual direction. We do know that in
the Ascent-Dark Night he expressly discourages his disciples, and
everyone for that matter, who seeks union with God in love, from desiring to be
enraptured, which is a mystical grace, because that is an appetite which must
be purged from the soul, otherwise it is an obstacle to union with God.
We
know, of course, that St. John himself was subject to rapture. It seems that rapture would overtake him
when he least expected it or wanted it.
Strike those last words “or wanted it.”
He never wanted rapture, because he would not teach us to get rid of
every desire for extraordinary experiences, and then arrogate to himself the
right to do so. But, being such a
wonderful teacher, and seeing that there is a something that can rightfully be
called “rapture” and which is very desirable as a means of achieving union with
God, he gave his interlocutor this spoken advice.
We
(I) know only a few instances, I think, when St. John was overtaken by rapture,
or when he fell into ecstasy, which, according to this Maxim is the same as
rapture. The only thing that might
distinguish them is that the idea of “rapture” includes the idea of “a sudden
seizure.” Ecstasy totally prescinds
from the idea of suddenness, so that a definition of “rapture” would be a
“being caught up suddenly in ecstasy.”
I do
remember reading that St. John was most subject to experiencing rapture, or
ecstasy, whenever he would think about the chief mysteries of our Faith,
especially those connected with Jesus, and which are evidence of God’s infinite
love for us His human children. We are
told that he would walk along the corridors of his monastery rapping his
knuckles hard against the walls, probably made of bricks, to prevent a
rapture. I also remember reading of him
that once when he was visiting a church or monastery of Nuns, and there saw
such an adorable statue of the baby Jesus, I think it happened during the
Christmas season, and he was so enraptured by it that he picked it up, and not
knowing what he was doing, danced around with it in his arms in an ecstasy of
joy. Another occasion on which he went
into ecstasy took place in the speak-room of one of the convents of Nuns where
he was visiting and speaking with Holy Mother St. Teresa, who was on the other
side of the grill. They were speaking
of the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity.
St. Teresa, for sure, had an intellectual vision of the Trinity, and
probably St. John did, too. At any
rate, at one point in their conversation, both went into an ecstasy and
experienced “levitation.” They and the
chairs they were sitting in floated upward several inches off the floor.
However,
the rapture and ecstasy that St. John identifies with denying one’s will and
acts of obedience is really quite different from the common understanding of
rapture and ecstasy. To help us all, I
looked up ECSTASY in the New Catholic Encyclopedia ( c 1967 by Catholic U of A)
and read the article entitled: ECSTASY (in Christian Mysticism) Since it is a
short article, I’ve included it at the end of
this conference. We will now
read it as an integral part of this conference. (Read the article).
From
this article it becomes clear why it was difficult for the directees of St.
John of the Cross NOT to desire to experience rapture/ecstasy. In it we read that the face of the ecstatic
person is radiant, as if the person had been transported to a scene of great
beauty and joy. Also, he says, (Fr.
Jordan Aumann, O.P.) that supernatural ecstasy always presupposes the elevation
of the soul to intimate union with God.
Besides, mystical ecstasy is a truly concomitant happening in the higher
grades of infused contemplation.
Its
essential note is the elevation of the soul to God, the awareness of its union
with God and the resulting alienation of the internal and external senses from
created things. Then, too, the cause of
the rapture/ecstasy is the Holy Spirit, working through His gifts, especially
those of wisdom and understanding. Here
we read that divine illumination occurs, and that the cause of the ecstasy is
the weakness of the body and the want of holiness. Once purified of any trace of sin and disorder, and strengthened,
the divine illumination and elevation of the soul to union with God,
ecstasy/rapture no longer occurs.
Having
learned what ecstasy is all about, how can any soul that truly loves God NOT
wish to experience it? After all, true
love cannot but desire intimate union with the beloved. It cannot NOT desire to be locked in a
permanent intimate embrace of the beloved.
It
seems from the answer of St. John to his questioner, that it is not wrong for
them to desire it. It is certainly not
an appetite for a creature. It
includes, as we saw, an alienation of interior and exterior senses from all
created things.
Besides,
St. John of the Cross gives specific instructions on how to achieve the
equivalent of the ecstasy the article so clearly explains to us. In this Maxim, St. John seems to be saying,
Good and well that you want to go out of yourself and be one with God. But don’t wait for God to grant you the
experience. Here is how you can grasp
it for yourself. He does it by leaving
himself and his desires (read druthers) and thus unburdened, plunges himself in
God. How does the soul do it? By denying its own will, that is, by
obeying.
Let
us see how obeying does accomplish the same things as rapture/ecstasy.
