The Dark Night of the Soul - Saint John of the Cross

Item Details:

By Saint John of the Cross. 

Imprimatur 1916. 210 page book.

The Dark Night of the Soul explains how God purifies a soul so that it may pass from the imperfect fervor of a beginner to a mature and lasting union of love with Him. Saint John of the Cross describes two stages of this purification. In the night of sense, God withdraws the sweetness and emotional consolation once found in prayer and devotion, exposing spiritual pride, attachment, impatience, and other hidden faults. This dryness is not necessarily abandonment or failure; it may be God teaching the soul to seek Him rather than the pleasant feelings associated with Him. By patiently persevering in prayer, humility, self-denial, and trust, the soul’s unruly desires are quieted and it becomes receptive to a deeper, divinely infused contemplation.

The more severe night of the spirit purifies the intellect, memory, and will, stripping the soul of its remaining reliance upon its own understanding, strength, and spiritual experiences. Though this period may feel like darkness, abandonment, and profound suffering, Saint John teaches that God’s light appears dark because it exceeds the soul’s natural capacity to comprehend it. Through this hidden work, the soul is humbled, detached from created things, and transformed by divine love until its will is brought into harmony with the will of God. The “dark night” is therefore not an end in itself, but a secret and secure passage from spiritual immaturity to freedom, illumination, and the closest union with God possible in this life.