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On A Dark Night
We may say that there are three reasons for which
this journey[80] made by the soul to union with God
is called night. The first has to do with the point
from which the soul goes forth, for it has gradually
to deprive itself of desire for all the worldly
things which it possessed, by denying them to
itself;[81] the which denial and deprivation are, as
it were, night to all the senses of man. The second
reason has to do with the mean,[82] or the road along
which the soul must travel to this union -- that is,
faith, which is likewise as dark as night to the
understanding. The third has to do with the point to
which it travels -- namely, God, Who, equally, is
dark night to the soul in this life. These three
nights must pass through the soul -- or, rather, the
soul must pass through them -- in order that it may
come to Divine union with God.2. In the book of
the holy Tobias these three kinds of night were
shadowed forth by the three nights which, as the
angel commanded, were to pass ere the youth Tobias
should be united with his bride. In the first he
commanded him to burn the heart of the fish in the
fire, which signifies the heart that is affectioned
to, and set upon, the things of the world; which, in
order that one may begin to journey toward God, must
be burned and purified from all that is creature, in
the fire of the love of God. And in this purgation
the devil flees away, for he has power over the soul
only when it is attached to things corporeal and
temporal.
3. On the second night the angel told him that he
would be admitted into the company of the holy
patriarchs, who are the fathers of the faith. For,
passing through the first night, which is
self-privation of all objects of sense, the soul at
once enters into the second night, and abides alone
in faith to the exclusion, not of charity, but of
other knowledge acquired by the understanding, as we
shall say hereafter, which is a thing that pertains
not to sense.
4. On the third night the angel told him that he
would obtain a blessing, which is God; Who, by means
of the second night, which is faith, continually
communicates Himself to the soul in such a secret and
intimate manner that He becomes another night to the
soul, inasmuch as this said communication is far
darker than those others, as we shall say presently.
And, when this third night is past, which is the
complete accomplishment of the communication of God
in the spirit, which is ordinarily wrought in great
darkness of the soul, there then follows its union
with the Bride, which is the Wisdom of God. Even so
the angel said likewise to Tobias that, when the
third night was past, he should be united with his
bride in the fear of the Lord; for, when this fear of
God is perfect, love is perfect, and this comes to
pass when the transformation of the soul is wrought
through its love. 5. These three parts of the night are all one night;
but, after the manner of night, it has three parts.
For the first part, which is that of sense, is
comparable to the beginning of night, the point at
which things begin to fade from sight. And the second
part, which is faith, is comparable to midnight,
which is total darkness. And the third part is like
the close of night, which is God, the which part is
now near to the light of day. And, that we may
understand this the better, we shall treat of each of
these reasons separately as we proceed.
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