|
1. Yet something else grieves and troubles individuals in this state, and it is
that, since this dark night impedes their faculties and affections, they cannot
beseech God or raise their mind and affection to him. It seems as it did to
Jeremiah that God has placed a cloud in front of the soul so that its prayer
might not pass through [Lam. 3:44]. The passage we already cited refers to this
difficulty also: He closed and locked my ways with square stones [Lam. 3:9]. And
if sometimes the soul does beseech God, it does this with so little strength and
fervor that it thinks God does not hear or pay any attention to it, as the
prophet Jeremiah also lamented: When I cried out and entreated, he excluded my
prayer [Lam. 3:8].
Indeed, this is not the time to speak with God, but the time
to put one's mouth in the dust, as Jeremiah says, that perhaps there might come
some actual hope [Lam. 3:29], and the time to suffer this purgation patiently.
God it is who is working now in the soul, and for this reason the soul can do
nothing. Consequently, these persons can neither pray vocally nor be attentive
to spiritual matters, nor still less attend to temporal affairs and business.
Furthermore, they frequently experience such absorption and profound
forgetfulness in the memory that long periods pass without their knowing what
they did or thought about, and they know not what they are doing or about to do,
nor can they concentrate on the task at hand, even though they desire to.
2. Since this night purges not only the intellect of its light and the will of
its affections but also the memory of its discursive knowledge, it is fitting
that the memory be annihilated in all things to fulfill what David said of this
purgation: I was annihilated and knew not [Ps. 73:22]. David's unknowing refers
to forgetfulness and a lack of knowledge in the memory. This abstraction and
oblivion is caused by the interior recollection in which this contemplation
absorbs the soul.
That the soul with its faculties be divinely tempered and
prepared for the divine union of love, it must first be engulfed in this divine
and dark spiritual light of contemplation, and thereby be withdrawn from all
creature affections and apprehensions. The duration of this absorption is
proportionate to the intensity of the contemplation. The more simply and purely
the divine light strikes the soul, the more it darkens and empties and
annihilates it in its particular apprehensions and affections concerning both
earthly and heavenly things; and, also, the less simply and purely it shines,
the less it deprives and darkens the soul.
It seems incredible that the brighter
and purer the supernatural, divine light is, the darker it is for the soul; and
that the less bright it is, the less dark it is to the soul. We can understand
this truth clearly if we consider what we proved above from the teaching of the
Philosopher: that the clearer and more evident supernatural things are in
themselves, the darker they are to our intellects.1
3. A comparison with natural light will illustrate this. We observe that the
more a ray of sunlight shining through a window is void of dust particles, the
less clearly it is seen, and that it is perceived more clearly when there are
more dust particles in the air. The reason is that the light in itself is
invisible and is rather the means by which the objects it strikes are seen. But,
then, it is also seen through its reflection off them. Were the light not to
strike these objects, it would not be seen and neither would they. As a result,
if a ray of sunlight should enter through one window, traverse the room, and go
out through another window without coming in contact with any object or dust
particles off which it could reflect, the room would have no more light than
previously; neither would the ray be visible. Instead, upon close observation
one notes that there is more darkness where the ray is present, because the ray
takes away and darkens some of the other light; and this ray is invisible, as we
said, because there are no objects off which it can reflect.
4. This is precisely what the divine ray of contemplation does. In striking the
soul with its divine light, it surpasses the natural light and thereby darkens
and deprives a soul of all the natural affections and apprehensions it perceived
by means of its natural light. It leaves a person's spiritual and natural
faculties not only in darkness, but in emptiness too. Leaving the soul thus
empty and dark, the ray purges and illumines it with divine spiritual light,
while the soul thinks that it has no light and is in darkness, as illustrated in
the case of the ray of sunlight that is invisible even in the middle of a room
if the room is pure and void of any object off which the light may reflect. Yet
when this spiritual light finds an object on which to shine, that is, when
something is to be understood spiritually concerning perfection or imperfection,
no matter how slight, or about a judgment on the truth or falsity of some
matter, persons will understand more clearly than they did before they were in
this darkness. And easily recognizing the imperfection that presents itself,
they grow conscious of the spiritual light they possess; for the ray of light is
dark and invisible until a hand or some other thing passes through it, and then
both the object and the ray are recognized.
5. Since this light is so simple, so pure, and so general, and is unaffected and
unrestricted by any particular intelligible object, natural or divine, and since
the faculties are empty and annihilated of all these apprehensions, the soul
with universality and great facility perceives and penetrates anything, earthly
or heavenly, that is presented to it. Hence the Apostle says that the spiritual
person penetrates all things, even the deep things of God [1 Cor. 2:10]. What
the Holy Spirit says through the Wise Man applies to this general and simple
wisdom, that is, that it touches everywhere because of its purity [Wis. 7:24],
because it is not particularized by any distinct object of affection.
And this
is characteristic of the spirit purged and annihilated of all particular
knowledge and affection: Not finding satisfaction in anything or understanding
anything in particular, and remaining in its emptiness and darkness, it embraces
all things with great preparedness. And St. Paul's words are verified: Nihil
habentes, et omnia possidentes (Having nothing, yet possessing all things) [2
Cor. 6:10]. Such poverty of spirit deserves this blessedness.
|
