Introduction to St. John of the Cross
Using the Ascent of Mount Carmel

Materials:

The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross (1991 Edition)
Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD
http://www.icspublications.org/bookstore/cross/index.html

Or

St. John of the Cross: A Digital Library
http://www.carmelclarion.com/digitallibraries.html

Carmelite Studies VI: John of the Cross
Steven Payne, OCD Editor

This book is out of print but it can be found at http://www.icspublications.org/archives/  Look under “on-line” books. 

Unit I:  Introduction to the Life and Poetry of St. John of the Cross

Reading Assignment:  

The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross 
or
St. John of the Cross: A Digital Library (Kavanaugh/Rodriguez translation)

Start reading the Forward and General Introduction.
(Finish this reading next month.)
Read some of the short poems.

Carmelite Studies VI
John of the Cross: The Person, His Times, His Writings 
Michael Dodd.  Pages 7-28.  

Or online at: http://www.icspublications.org/archives/others/cs6_4.html

The questions which follow are based on this reading.

Questions:

1.  What image do you have of St. John of the Cross?  Where do you think this image came from?

2.  Michael Dodd spells out clearly his purpose in writing this essay.  What is it?

3.  What happened to St. John’s father when he married John’s mother?  How does. Dodd think this influenced St. John of the Cross?

4.  How did St. John’s brother provide an example of behavior so different than that of their father’s family?

5.  Describe St. John as a student.  What were his strengths and weaknesses?

6.  St. John worked in a hospital for victims of plague and venereal disease.  Dodd speculates on how that experience shows up in St. John of the Cross’ writings years later.  What is the connection he sees?

7.  How did meeting St. Teresa of Avila change the course of St. John’s life?

8.  Describe the life of St. John of the Cross at the monastery in Duruelo.

9.  What happened to St. John of the Cross in the prison of Toledo?

10.  How did St. John come to write his books?

11.  Explain the true meaning of the motto of St. John of the Cross:  “Lord to suffer and to be despised on your account”.

12.  Refer to The Ascent of Mount Carmel Book I, Chapter 13 Paragraphs 5-7:  How do you see St. John of the Cross acting on these maxims in his choice to travel to Ubeda?  What fruit did it bring?

Unit II:  Introduction to the Doctrine of St. John of the Cross

Reading Assignment:  

The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross 
or
St. John of the Cross: A Digital Library (Kavanaugh/Rodriguez translation)

Finish reading the Forward and General Introduction.
Read The Spiritual Canticle, the poem only (the second redaction (CB)).
You might take one or two stanzas a day for your meditation.

Carmelite Studies VI
Freedom to Love: Negation in the Doctrine of John of the Cross 
Daniel Chowning, OCD pages 29-47.  

Or online at: http://www.icspublications.org/archives/others/cs6_5.html

The questions which follow are based on this reading.

Questions:

1.  How does Fr. Chowning see Gonzalo’s marriage to Catalina as an act of “freedom”?

2.  As Fr. Chowning points out, people who have psychological wounds might have a difficult time distinguishing between appropriate and inappropriate self-love.  For example, a person who has a low self-image, even self-hatred, might misunderstand St. John’s idea of dying to self and think he is encouraging them in their self-hatred.  Can you give some examples of what you think are appropriate and inappropriate acts of self-love.  [Note: the “answer” is not in the book.  I just want you to explore your own ideas about this.]

3.  What is the “starting point” for St. John’s negation spirituality?

4.  St. John writes “all the beauty of creatures compared with the infinite beauty of God is supreme ugliness”.

a.	 What is St. John’s real attitude toward creation.
b.	 What scripture passage does Fr. Chowning associate with this saying?  Can you think of others?

5.  The person who experiences the love of God and desires to respond in love finds that he is not “free to love”.  What are three reasons we are all wounded and love only in a “base manner”?  

6.  What are two ways that St. John sees the base manner of loving commonly show itself in people’s lives.

7.  What advice does St. John give those beginning to grow out of this base or childish manner of loving?

8.  Fr. Chowning says that self denial and spiritual growth start with a response to some encounter with the love of God.  St. John refers to this as an “enkindling of love” or a “wound of love”.  What are some different ways this “wound” might be experienced?

9.  Why is self-emptying (self-denial) a natural part of true love?

10.  How is detachment a natural outcome of growing in love?

Unit III:  The Ascent of Mount Carmel – Book I

Reading Assignment:  
 
The Ascent of Mount Carmel:  Introduction and Book I

Questions:  

Theme and Prologue:

1.  Read carefully St. John's introductory summary of the Ascent of Mount Carmel (paragraph before the Theme).  
a.	what does this treatise explain and why is that important?
b.	who is it written for? (Note also Prologue ¶9)
c.	define a “beginner” in this context.
d.	what are three things St. John wants them to learn?

2.	Read carefully St. John's one line explanation of the poem.  Regarding the soul who sings this song, what spiritual state is it in at the time it sings this song, and why is it important?

3.	St. John wants to help people make progress in prayer.  In ¶3 of the Prologue he states two reasons why many people don't make progress.  What are they?

