The Life Removed

 How tranquil is the life
Of him who, shunning the vain world's uproar,
May follow, free from strife,
The hidden path, of yore
Chosen by the few who conned true wisdom's lore!

     For he, with thoughts aloof,
By proud men's great estate is not oppressed.
Nor marvels at the roof
Of gold, built to attest
The Moor's skill, that on jasper pillars rests.

     He heeds not though fame raise
His name afar on wings of rumour flung,
He cares not for the praise
Of cunning flatterer's tongue,
Nor for what truth sincere would leave unsung.

     What boots it my content
That the vain voice of fame should favour me,
If in its service spent
I find myself to be
Vexed by dull care and gnawing misery?

     O hill, O stream, O field,
O solitary refuge of delight,
Since my bark now must yield
To storm, your solace bright
I seek and flee this sea's tempestuous might.

     Sleep broken by no fear
Be mine, and a day clear, serene, and free,
Shunning the look severe,
Lofty exceedingly,
Of him whom gold exalts or ancestry.

     Me may the birds awake
With their sweet, unpremeditated song,
And those dark cares forsake
That e'er to him belong
Who lives not in his independence strong!

     I to myself would live,
To enjoy the blessings that to Heaven I owe,
Alone, contemplative,
And freely love forgo,
Nor hope, fear, hatred, jealousy e'er know.

     Upon the bare hillside
An orchard I have made with my own hand,
That in the sweet Springtide
All in fair flower doth stand
And promise sure of fruit shows through the land.

     And, as though swift it strove
To see and to increase that loveliness,
From the clear ridge above
A stream pure, weariless
Hurrying to reach that ground doth onward press;

     And straightway in repose
Its course it winds there tree and tree between,
And ever as it goes
The earth decks with new green
And with gay wealth of flowers spreads the scene.

     The air in gentle breeze
A myriad scents for my delight distils,
It moves among the trees
With a soft sound that fills
The mind, and thought of gold or scepter kills.

     Treasure and gold be theirs
Who to a frail bark would entrust their life:
I envy not the cares
Of those whose fears are rife
When the north wind with south wind is at strife.

     In the storm's strain the mast
Groans, and clear day is turned to eyeless night,
While to the skies aghast
Rise wild cries of affright
And they enrich the sea in their despite.

     But me may still suffice,
Rich only in meek peace, a humble fare;
And the wrought artifice
Be his of gold plate rare
Who dreads not o'er the raging sea to fare.

     And while in misery
Others are pledged to fierce ambition's throng,
Afire insatiably
For power that stays not long,
May I in pleasant shade recite my song;

     Yea, lying in the shade,
My brow with bay and ivy immortal crowned,
My ear attentive made
To the soft, tuneful sound
Of zither touched by fingers' skill profound.


-- Fray Luis de León (1527-1591)

Exercise care: do not become attached to temporal goods

“Spiritual persons must exercise care that in their heart and joy they do not become attached to temporal goods. They must fear lest, through a gradual increase, their small attachments become great… what is small in the beginning can be immense in the end… And they should never assure themselves that, since their attachment is small, they will break away from it in the future even if they do not do so immediately. If they do not have the courage to uproot it when it is small and in its first stage, how do they think and presume they will have the ability to do so when it becomes greater and more deeply rooted?”

-- The Ascent of Mount Carmel by St John of the Cross

-o-

"Love is at the heart of the spirituality of St. John of the Cross. Oftentimes, however, peo ple read his writings and become frightened by the absolute, stark, and radical language he uses, such as: all or nothing, self-denial, mortification, emptiness, renunciation, nakedness, contempt for self and creatures, and detachment. All these terms form a rich vocabulary to express the theme of negation and can appear repellent and inhuman if not understood correctly. They recur throughout John's works and are often the source of misinterpretation and fear that have distorted the beauty, depth, and humanness of his person and doctrine."

"To begin with, the starting point for approaching John's negation spirituality is the expe rience of being loved by God a God who desires to enter into a personal relationship of love with human beings and our response to that love. Any notion of self-denial, detach ment, renunciation, or emptiness that is not born of an experience of God's personal love makes no sense to John of the Cross. God always takes the initiative. "We love because he first loved us" (1 Jn 4:19). In the beginning of the Spiritual Canticle , which sings of and recounts the Christian journey toward union with God in terms of love, John writes that the soul is only able to begin the journey of love in search for union with God because she first had an experience of God's love, and as a fruit of that experience, came to an aware ness that love is the purpose of existence (C, 1, 1). It is this experience of God's love that ignites the fire of love within a person so that one can begin the journey towards union with God through love."

"The final element of negation as a form of love and union with God is that the more one's love grows the more one's heart becomes concentrated on the Beloved, and as a natural corollary, whatever impedes the growth of love or attention to the Beloved, or whatever is superfluous to this love, simply falls away. In this sense, detachment in St. John of the Cross is a natural outcome of an ever deepening and concentrated love of God. Negation has nothing to do with a depreciation of material or spiritual goods, other relationships, having fun, or created reality. It is about a relationship of love, of making an option for Jesus Christ the Beloved. John of the Cross was an ardent lover of God and his whole message is to make God the love and the center of our lives because we exist for Love, for God, who is the fulfillment of all human existence and who offers us the fullness of life, love, and happiness. He maintains that the more we are "won over to love," the more we concentrate our love and attention on God and God's reign, the more our attachments, selfishness, useless desires, and even very good but superfluous things, will fall away as a result. This is the mystery of Love that by its very nature transforms and frees us."

