St. John of The Cross and Quietism

[jimmy]

What is the difference between St. John of the cross and the quietists?

 

[DBT]

Hi Jimmy -

Didn’t want to leave you hanging on this thread . . . but to be honest I know next to nothing about Quietism. Here’s a link from New Advent:

www.newadvent.org/cathen/12608c.htm

The extract below caught my attention. All of this is in conflict with the teachings of St. John of the Cross . . . I’ve bolded parts that were particularily striking to me:
New Advent On Quietism:

It was the Spaniard Michael de Molinos who developed Quietism in the strictest sense of the term. From his writings, especially from his “Dux spiritualis” (Rome, 1675), sixty-eight propositions were extracted and condemned by Innocent XI in 1687 (Denzinger-Bannwart, 1221 sqq.). The key-note of the system is contained in the first proposition: man must annihilate his powers and this is the inward way (via interna); in fact, the desire to do anything actively is offensive to God and hence one must abandon oneself entirely to God and thereafter remain as a lifeless body (prop. 2). By doing nothing the soul annihilates itself and returns to its source, the essence of God, in which it is transformed and divinized, and then God abides in it (5). In this inward way, the soul has not to think either of reward or of punishment, of heaven or hell, of death or eternity. It must not concern itself about its own state, its defects, or its progress in virtue; having once resigned its will to God it must let Him work out His will without any action of the soul itself (7-13).** He who has thus committed himself entirely to God must not ask anything of God, or render thanks to Him; must take no account of temptations nor offer any active resistance; “and if nature be stirred one must permit its stirring because it is nature” (14-17). In prayer one must not use images or discursive thought, but must remain in “obscure faith” and in quiet, forgetting every distinct thought of the Divine attributes, abiding in God’s presence to adore, love and serve Him, but without producing any acts because with these God is not pleased.** Whatever thoughts arise during prayer, even though they be impure or against faith, if they are not voluntarily encouraged nor voluntarily expelled but are suffered with indifference and resignation, do not hinder the prayer of faith but rather enhance its perfection. He who desires sensible devotion is seeking not God but himself; indeed every sensible effect experienced in the spiritual life is abominable, filthy, unclean (18-20).

No preparation is required before Communion nor thanksgiving after other than that the soul remain in its usual state of passive resignation; and the soul must not endeavour to arouse in itself feelings of devotion. Interior souls resign themselves, in silence, to God; and the more thorough their resignation the more do they realize that they are unable to recite even the “Pater Noster”. They should elicit no acts of love for the Blessed Virgin or the saints or the Humanity of Christ, because, as these are all sensible objects, love for them is also sensible. External works are not necessary to sanctification, and penitential works, i.e. voluntary mortification should be cast off as a grievous and useless burden (32-40). God permits the demon to use “violence” with certain perfect souls even to the point of making them perform carnal actions either alone or with other persons. When these onsets occur, one must make no effort but let the demon have his way. Scruples and doubts must be set aside. In particular, these things are not to be mentioned in confession, because by not confessing them the soul overcomes the demon, acquires a “treasure of peace”, and attains to closer union with God (41-52). The “inward way” has nothing to do with confession, confessors, cases of conscience, theology, or philosophy. Indeed, God sometimes makes it impossible for souls who are advanced in perfection to go to confession, and supplies them with as much grace as they would receive in the Sacrament of Penance. The inward way leads on to a state in which passion is extinguished, sin is no more, sense is deadened, and the soul, willing only what God wills, enjoys an imperturbable peace: this is the mystic death. They who pursue this path must obey their superiors outwardly; even the vow of obedience taken by religious extends only to outward actions, only God and the director enter into the soul’s interior. To say that the soul in its interior life should be governed by the bishop is a new and very ridiculous doctrine; for on the hidden things the Church passes no judgment (55-68).

From this summary it is readily seen why the Church condemned Quietism.

Sounds like the Quietists sought perpetual contemplative absorbtion and everything else was to be avoided. The saints teach that habitual absorbtion isn’t possible in this life.

Hope this helps . . .
Dave.

 

[DBT]

. . . And if habitual absorbtion is indeed what the Quietist sought (and I’m not sure that it is), St. Teresa in particular had much to say about that.

She teaches that true contemplative absorbtion is relatively brief in duration . . . maybe 15 minutes to an hour. Whenever she encountered someone in a contemplative appearing state for prolonged periods of time (like all day) the explanation was always of a physical nature rather than supernatural. Usually the individual was suffering from an illness or was over doing penances such as not eating.

Her advice for these people went something like this: “Knock it off sister and go make yourself a sandwich.”

As for all the other parts in the extract, well that’s been condemed as heretical.

Dave.

 

[jimmy]

DBT:

Hi Jimmy -

Didn’t want to leave you hanging on this thread . . . but to be honest I know next to nothing about Quietism. Here’s a link from New Advent:

www.newadvent.org/cathen/12608c.htm

The extract below caught my attention. All of this is in conflict with the teachings of St. John of the Cross . . . I’ve bolded parts that were particularily striking to me:

Sounds like the Quietists sought perpetual contemplative absorbtion and everything else was to be avoided. The saints teach that habitual absorbtion isn’t possible in this life.

Hope this helps . . .
Dave.

Thanks for the info, it helps alot. It seems like they had quite a few problems.