Themes from The Spiritual Canticle

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Before Christmas we began looking at St. John of the Cross’s poem The Spiritual Canticle. I hope you were able to spend some time pondering it.
This canticle is John’s equivalent of Interior Castle. He says of the verses:
“They refer… to the three states or ways of spiritual exercise (purgative, illuminative, and unitive) through which a person passes in advancing to this state [of perfection], and they describe some of the characteristics and effects of these ways.” (Theme, 1)
Now let’s briefly look at what he says about the purgative way. I won’t have time to dig really deeply into this. If you want more depth, read John’s commentary yourself! I just want to help you understand John’s perspective on the spiritual life, what he means by the terms he uses, and his general thought.

Continue reading at Contemplative Homeschool.

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