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We now go on to treat of the second part of this
night, which is faith; this is the wondrous means
which, as we said, leads to the goal, which is God,
Who, as we said,[213] is also to the soul, naturally,
the third cause or part of this night.
For faith, which is the means,[214] is compared
with midnight. And thus we may say that it is darker
for the soul either than the first part or, in a way,
than the third; for the first part, which is that of
sense, is compared to the beginning of night, or the
time when sensible objects can no longer be seen, and
thus it is not so far removed from light as is
midnight.
The third part, which is the period preceding the
dawn, is quite close to the light of day, and it,
too, therefore, is not so dark as midnight; for it is
now close to the enlightenment and illumination of
the light of day, which is compared with God. For,
although it is true, if we speak after a natural
manner, that God is as dark a night to the soul as is
faith, still, when these three parts of the night are
over, which are naturally night to the soul, God
begins to illumine the soul by supernatural means
with the ray of His Divine light; which is the
beginning of the perfect union that follows, when the
third night is past, and it can thus be said to be
less dark.
2. It is likewise darker than the first night, for
this belongs to the lower part of man, which is the
sensual part, and, consequently, the more exterior;
and this second part, which is of faith, belongs to
the higher part of man, which is the rational part,
and, in consequence, more interior and more obscure,
since it deprives it of the light of reason, or, to
speak more clearly, blinds it;[215] and thus it is
aptly compared to midnight, which is the depth of
night and the darkest part thereof.
3. We have now to prove how this second part,
which is faith, is night to the spirit, even as the
first part is night to sense. And we shall then also
describe the things that are contrary to it, and how
the soul must prepare itself actively to enter it.
For, concerning the passive part, which is that which
God works in it, when He brings it into that night,
we shall speak in its place, which I intend shall be
the third book. |
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213. |
[I, ii, above.] |
214. |
[Cf. I, ii, above.] |
215. |
This was another of the
propositions which were cited by those who denounced the
writings of St. John of the Cross to the Holy Office. It is
interpretable, nevertheless, in a sense that is perfectly true
and completely in conformity with Catholic doctrine. The Saint
does not, in these words, affirm that faith destroys nature or
quenches the light of human reason (St. Thomas, Summa, Pt. 1,
q. 1, a. 8, et alibi); what he endeavors to show is that the
coming of knowledge through faith excludes a simultaneous
coming of natural knowledge through reason. It is only in this
way that, in the act of faith, the soul is deprived of the
light of reason, and left, as it were, in blindness, so that
it may be raised to another nobler and sublimer kind of
knowledge, which, far from destroying reason, gives it dignity
and perfection. Philosophy teaches that the proper and
connatural object of the understanding, in this life, is
things visible, material and corporeal. By his nature, man
inclines to knowledge of this kind, but cannot lay claim to
such knowledge as regards the things which belong to faith.
For, to quote a famous verse of Scripture: Fides est
sperandarum substantia rerum, argumentum non apparientium
(Hebrews xi, 1 ). This line of thought is not confined to St.
John of the Cross, but is followed by all the mystics and is
completely in agreement with theological doctrine. Cf.
Respuesta [Reply] of P. Basilio Ponce de Le�n and Dilucidatio,
Pt. II, Chap. ii, and also the following chapter in this
present book. |
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