← [[appendix-b-f2a|Understanding the Maxims or Sayings]] | [[formation-II-a-handbook|Table of Contents]] | [[appendix-d-f2a|St. Thérèse's Christmas Story]] → # Consolation in Prayer Chapter 14 is one of the most important chapters in the first book of John of the Cross's ASCENT, and gives us a retrospective key to everything that has gone before. John begins by saying that he has now "explained the first verse" of the Dark Night poem, and "discussed the nature of this night, the reason for calling it a night, and the method of actively entering into it." It reminds me of the old advice for organizing a talk: begin by telling them what you are going to say, then say it, then tell them what you've said. But there's one thing he hasn't really mentioned before now, and is perhaps the most important point of all for putting all the ascetical advice in perspective. Here John says that "a more intense enkindling of another, better love (love of the soul's Bridegroom) is necessary for the vanquishing of the appetites and the denial of this pleasure. By finding satisfaction and strength in this love, it will have the courage and constancy to readily deny all other appetites.... For the sensory appetites are moved and attracted toward sensory objects with such cravings that if the spiritual part of the soul is not fired with other, more urgent longings for spiritual things, the soul will be able neither to overcome the yoke of nature nor to enter the night of sense.... How easy, sweet, and delightful these longings for their Bridegroom make all the trials and dangers of this night seem." In other words, at the most fundamental level, John's active night of sense does not begin with a grim determination on our part to annihilate all our desires in order to please God. Rather, God first takes the initiative, enkindling us with longings for him, so that we will *want* to make the effort to remove whatever impedes union. What gives us the impetus is our infatuation with God. Granted, at the beginning these longings are immature and sometimes misdirected, but they get us off the mark and make us *want* to grow and change. I think of it as analogous to human love. Think of a teenager whose parents are always after him (or her) to shape up, apply himself, dress right, use good manners, keep his room clean, all of which he has no motivation to do.... until suddenly he gets a crush on a girl and wants to impress her, and starts doing all these things. (It doesn't have to be a teenager, and maybe that's not a good example, because he might try to impress her by getting a tattoo or a nose ring these days!) The point is, the journey John presents to us in ASCENT I looks discouraging if we think of it as an enormous feat of self-mastery that *we* have to accomplish before we can move on. But if we think of it rather as a response to the enkindling of love for God in our hearts, it makes all the difference. I think of all the popular songs in which the singers profess that they would "climb the highest mountain, swim the deepest sea, walk through fire, etc., etc." to be with the ones they love.... And we don't think of this as masochistic or negative. In fact, lovers often seek challenges to prove their love. So it is here, I think. So much for my $.02. Peace, Steven Payne, OCD 48 01.24 1-24-2024 --- **Source:** Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, *Formation II Year A: The Ascent of Mount Carmel* (US National Formation Program, 2024).