The
article says the ecstatic person does not hear or see anything. Well we all know that when we obey, we set
aside all personal perceptions and the druthers generated by them and act
upon the druthers of our superior, (which are the same as God’s druthers,
or which God considers His own). So
in effect, denying our own will through obedience is like not having any personal
sense perceptions and druthers. It
is as if we saw and heard nothing with the external and internal senses of
our souls. It is the same as being
[practically] detached from the sensible
world of created, material things. As the Maxim says, it brings about an authentic
going out from self that is typical and characteristic of rapture/ecstasy.
According
to St. Thomas, the third degree of ecstasy is the direct contemplation of the
Divine Essence. It would be a kind of
foretaste of the Beatific Vision, wherein lies our eternal Happiness in Heaven.
What
does obedience do? It shows us
the Divine Will. We see God’s Will in
the obligations laid upon us by lawful authority. Now we’ve said often throughout these reflections on these Maxims
that: everything in God is GOD.
Particularly we said on one occasion GOD’S WILL IS GOD. We can now say by this true and acknowledged
principle of theology: God’s Will is God’s Essence. God’s Essence is God. So,
seeing God’s Will and embracing it through obedience is the same, effectively,
as seeing the Divine Essence and embracing it.
Why then, waste time waiting for God to confer on us during prayer time
the gift of rapture/ecstasy? Let us
go after it. As St. John of the
Cross is suggesting, by denying our own will and doing God’s Will. Let us do this most surely by choosing to
excel at all times in obedience. Let us
try to make obedience the permanent disposition of our souls. When we have succeeded, we will have
achieved permanent detachment from created, sensible things and along with that
permanent adherence to God in love, a means of remaining in a permanent unitive
embrace of love with God, and with Jesus, the beloved of our souls.
Degrees of
Perfection
Having
completed the reflections on Maxims on Love, we proceed to the next entry in
this Minor Work of St. John of the Cross.
First we have to ask, what does our Saint mean by degrees of
perfection? Can degrees be interpreted
to mean percentages of perfection? Can
it mean what fraction of perfection?
Since there are seventeen entries in the list of degrees, it could mean
that if we comply with #1, we are 1/17 perfect. If we comply with ten of them we would be 10/17 perfect. Only after complying with all 17 would we be
17/17 perfect, or 100% perfect.
On
the other hand we could think of degrees as meaning steps. The Latin word for degree is Gradus, and the
Latin word for step is Gradus.
Maybe these are steps of perfection.
As we attain (climb onto) each step we get closer to perfection.
I am
not satisfied with these two interpretations.
The reason is that it seems to me that all seventeen entries are true
and found in anyone who is already perfect.
Consider #1. If I would not
commit a mortal sin nor any known imperfection for anything in the world, which
includes, not even to save my life, then I must already be at perfection, the
fullness of Love. Take any other entry
at random. We could say the same of it
that we said of entry #1. Look at
#4. Is that not typical of truly holy
[i.e. perfect soul]. Look also at any
other, #7, or #17 or example. Is it not
true that we find those qualities in Saints??
So, I
would prefer to call all these 17 entries by the name of “facets” of
perfection. Think of the “facets” of a
cut diamond. It is just one item, a
diamond, yet each facet is different.
Each facet gives access to the different nuance of the colors (one or
more) that make up white light.
So it
is with the soul of a perfect person (Saint).
Each of these facets reveals a different manifestation of the divine
life in that soul the way white light enters into a diamond and abides therein,
each face or facet reflects the light back in upon itself, though occasionally
each facet will also allow a particular lovely color to shine out of
itself. The different colors are like
different nuances of God’s life abiding in a soul. Depending upon circumstances, such as those suggested by each of the
17 entries, Divine Life shows up in a distinct but beautiful way. With God’s help, maybe we can identify some
nuance of divinity captured by each entry, or facet, of holiness
(perfection). We did something like
this when reflecting on Maxim 77 - the stars in the constellation called
Perfection.
#1. Do not
commit a mortal sin for all there is in the world, or any deliberate venial
sin, or any known imperfection.
Perhaps here we have the attribute of love of truth as a nuance of
perfection. The truth is: Being is to
be chosen always over Nothingness; i.e. Life is to be chosen always over death,
and second, fervent love is always to be chosen over lukewarm love, and
finally, third, order is always to be chosen over disorder. Taking a hint from the last sentence, we can
say that entry #1 reveals the special beautiful color or nuance of
Divine Life called orderliness.
We might say then, that a perfect person is a lover of orderliness as
well as a lover of truth. I am reminded
of an old Proverb: “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.” Cleanliness is a form of orderliness
as well as a form of purity. In the
living out of divine life by a Saint, nothing is out of order, nor are there
foreign elements in the love of the perfect soul that adulterate its love. There is no error in that soul to
contaminate the truth of its resembling God in existing and acting.
