The Complete Works of Saint John of the Cross, vol. 1

by John of the Cross

Publisher:

Longman

, 1864

Overview

Volume one includes the The Ascent of Mount Carmel and the The Obscure Night of the Soul. The Ascent of Mount Carmel is divided into three books: “The Nature of the Obscure Night,” “Proximate Means of Union, Faith,” and “The Purgation and Active Night of the Memory and Will.” The Obscure Night of the Soul is divided into two books: “Of the Night of Sense” and “Of the Night of the Spirit.”

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Key Features

• Contains two works of John of the Cross
• Provides insight into sixteenth-century spirituality
• Presents the wisdom of a modern Doctor of the Church

Contents

Top Highlights

“The journey of the soul to the Divine union is called night for three reasons. The first is derived from the point from which the soul sets out, the privation of the desire of all pleasure in all the things of this world, by an entire detachment therefrom. This is as night for every desire and sense of man. The second, from the road by which it travels; that is faith, for faith is obscure, like night, to the intellect. The third, from the goal to which it tends, God, incomprehensible and infinite, Who in this life is as night to the soul. We must pass through these three nights if we are to attain to the Divine union with God.” (Pages 9–10)

“For, as I said before,§ two contrary qualities cannot coexist in the same subject; the love of God and the love of the creature are contrary, the one to the other, and so cannot dwell together in the same heart.” (Page 23)

“when they detect their own imperfections, become angry” (Page 339)

“The affection and attachment which the soul feels for the creature renders the soul its equal and its like, and the greater the affection the greater will be the likeness. Love begets a likeness between the lover and the object of his love, and so the Psalmist, speaking of those who set their heart upon idols, says, ‘Let them that make them become like unto them, and all such as trust in them.’‡ Thus, he then who loves the creature becomes vile as that creature itself, and in one sense even viler, for love not only levels, but subjects also the lover to the object of his love.” (Page 14)

“The people of Israel perceived not the sweetness of every taste in the manna, though it was there, because they would not limit their desires to it alone. The sweetness and strength of the manna was not for them, not because it was not there, but because they longed for other meats beside it. He who loves any other thing with God makes light of Him, because he puts into the balance with Him that which is infinitely beneath Him.” (Page 20)

Product Details

• Title: The Complete Works of Saint John of the Cross, vol. 1
• Author: John of the Cross
• Publisher: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green
• Publication Date: 1864
• Pages: 455
• Christian Group: Catholic
• Resource Type: Collected Works
• Topic: Post-Reformation, Spirituality

About John of the Cross

John of the Cross was born Juan de Yepes Alvarez at Fontiveros, Old Castile, Spain. He was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, as well as a Spanish mystic, Catholic saint, Carmelite friar, and priest. John of the Cross reformed the Carmelite Order and is considered—along with Saint Teresa of Ávila—as a founder of the Discalced Carmelites. He is a Doctor of the Church and venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran Traditions.