St. John of the Cross and Emptying the Mind

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JimR-OCDS said:
This tends to be the problem for everyone when we begin “discursive prayer.” We use images and thoughts to wrap our prayers around. This isn’t wrong, but necessary as we are beginners who need to have a formation that we can understand at the time. Sometimes while praying the Rosary, the Hail Mary prayers take president over meditation on the mysteries themselves, even though it’s the mysteries that are to be the focus of our meditation. The Hail Mary’s serve as a pointer for us to go back to meditation, when we become aware that we’ve drifted off to some other place.

For many, without the proper application of what St Teresa termed, “mental prayer,” the verbal prayers dry up and seem like nothing more than memorized words. Many become frustrated and give up praying for long periods of time, or all together. However, others, out of love for God, will feel the draw to deeper levels of prayer and will soon find themselves being brought into the practice of mental prayer, which is praying to God who is present and not out in the abstract cosmos.

I can’t speak for others, but for myself, when I began to learn quiet interior prayer, and being open to contemplation, the focus of my intention was no longer the words of prayer, but being in the presence of God dwelling within, at the center of my being and resting in His loving embrace. My prayer word, “Lord Jesus,” is the compass needle pointing me back to Christ. Whenever I become aware that I had attached myself to a thought and allowed it to take me away, I just return to the prayer word, " Lord Jesus," which places the focus of my intention on His presence.

I think it was Fr Pennington, who wrote an analogy of interior prayer being like two lovers sitting together on a sofa holding each other in their arms. No words between the two are necessary for them to express their love for each other, just being in each others presence, is enough. So it is when we are in the presence of God. No words are necessary, just being in His loving presence is enough.

This is the essence of interior prayer, which St Teresa called Mental Prayer. We are in the presence of God and not some abstract idea of God out in the cosmos. We are in His loving embrace. No words between us are necessary in order to express our love for each other.

Whether we use verbal discursive prayer or quiet interior prayer, our focus needs to be on God who is present, in the moment.

Centered In Christ
Jim
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Thank you so much Jim for taking the time to respond. I appriciate it very much.🙂
 
An excellent thread, I have very much enjoyed reading the many wise contributions from posters 🙂
“…The interior life must be filled with grace and charity, without dissimulation, of direct intention, rich in virtue, the memory exempt from cares and solicitude, freed and detatched, entirely delivered of every image; the heart set free, open and up lifted above the Heavens;** the intelligence empty and stripped of all consideration but God…An intelligence in repose without images**, an intuition in the light of God, and a spirit elevated in Purity to the Face of God, these three qualities united constitute the true contemplative life…”
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- Blessed John of Ruysbroeck (1293-1381), The Seven Steps of the Ladder of Spiritual Love, p. 148; 150
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Michael_Mayo said:
This is good also:

This formula then shall be proposed to you of this system, which you want, and of prayer, which every monk in his progress towards continual recollection of God, is accustomed to ponder, ceaselessly revolving it in his heart, having got rid of all kinds of other thoughts; for he cannot possibly keep his hold over it unless he has freed himself from all bodily cares and anxieties. And as this was delivered to us by a few of those who were left of the oldest fathers, so it is only divulged by us to a very few and to those who are really keen. And so for keeping up continual recollection of God this pious formula is to be ever set before you. “O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me,”

Conference 10 chapter 10
osb.org/lectio/cassian/conf/book1/conf10.html#10.10
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This lesson from the Conferences of St. John Cassian from the 4th century became the basis for the teachings of Fr. John Main OSB in our time. One could almost argue that everything old is new again. The way seems simple and timeless, but then we have a strong desire to overcomplicate things, even prayer.
 