Chapter 1: How many dark nights are there and what is the difference?  

Chapter 2: What are the three reasons for calling this experience "night".  

Chapter 3:  
a.	In your own words explain why St. John uses the term night.
b.	According to St. John how does a person learn anything, how does all knowledge come to us?  Why is this important?
c.	What is it that really causes a person spiritual harm and impedes progress?

Chapter 4: (a very critical chapter)
a.	Explain St. John's idea about "contraries". (¶2)
b.	What happens to a person who loves a creature? (¶3)
c.	Note carefully what St. John is saying about objects of creation compared to God in ¶4-8.

Chapter 6: Explain how appetites "weary" and give an example.

Chapter 8: Explain how appetites "blind" and give an example. 

Chapter 9: What is an “inordinate” appetite?  Why is even one small inordinate appetite bad?

Chapter 11: Note carefully the difference between natural appetites and voluntary appetites (and note that he is talking about habitual behavior, not an occasional fault).

Chapter 13:
a.	This is the most (in)famous of all St. John's writings.  Many people reach this chapter and never read St. John again.  What is he trying to do in this chapter?  What is your reaction?
b.	How do you reconcile the apparent negativism of this chapter with the descriptions of beauty and enjoyment in the Spiritual Canticle?

Chapter 14:  Why are "love's urgent longings" so important?

Chapter 15:  St. John has spent a lot of time telling us all the things we need to do to enter the active night of sense and make progress in prayer.  But here he reminds us that the final complete break with the appetites that hold us back is "sheer grace".  Discuss.

Unit IV:  The Ascent of Mount Carmel – Book II, part 1

Reading Assignment:  
 
The Ascent of Mount Carmel:  Book II Chapters 1-15

Questions:  

Chapter 1:  This chapter is a very dense explanation of all St. John is going to cover in Book II, the longest book of The Ascent.  Read it carefully and explain the following in your own words:
•	sheer grace
•	secret ladder
•	disguised
•	darkness and concealment
•	darkness and secure
•	"my house being now all stilled."

Chapter 2:  Recall from Book I the three reasons for the use of the term night.  What is the darkest of the three "nights" and why? 

Chapter 3:
a.	What does he mean when he says "The intellect knows only in the natural way"?  (¶2)
b.	How is faith different from this kind of knowing. 

(Note - the rest of this book is devoted to proving the assertions put forth in this chapter.  He will come at it from many different angles.  Some find that it gets a bit repetitive.)

Chapter 4:  In Book I St. John explained why one must be in darkness as regards the senses, now he explains why one must be in darkness as regards the rational and spiritual part of our nature (if one wants to advance to union with God). It is fairly easy to believe that we have let go of all creatures and temporal things, it is much harder to believe that we also must let go of all spiritual goods as well.  Most people believe that spiritual goods help them advance, St. John says they may keep one from advancing.  In this chapter he beings to explain why this is so.  Note for discussion his explanations especially in ¶3, 4, & 6.

Chapter 5:  
a.	Explain the difference between substantial union and the union of likeness.
b.	How can a person prepare for union with God?

Chapter 6:  Explain how the three theological virtues (faith, hope and charity) purify the three faculties (intellect, memory and will).

Chapter 8:  Why is it impossible for the intellect to reach union with God?  Be sure you understand the phrase "proportion of likeness".

Chapter 10:  It will help you to write on an index card the divisions of the intellect as outlined in this chapter.  Keep it handy for reference for the rest of the book.

Chapter 11:  The term "intellectual apprehensions arising from objects supernaturally represented to the exterior senses" - means a supernatural vision (i.e. Jesus, a saint, an angel)  you really see with your eyes, a voice you really hear with your ears, etc.  You can "see" something in your mind, you can "hear" something in your imagination.  But here St. John is talking about something that actually comes through the senses.  
 
a.	why should a person never rely on or accept these apprehensions? (¶2)
b.	why do these apprehensions hinder spiritual growth? (¶3-5)
c.	why is it good to reject even the apprehensions that come from God?  (¶5&6)
d.	what is the harm in wanting these apprehensions?  (¶7-12)

Chapter 12:	The term "natural imaginative apprehensions"  refers to all the stuff we naturally have rolling around in our heads, images, day dreams, plans, reasoning, etc.  St. John most often (in this book) uses the term "phantasms" to refer to what we would call imagination.  When he says that the person must be empty of this use of the imagination - remember to whom he is addressing this book - those who are starting the way of contemplation.  The use of the imagination is appropriate for a person just beginning the practice of meditation.
  
a.	Try to put in your own words the term "natural imaginative apprehensions".  
b.	What is meant  by the term "phantasms"?
c.	why must a soul empty itself of its imagination if it wishes to reach union with God?

Chapter 13:  What are the three signs for knowing when to discontinue meditation and begin a more simple manner of prayer?  

Chapter 14:  Why does it become necessary for a person to give up meditation?
Unit V:  The Ascent of Mount Carmel – Book II,  part 2

Reading Assignment:  
 
The Ascent of Mount Carmel:  Book II, Chapters 16 - 32

Questions:  

Chapter 16:  Explain the difference between an imaginative vision and a corporeal vision.  Why must we pay no attention to either of them (¶7&10-12, also Chapter 17 ¶7).

