John Of The Cross Analysis

One of the greatest mystics in the Christian tradition is John of the Cross. He is a man of great humility who in the face of persecution remained faithful to the Church and produced some of the greatest spiritual classics of all time. In this paper I will focus specifically on “The Dark Night of the Soul” in which John of the Cross explains how the soul is able to attain perfect union with God. In order to better understand this work I will offer a brief explanation of the life of John of the Cross and attempt to explain the historical context in which he lived. The purpose of this paper is to introduce to a parish audience one of the church’s greatest mystical authors in order to enrich their lives and lead them closer to God. John of the
John divides the dark night into two stages. The first stage is the “dark night of the senses”. In this first stage, God wishes to lead the beginner away from the love of self and his desire for pleasure into a deeper union with him. God accomplishes this by allowing the beginner to fall into a state of aridity. St. John tells us “God turns all this light of theirs into darkness, and shuts against them the door and the source of the sweet spiritual water which they were tasting in God” On the outset this seems very harsh, but St. John gives us the analogy of a mother allowing her child to walk on its own rather than with support from its parents. If this were not done the child would never be able to walk, so too, God does for us in the spiritual
John gives us three signs. The first sign is that the soul, neither finds pleasure in the things of God nor in the things of this world. The purpose of the dark night is to cleanse our soul from all attachment so that it may cling to God alone. This first sign shows the beginner that it is not due to sin that he is entering into a period of aridity. The second sign that St. John gives us is that the soul is so concerned with God that because of this period of aridity he thinks that he is either not serving God and is decreasing in spirituality. This sign shows that the soul is not backpedaling due to a failure on its own part, but it is actually an invitation from God to draw deeper into the spiritual life. The third step of the dark night of the senses is that the soul can no longer mediate in the imaginative sphere. In this step the beginner must realize that God no longer desires to communicate himself through the senses but through pure spirit. Only through spiritual contemplation can the soul now communicate with God. This sign also serves as proof that the soul is beginning to purge its desire for sensual