Se also chapter 7 of The Cloud of Unknowing

Rest your thoughts only on the God who created you, redeemed you, and led you to this moment. Avoid any other thoughts of God. Direct a naked desire toward God. You may wish to reach out to God with one simple word that expresses your desire. A single syllable is better than a word with two or more. “God” and “love” provide excellent examples of such words. Once you have selected the word you prefer, permanently bind this word to your heart. This
word becomes your shield and spear in combat and in peace. Use this word to beat upon the cloudy darkness above you and to force every stray thought down under a cloud of
forgetting. If a nagging thought pesters you, strike it with this monosyllabic word. If your mind begins to analyze the intellectual ramifications of your chosen word, remember that the value of this word is its simplicity.

site.paracletepress.com/samples/exc-cloud-of-unknowing-essential1-20.pdf
 
July 15

Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Memorial

“Now just as no one comes to wisdom save through grace, justice, and knowledge, so none comes to contemplation save through penetrating meditation, holy conversation, and devout prayer.”

From the Journey of the Mind to God by Saint Bonaventure

Mystical wisdom is revealed by the Holy Spirit

Christ is both the way and the door. Christ is the staircase and the vehicle, like the throne of mercy over the Ark of the Covenant, and the mystery hidden from the ages. A man should turn his full attention to this throne of mercy, and should gaze at him hanging on the cross, full of faith, hope and charity, devoted, full of wonder and joy, marked by gratitude, and open to praise and jubilation. Then such a man will make with Christ a pasch, that is, a passing-over. Through the branches of the cross he will pass over the Red Sea, leaving Egypt and entering the desert. There he will taste the hidden manna, and rest with Christ in the sepulcher, as if he were dead to things outside. He will experience, as much as is possible for one who is still living, what was promised to the thief who hung beside Christ: Today you will be with me in paradise.

For this passover to be perfect, we must suspend all the operations of the mind and we must transform the peak of our affections, directing them to God alone. This is a sacred mystical experience. It cannot be comprehended by anyone unless he surrenders himself to it; nor can he surrender himself to it unless he longs for it; nor can he long for it unless the Holy Spirit, whom Christ sent into the world, should come and inflame his innermost soul. Hence the Apostle says that this mystical wisdom is revealed by the Holy Spirit.

If you ask how such things can occur, seek the answer in God’s grace, not in doctrine; in the longing of the will, not in the understanding; in the sighs of prayer, not in research; seek the bridegroom not the teacher; God and not man; darkness not daylight; and look not to the light but rather to the raging fire that carries the soul to God with intense fervor and glowing love. The fire is God, and the furnace is in Jerusalem, fired by Christ in the ardor of his loving passion. Only he understood this who said: My soul chose hanging and my bones death. Anyone who cherishes this kind of death can see God, for it is certainly true that: No man can look upon me and live.

Let us die, then, and enter into the darkness, silencing our anxieties, our passions and all the fantasies of our imagination. Let us pass over with the crucified Christ from this world to the Father, so that, when the Father has shown himself to us, we can say with Philip: It is enough. We may hear with Paul: My grace is sufficient for you; and we can rejoice with David, saying: My flesh and my heart fail me, but God is the strength of my heart and my heritage for ever. Blessed be the Lord for ever, and let all the people say: Amen. Amen!

Peace
 
Book 2 Chapter 4 Paragraph 4
So, however much the soul aspires to be perfectly united through grace in
this life with that to which it will be united through glory in the next (which, as Saint Paul
here says, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man in the flesh), it is clear that, in order perfectly to attain to union in this life through grace and through love, a soul must be in darkness with respect to all that can enter through the eye, and to all that can be received through the ear, and can be imagined with the fancy, and understood with the heart, which here signifies the soul. And thus a soul is greatly impeded from reaching this high estate of union with God when it clings to any understanding or feeling or imagination or appearance or will or manner of its own, or to any other act or to anything of its own, and cannot detach and strip itself of all these. For, as we say, the goal which it seeks lies beyond all this, yea, beyond even the highest thing that can be known or experienced; and thus a soul must pass beyond everything to unknowing.

Book 3 Chapter 2 Paragraph 1
Which treats of the natural apprehensions of the memory and describes how the soul
must be voided of them in order to be able to attain to union with God according to
this faculty.

I appreciate this thread and all the posts.

