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St
John of the Cross |
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My first encounter with John of the Cross happened shortly after my senior year at Notre Dame. Making a Cursillo a few months before graduation had a very big impact on my life. From a place of confusion I had been brought, by the grace of God, to a very strong encounter with the reality of the risen Lord, and had been infused with a very great desire to be one with Him and to serve Him. I actually think I was introduced to both the contemplative and charismatic dimensions of the faith, without having the terminology to describe what was happening. I knew John was "deep" and decided that I should read him. I started with The Ascent of Mount Carmel and got perhaps 100 pages into it before I decided that it was too "dark" and negative, and put it down, unfinished. It wasn't until 20 years later when I was doing a course on the History of Spirituality, as part of a theology MA, that I read John of the Cross again. I remember sitting in the airport in Zurich reading part of my assigned reading, which was The Spiritual Canticle, while waiting for my flight. As I read it, it was as if my life was flooded with illumination. Everything I had ever experienced, hoped for, desired, dared to dream about, in both natural and supernatural life, was being expressed in John, with a clarity, and depth that literally took my breath away. I couldn't keep my eyes open; I could hardly speak, so great was the light flooding my being. This experience made me want to read all of John of the Cross, as well as some of the other mystics, Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux and Catherine Sienna, and to really understand the insights God had given them. There seems to be a wide-spread impression that the contemplative and charismatic are contradictory, not complementary, and that John of the Cross condemns the exercise of charismatic gifts. This is not true and a misunderstanding of what John is saying. One of John's main concerns is pointing out how anything less than God Himself can actually be an obstacle to growth in the spiritual life, as it can block or slow us down from our actual goal, which is union with God, and its ultimate fulfillment in the Beatific Vision. Do not cling to spiritual experiences One of his very important contributions is to show how even the most spiritual experiences can function as obstacles to union with God, if we seek them or cling to them. John explains that God gives us these experiences for various reasons, including to encourage us because of our human weakness. The important thing is not to cling to them, but to allow that grace of which they are an outward sign, to effect deeper faith, hope and love in our lives. It is important here to note a distinction between spiritual experiences that we are the recipients of, given for our own spiritual growth (consolations in prayer, spiritual delight, various types of visions, locutions, raptures etc) and spiritual experience that we are supposed to be transmitters of, for the sake of the growth of the Church, or the work of evangelisation (words of knowledge or wisdom intended for others, healing gifts, miracles, prophetic words, tongues and interpretation, gifts of generous giving, gifts of administration, gifts of teaching and preaching, gifts of "helps" etc). While there indeed can be an area of overlap within these two kinds of spiritual experiences, the distinction nevertheless is an important one. The second kind of spiritual experiences are referred to as "charisms" or gifts in the New Testament. The New Testament doesn't try to give an exhaustive list of such charisms, but provides several such lists as indicators of the rich and varied working of the Spirit through Christians for the sake of others. Some of the main lists - and biblical teaching on charisms - are those found in 1 Cor 12-14 and Romans 12:1-8. John refers to this in the Ascent III chapters 30-32. In the third book of the Ascent John explains how our will can become attached to genuine goods in a way that blocks progress to union with God. In these particular chapters he's dealing with the reality of supernatural goods and how we can become attached to them (the fifth of the six classes of goods he discusses). Although his purpose is to focus on possible dangers, the underlying assumption is the reality and usefulness of the charismatic gifts, which following Thomistic terminology, he calls gratiae gratis datae. He specifically cites, moreover, the charismatic gifts of 1 Cor 12:9-12 as the type of workings of the Spirit, he'll be discussing. "Examples of these are the gifts of wisdom and knowledge given by God to Solomon (1 Kgs. 13:7-12) and the graces St Paul enumerates: faith, the grace of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, knowledge and discernment of spirits, interpretation of words, and also the gift of tongues (1 Cor. 12:9-10)". Gifts exercised for the good of others John acknowledges the biblical teaching concerning these gifts. "The exercise of these gifts immediately concerns the benefit of others, and God bestows them for that purpose, as St Paul points out: "The spirit is given to no one save for the benefit of others" (2 Cor 12:7). This assertion is understood in reference to these graces." (A.III.30,2). He then talks about the two kinds of benefits God bestows through these gifts. "The temporal includes healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, raising the dead, expelling devils, prophesying the future so people may be careful, and other similar things. The spiritual and eternal benefit is the knowledge and love of God caused by these works either in those who perform them or in those in whom, they are accomplished" (Ascent III.30,3). Importance of the primacy of love As regards the persons exercising such gifts, John counsels them to rejoice not in the fact that they possess and exercise such gifts, but only in the fact that they are doing God's will motivated by true charity. He quotes the important