← [[f2a-session-02|Disordered Desires and Inordinate Appetites Greatly Hinder One's Prayer Life]] | [[f2a-formation-2a-handbook|Table of Contents]] | [[f2a-session-05|Counsels and Methods on How to Overcome Miseries]] → # The Harm That Inordinate Appetites Cause in the Soul Required Reading: Ascent, Book One, ch. 6-10; The Ascent of Mount Carmel Reflections, pg. 27-52 Explanatory note: In chapters 6 through 10 of Book One of the Ascent, John sets before the reader the self-inflicted misery, damage, or harm that comes from indulging inordinate appetites. John mentions two types of harm that inordinate appetites cause in the soul: privative and positive. The deepest harm that inordinate desires cause is privative — the loss of desire for God. The specific effects that flow from this privative harm are the positive harms that “weary, torment, darken, and defile the soul” (Ascent 1.6:5; Reflections p. 29). John states time and again, “this is a venture in which God alone is sought and gained” (Ascent 2:7:3). John uses powerfully descriptive language to convey one’s miserable condition and possessive attitudes. Essential points to discuss: • “To begin with, it is clear in speaking of the privative harm that a person by a mere attachment to a created thing is less capable of God...Since love of God and attachment to creatures are contraries, they cannot coexist in the same will” (A.1.6:1). Obsession with an object, person, project or idea makes one neglectful of his or her duties toward God and neighbor. Side note: The phrase “attachments to creatures” can include possessive relationships, over-indulgence in otherwise legitimate pleasures, over-concern with rules and procedures, self-willed ideas, excessive interest in programs of self-help, personal fulfillment, materialism, over-use of electronic devices, etc. • John uses the passage of [[matthew-15#^matthew-15-26|Matthew 15:26-27]] to segue into expressing his experience as a spiritual director. He takes the concept of dogs feeding on crumbs and applies the image to people who settle for the crumbs of created things when God is inviting them to eat at His table. “The crumbs serve more to whet their appetite than to satisfy their hunger” (see A.1.6:2-3). • The five positive harms to the soul are: o weariness o torment and affliction o blindness and darkness o defilement and stains o weakness and tepidity (A.1.6:1) • Discuss how these harms manifest in the Christian’s life in the world. • John observes that life is thrown out of balance by disordered inclinations. Behavioral patterns stem from tendencies (inclinations) that are often unconscious and reflexive. While external improvement in behavior is praiseworthy, the root tendencies need deeper healing. By responding to God’s invitation (prayer and meditation), one’s body, mind, and spirit are realigned toward God. God works deep healing in the soul that habitually seeks Him. In Christ’s words: “Come to me... I will refresh you; and you will 14 find rest for your souls” ([[matthew-11#^matthew-11-28|Mt 11:28-29]]). God’s invitation: “Come listen to me, come to the waters” is further explained in Ascent 1 ch. 7:3-4. • John is also making another important observation about those who practice extraordinary penances and other religious practices (outward observances) without striving to deny their appetites (inner purification). “The ignorance of some is extremely lamentable; they burden themselves with extraordinary penances and many other exercises, thinking these are sufficient to attain union with Divine Wisdom. But such practices are insufficient if these souls do not diligently strive to deny their appetites. If they would attempt to devote only half of that energy to the renunciation of their (inordinate) desires, they would profit more in a month than in years with all these other exercises” (A.1.8:4) (emphasis added). Side note on external practices: It would be appropriate for the candidates to reflect on how their prayer life has evolved over the past three years. John is not against penitential practices. The focus is on inner purification rather than outward observances. Understanding the term “penitential practices”: A. John’s observation reflects the teaching of St. Therese of Lisieux regarding penance and growth in virtue. Therese was very much disappointed when her entrance to Carmel was delayed: “… I was unable to hold back my tears at the thought of such a long wait…The trial was very great and made me grow very much in abandonment and in the other virtues… I made a resolution to give myself up more than ever to a serious and mortified life. When I say mortified, this is not to give the impression that I performed acts of penance. Alas, I never made any. Far from resembling beautiful souls who practiced every kind of mortification from their childhood, I had no attraction for this. My mortification consisted in breaking my will always so ready to impose itself on others, in holding back a reply, in rendering little services without any recognition…etc., etc. It was through the practice of these nothings that I prepared myself to become the fiancée of Jesus…” (Story of a Soul ch. VI). B. The following is a commentary on Ascent, Book One, 8:4, by Fr. Steven Payne, OCD, courtesy, Cincarm -- a Carmelite platform I thought I’d mention one comment that struck me again in Chapter 8 paragraph 4. There, John notes that “the ignorance of some is extremely lamentable; they burden themselves with extraordinary penances and many other exercises, thinking these are sufficient to attain union with Divine Wisdom. But such practices are insufficient if these souls do not diligently strive to deny their appetites. If they would attempt to devote only half of that energy to the renunciation of their desires, they would profit more in a month than in years with all these other exercises.” I was struck because I can see in my own life how much easier it has always been to substitute works of piety and religious practices for the more difficult challenge of purifying my own desires. Think how much people run after the extraordinary today, instead of focusing on the very ordinary struggle to overcome our own selfishness in 15 01.24 1-24-2024 OCDS Formation II, Year A the very ordinary circumstances of our daily lives. Saint Teresa talks somewhere about meeting a group of pious women whose devotion impressed her — until she said “no” to their plans, and then they became unbearable. She said they frightened her “more than all the sinners in the world.” Anyway, it struck me because it’s a theme that will recur so often in John: that the greatest dangers on the spiritual journey come not so much from obvious evils but from apparent (even real) goods that are nonetheless not properly ordered to God • John presents three privative harms: o “The appetites sap the strength needed for perseverance in the practice of virtue” (A.1.10:1). o When the soul dissipates its energy in other things, it loses its fervor for God and its strength in the practice of virtue (see A.1.10:1). o “Ordinarily, the reason many people do not have diligence and eagerness for the acquisition of virtue is that their appetites and affections are not fixed purely on God” (A.1.10:4). Note: For a detailed study of John’s explanation of the five effects of positive harm, please refer to Appendix A “Positive Harms.” --- ![[maps/bibliography#^biblio-ocds-of2a|OCDS Formation II Year A]] > [[f2a-session-02|← Previous]] | [[f2a-formation-2a-handbook|TOC]] | [[f2a-session-04|Next →]]