I feel St John is talking to the intellect that deals with the material world and is saying it can only point to the soul. Our intelligence has a vitally important part to play in answering fundamental questions that preserve our mental and spiritual health. It is our life intelligence that guides us through the crises of birth, puberty, marriage, suffering and death; it also leads us to reflect on our inner life and our relationship to every man and woman. The intellect can give us a glimpse of the spiritual life inside ourselves, help us resist the exterior influences that blind us with passion and help us access thoughts about God that are totally new, unexpected and beyond our own capacity. The effect of these inspirations is to enable the soul to approach God beyond the material realm in pure consciousness where everything is one. If one is in the realm of memory, words, thoughts and ideas one is still in the physical realm. The soul is connected to God is beyond the physical world in Spirit. I feel St. John the mystic is pointing with words to a spiritual experience.
 
soma said:
The effect of these inspirations is to enable the soul to approach God beyond the material realm in pure consciousness where everything is one.
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The teachings presented in this thread show us the way to pure mystical living. This, imo, happens when praying … listening … and acting become a continuous, uninterrupted symphony in the soul. As Brother Lawrence says, when these three movements become second nature … as natural as breathing. The stillness of mind and heart produced by St. John’s teaching on the purification of the memory opens the door for us to hear the quiet whisperings of the Lord who comes to us as He did Elijah in the cave. If we are open and receptive, we will come to hear these “inspirations” often throughout the day … little promptings to do good that we must obey promptly, cheerfully, joyfully. Thinking and analyzing these inspirations stifles the “drawing” of the Holy Spirit … whose voice both St. John and St. Teresa teach is very subtle and easily snuffed out when we allow reasoning to take precedence over “loving attentiveness.” As one poster mentioned, our proper attitude in the practice of recollection is to “Just Be.”

This state is wonderfully described by Fr de Caussade in “Abandonment to Divine Providence” which deserves to be quoted at length:
Abandonment to Divine Providence:
For these souls, their hearts tell them what God desires. They have only to listen to the promptings of their hearts to interpret his will in the existing circumstances. God’s plans, disguised as they are, reveal themselves to us through our intuition rather than through our reason. They disclose themselves in various ways: by chance or by what seems to be a compulsive thrust which allows no choice of action, by a sudden impulse, by some supernatural rapture, or very often by something which attracts or repels us.

Now, if we judge all this superficially, it certainly seems that it is not very sensible to leave so important an affair to such uncertainty. Judging by ordinary standards, there is no order and indeed no sense in this way of going on. Nevertheless, to obey this apparent disorder is to have reached the summit of virtue, and it is one we do not reach without long years of effort. This virtue is pure, unadulterated virtue. It is quite simply perfection.

The soul which has for a very long time studied and worked to achieve perfection and used every method to co-operate with grace gradually falls into the habit of acting always by an instinctive following of God’s wishes. Such a soul realizes that it can do nothing better than deal with whatever first crops up without all the careful thought it formerly used to need. It must act at random, following those promptings of grace which cannot lead it astray. And what grace does is nothing short of marvelous to those who observe it with clear eyes and intelligent minds. There are no rules, yet there is perfect organization; no proper arrangements, yet all is well ordered; no serious thinking, yet profound conclusions; no effort, yet everything done well; no foresight, yet swift adaption to every new happening.
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Dave 🙂
 
It is a better day when I wake up at prayer, than when I wake up and pray.

Come Holy Spirit.

Peace
 
While I am reading Dark Night of the Soul I am also reading Cynthia Bourgeault’s Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening. They go well together especially in talking about purgation of the soul. There is a cleansing and healing that comes with the inner silence if it is oriented to God. But that does not mean it will always be pleasant “as a practice of meditational prayer loosens repressed material in the unconscious, the initial fruits of spiritual practice may not be the expected peace and enlightenment, but destabilization and the emergence into consciousness of considerable pain.”

How great faith is needed to journey through what seems to be such darkness. It is an interior mortification.
 
This thread is full of wonderful information!

God bless you all!
 
Michael_Mayo said:
While I am reading Dark Night of the Soul I am also reading Cynthia Bourgeault’s Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening. They go well together especially in talking about purgation of the soul. There is a cleansing and healing that comes with the inner silence if it is oriented to God. But that does not mean it will always be pleasant “as a practice of meditational prayer loosens repressed material in the unconscious, the initial fruits of spiritual practice may not be the expected peace and enlightenment, but destabilization and the emergence into consciousness of considerable pain.”

