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THE DARK NIGHT (cont) |
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by St John of the Cross |
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Book One |
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Ch 5. [The imperfections of the capital vice of
anger into which beginners fall.] |
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1. Because of the strong desire of many beginners for spiritual gratification,
they usually have many imperfections of anger. When the delight and satisfaction
procured in their spiritual exercises passes, these beginners are naturally left
without any spiritual savor. And because of this distastefulness, they become
peevish in the works they do and easily angered by the least thing, and
occasionally they are so unbearable that nobody can put up with them. This
frequently occurs after they have experienced in prayer some recollection
pleasant to the senses. After the delight and satisfaction are gone, the sensory
part of the soul is naturally left vapid and zestless, just as a child is when
withdrawn from the sweet breast. These souls are not at fault if they do not
allow this dejection to influence them, for it is an imperfection that must be
purged through the dryness and distress of the dark night.
2. Among these spiritual persons there are also those who fall into another kind
of spiritual anger. Through a certain indiscreet zeal they become angry over the
sins of others, reprove these others, and sometimes even feel the impulse to do
so angrily, which in fact they occasionally do, setting themselves up as lords
of virtue. All such conduct is contrary to spiritual meekness.
3. Others, in becoming aware of their own imperfections, grow angry with
themselves in an unhumble impatience. So impatient are they about these
imperfections that they want to become saints in a day.
Many of these beginners make numerous plans and great resolutions, but since
they are not humble and have no distrust of themselves, the more resolves they
make the more they break, and the greater becomes their anger. They do not have
the patience to wait until God gives them what they need, when he so desires.
Their attitude is contrary to spiritual meekness and can only be remedied by the
purgation of the dark night. Some, however, are so patient about their desire
for advancement that God would prefer to see them a little less so.
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