# The Dark Night – Book One - OCDS Ongoing Formation Volume II Required Reading: The Dark Night. This book is included in The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, ICS Publications, 1991. Recommended Reading: The Dark Night, Marc Foley, O.C.D. ICS Publications, 2018. ## The Imperfections of Beginners (May take multiple sessions, as needed.) Required Reading: The Dark Night, Book One, chapters 1-7. Recommended Reading: The Dark Night, Marc Foley, O.C.D. chapters 1-7. Explanatory note: Chapters 1-7 cover the imperfections of beginners within the framework of the seven capital sins. “We should first mention here some characteristics of beginners, for the sake of a better explanation and understanding of the nature of this night and of God’s motive for placing the soul in it” (DN.1.1:1). According to John, beginners are those who have already taken the spiritual path of prayer and meditation. The benefits of the dark night will be explained in subsequent chapters, specifically how it cleanses and purifies the soul of all imperfections and accommodates the senses to the life in the spirit. Essential Points to Discuss: Chapter 1: Imperfections of Beginners  Beginners in prayer are joyful but are so weak in the practice of the virtues that they are subject to many distractions and imperfections.  “…they [beginners] conduct themselves in a very weak and imperfect manner. Since their motivation in their spiritual works and exercises is the consolation and satisfaction they experience in them, and since they have not been conditioned by the arduous struggle of practicing virtue, they possess many faults and imperfections in the discharge of their spiritual activities.” (DN.1.1:3).  Fr. Foley: “The presence of God as consolation is meant to be an aid to spiritual advancement. Unfortunately, it often becomes an obstacle... What hinders spiritual advancement is not consolation per se but our relationship to it. We can become attached to the sensual experience of consolation; we can develop ‘a spiritual sweet tooth’ (A.2.7.5) and become addicted to the spiritual savor of grace. As a result, our capacity to embrace the cross is diminished. We can also misinterpret the significance of consolation. Many beginners believe that what they feel is an indication of their holiness; they think they are saints because they find great delight in their spiritual exercises. John deals with these two hindrances within the framework of the seven capital sins.... It is important to keep in mind that even though John is dealing specifically with ‘beginners,’ the psychological and spiritual insights into the dynamics of the capital sins that are contained in these chapters can apply to all of us” (Dark Night, Foley, pg. 6-7). Dark Night, Book One – Session One p.48 ## Chapter 2: Spiritual Pride  Spiritual pride in beginners results in complacency because they do not have true self-knowledge.  “These beginners feel so fervent and diligent in their spiritual exercises and undertakings that a certain kind of secret pride is generated in them that begets a complacency with themselves and their accomplishments.... Then they develop a somewhat vain – at times very vain – desire to speak of spiritual things in others’ presence, and sometimes even to instruct rather than be instructed; in their hearts they condemn others who do not seem to have the kind of devotion they would like them to have,...” (DN.1.2:1). Note: John mentions several other imperfections in detail. Read this chapter in its entirety for a proper understanding of the many imperfections of beginners.  “But souls who are advancing in perfection at this time act in an entirely different manner and with a different quality of spirit. They receive great benefit from their humility, by which they not only place little importance on their deeds, but also take very little self-satisfaction from them” (DN.1.2:6).  “Their charity and love make them want to do so much for God that what they actually do accomplish seems as nothing. This loving solicitude goads them, preoccupies them, and absorbs them to such an extent that they never notice what others do or do not accomplish...” (DN.1.2:6). ## Chapter 3: Spiritual Avarice  Spiritual avarice gets in the way of poverty of spirit. The result is that the soul blocks the spiritual purgation that God desires for it.  “They hardly ever seem content with the spirit God gives them. They become unhappy and peevish because they don’t find the consolation they want in spiritual things” (DN.1.3:1).  “Many never have enough of hearing counsels, or learning spiritual maxims, or keeping them and reading books about them. They spend more time in these than in striving after mortification and the perfection of the interior poverty to which they are obliged” (DN.1.3:1).  “They are collectors of ideas and systems of thought that they can talk about with their friends but never apply to their own lives. They love to ingest information but do not have the capacity to do the hard and tedious work that is required to digest it” (Dark Night, Foley, pg. 23).  “Furthermore, they weigh themselves down with over-decorated images and rosaries. They now put these down, now take up others; at one moment they are exchanging, and at the next re-exchanging. Now they want this kind, now they want another... What I condemn in this is possessiveness of heart and attachment to the number, workmanship, and over-decoration of these objects” (DN.1.3:1).  “Since true devotion comes from the heart and looks only to the truth and substance represented by spiritual objects, and since everything else is imperfect attachment and Dark Night, Book One – Session One p.49 possessiveness, any appetite for these things must be uprooted if some degree of perfection is to be reached” (DN.1.3:1). For personal reflection: One of the core issues contained in this chapter is our purpose for acquiring knowledge. Do we want to know in order to increase our stockpile of information, or do we want to receive the wisdom “to know how to live for love of God and neighbor”? (DN.1.3:2) (Dark Night, Foley, pg. 28). ## Chapter 4: Spiritual Lust Explanatory note: “Lust” in the old meaning of the word signified an inordinate desire for sensual gratification. In this context, we are not speaking of sexual gratification, but rather the gratification of the senses and emotions.  