How great faith is needed to journey through what seems to be such darkness. It is an interior mortification.
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Ah, purgative contemplation! 🙂

St. John’s teaching on this is so wonderfully summarized in this passage from Dark Night:
Dark Night:
  1. For the sake of further clarity in this matter, we ought to note that this purgative and loving knowledge, or divine light we are speaking of, has the same effect on a soul that fire has on a log of wood. The soul is purged and prepared for union with the divine light just as the wood is prepared for transformation into the fire. Fire, when applied to wood, first dehumidifies it, dispelling all moisture and making it give off any water it contains. Then it gradually turns the wood black, makes it dark and ugly, and even causes it to emit a bad odor. By drying out the wood, the fire brings to light and expels all those ugly and dark accidents that are contrary to fire. Finally, by heating and enkindling it from without, the fire transforms the wood into itself and makes it as beautiful as it is itself. Once transformed, the wood no longer has any activity or passivity of its own, except for its weight and its quantity that is denser than the fire. It possesses the properties and performs the actions of fire: It is dry and it dries; it is hot and it gives off heat; it is brilliant and it illumines; it is also much lighter in weight than before. It is the fire that produces all these properties in the wood.
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The spiritual meaning of this analogy:
Dark Night:
  1. Similarly, we should philosophize about this divine, loving fire of contemplation. Before transforming the soul, it purges it of all contrary qualities. It produces blackness and darkness and brings to the fore the soul’s ugliness; thus one seems worse than before and unsightly and abominable. This divine purge stirs up all the foul and vicious humors of which the soul was never before aware; never did it realize there was so much evil in itself, since these humors were so deeply rooted. And now that they may be expelled and annihilated they are brought to light and seen clearly through the illumination of this dark light of divine contemplation. Although the soul is no worse than before, either in itself or in its relationship with God, it feels clearly that it is so bad as to be not only unworthy that God see it but deserving of his abhorrence. In fact, it feels that God now does abhor it. This comparison illustrates many of the things we have been saying and will say.
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When an individual is brought to the point of “loving attentiveness” after passing through St. John’s “3 signs” shown earlier in this thread, the contemplation will likely be purgative in nature. There may be passive trials as described in Book 1 of Dark Night as well as trials born of the difficultly putting into practice the teaching of The Ascent as discussed throughout this thread … the active night of spirit. After that, there may be a period where the effect of prayer is serene and tranquil … a sign that purgative contemplation has become more illuminative. Such a soul may feel they have “arrived” … when in fact they are likely experiencing the “calm before the storm” where, God willing, the passive trials of Book 2 of The Dark Night may be experienced.

Importantly we can see from these descriptions above how our viewpoint on contemplative suffering evolves as we move through the purgative way to the illuminative and, finally, unitive ways. In the beginning, the “smoke and foul odors” we emit represent the spiritual pain and suffering we experience as the imperfections in our soul are being purged. We are intensely focused on how this makes us feel … how we are “wearied, tormented, made dark and defiled” by it all. While such souls love God dearly, their attention is placed on themselves and what contemplation is doing to them.

Later, though, our gaze shifts. While trials in life never cease – and indeed aspects of our life may be in complete chaos – deep down our soul is always at peace. This is because we’ve learned to maintain a “holy indifference” to how we feel as we see clearly that it is suffering itself that unites us more closely to God. Thus, the log and flame become as one.

This shifting of gaze off ourselves and onto God is, imo, one of the greatest transformative effects of the nights.

Dave 🙂
 
Very good, David.

You know, about 10 or 15 years ago I started reading John and put it down with distaste or perhaps even fear. Now I am seeing it differently and not as threatened. The quotes above are reassuring to me as I sometimes have very disturbing dreams, murders, tortures, etc. and I ask, “Where on earth is that coming from?” Well, me, of course. But it is all so unlike me. Hah! or is it? Let’s get it out into the light and have a look at it. As John says, I was “never before aware; never did I realize there was so much evil in myself, since these humors were so deeply rooted.”
 
Michael_Mayo said:
Very good, David.

