Who was St. John of the Cross? What did he write? Why should
we care? Before introducing the central theme of Union with God According to St. John to the Cross, a few important
details on the man and his works.
St. John of the Cross (1542-1591) was born in Spain. Not an uncommon
occurrence for the time period, his father died when he was only three years
old. St. John struggles very early in life, with his mother and two brothers, just
to survive. The family was poor, and it is perhaps because of their poverty St.
John developed a special sensitivity to the poor and the sick.
At an early age St. John decided he wanted to become a
priest. He was a good university student, studying theology. As fate would have
it, during this formative period he met St. Teresa of Avilla when he was about
25 years old; she was 52. Together with the Holy Spirit, they decided to reform
the Carmelite order, but since very few people embrace change, predictably they
faced many obstacles in their work. At one point, to stop his reform efforts his
own order abducted and imprisoned him![1]
While in prison, St. John was moved to use scraps of paper to
record his first work, The Spiritual
Canticle, and later, he wrote his most famous work, Dark Night of the Soul, considered masterpieces of Spanish mystical
poetry. A later work, The Ascent of Mount
Carmel, presents a systematic study of spiritual union with God. St. John
Paul II wrote his doctoral dissertation on St. John’s mystical theology.
The structure of St. John’s work, especially his language of
the union of the soul with God, shows the influence on him of the book, The Mystical Theology. Traditionally
authorship of this book was credited to Dionysius, but today many scholars
accept that the name was a pseudonym used by a fifth or sixth century
theologian, referred to today as Pseudo-Dionysius.
Note that consideration of the target audience for any book
is paramount. Broadly speaking, Dark
Night of the Soul is a mystical writing that leans more to an audience
holding to a religious vocation, which is why I selected Union with God According to St. John to the Cross. This book is
more oriented to a lay reader.
In one sense, Union
with God According to St. John to the Cross, could be summarized in a
single word: renunciation. Or if you
prefer a bit more detailed description, a single sentence conveys the essence
of the book’s message: whatever inhibits
you from achieving a closer union with God, move it out of your way. Of
course, renunciation is easier to discuss than to achieve, and realizing this
truth St. John offers us his wisdom for exactly how we are to realize a closer union with God. As a good teacher,
St. John understood the difference between telling someone what to do, and
showing him or her how to do it.
Most importantly as eluded to above, St. John’s message in
this book has been tailored to a specific audience: the lay reader, rather than
the professed religious. This is a distinction that makes all the difference,
as many lay readers might be confused, if not outright intimidated, by St.
John’s apparently austere message of renunciation. How does one reconcile, “renunciation
to the world” with the obvious necessity of living in the world according to
our God-given vocation as a spouse, parent, employee, care giver, volunteer, etc.?
At first glance, it would appear the goal of renunciation to
the world, and for example, parenting, are incompatible. Therefore, as a
layperson it becomes a fair question to ask: why bother with this book (or any
book for that matter,) if it was not written with your God-given vocation in
mind? The answer is simple, but not necessarily obvious: St. John’s sometimes-austere
language and all or nothing approach presented in his other great work, Dark Night of the Soul, has been modified, has been tempered, in Union With God
to specifically fit lay readers. Indeed, St. John is concerned with every lost
soul, particularly those who but for a lack of Biblically sound instruction
would have achieved spiritual perfection, but he does not want you to ignore this
particular book as something unreasonable for you to follow as a person with a
lay vocation.[2] If
you are a layperson, you are his intended
and targeted audience in Union With God.
However, do not read the above as, “Oh. St. John of the
Cross has two distinct doctrines, one doctrine for the laity and another for
religious.” This would be an incorrect understanding, as St. John does not
offer us two doctrines. Rather, St. John has one doctrine that applies to all Christians,
but requires in the author’s words, “the disposition of not wanting to be
confined to mediocrity and therefore of not refusing generous renunciation at
every privatization required for retaining a more intimate union with God.”[3]
But what does the above excerpt actually mean in the context
of a lay reader? The answer hinges on St. John’s nuanced definition of
“renunciation.” When St. John is addressing a lay audience, renunciation simply
means not having an inordinate attachment
to anything. He does not mean to say laity must, “divest of all material
goods.” One could further consider, “not having an inordinate attachment to
things” to mean, “having a spiritual detachment
to all things but God.” In other words, St. John perfectly understands that
laity must be of the world, live in the world, and therefore by definition, accept
the associated normal materialism that goes hand-in-hand with marriage,
parenting, working, etc. His message is not to become a hermit and live under a
vow of poverty while simultaneously trying to provide for your family, but
rather, never allow your material
possessions to posses you. Always keep the proper perspective on the
purpose of your material goods.