and familiar biblical warnings to this effect: 1 Cor 13:1-2 with its warnings to keep the primacy of love to the forefront , and Luke 10.20 with Jesus' counsel to rejoice not just that the demons are subject to us in the work of evangelisation, but that "your names are written in the book of life". (A. III,30, 4-5) As regards the persons benefiting from the exercise of these gifts, John points out that while it is good for the bodies to be healed, devils to be expelled etc, the most important thing is that the souls experiencing such benefits turn to God and become united with him. As Jesus indicated, there is great joy in heaven when one sinner repents. Fuller expressions of joy should be appropriately reserved for what has eternal value, like true repentance and turning back to God. Dangers in using the gifts John brilliantly points out the dangers to the souls of those who exercise these gifts by rejoicing excessively in the merely temporal benefits of such goods. He points out how inordinate attachment or rejoicing in the possession of these gifts can lead very easily to their inappropriate or even inauthentic use. As John puts it: "People, on account of their joy in the gift, not only long to believe in it more readily, but even feel impelled to make use of it outside the proper time." (A.III,31,2).This can lead people, John points, to even make things up, so attached are they to the appearance of having a particular gift. There's even a danger of opening to demonic manipulation in the exercise of the gift. "When the devil observes their attachment to these wonders, he opens a wide field, provides ample material for their endeavours, and meddles extensively." (A.III, 31,4). This inordinate attachment to the exercise of these gifts, if it opens to demonic manipulation, can even lead to explicit pacts with the devil, which turns the person into a magician, sorcerer, wizard or witch. Exercising the gift apart from charity or obedience to the will of God and impulses of the Spirit can also cause harm by bringing discredit upon the genuine supernatural. This can lead to sowing distrust and contempt for the things of God in the hearts of those who observe the inauthentic exercise of a gift. Faith is then weakened in many different ways in the hearts of both those inordinately attached to the gifts and their observers. Temptations to vanity or vain-glory John also mentions the obvious temptation to vanity and vain-glory that the immature exercise of these gifts will generate in the hearts of those who exercise these gifts for motives other than the glory of God and the good of souls. In the course of brilliantly pointing out the dangers in the exercise of these gifts - which is the main purpose of his teaching here - John almost incidentally, gives a lot of positive instruction about how these charismatic gifts should be exercised. John points out the importance of exercising these gifts in a way that's appropriate "as to time and manner". "It is true that when God bestows these gifts and graces he give light for them and an impulse as to the time and manner of their exercise." (A.III31,2) John also points out that in order for the gifts to work properly there needs to be a true detachment from our own ideas and desires about how it all should work and a deep trust in God, a true docility to the moving of His Spirit. "Those, then who have this supernatural gift, should not desire or rejoice in its use, nor should they care about exercising it. God, who grants the grace supernaturally for the usefulness of the Church or its members, will also move the gifted supernaturally as to the manner and time in which they should use their gift. Since the Lord commanded his disciples not to be anxious about what and how to speak, because the matter was a supernatural one of faith, and since these works are also a supernatural matter he will want these individuals to wait until he becomes the worker, by moving their heart (Mt 10L19; Mk13:11). For it is by the power of God that every other power should be exercised. In the Acts of the Apostles the disciples beseeched him in prayer to extend his hand to work signs and cures through them, so faith in our Lord Jesus Christ would be introduced into hearts (Acts 4:29-30)"(A.III.31.7) " Assuring authentic exercise of spiritual gifts In all of this John is motivated not by a desire to "squelch" the charismatic gifts of the Spirit but to assure their authentic exercise so that they might truly achieve the ends, both in those who exercise them, and in the lives of those who benefit from them, that God intends for them to have. We in the charismatic renewal movement, I believe,
can benefit much from Carmelite wisdom in these areas, just as Carmelites
and those who consider themselves contemplatives, can learn from the
experience of the working of the Holy Spirit through the charisms that
those touched by Charismatic Renewal have, in the process recovering
a dimension of their own tradition that has oftentimes been neglected.
As John Paul II reminded us at the Pentecost 98 gathering in St Peter's
the charismatic dimension of the Church is co-essential to its hierarchical
dimension and we should all open ourselves "docilely to the gifts
of the Spirit! Accept gratefully and obediently the charisms which the
Spirit never ceases to bestow on us." This is not for ourselves
but for the good of the Church and the world. And John of the Cross
can help us exercise these gifts more fruitfully. The contemplative
and the charismatic are complementary not contradictory.
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Pope John Paul II in his famous apostolic letter Novo Millennio Ineunte recommended that the Church look to four saints in particular as guides for the Christian life in the 21st century. RALPH MARTIN, one of the earliest leaders in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, draws on the writings of St John of the Cross, one of these, and shows us how much wise advice the saint has for us in the use the charismatic gifts. |
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