-- Free to love: Negation in the doctrine of John of the Cross by Daniel Chowning, ocd

The value of detachment

"In a materialistic age which tends to relegate spiritual values to an unimportant or inferior plane, it would seem worthwhile to study these values, or one concept of them, in the life and writings of a man who is regarded as both a Christian saint and a master of classical literature. St John of the Cross can be read purely for the beauty of his poetry and prose; yet to ignore the philosophy and ideals which they serve to convey would also be to miss much of their beauty. They have life, and still live, because much of his own inner spirit is contained within them.

Among the many aspects of the spiritual life, desprendimiento (detachment) is one which today is particularly rejected, and often misunderstood. Man seeks to acquire and to gain; not to give away and become free. To understand St John of the Cross' teaching, therefore, and the generally accepted view that his spirituality is negative, it is necessary to understand the positive side, and to see why he stressed continually the need to renounce material things, or at least, the attachment to them. The fulness of his writings is then revealed, and the richness of his poetry better understood. Above all, an integration is seen between life and art; and how, in one man at least, they both played an integral part."

-- St John of the Cross & Detachment by Glenys Edwards

-o-

In religious life, I encountered people who were "turned off" by St John of the Cross' insistence on detachment and the nada nada nada; and also those who were lured by his romantic expressions, more than his message. Holy Father John of the Cross is a master of the spiritual life that teaches us how, by detaching ourselves from creatures and objects, we can attain union with God, the creator of all things. By emptying ourselves, our hearts, we make space for God to dwell in us, to fill us with His love and grace.

If you haven't read John of the Cross' writings yet, I highly recommend them to you. The two better known English translations are those by E. Allison Peers and that of Frs Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodríguez. Peers' translation is more literal, and, thus, may be more difficult to follow for modern readers. Kavanaugh and Rodríguez's translation is more dynamic and easier to follow. Nothing beats the original Spanish, but, quite honestly, either translation works.

If you don't know where to start, my spiritual director (a discalced carmelite friar) suggested that I read the main works in the following order: Spiritual Canticle, Ascent, Dark Night and Living Flame of Love. Read the introductions. St John of the Cross wrote using many symbolisms drawn from Scripture. The Counsels and Sayings of Light and Love may be read any time, over and over. Be patient with the texts and do not attempt to read the main works in one day or even one week. The texts are so rich that one needs to "digest" them very slowly, and re-read the texts. Don't cheat yourself from a fantastic spiritual read.

Remain open to the unexpected

"God doesn't always send long-term solutions in response to our needs but often only little boosts, 'just for today.' That is enough for us to go on, provided we have confidence in God.

Following the small flame of faith, hope, and love that burns in the heart, the soul feels as secure as if it walked in broad daylight. Let us follow the indications arising from the humble acts of faith, hope, and love the Holy Spirit inspires us to make daily. We cannot go wrong in believing, hoping, and loving. God speaks today for today. We can't know what we will be called to do five or ten years from now. Knowing what we should do today is enough.

Someone with this attitude possesses flexibility and detachment. It is not good to want always to be in charge of one's life and to be rigid in scheduling as a result. To be sure, it's desirable to have an organized life and an orderly agenda, but only while remaining open to the unexpected. If we are too locked into our plans, we are in danger of missing God's calls."

-- Called to Life by Jacques Philippe

Forbid suffering entrance to your soul

"We must not be slaves either of time or health; we cannot dispose of either as we will! If we thought of acting only when all the conditions were favourable, we would pass our lives doing nothing; or at least we would get out of life very little of what it can give us.

Go ahead! That is a phrase I like so much. Even if everything is far from perfect, we must learn to say it. And things will go ahead, since joy does not come from without or from circumstances. Its principal source is withing us.

That is why faith is such a sure source of happiness, even now. The faithful who keep themselves in a state of grace, or who see that they return to it without delay whenever necessary, possess in their souls God who is infinite Goodness. And it is his presence that keeps them in peace. Troubles and disturbing events will always cause suffering; it is a law of life, and we cannot alter it.

We shall never banish suffering in our life, but we can forbid it entrance to our soul, or at any rate to the higher part of the soul. We are there, as it were, on a mountain, and we regard our troubles as the dweller upon the mountain contemplates the storm sweeping over the plain.

But we do not reach that height all at once; we have to arrive at it by stages. The thousand and one petty annoyances that each day brings are our training. We must calmly watch them come and go. To want to avoid them all is impossible; to allow them to upset us is a weakness. There will always be some cloud on the horizon of our lives. But do not let any of these things stop you, or even affect you. In short: Go ahead!"

-- Where Silence is Praise by A Carthusian