You know, about 10 or 15 years ago I started reading John and put it down with distaste or perhaps even fear. Now I am seeing it differently and not as threatened. The quotes above are reassuring to me as I sometimes have very disturbing dreams, murders, tortures, etc. and I ask, “Where on earth is that coming from?” Well, me, of course. But it is all so unlike me. Hah! or is it? Let’s get it out into the light and have a look at it. As John says, I was “never before aware; never did I realize there was so much evil in myself, since these humors were so deeply rooted.”
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The Living Flame of Love is my favorite by St John of the Cross.

Next to that is the Spiritual Canticle.

When I read them, they touched me and confirmed my prayer life was not my own, but what God had brought me to.

Jim
 
Hello Michael and Jim … yes, these writings by St. John of the Cross say it all. Perhaps intimidating at first … but comforting and reassuring with time and experience. He speaks to me more directly than any other Carmelite saint or blessed … although I love them all!

One last thought on the last post:

Today’s reading from Evening Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours perfectly captures the spirit of the log and flame fully united in love:
James 1:2-4:
My brothers and sisters, count it pure joy when you are involved in every sort of trial. Realize that when your faith is tested this makes for endurance. Let endurance come to its perfection so that you may be fully mature and lacking in nothing.
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In the purgative way we know this truth as an abstract concept. In the illuminative way we begin to taste the truth experientially. In the unitive way the veil between this life and the next is so thin we can see right through it. We become god by participation … and partakers in Triune life. All that remains is to “break the web of this sweet encounter …”
 
John 16: 21 When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

Peace
 
hazcompat said:
John 16: 21 When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

Peace
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Hazcompat, you have a real gift for seeing. Thank you!

Dave 🙂
 
I just got to this very important paragraph yesterday in Dark Night Book I Chapter 10:
  1. The way in which they are to conduct themselves in this night of sense is to devote
    themselves not at all to reasoning and meditation, since this is not the time for it, but to allow
    the soul to remain in peace and quietness, although it may seem clear to them that they are
    doing nothing and are wasting their time    , and although it may appear to them that it is because
    of their weakness that they have no desire in that state to think of anything. The truth
    is that they will be doing quite sufficient if they have patience and persevere in prayer without
    making any effort. What they must do is merely to leave the soul free and disencumbered
    and at rest from all knowledge and thought, troubling not themselves,     in that state, about
    what they shall think or meditate upon, but contenting themselves with merely a peaceful
    and loving attentiveness toward God    , and in being without anxiety, without the ability and
    without desired to have experience of Him or to perceive Him. For all these yearnings disquiet
    and distract the soul from the peaceful quiet and sweet ease of contemplation which is here
    granted to it.
Rather than force, just enjoy the peace.
 
Michael_Mayo said:
I just got to this very important paragraph yesterday in Dark Night Book I Chapter 10:

What they must do is merely to leave the soul free and disencumbered
and at rest from all knowledge and thought, troubling not themselves, in that state, about what they shall think or meditate upon, but **contenting themselves with merely a peaceful **and loving attentiveness toward God, and in being without anxiety, without the ability and without desired to have experience of Him or to perceive Him. For all these yearnings disquiet and distract the soul from the peaceful quiet and sweet ease of contemplation which is here granted to it.

Rather than force, just enjoy the peace.
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I can’t tell you how much I needed to read this today! Thank you!
I find that I can read secular things, like posts on CAF, without any difficulty. But whenever I try to read my spiritual books in efforts to be attentive to Our Lord speaking to me, I become exceedingly disquieted and have to put the book down.
 
The way of the pilgrim and the pilgrim continues his way" Pg4 states:

“ceaseless interrior prayer is a continuous aspiration and a yearning of the spirit of man toward God. To succeed in this sweet exercise it is necessary to ask God frequently that He teach you to pray continuously. Pray often and fervently and ***prayer itself will reveal this mystery to you, ***how it is possible for it to be continuous, but it takes time.”

Come Holy Spirit.

Peace
 
…“and this spiritualization of the body will be the source of its power and incorruptibility (or immortality).”

Pope Saint John Paul II
GENERAL AUDIENCE OF WEDNESDAY, 10 FEBRUARY

Peace
 
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