> [[348-purifying-love|← 348. Purifying Love]] | [[-divine-intimacy-toc|TOC]] | [[350-designs-of-peace-and-love|350. Designs of Peace and Love →]] # 349. Toward Complete Purification PRESENCE OF GOD - Help me, O Lord, that I may have the courage set out myself by my own initiative toward complete purification. ## Meditation 1 “The soul desirous of reaching this high state of union with God is greatly impeded when it clings to any understanding or feeling or imagination or appearance or will or manner of its own, or to any other act or to anything of its own, and is unable to detach and strip itself of all these” ([[jc-ascent-toc|J.C. AS]] I, 4,4). This profound and radical detachment is effected in the soul by the night of the Spirit. If then, we wish to enter this night, which will bring such good to our soul, we must try as far as in us lies, to deny ourselves in everything, especially in those things to which we are most attached. We must be disposed to renounce our plans, our projects, and our views, not only regarding material things, but even spiritual ones, for we must go to God, not by A way of our own choosing or taste, but only by the way which He Himself has prepared for us. We must be disposed to renounce divine consolations and to walk in darkness and aridity for as long as our Lord wills, to renounce our most cherished works, our most legitimate affections, our most Holy friendships, even the very support of the one who understands and guides us in the ways of God. There are few who enter effectively into the night of the Spirit precisely because “there are few who can enter, and desire to enter, into this complete detachment and emptiness of Spirit” (ibid., 7,3) Even among spiritual persons, few are persuaded that the way which leads to union with God “consists only in the one thing that is needful, which is the ability to deny oneself truly, according to that which is without and that which is within, giving oneself up to suffering for Christ’s sake, and to total annihilation” (ibid., 7,8). We must be convinced of this, and act in all things with the greatest detachment, without detaining ourselves through a spirit of ownership or by vain complacency, either in material or in spiritual goods. We must look at Jesus on the Cross: He was truly despoiled, stripped of all things, and “annihilated in everything, that is, with respect to human reputation; since, when men saw Him die, they mocked Him rather than esteemed Him; and also with respect to nature, since His nature was annihilated when He died; and further, with respect to the spiritual consolation and protection of the Father, since at that time, He forsook Him” (ibid., 7,11). From this we should understand the way to unite ourselves to God; we should realize that the more completely we annihilate ourselves for love of Him, the more completely will we be united to Him. ## Meditation 2 The generous practice of total renunciation is not the only thing we can do in order to enter the night of the spirit; there is another, no longer negative but eminently positive: the intense exercise of the theological virtues. Faith, hope and charity must be our support and guide in the obscurity of the night and, at the same time, help us to purify the faculties of our soul—the understanding, the memory and the will—-so that they may cling to God alone. “Faith,” writes St. John of the Cross, “causes an emptiness and darkness with respect to the understanding” (AS II, 6,2). Indeed, in proposing for our belief truths which we cannot understand because of their sublimity, faith teaches us that instead of depending upon our own manner of reasoning and understanding, we ought rather to despoil ourselves of this—thus placing our intellect in emptiness—in order to unite ourselves to God. The greater our progress in faith, the more detached we shall be from our shallow ways of thinking, not only in what concerns the divine mysteries and our direct contacts with God, but even with respect to the events of life, which we shall learn to judge only in relation to God. Hope, on its part, “renders the memory empty and dark with respect both to things below and to things above” (ibid., 6,3). If we hope earnestly, it means that we await blessings which we do not yet enjoy and are not content with those already possessed. If we place all our hope in God, it means that we no longer hope in the things of earth, that possession of them does not satisfy us; thus the remembrance of them becomes less lively, less frequent, so that our memory remains empty, and capable of applying itself solely to what concerns God and His service. If we exercise ourselves intensively in the hope of heavenly goods, we shall forget earthly ones; if we hope in God alone, we shall no longer be occupied with the remembrance of creatures. “Charity causes emptiness in the will with respect to all things, since it obliges us to love God above them all; which cannot be unless we withdraw our affection from them all in order to set it wholly upon God” (ibid., 6,4). If we wish to attain to detachment and to total renunciation we must love much. The more we grow in divine love, and the more readily we detach ourselves from earthly things and also from ourselves, the more capable we become of renouncing our own will and annihilating our ego in all things. If we walk in faith, hope, and love, we shall go forward in the night of the spirit, without going astray in the obscurity and darkness that is encountered, for these virtues will keep us strongly anchored in God. ## Colloquy “O Lord, make possible to me by Your grace what seems impossible to me by nature. You know that I can bear but little and that I am quickly discouraged by a small adversity. Let every trial and tribulation become agreeable to me, for Your name’s sake; for to suffer and to be afflicted for You is very beneficial to my soul. “Be with me, O Lord Jesus, in all places and at all times. Let this be my consolation, to be willing to be without all human comfort. And if Your comfort also be withdrawn, let what You will and ordain for my trial be to me as the greatest of comforts. ‘For You will not always be angry, nor will You threaten forever.’ “Lord, provided that my will remain but right and firm toward You, do with me whatever pleases You. For whatever You shall do with me can only be good. If You wish me to be in darkness, I shall bless You; and if You wish me to be afflicted, I shall still bless You forever. “Lord, I shall suffer willingly for Your sake whatever You wish to send me. I will receive with indifference from Your hand both good and evil alike; keep me from all sin, and I will fear neither death nor hell. Do not cast me out forever, nor blot me out of the book of life, and whatever tribulation befalls will not harm me” ([[tk-imitation-toc|Imit.]] III, 19,5 — 16,2 — 17,2.4). # References J.C. - [[john-of-the-cross-saint|Saint John of the Cross]] AS - [[jc-ascent-toc|Ascent of Mt. Carmel by Saint John of the Cross]] --- ![[bibliography#^biblio-di]] > [[348-purifying-love|← 348. Purifying Love]] | [[-divine-intimacy-toc|TOC]] | [[350-designs-of-peace-and-love|350. Designs of Peace and Love →]]