#2. Endeavor always to remain in the Presence
of God, either real, imaginative, or unitive, insofar as is permitted by your
works. The attribute of love that is expressed here as one of
its most delightful colors is that love causes the lover and beloved to be
always present to one another. In the
Trinity the Three persons each contain the other two and are contained in
company of one in each of the other Divine Persons. This is called “Circum-incession” by the Theologians. Father and Son abide as in their home in the
Person of the Holy Spirit. They can
rest or walk around (incession) within the Holy Spirit as folks do in their own
homes. Father and Holy Spirit do the
same within the Person of the Son, Jesus, and Jesus and the Holy Spirit do the
same within the Person of the Father.
Human love knows of something very similar. When we have great love for another person, we tell him/her: “you
are in my heart” , and such a lover knows that he is in the heart of his
beloved. Indeed, everything and
everyone we love is actually present in our hearts. Or as Jesus said, Where your treasure (a true love) is,
there is your heart also.
But
what does St. John of the Cross mean by real, imaginative, or unitive?
By
real presence he must mean being in the Church or Chapel where Jesus
Eucharistic is reserved or is exposed for adoration. Imaginative must mean “picturing to oneself” in the presence of
Jesus, whether Eucharistic or whether He was in His mortal life on earth or His
glorified life in Heaven. Unitive would
mean
presence in virtue of being one in mind and heart and will, according as our
state of life permits for all three.
Perhaps
this facet of divinity is what Jesus had in mind in His high priestly prayer at
the last supper: Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where
I am, may they be with me so that they may see the glory that is mine which you
gave me, because you loved me before the creation of the world. Even before that Jesus said: And the
glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be One as We are One:
I in them and You in Me that they may be consummated (built up) into
One.
Thus
this beautiful feature of love as expressed in facet #2 would be that it
creates a new, higher entity composed of lover and beloved, an entity better
and nobler and more lovely than the constituents who are built up into One.
Ecstasy (In Christian Mysticism)
New
Catholic Encyclopedia ( c 1967 by Catholic U of A)
A
concomitant but temporary mystical phenomenon that normally accompanies the
prayer of ecstatic union and disappears when the soul enters upon the transforming
union. As an external phenomenon it
consists in a gentle and progressive swooning that terminates in the total
alienation of the senses.
The ecstatic person does not hear or see anything and the face is usually
radiant, as if the individual has been transported to a scene of great beauty
and joy.
A
trance or swoon could conceivably be caused by diabolical influence. More common, presumably, is the state of absorption
and rapture induced by natural psychological causes and not necessarily associated
with religious experience. These conditions are sometimes called ecstasy by reason of the similarity
of the external phenomena. This article,
however, is concerned only with truly supernatural ecstasy, which always presupposes
the elevation of the soul to intimate union with God and its consequent detachment
from the sensible world. It admits of two forms: prophetic ecstasy and
mystical ecstasy. Prophetic ecstasy
is a *charism, or gratia gratis data, and is therefore not within the normal
or concomitant phenomena or the mystical sate.
It may be given even to one in the state of mortal sin, for it is given
by God as an illumination of the intellect so that the individual may transmit
a message to others. The ecstasy occurs
only as a means of binding the other faculties lest they disturb or misinterpret
the message given by God.
Mystical
ecstasy, on the other hand, is a truly concomitant phenomenon of the mystical
state, and especially of the higher grades of infused contemplation; it therefore
enters into the normal activity of mystical prayer, but only for a time.
The essential note of mystical ecstasy is the elevation of the soul
to God, the soul’s awareness of its union with God, and the resulting alienation
of the internal and external senses in the ecstatic trance.
The cause of mystical ecstasy is the Holy Spirit, working through His
gifts, and especially through the gifts of wisdom and understanding.
The ecstasy occurs because of the weakness
of
the body and its powers to withstand the divine illumination of infused contemplation,
but as the body is purified and strengthened, ecstasy no longer occurs.
St.
Thomas Aquinas distinguished three degrees of ecstasy: suspension of the external senses alone; suspension
of both the external and internal senses; direct contemplation of the divine
essence (ST 2a2ae, 175. 3 ad 1). Mystical
ecstasy may be gentle and delightful, or it may be violent and painful.
The delightful ecstasy is called simple ecstasy; the painful and violent
ecstasy is called seizure, flight of the spirit, or rapture (see St. Teresa
of Avila, Interior Castle, Sixth Mansions, ch. 5; St. John of the Cross, Dark
Night, 2.1-2).
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