# 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 ## Beginning of the Exposition of the Dark Night. Signs of Passive Night and Purgation (May take multiple sessions, as needed.) Required Reading: The Dark Night, Book One, chapters 8-10. Recommended Reading: The Dark Night, Marc Foley, chapters 8-10 (pg. 79-93). Explanatory note: As John goes on, he makes it clearer that his explanation of the nights coincides with that mentioned in The Ascent (see A.1.1:2-3). John is not repeating himself; rather, he is re-enforcing and recalling his teaching in The Ascent for a better understanding of God’s action along the passive nights. Readers should not dismiss John’s method/style as mere repetition. This dark night of contemplation is composed of two purgations that correspond to the two levels of raising awareness in the sensory and spiritual parts of the soul. This passive night of the senses marks a transition from the stage of beginners to that of proficient. The passive night of the spirit is the transition from the stage of proficient to that of the perfect (see footnote 2, DN.1.8:1). “Hence one night of purgation is sensory, by which the senses are purged and accommodated to the spirit; and the other night of purgation is spiritual, by which spirit is purged and denuded as well as accommodated and prepared for union with God through love” (DN.1.8:1, emphasis added). Note: Passive purgation of the senses accommodates the senses to the spirit and the passive purification of the spiritual faculties prepares the soul for union with God. This clarification of these two purgative nights is crucial to the understanding of John’s entire work of the passive night. John further observes that the sensory night “is a more common occurrence, so one finds more written on it.” But of the spiritual night “hardly anything has been said of it in sermons or in writing; and even experience of it is rare” (DN.1.8:2). ### Chapter 8: “One Dark Night” Note: Chapter 8 is an important chapter. It summarizes God’s action in preparing the soul to face the intense purification described in The Dark Night Book Two. Read this chapter in its entirety. Chapter 9: This chapter describes the signs for discerning whether a spiritual person is treading the path of this sensory night and purgation. Three signs are in place to understand if the night is indeed God’s presence, rather than the product of one’s imagination or imperfection. “The first [sign] is that since these souls do not get satisfaction or consolation from the things of God, they do not get any from creatures either...Through this sign it can in all likelihood be inferred that this dryness and distaste is not the outcome of newly committed sins and imperfections. If this were so, some inclination or propensity to look for satisfaction in something other than the things of God would be felt in the sensory part...” (DN.1.9:2, emphasis added). Dark Night, Book One – Session Two p.53 “The second sign for the discernment of this purgation is that the memory ordinarily turns to God solicitously and with painful care, and the soul thinks it is not serving God but turning back, because it is aware of this distaste for the things of God. Hence it is obvious that this aversion and dryness is not the fruit of laxity and tepidity, for lukewarm people do not care much for the things of God nor are they inwardly solicitous about them” (DN.1.9:3, emphasis added). “The reason for this dryness is that God transfers his goods and strength from sense to spirit. Since the sensory part of the soul is incapable of the goods of spirit, it remains deprived, dry, and empty. Thus, while the spirit is tasting, the flesh tastes nothing at all and becomes weak in its work. But through this nourishment the spirit grows stronger and more alert, and becomes more solicitous than before about not failing God” (DN.1.9:4). John’s observation is that the soul will continue to feel this dryness until the senses are purified and accommodated to the spirit by means of the dark and obscure night (see DN.1.9:4). He further notes that this transition period is the beginning of contemplation that is dark and dry to the senses. “... when these aridities are the outcome of the purgative way of the sensory appetite, the spirit feels the strength and energy to work, which is obtained from the substance of that interior food... This food is the beginning of a contemplation that is dark and dry to the senses. Ordinarily this contemplation, which is secret and hidden from the very one who receives it, imparts to the soul, together with the dryness and emptiness it produces in the senses, an inclination to remain alone and in quietude” (DN.1.9:6). “God conducts the soul along so different a path,... that a desire to work with the faculties would hinder rather than help his work; whereas in the beginning of the spiritual life everything was quite the contrary. The reason is that now in this state of contemplation, when the soul leaves discursive meditation and enters the state of proficients, it is God who works in it.... At this time a person’s own efforts are of no avail, but are an obstacle to the interior peace and work God is producing in the spirit through that dryness of sense” (DN.1.9:7, emphasis added). Note: The faculties will continue to feel the dryness until the senses are purified and accommodated to the spirit by the interior food of contemplation. There is no darkness or dryness in the prayer of contemplation. “The third sign for the discernment of this purgation of the senses is the powerlessness, in spite of one’s efforts, to meditate and make use of the imagination, the interior sense, as was one’s previous custom. At this time God