A divine darkness covers the soul so well prepared for pure contemplation

"May the Holy Spirit be served in granting his aid, and whatever is said here be for the glory of the same God.

This Lord says, that in the beginning when God made the heaven and the earth there was darkness over the abysses, and the spirit of the Lord walked over the waters. When his Divine Majesty wants to grant favor to a soul, He makes it remain in nothing and empty of all, remaining so broken-down and lost from itself as if it weren't , that it may truly receive his divine spirit, having completely gotten rid of all affections and appetites, conquered and beaten all passions, erased from itself all the images and forms that could disturb it. Being as it were a flat and smooth board, without a smudge, and without anything that in itself that would remove or disturb the new paint for which it is disposed, then, to this soul so well prepared, a divine darkness covers its deep abysses of its capacity, in the immensity of God; because this is a pure contemplation in which the soul receives communication from God himself in its very substance. And because the immensity of light of this divine being of God excels so much at the sight of the soul, this divine light becomes for it darkness in terms of what it can receive from him; that the blinder it is and He with immensity in himself is brighter, the darker it seems; and the more it receives from him (the greater the brightness that it receives from him), that greater clarity leaves it blinder in terms of itself and its natural operations."

-- Transformación del alma en Dios, 1 by Cecilia del Nacimiento, ocd
translated by ocdsister

Sooner or later wretchedness will be transformed into burning charity

"The three aspects of the spiritual life - the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious outpourings of the Holy Spirit - recall the image of the fire and the log used by St John of the Cross.

When the fire approaches the log it first lights it up and warms it. That corresponds to a joyful mystery. We are warmed by the love of God revealed to us. When the fire comes closer, the wood begins to blacken, smoke, smell bad, and give out tar and other unpleasant substances. This is the sorrowful outpouring: the soul has the painful experience of its own wrtchedness. This phase lasts until the purifying fire has completed its work and the soul is totally transformed into a fire of love. Here is the glorious outpouring, in which the soul is strengthened in charity, the fire Jesus came to kindle on earth.

The lesson of this imagery is very optimistic: we should not fear the times when we feel crushed by our wretchedness. We should abandon ourselves trustingly to God sure that sooner or later wretchedness will be transformed into burning charity. St Thérèse of Lisieux wrote to her sister, Marie du Sacré-Coeur: 'Let us keep far from everything that shines, let's love our littleness... then we will be poor in spirit, and Jesus will come and look for us. However far away we are, he will transform us into flames of love.'"

-- Interior Freedom by Fr Jacques Philippe

Solemnity of St John of the Cross

"St. John of the Cross stands as one of the most important mystical philosophers in Christian history. He was born at Hontoveros, Old Castile, 24 June, 1542; died at Ubeda, Andalusia, 14 Dec., 1591. The son of poor silk weavers of Toledo, John was born Juan de Yepes y Alvarez in Fontiveros. John's father died when the boy was quite young, leaving his mother, a member of a lower social class, to raise him alone. John was sent to the poor school at Medina del Campo, whither the family had gone to live, and proved an attentive and diligent pupil; but when apprenticed to an artisan, he seemed incapable of learning anything.

Thereupon the governor of the hospital of Medina took him into his service, and for seven years John divided his time between waiting on the poorest of the poor, and frequenting a school established by the Jesuits. He entered the Carmelite Order in 1563, continuing his studies at the University of Salamanca, where he began to teach while still a student. After being ordained in 1567, John met St. Teresa of Avila, another of the great mystics of the Christian tradition.

Following Teresa's lead in attempting to reform his Order, John, in 1568, initiated a very severe form of monasticism in a tiny farmhouse. These monks went so far as to go barefoot, indicating their commitment to poverty, lending to them the appellation of "Discalced" or "shoeless." Over time, a rift arose between the traditional Carmelites and John's Discalced Carmelites, leading in 1576 to John's arrest and imprisonment. During this period of imprisonment, John wrote much of the poetry that would provide his greatest contribution to later generations.

Eventually, the rights of the Discalceds were recognized, and John took on various roles of leadership within the order. After some fifteen years of leadership, he died in 1591, leaving behind a number of remarkable works of Christian mysticism: Ascent of Mount Carmel, Dark Night of the Soul, and the Spiritual Canticle of the Soul."
 
-- Biography taken from Poem Hunter

Holy Father John of the Cross, pray for us!