However, the most critical nuance of St. John’s thought is
that it is left to the reader, and more specifically, the reader’s particular vocational calling, to determine exactly
how, “renunciation at every privation” will be applied in their lives. St. John
is not demanding that the layperson mimic the lifestance of a priest or nun,
any more than he is asking the priest or nun to mimic the lifestance of a layperson.
What he is asking is that we reflect upon what behaviors would bring us to a
closer union with God, but also remain in
harmony with the specifics of our vocational calling. Clearly, a monk and a
family man or woman will arrive at materially different answers, but not necessarily conceptually different
answers: that which blocks our closer union with God remains a block, regardless
of its exact nature and regardless of our particular vocational calling in
life.
So, “remove the blocks” is the basic message from St. John,
but how does he explain we do that? Let us start here with St. John’s Step 1,
of 2: St. John tells us that we must give absolute preference in our heart to
God above all others. Sounds right. Simple enough, but doesn’t that stance
towards daily life mean we would all inevitably choose to embrace a religious
vocation, over laity? No. Why? Because we are free to love all God’s creations
in accordance to His will for us, and clearly, such love could include our
participation in the Sacrament of Marriage, and the fruit of marriage if so
blessed, which would be children. However, St. John cautions us that we are to
love all created things only in such a way that we always give priority and preference
of place to God over self-interest, other people, material goods, vacations,
etc. People go astray of St. John’s message when they elevate building their own
ego, sustaining friendships, acquiring possessions, etc. over serving the will
of God as their first priority.
So, if Step 1 is making a commitment to always prioritizing
the will of God in our life over all else, do we even need a Step 2? Doesn’t
that just about cover it? No, not really. Perhaps one command is all a few people
may need, but most people will need further help in figuring out how to do Step
1, which is why St. John continues with his teaching. He goes on to explain the
specific techniques that will assist us, especially the laity, to ensure the
will of God is the actual ruler of our life.
We will not go into here the many and various techniques
that St. John presents us, but it is a fair question to ask: What is the big
deal? What is wrong with joining the ever growing, “I’m a good person!” crowd?
Why do we need specific guidance from St. John? Here is why: we are lied to on
a daily basis, and we need God’s help in sorting out the lies from the truth.
Given the incessant and slickly produced messages from Madison
Ave., marketing to us their worldly mantras of, “the good life,” personal
autonomy, relativism (“Promise her anything but give her Arpege”) militant secular
independence, self-reliance (think Marlboro Man) not to mention the daily dose
of secular humanist messages, “Who needs God? There is no God. God is dead!” we
need the words of St. John today more than ever.
The instructions from St. John in Union With God in regards to everything but our relationship to God
are simple but clear: be detached from it.
However, we need more tools to fight Satan and his crew today than pithy
slogans and a gentle reminder to put God first in our lives. Many of us can
remember the rather naïve, and predictably failed drug campaign slogan, “Just
say no to drugs!” The campaign failed not because the slogan was wrong, but
because it was insufficient for facing the task at hand.
Today, trying to fight the message of the world and entire
might of pop culture with your only tool being the oversimplified message of,
“Hey, just make God #1 in your life!” sounds a bit like, “Mohammed Ali vs.
Billy Barty! Film at 11.” St. John was gifted to realize we will eventually, if
not in his day, require more than a slogan to battle against Satan and his
demons. Those who have exclusively relied upon the spiritual battlefield
equivalent of, “Just say no to Satan!” know what I mean. Such folk have predictably
had a very rough and roller coaster relationship with God. Satan wins his
shares of rounds.
Perhaps years ago during the time of St. John (1542 – 1591,)
before you could dial-up Internet pornography at the speed of light, or troll
the Silk Road marketplace to quench who knows what disordered desire, such a
quaint thought as, “Just say yes to God!” might have worked for a few. But
those days are long gone. Today we must have better and stronger combat tools
in our spiritual warfare toolbox, or our soul will be placed in mortal jeopardy,
and likely on a daily basis. And this observation applies to both lay and
religious. In fact, especially our religious, who are always the prime targets
of Satan. One can only wonder at what demons St. John had to battle while
writing on behalf of God.
For authentic Catholic guidance and soul formation, reach
for Union With God, early and often.
[1] Kieran Kavanaugh, “The Collected Works of St John of the Cross”
(Washington, ICS Publications, 1991) pp. 9–27.
[2]
R.H.J Steuart, The Mystical Doctrine of
St. John of the Cross (London, Burns & Oates, 2002) p. 3.
[3]
Fr. Gabriel of St. Magdalen, Union With
God According To St. John of the Cross (Eugene, Oregon, The Carmel of Maria
Regina) p. 1.
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