does not communicate himself through the senses as he did before, by means of discursive analysis and synthesis of ideas, but begins to communicate himself through pure spirit by an act of simple contemplation in which there is no discursive succession of thought” (DN.1.9:8). Note: “Of these three signs two are negative (lack of satisfaction, inability to practice discursive meditation) and one positive (solicitude about not failing God). The positive sign is the best indicator of God’s communication (faith, hope, and love). These signs coincide with those explained in A.2, ch. 13, except that here the positive sign represents an earlier phase of the transition to contemplation” (DN.1, ch. 9, footnote 2). Dark Night, Book One – Session Two p.54 “The three signs may be summarized as a threefold experience. I can’t meditate. I don’t want to meditate. All I want to do is to rest gently in an awareness of God’s presence” (Dark Night, Foley, pg. 91). Chapter 10: For the sake of further clarification, John confirms that now is the time for God to work. The efforts of the soul will bear no fruit because the soul has only been in the sensory night. It has no knowledge or understanding of the way of the spirit, which is the new way God is leading it. Essential Points to Discuss:  God makes this transition “... by withdrawing the soul from the life of the senses and placing it in that of spirit – that is, he brings it from meditation to contemplation – where the soul no longer has the power to work or meditate with its faculties on the things of God. Spiritual persons suffer considerable affliction in this night, owing not so much to the aridities they undergo as to their fear of having gone astray. Since they do not find any support or satisfaction in good things, they believe there will be no more spiritual blessings for them and that God has abandoned them” (DN.1.10:1, emphasis added).  As a result, they redouble their efforts to meditate but to no avail. “They consequently impair God’s work and do not profit by their own. In searching for spirit, they lose the spirit that was the source of their tranquility and peace. They are like... one who leaves a city only to re-enter it, or they are like a hunter who abandons the prey in order to go hunting again. It is useless, then, for the soul to try to meditate because it will no longer profit by this exercise” (DN.1.10:1).  “Meditation is now useless for them because God is conducting them along another road, which is contemplation and is very different from the first, for the one road belongs to discursive meditation and the other is beyond the range of the imagination and discursive reflection” (DN.1.10:2).  Since the mode of God’s presence has changed, we too must change our manner of prayer. We must learn to sit quietly without thinking much.  “They must be content simply with a loving and peaceful attentiveness to God, and live without the concern, without the effort, and without the desire to taste or feel him. All these desires disquiet the soul and distract it from the peaceful, quiet, and sweet idleness of the contemplation that is being communicated to it” (DN.1.10:4).  “... going to prayer means remaining in ease and freedom of spirit. If individuals were to desire to do something themselves with their interior faculties, they would hinder and lose the goods that God engraves on their souls through that peace and idleness” (DN.1.10:5).  John asks the spiritual seeker to remain peaceful and pose “... no obstacle to the operation of the infused contemplation God is bestowing,... For contemplation is nothing else than a secret and peaceful and loving inflow of God, which, if not hampered, fires the soul in the spirit of love, as is brought out in the following verse: Fired with love’s urgent longings” (DN.1.10:6, emphasis added). Note: The reason for this transition from meditation to contemplation is that the Dark Night, Book One – Session Two p.55 knowledge and love that the soul was gradually acquiring through the labor of meditating on particular ideas has now been converted into habitual and substantial general loving knowledge “The moment it [the soul] recollects itself in the presence of God it enters into an act of general, loving, peaceful, and tranquil knowledge, drinking wisdom and love and delight” (Ascent 2.14:2). For personal reflection: When you are praying, have you ever felt that God is drawing you into the silence of your heart? When this happens, are you able to “be content simply with a loving and peaceful attentiveness to God, and live without the concern, without the effort, and without the desire to taste or feel him?” (DN.1.10:4) (see Dark Night, Foley, pg. 93). Dark Night, Book One – Session Three p.56 ## “Fired with love’s Urgent Longings – Ah, the Sheer Grace! I Went out unseen.” (May take multiple sessions, as needed.) Required Reading: The Dark Night, Book One, chapters 11-14. Recommended Reading: The Dark Night, Marc Foley, chapters 11-14, pg. 94-128. Essential Points to Discuss: ### Chapter 11: This Chapter Describes the Joy of the Soul Who Is Free of Sensory Considerations  Fired with love’s urgent longings, “In the measure that the fire [of love] increases, the soul becomes aware of being attracted by the love of God and enkindled in it, without knowing how or where this attraction and love originates” (DN.1.11:1). Note: In the beginning, individuals do not perceive this love; rather, they experience dryness and void. This dryness is accompanied by a habitual care and solicitude for God (see DN.1.11:2).  