Chapter 17:  (This is a very important chapter for understanding this book.)  Now St. John tries to answer the objection "why, if these visions etc., are not good for us, does God give them?". 

a.	He presents three principles we must know in order to understand his answer.  What are these three principles? (¶2)
b.	What is the one thing a person should take away from a  supernatural experience? (¶9)

Chapter 18:  What are some spiritual problems that often arise when a person does pay attention to visions?

Chapters 19&20:  What are some of the ways persons can misunderstand visions, locutions, etc.?

Chapter 22:  Paragraphs 5&6 of this chapter contain a clear and beautiful explanation of St. John's reason for rejecting all visions, locutions, etc. Read it through several times and summarize it in your own words. 

Chapter 23:  So far, St. John has been talking about things that come through the senses, you seem to really see a vision, it seems to be physically present, or you see it with your mind's eye, you know it is not physically present, but you "see" it.  Now he begins to talk about experiences that do not come through the five senses.  He still uses the terms "vision" and "seeing" because what the intellect understands we say it "sees".  (Just as in ordinary usage we often say "I see" when we mean, "I understand".)  Note, in ¶5 his recommendations regarding these visions. 

Chapter 24:  In ¶9 St. John give a good summary of why visions and the like are an impediment to union with God.  State his summary. 

Chapter 26:  Note in ¶10 one kind of spiritual experience that St. John says we may hold on to, this one we should not reject.  Can you explain what it is?

Chapter 27:  There are today many people claiming to be receiving revelations from God.  When criticized, their defenders always point out the many things these visionaries have said that are in perfect keeping with Church doctrine.  In this chapter, St. John explains why these revelations should be rejected anyway.  What are his reasons?  (see especially ¶4).

Chapter 31:  Why does the soul not have to reject substantial locutions?

Unit VI:  The Ascent of Mount Carmel – Book III,  part 1

Reading Assignment:  
 
The Ascent of Mount Carmel:  Book III, Chapters 1 - 23

Questions:  

Chapter 1:  As a quick review, the three faculties are the intellect, memory and will.  How is each purified?  The answer is not in this chapter but in material you have previously read. 
	The intellect is purified by  _ _ _ _ _.  
	The memory is purified by  _ _ _ _.       
	The will is purified by  _ _ _ _ _ _ _.   

Chapter 2:  Again as a review, remember that St. John is writing for whom? 
And for what purpose?  

Chapters 3 - 5:  Briefly state the three kinds of harm a soul will suffer by not darkening the memory as St. John recommends.

Chapter 6:  Now describe the corresponding benefits that come to a soul by darkening the memory, that is, from forgetting the natural thoughts and knowledge of the memory.

Chapter 8:  

a.	List the five types of harm that can occur if people give attention and importance to ideas and forms they receive through supernatural apprehensions.  Be sure you understand what St. John means by each.
b.	What is the best way to avoid errors in judging these experiences?  (See ¶5).

Chapter 12:  How can paying attention to these experiences cause a person to judge God in a lowly way.  (¶1)

Chapter 13:  There is a proper and profitable way in which St. John says we may recall spiritual experiences.  Explain (¶6).

Chapter 15:  In this chapter St. John states that his advice about rejecting distinct forms and images does not mean that he rejects the use of images in Church, statues of saints, etc.  Explain.  

Chapter 16:  The four emotions or passions: joy, hope, sorrow, and fear are so connected that where one goes, the others go as well.  Give a simple example of this principle.  Think of something you want, for yourself or for another and how the four emotions all relate to this want.  For starters, here is an example from my life:

	At one point finishing college was the most important thing in my life so: all my hope was to pass my exams, all my fear was to fail the exams, all my joy was in succeeding, all my sorrow was in not succeeding.

Chapter 20:  

a.	What are the benefits that come to persons from not taking joy in temporal goods?
b.	Does it make sense to you that a person can have more joy in something when dispossessed of it than when possessing it?  (¶2)

Chapter 23:  What are the benefits a soul acquires from not rejoicing in natural goods, either one's own, or other's?

Unit VII:  The Ascent of Mount Carmel – Book III,  part 2

Reading Assignment:  
 
The Ascent of Mount Carmel:  Book III, Chapters 24 - 45

Questions:  

Chapter 24:  Under what conditions can a person profit from taking gratification in the senses (¶5)?  Note also the caution in ¶7. 

Chapter 27:  St. John says that we may take joy in moral goods but cautions that even the virtues may have no profit - explain.

Chapter 30:  Supernatural goods have both a temporal and spiritual benefit.  Explain why a person should only take joy in the second benefit.

Chapter 32:  What are the two benefits gained by denying joy in supernatural goods?

Chapter 38:  Evaluate your own use of holy objects, images, music, etc.

Chapter 39:  To keep all that St. John is teaching us in proper perspective, read and carefully note ¶1.

Chapter 43:  Are you aware of any problems today like those St. John describes in this chapter, people who think that certain prayers or practices must be done on certain days, at certain times, etc.?