← [[session-08-f2a|Purification of the Intellect by the Practice of Faith]] | [[formation-II-a-handbook|Table of Contents]] | [[session-10-f2a|Growth in Prayer — The Point of Departure for the Means, Which Is Faith, Hope, and Love]] → # Explanation of the Nature of Union with God Required Reading: Ascent, Book Two, ch. 5 pg. 52 Union: 1. Natural union is that by which God is present to creatures preserving them in being. 2. Supernatural union is the goal of the spiritual journey, a union of likeness brought about through love (see Glossary of Terms, pg. 776). Explanatory note: “John sees the spiritual life as this universal call to search constantly for union with God. It is a personal exodus from our own captivity to the promised land… This exodus of spiritual dedication is a departure from security, implies a willingness to journey through the nights” (Contemporary Challenge of John of the Cross, pg. 46). In chapter 5, John explains the phrase “the nature of union of the soul with God.” “This chapter is fundamental to his entire work because the whole process of purification flows from the nature of union and our willing participation” (footnote ch. 5:1). **Essential Points to Discuss:** • John is not discussing “substantial union” by which God sustains every soul and dwells in it substantially, even those in mortal sin. This union between God and creatures always exists. John is talking about the soul’s “union of likeness” with God. This “union of likeness” does not always exist, except when there is a likeness of love by active participation in it (see A.2.5:3). • “God communicates supernatural being only through love and grace, which not all souls possess. And those who do, do not possess them in the same degree... A person who has reached complete conformity and likeness of will has attained total supernatural union and transformation in God” (A.2.5:4). • Souls must detach themselves from all that is not God “so that God, who is naturally communicating himself to them through nature, may do so supernaturally through grace” (A.2.5:4). Note: the virtue of detachment is closely connected to union with God. • It is important to note that the presence of God — who is naturally communicating himself to souls through nature and through grace — is not different in kind, but in intensity. The soul is now more aware of the presence of God. This increase of consciousness happens because in the process of purification, the soul’s capacity and receptivity for God has increased; it has made more “room for God” (see Ascent to Joy, The Goal: Union with God, pg. 49). Note: the process of purification of the faculties is closely linked to union. • John provides two excellent metaphors to explain the nature of union: The “window” and the “painting.” “A ray of sunlight shining on a smudgy window is unable to illumine that window completely and transform it into its own light…the cleaner the window is, the brighter will be its illumination. The extent of illumination is not dependent on the 27 01.24 1-24-2024 OCDS Formation II, Year A ray of sunlight [God] but on the window [the soul]” (A.2.5:6). “A soul makes room for God by wiping away the smudges and smears of creatures, by uniting its will perfectly to God’s; for to love is to labor to divest and deprive oneself for God of all that is not God” (A.2.5:7). • “When God grants this supernatural favor to the soul, so great a union is caused that all the things of both God and the soul become one in participant transformation, and the soul appears to be God more than a soul. Indeed, it is God by participation” (A.2.5:7). Happy are the souls who can cry out: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God… ” (Gal.2:19-20). • “Let us rejoice and give thanks. We have not only become Christians but Christ himself… Stand in awe and rejoice. We have become Christ” (St. Augustine “On the Gospel of St. John,” lecture 21). Note: even though the soul is transformed, it is still distinct from God. It remains a “window.” (see A.2.5:7) • Consequently, the preparation for this union, “is not an understanding by the soul, nor the taste, feeling, or imagining of God or of any other object, but purity and love, the stripping off [what is not God] and perfect renunciation of all such experiences for God alone” (A.2.5:8). Note: John’s teaching of purity of heart in relation to union is “entirely cleansed, clear, and perfect.” • John’s painting metaphor sheds light on the nature of this union. One whose sense of sight is impaired will discover less detail and delicacy in the painting, while one who has better vision will discover more details and perfections. “There is so much to behold in the painting that no matter how much one sees in it, still more remains unseen” (A.2.5:9). Side note: Grace increases one’s capacity to see the beauty that was always present. “This increase of sight we call faith (or contemplation), which is the conscious awareness of the soul’s pre-reflective and preconscious knowledge of God. This increase of the knowledge of God is the result of grace alone, but it follows upon the soul’s choice of love which is the decision to ‘labor to divest and deprive oneself for God of all that is not God.’ Thus, for John, there is an interfacing and interaction between knowing and loving; they are inseparable. We can only love what we know, but only love has the power to disclose to us the true nature of what we love” (Ascent to Joy, pg. 50). John calls this “loving knowledge.” Transformation: A term for union, which implies a change in form by which a soul receives a new form. God’s likeness in its being and activity, while remaining different from God in its nature. It is the human person who is transformed in God, and not vice versa. The life of one transformed is Christ’s life (see Glossary of Terms, pg. 776). 28 --- **Source:** Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, *Formation II Year A: The Ascent of Mount Carmel* (US National Formation Program, 2024).