# Glorification — Understanding the Concepts of Transformation and Union - OCDS Ongoing Formation Volume II ## Introduction Trials, temptations, and sufferings that lead to one’s purification are not an end in themselves. Both Teresa and John understood that they are the means to a glorious transformation and union with God. As Saint John Paul II observes: “It is a journey totally sustained by grace, which nonetheless demands an intense spiritual commitment and is no stranger to painful purifications (the “dark night”). But it leads, in various possible ways, to the ineffable joy experienced by the mystics as ‘nuptial union.’ How can we forget here, among the many shining examples, the teachings of Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila?” (John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte, Art. 33). The dominant themes found in The Spiritual Canticle and The Living Flame of Love are used as a case study to understand fully the beauty and depth of human transformation and union (The Unitive Way). This is a new country to which John brings us, and now he speaks more of glorification than purification. It is the habitual and intimate union with God in Jesus Christ (loving Wisdom) through perseverance motivated by a deep love of God. When explaining the fruits of the union, John first gives a summary of the soul’s journey along the way of spiritual purgation and transformation: “To offer a more lucid explanation of the order of these stanzas and of what the soul usually passes through before reaching this state of spiritual marriage, which is the highest, … it should be noted that before the soul reaches this state she first exercises herself in the trials and bitterness of mortification and in meditation on spiritual things. … Afterward she enters the contemplative way. Here she passes through the paths and straits of love … where the spiritual betrothal is wrought. Then she advances along the unitive way, in which she receives many remarkable communications... from her Bridegroom,... and becomes perfect in loving him.... ‘The bride has entered,’ where the spiritual marriage between this soul and the Son of God is effected” (SC.22:3). This process of identifying and explaining the “past” and “present” state of the soul is the focus of John’s teaching throughout The Spiritual Canticle and The Living Flame of Love. The fruits of union are the predominant theme of these two major works of St. John of the Cross. However, it’s important to note that the fruits of this glorious union do not appear suddenly in this unitive state. The benefits and fruits of purification have been growing all along the soul’s journey. Consequently, in this final state of “unitive life,” virtues blossom into deeper union and action. Throughout his work, John masterfully describes the fruits of such union that are incredible indeed. “We can therefore assert truly that this soul is here clothed with God and bathed in divinity, not as though on the surface, but in the interior of her spirit, super-abounding in divine delights” (SC.26:1, emphasis added). “Thus all new joys and satisfactions serve more to awaken the soul to a delight in what she already possesses and experiences within herself than to new delights, … The soul that has Glorification p.80 attained this fulfillment, which is transformation, in which she has reached full stature, does not grow through these new spiritual things as do others who have not arrived. … Although the soul receives no new delights, it always seems to her that she receives them anew … The reason is that she ever takes pleasure in them anew, since they are her good that is ever new. Thus it seems to her that she is always receiving new things without need” (SC.20:12-13). John’s exuberant description of this unitive state should not give the impression that the soul is now living in a world of fantasy. “It is not that we begin to live in some kind of dream world, taking no interest in the people and things around us; it is rather that the joys and sorrows of life simply do not affect us as before. There is one great joy in life – God. Having found Him, nothing else really matters; everything that happens is seen and judged in a new light; God is always a point of reference in every new situation. ‘Let nothing disturb you’ is not an ideal but a way of life” (The Spiritual Canticle, Simplified Version with Notes, John Venard, O.C.D., pg. 155). Likewise, Our Holy Mother St. Teresa immediately corrects any wrong impression that a reader might perceive in this delightful state of union: “You may think that as a result the soul will be outside itself and so absorbed that it will be unable to be occupied with anything else. On the contrary, the soul is much more occupied than before with everything pertaining to the service of God; and once its duties are over it remains with that enjoyable company” (Interior Castle, VII.1:8). Teresa further observes that the soul is always at peace in that center (the state of union) even though there are trials and sufferings all around it. “The King is in his palace and there are many wars in his kingdom and many painful things going on, but not on that account does he fail to be at his post.... Even though they cause it [the soul] some pain, the suffering is not such as to disturb it and take away its peace” (IC.VII.2:11). As we begin our next section of the study, let us open our hearts and minds to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Let your divinity shine on my intellect by giving it divine knowledge, and on my will by imparting to it divine love, and on my memory with the divine possession of glory. (SC.19:4) Spiritual Canticle – Session One p.81 --- **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).