Today’s readings: Click on today’s date at http://www.usccb.org/bible/
John of the Cross
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Second Week of Advent
Psalm 80:4
Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
Reveal Thy presence,
And let the vision and Thy beauty kill me,
Behold the malady
Of love is incurable
Except in Thy presence and before Thy face — John of the Cross
Perhaps the most eloquent poet ever to write in Spanish, the life of John of the Cross is celebrated today in every corner of the world, especially in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches.
John’s short 16th century life was marked by great suffering and great joy. While imprisoned for nine months in a Toledo monastery cell by his own Carmelite abbot, he wrote most of his most famous poem, “Spiritual Canticle.” A few years later he finished his second masterpiece, the poem “Dark Night of the Soul.”
John could be called the “prince of mystics” because of his understanding and expression about the journey of a soul seeking union with God. In Ascent of Mount Carmel, he discovers the power of nada (nothing):
In order to arrive at having pleasure in everything, Desire to have pleasure in nothing.
In order to arrive at possessing everything, Desire to possess nothing.
In order to arrive at being everything, Desire to be nothing.
In order to arrive at knowing everything, Desire to know nothing.
In order to arrive at that point where you take no pleasure, you must go by a way that gives no pleasure.
In order to arrive at that point where you know nothing, you must go by a way you do not know.
In order to arrive at that point where you are free of possessing, you must go by a way you do not possess.
In order to arrive at that point at which you are nothing, you must go through that which you are not. (Book 1, Chapter 13, Section 11)
We know from the beginning God will not be pinned down by what we say or think or “know” about him. When Moses asks for his name, he says only, “I am that I am.” This statement of BEING frustrates our determination to see God as another “thing” in our world. Instead, God makes it clear that he is NO thing; He simply Is.
This is difficult to say in words. John found some poetry to express some of the depth of this mystery; and for that, I for one am profoundly grateful.
When we turn to you, Lord, bless our eyes with just a glimpse of what we long to see. If I turn away in fear, give me strength to look once more, and then again and again and again.
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1210
