← [[session-03-f2a|The Harm That Inordinate Appetites Cause in the Soul]] | [[formation-II-a-handbook|Table of Contents]] | [[session-06-f2a|Counsels and Methods — Continued]] → # Counsels and Methods on How to Overcome Miseries (The topic is continued in sessions six and seven.) Required Reading: Ascent, Book One, ch. 13, 1-4; and Ascent Reflections The Imitation of Christ, pg. 62-65 **Additional Reading:** Ascent Reflections, pgs. 66-68. Explanatory note: After having explained the self-inflicted misery and harm that come from indulging inordinate appetites, John offers some counsels on how to overcome inordinate attachments and begin to make progress on the path to spiritual maturity. Chapter 13 of the first book of Ascent is one of the most well-known and frequently quoted sections of John’s writings. It contains “counsels and methods” on how to actively participate in overcoming shortcomings by entering the “dark night.” “The active way, which will be the subject of the following counsels, comprises what one can do and does by oneself to enter this night. The passive way is that in which one does nothing, but God accomplishes the work in the soul while the soul acts as a recipient. This will be the subject of the fourth book, Dark Night I & II” (A.1.13:1). The dark night involves “an inflow of God into the soul” (N.2:5.1). Thus, the “active” night comprises what we do, the choices we make that create an opening in our lives through which the awareness of God would flow freely without a hindrance (see Reflections, p. 55). “Reflect that your guardian angel does not always move your desire for an action, but he does always enlighten your reason. Hence in order to practice virtue do not wait until you feel like it, for your reason and intellect are sufficient.” (Sayings, 37) Essential Points to Discuss: • (1) “First, have a habitual desire to imitate Christ in all your deeds by bringing your life into conformity with his. You must then study his life in order to know how to imitate him and behave in all events as he would” (A.1.13:3). The Carmelite Rule (which will be studied later) offers a way of living a life of allegiance to Jesus Christ, “pondering the Lord’s law (e.g., Scripture) day and night and keeping watch at his prayers unless attending to some other duty.” • John bids his readers to ‘study’ (considerer) the life of Christ. The Spanish word considerer means to ponder, to consider, to reflect upon, and to esteem. Each person is called to reflect upon how God is calling them to practice the virtues seen in Christ’s life, rather than to replicate Christ’s behavior (see Reflections, pg. 63). • “Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. Thanks 19 01.24 1-24-2024 OCDS Formation II, Year A solely to this encounter — or renewed encounter — with God’s love, which blossoms into an enriching friendship, we are liberated from our narrowness and self-absorption” (Evangelii Gaudium — The Gospel of Joy, emphasis added). • John counsels that ascetical practices should be performed with “order and discretion” (see A.1.13:7). God meets each person where they are, each with their own unique personality and understanding of the spiritual journey. Consequently, “a devotion or ascetical practice should never conflict with the responsibilities and obligation of our life. All of us are called to practice the virtues that we see in the life of Christ. However, we need to practice them according to our station in life” (Reflections, pg. 65). • (2) Second, in order to be successful in this imitation, renounce and remain empty of any sensory satisfaction that is not purely for the honor and glory of God. Do this out of love for Jesus Christ (see A.1.13:4). • One cannot practice detachment/self-denial (the emptying of sensory satisfaction) simply by one’s willpower or obligation. One’s motivation should come from “love of Jesus” and the means is daily meditative prayer and interior recollection. • The counsel to deny one’s appetites on the sensual level must be understood as a means of awakening one’s desire for God. The less one is focused on sensual desires, the more one is awakened to the presence of God. In other words, the emptying of self is transformed into the inpouring of God. • “John’s teaching is based upon the reality that there are certain objects, persons, substances, situations, and so on, that we have to either modify our use of or keep a distance from, not because they are bad in themselves, but because we don’t have the capacity to use them without suffering spiritual damage. All of us have our fatal attractions” (Reflections, pg. 72). Mortification: A progressive attitude, a holy indifference to all inordinate appetites within oneself (and all actions deriving from them). One cannot find God without mortifying unholy desires within oneself. And this gets to the practice of all virtues: self-denial embraced out of love for Jesus Christ and patterned after His death (see Glossary of Terms, pg. 773). 20 --- **Source:** Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, *Formation II Year A: The Ascent of Mount Carmel* (US National Formation Program, 2024).