I went out unseen: “This night frees the soul from all these vices [the seven-capital sins] by quenching all its earthly and heavenly satisfactions,... These blessings are attained when by means of this night the soul departs from all created things, in its affections and operations, and walks on toward eternal things” (DN.1.11:4).  “The desire that is enkindled is the work of God; it is the passive aspect of the dark night. The active part of the dark night is our response... Since in The Dark Night of the Soul, John’s primary focus is on the passive aspect of transformation, it is important to remember that the passive aspect of the dark night (what God does) cannot be separated from its active dimension (our response). To do so is to risk misunderstanding John’s teaching. For example, in the next two chapters, John enumerates the various benefits of the arid night of sense. Unless we realize that these benefits are inseparable from our cooperation, it is easy to derive the erroneous impression that they occur simply as a result of experiencing the inflow of ‘this dry contemplation’ (DN.1.13:10)” (Dark Night, Foley, pg. 99-100). Side note: St. Teresa explains in The Interior Castle (IC.IV.3:2), that instead of seeking God in external things, the soul begins to seek God within. Like a good shepherd with a whistle so gentle, God calls the soul to make this inward journey (passive aspect), and the soul recognizes the Beloved’s voice and follows (our response). “... it is a great help to seek God within, where He is found more easily and in a way more beneficial to us than when sought in creatures...” (IC.IV.3:3). This inward searching takes the form of “... a gentle drawing inward,... [like] a turtle drawing into a shell... so that the soul, instead of striving to engage in discourse, strives to remain attentive and aware of what the Lord is working in it” (IC.IV.3:3-4). ### Chapter 12: This Chapter Explains the Benefits This Night Causes in the Soul: Self-knowledge and Knowledge of God’s Majesty, Leading to Humility and Charity Toward Others  “The first and chief benefit this dry and dark night of contemplation causes is the knowledge of self and of one’s own misery. … As a result the soul recognizes the truth Dark Night, Book One – Session Three p.57 about its misery, of which it was formerly ignorant. When it was walking in festivity, gratification, consolation, and support in God, it is more content, believing that it was serving God in some way. … Now that the soul is clothed in these other garments of labor, dryness, and desolation, and its former lights have been darkened, it possesses more authentic lights in this most excellent and necessary virtue of self-knowledge” (DN.1.12:2).  The soul enjoys a deeper, more profound respect for God (see DN.1.12:3).  Another benefit resulting from this night is that “... God will give illumination by bestowing on the soul not only knowledge of its own misery and lowliness but also knowledge of his grandeur and majesty. When the sensory appetites, gratifications, and supports are quenched, the intellect is left clean and free to understand the truth,... Similarly, anguish and dryness of senses illumine and quicken the intellect, as Isaiah affirms: Vexation makes one understand [Is. 28:19]” (DN.1.12:4).  “But God also, by means of this dark and dry night of contemplation, supernaturally instructs in his divine wisdom the soul that is empty and unhindered (which is the requirement for his divine inpouring), which he did not do through the former satisfactions and pleasures” (DN.1.12:4).  “We conclude that self-knowledge flows first from this dry night, and that from this knowledge as from its source proceeds the other knowledge of God. Hence St. Augustine said to God: Let me know myself, Lord, and I will know you” (DN.1.12:5).  “Hence the dark night with its aridities and voids is the means to the knowledge of both God and self” (DN.1.12:6).  In this night, humility replaces spiritual pride. Individuals become submissive and obedient in their spiritual journey. They not only listen to the teaching of others but even desire to be directed. The affective presumption they sometimes displayed in their prosperity melts away, and as they proceed on this journey, all the other imperfections, including spiritual pride, are swept away (see DN.1.12:8).  “From this humility stems love of neighbor, for they esteem them and do not judge them as they did before when they were aware that they enjoyed an intense fervor while others did not. These persons know only their own misery and keep it so much in sight that they have no opportunity to watch anyone else’s conduct” (DN.1.12:8). “In short, as we experience our moral and spiritual weakness, we are less apt to judge harshly the weaknesses of others.... If this truth becomes an abiding part of our consciousness, it will arguably be the most important aspect of our spiritual life, for it will simultaneously keep us humble before God and forgiving and compassionate toward our neighbor” (Dark Night, Foley, pg. 106). Note: Chapter 12 is an important chapter for a deeper understanding of the virtue of self-knowledge. Read this chapter in its entirety. For personal reflection: Have you ever experienced a reduction or cessation of judging your neighbor as a consequence of growing in self-knowledge of your own sinfulness? (Dark Night, Foley, pg. 107). Dark Night, Book One – Session Three p.58 ### Chapter 13: Other Benefits of the Passive Night of the Senses  All appetites fade away and “... The soul dwells in spiritual peace and tranquility” (DN.1.13:3).  “... The soul bears a habitual remembrance of God…” (DN.1.13:4).  Another great benefit for the soul in this night of aridity and darkness is that it practices all the virtues together: theological (faith, hope, charity) as well as cardinal (prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance) and moral (chastity, meekness, obedience, humility, honesty, perseverance) (see DN.1.13:5).  “In the patience and forbearance practiced in these voids and aridities, and through perseverance in its spiritual exercises without consolation or satisfaction, the soul practices the love of God, since it is no longer motivated by the attractive and savory gratification it finds in its work, but only by God” (DN.1.13:5, emphasis added).  “It also practices the virtue of fortitude, because it draws strength from weakness in the difficulties and aversions experienced in its work, and thus becomes strong” (DN.1.13:5, emphasis added).  Anger is replaced by meekness. “…individuals become meek toward God and themselves and also toward their neighbor. As a result they no longer become impatiently angry with themselves and their faults or with their neighbor’s; neither are they displeased or disrespectfully querulous with God for not making them perfect quickly” (DN.1.13:7, emphasis added).  Envy is replaced by charity. “… these individuals also become charitable toward others… The envy they have – if they do have any – is holy envy that desires to imitate others, which indicates solid virtue” (DN.1.13:8).  An increase in perseverance: “The sloth and tedium they feel in spiritual things is not vicious as before. Previously this sloth was the outcome of the spiritual gratification they either enjoyed or tried to obtain when not experienced... for in this purgation of the appetite God takes from the soul all its satisfaction” (DN.1.13.9).  “Besides these benefits, innumerable others flow from this dry contemplation. In the midst of these aridities and straits, God frequently communicates to the soul, when it least expects, spiritual sweetness, a very pure love, and spiritual knowledge [loving knowledge] that is sometimes most delicate. Each of these communications is more valuable than all the soul previously sought. Yet in the beginning one will not think so because the spiritual inflow is very delicate and the senses do not perceive it” (DN.1.13:10).  “Finally, insofar as these persons are purged of their sensory affections and appetites, they obtain freedom of spirit in which they acquire the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit” [charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity] (DN.1.13:11).  “Since the soul knows that, from this dry purgation through which it passed, it procured so many and such precious benefits, as are referred to here, the verse of this stanza is no exaggeration: ‘– Ah, the sheer grace! – I went out unseen.’ That is, I went forth from subjection to my sensory appetites and affections unseen, so that the three enemies were unable to stop me” [the world, the self, and the devil] (DN.1.13:14). Dark Night, Book One – Session Three p.59 Note: John observes that all these virtues are practiced during the time the soul was experiencing voids, aridities, and dryness in prayer. “These aridities, then, make people walk with purity in the love of God” (DN.1.13:12). Hence, this dark night is a happy night and a sheer grace for the soul. ### Chapter 14: “My House Being Now All stilled.”  “When this house of the senses was stilled (that is, mortified), its passions quenched, and its appetites calmed and put to sleep through this happy night of the purgation of the senses, the soul went out in order to begin its journey along the road of the spirit, which is that of proficients and which by another terminology is referred to as the illuminative way or the way of infused contemplation. On this road God himself pastures and refreshes the soul without any of its own discursive meditation or active help” (DN.1.14:1).  In this short chapter, John sets a stage for a deeper process of purification and transformation. God directs the length and depth of the trials according to the needs and strength of the individual. “… this night is ordinarily accompanied by burdensome trials and sensory temptations that last a long time, and with some longer than with the others” (DN.1.14:1).  The temptations include: a spirit of fornication; a blasphemous spirit, and a loathsome spirit – “... filled with a thousand scruples and perplexities...” (DN.1.14:1-3). Note: “John mentions three kinds of temptations, but there can be many others, and the degree of intensity will also differ” (DN.1, ch. 14, footnote 1).  These trials continue in the other night, the passive night – The Dark Night, Book Two (see DN.1.14:4).  “By these trials it [the soul] is truly humbled in preparation for its coming exaltation” (DN.1.14:4).  “In the measure of the degree of love to which God wishes to raise a soul, he humbles it with greater or lesser intensity, or for a longer or shorter period of time” (DN.1.14:5).  According to John, the purpose of the continuous purgation in this passive night is to prepare the soul “... for the union with wisdom... For if a soul is not tempted, tried, and proved through temptations and trials, its senses will not be strengthened in preparation for wisdom.... Jeremiah gives good testimony of this truth: You have chastised me, Lord, and I was instructed [Jer. 31:18]” (DN.1.14:4, emphasis added).  John notes here that “It is time to begin our treatise on the second night” (DN.1.14:6). For personal reflection: John has helped us to see that the trials and temptations the dark night brings into our lives are not for our downfall but for our sanctification. How can this perspective help you to understand your struggles in the spiritual [daily] life? (Dark Night, Foley, pg. 128). Dark Night, Book Two – Session One p.60 --- **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).