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Poetry of John of the Cross
John is perhaps the greatest and most austere analyst of mysticism in the Catholic tradition....he was my introduction 24 years ago, to finding God within.....
Date: 1/3/2006 2:22:04 PM ( 18 y ) ... viewed 2329 times St. John of the Cross (1542-1591) once wrote: "Contemplation is nothing else but a secret, peaceful, and loving infusion of God, which if admitted, will set the soul on fire with the Spirit of love." These radical words were the kind that got him in trouble with the Carmelite Order of his day who found his devotion to God a bit excessive. He was imprisoned for nine months during which he wrote many mystical poems and experienced his "dark night of the soul."
My own journey has progressed to a deeper understanding, but John introduced me to finding God within. What we do with our longings, both in terms of handling the pain and the hope they bring us, that is our spirituality.
Sharing some of his exquisite writings here.....
"What , more do you want, 0 soul! And what else do you search for outside, when within yourself you possess your riches, delights, satisfactions, 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, nor enjoy Him more securely, nor sooner, nor more intimately than by seeking Him within you."
"... When there is union of love, the image of the Beloved is so sketched in the will and drawn so vividly, that it is true to say that the Beloved lives in the lover and the lover in the Beloved. Love produces such likeness in this transformation of lovers that one can say each is the other and both are one. The reason is, that in the union and transformation of love, each gives possession of self to the other, and each leaves and exchanges self for the other. Thus each one lives in the other and is the other, and both are one in the transformation of love."
The Sum of Perfection
"Creation forgotten,
Creator only known,
Attention turned inward
In love with the Beloved alone."
"Love's Living Flame
(Song that the soul sings in her intimate union with God, her beloved Bridegroom.)
O Love's living flame,
Tenderly you wound
My soul's deepest center!
Since you no longer evade me,
Will you, please, at last conclude:
Rend the veil of this sweet encounter!
O cautery so tender!
O pampered wound!
O soft hand! O touch so delicately strange,
Tasting of eternal life
And canceling all debts!
Killing, death into life you change!
O lamps of fiery lure,
In whose shining transparence
The deep cavern of the senses,
Blind and obscure,
Warmth and light, with strange flares,
Gives with the lover's caresses!
How tame and loving
Your memory rises in my breast,
Where secretly only you live,
And in your fragrant breathing,
Full of goodness and grace,
How delicately in love you make me feel!
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