Lustful thoughts and feelings often seek spiritual and sensory gratification in spiritual exercises. It allows the soul to be distracted by impurities of the sensory nature. Engaging in distractions and seeking inordinate pleasures rather than entering into the dark night (God’s calling) is a natural tendency that the soul must overcome. Spiritual friendships come under this category.  “… spiritual persons have numerous imperfections, many of which can be called spiritual lust, not because the lust is spiritual but because it proceeds from spiritual things” (DN.1.4:1).  “Some spiritually acquire a liking for other individuals that often arises from lust rather than from the spirit. This lustful origin will be recognized if, on recalling the affection, there is remorse of conscience, and not an increase in the remembrance and love of God” (DN.1.4:7, emphasis added).  “The affection is purely spiritual if the love of God grows when it grows, or if the love of God is remembered as often as the affection is remembered, or if the affection gives the soul a desire for God – if by growing in one the soul grows also in the other. For this is a trait of God’s spirit” (DN.1.4:7). For personal reflection: Have you ever been in a relationship in which you asked yourself the question, “Where is this going; where will this end?” (Dark Night, Foley, pg. 38). ## Chapter 5: Spiritual Anger  “Because of the strong desire of many beginners for spiritual gratification, they usually have many imperfections of anger” (DN.1.5:1). Anger results from three things: o The soul encounters dryness when it desires delight (see DN.1.5:1). o The soul sees that others fail to measure up to its spiritual standards. “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” (DN.1.5:2). o The soul wants to speed up perfection in its own time and is not content to wait on God’s time. “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… They do not have the Dark Night, Book One – Session One p.50 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” (DN.1.5:3). For personal reflection: To what extent do you keep watch over the conduct of others, ready to punish the sins that you find? (Dark Night, Foley, pg. 48). ## Chapter 6: Spiritual Gluttony  Spiritual gluttony is the inordinate desire for spiritual satisfaction instead of God. Spiritual satisfaction can be sought through excessive penance, consolations, or through over-valuing personal experiences as one undertakes the long and winding spiritual journey to God.  “Some, attracted by the delight they feel in their spiritual exercises, kill themselves with penances, and others weaken themselves by fasts and, without the counsel or command of another…” (DN.1.6:1).  “Since all extremes are vicious and since by such behavior these persons doing their own will, they grow in vice rather than in virtue. For through this conduct, they at least become spiritually gluttonous and proud, since they do not tread the path of obedience” (DN.1.6:2).  Spiritual sweetness is also craved in prayer, and when the feelings are not achieved, prayer is abandoned. “Once they do not find delight in prayer, or in any other spiritual exercise, they feel extreme reluctance and repugnance in returning to it and sometimes even give it up.... they are like children who are prompted to act not by reason but by pleasure” (DN.1.6:6).  “All their time is spent looking for satisfaction and spiritual consolation; they can never read enough spiritual books, and one minute they are meditating on one subject and the next on another, always hunting for some gratification in the things of God” (DN.1.6:6).  “Those who are inclined toward these delights have also another serious imperfection, which is that they are weak and remiss in treading the rough way of the cross. A soul given up to pleasure naturally feels aversion toward the bitterness of self-denial” (DN.1.6:7).  “These people incur many other imperfections because of this spiritual gluttony, of which the Lord in time will cure them through temptations, aridities, and other trials, which are all a part of the dark night. … Individuals thereby become aware that the perfection and value of their works do not depend on quantity or the satisfaction found in them but on knowing how to practice self-denial in them” (DN.1.6:8). Side note: “Throughout these chapters, describing the situation of beginners in regard to each capital vice, John repeatedly points out their need for the purification of the dark night, which he begins to treat in ch. 8” (footnote #2, DN.1.6:6). ## Chapter 7: Spiritual Envy and Sloth  The imperfection of spiritual envy occurs when the spiritual good of others causes the soul grief and resentment. “In regard to envy, many of them feel sad about the spiritual Dark Night, Book One – Session One p.51 good of others and experience sensible grief in noting that their neighbor is ahead of them on the road to perfection, and they do not want to hear others praised... All of this is contrary to charity” (DN.1.7:1).  Spiritual sloth is a lack of fortitude and causes the soul to become weary of aridity and fall away from prayer. These souls so prefer their own will to God’s that they begin to perceive their own will as God’s will. “Many of these beginners want God to desire what they want, and they become sad if they have to desire God’s will. They feel an aversion toward adapting their will to God’s” (DN.1.7:3). Read this chapter in its entirety (twice!). Summary explanation At the end of chapter 7, John gives a summary explaining the need for further purification from the beginner’s state to proficient. Thus, he begins to explain the passive night of sense and spirit. “It is enough to have referred to the many imperfections of those who live in this beginner’s state to see their need for God to put them into the state of proficients. He does this by introducing them into the dark night, of which we will now speak. There, through pure dryness and interior darkness, he weans them from the breasts of these gratifications and delights, takes away all these trivialities and childish ways, and makes them acquire the virtues by very different means. No matter how earnestly beginners in all their actions and passions practice the mortification of self, they will never be able to do so entirely – far from it – until God accomplishes it in them passively by means of the purgation of this night” (DN.1.7:5, emphasis added). Dark Night, Book One – Session Two p.52 --- **Source:** Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, *Ongoing Formation Volume II: Human Transformation and Union According to the Writings of St. John of the Cross* (US National Formation Program, 2025).