-o-

"Oh, then, soul, most beautiful among all creatures, so anxious to know the dwelling place of your Beloved so you may go in search of him and be united with him, now we are telling you that you yourself are his dwelling and his secret inner room and hiding place. There is reason for you to be elated and joyful in seeing that all your good and hope is so close as to be within you, or better, that you cannot be without him. Behold, exclaims the Bridegroom, the kingdom of God is within you [Lk. 17:21]. And his servant, the apostle St. Paul, declares: You are the temple of God [2 Cor. 6:16].

It brings special happiness to a person to understand that God is never absent, not even from a soul in mortal sin (and how much less from one in the state of grace).

What more do you want, O soul! And what else do you search for outside, when within yourself you possess your riches, delights, satisfaction, fullness, and kingdom - your Beloved whom you desire and seek? Be joyful and gladdened in your interior recollection with him, for you have him so close to you. Desire him there, adore him there. Do not go in pursuit of him outside yourself. You will only become distracted and wearied thereby, and you shall not find him, or enjoy him more securely, or sooner, or more intimately than by seeking him within you. There is but one difficulty: Even though he does abide within you, he is hidden. Nevertheless, it is vital for you to know his hiding place so you may search for him there with assuredness. And this, soul, is also what you ask, when with the affection of love you question: "Where have you hidden?""

-- Spiritual Canticle by St John of the Cross

Let us accomplish in our soul the interior emptiness that allows Him to communicate eternal life

“The holy time of Advent is going to begin. It is the most suitable time for interior souls, for those souls who constantly and through all things live hidden with Christ in God in the depths of themselves. During the waiting [period] of the great mystery, I like to meditate on that beautiful psalm 18 that we frequently pray during Matins and, above all, these verses: In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes forth like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and like a strong man runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens […] and there is nothing hid from its heat.

Let us accomplish in our soul that interior emptiness that allows Him to cast Himself over it and communicate to it His own eternal life. The Father has given Him for this end every power as the Gospel tells us. So… let us listen to Him in the silence of prayer. He is the Beginning that speaks within us. He tells us Himself: He who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from Him.

Let us ask Him to make us sincere in our love, that is, to make us sacrificed souls because sacrifice is love put into action. He loved me and gave Himself for me.

This thought enthuses me; ‘The life of the priest and [that of] the Carmelite is an Advent the prepares the Incarnation in souls.’

The prophet David sings in a psalm: Fire goes before the Lord. That fire, is it not love? And our mission, does it not consist also in preparing the ways of the Lord uniting ourselves with Him who, according to the Apostle, is consuming Fire? At its touch, our soul will be transformed in a flame of love that diffuses itself through all the members of the body of Christ that is the Church. In this way, we will console the Heart of our divine Master {Teacher}, who presenting us to His Father will be able to say: I am glorified in them.”

-- Elisabeth de la Trinité: Œuvres complètes translated by ocdister

Die to yourself so you can rise with Christ

"... God's love is so immense, its power so limitless, its embrace so tender and intimate, that Love Himself brings forth life.

-o-

... being configured to Christ means exposing the weakest parts of who we are so that God can make us strong; it means becoming blind to the ways of this world so that Christ can lead us; it means dying to ourselves so that we can rise with Christ."

-- Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers in his foreword to From Slave to Priest: A Biography of the Reverend Augustine Tolton by Sr Caroline Hemesath, OSF

Love causes us to go out of ourselves and live in those we love

"God is at the deep centre of all things, and when we find him there we find eternal life. Every creature gifted with reason has received light to see in all reacted things both their own individual beauty and that of the Supreme Being, from whom they have received their being, and who sustains them in it. With the light given us we should see God in all things. Our gaze should pass beyond the shadows of created things in order that it may rest in the true Light hidden in beings without reason, but discovered by those who have reason. And with this Being we should make ourselves in harmony.

-o-

All material things are a source of beauty and enrichment. It is not their fault that we do not profit by them more. The fault is ours entirely, in that we have not the courage to break the husk and seek the fruit.

-o-

It is a law of life that we are slowly transformed by those with whom we are brought into contact. Love makes like. Love causes us to go out of ourselves and live in those we love. It moves us to make their thoughts and feelings our own, to share in their lives, and so become one with them. Thus admiration invites imitation. Almost irresistibly we feel impelled to imitate all that appears to us good and beautiful; we set it up as a model that we would copy.

Religion is such a contact. It creates ties which bind God and the believer. If our god is matter, we become material; if it is something beneath us, we are lowered. Union is only possible when two beings approach and meet on a common level."

-- Where Silence is Praise by A Carthusian