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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.

I've been studying Spiritual Canticle by St. John of the Cross as part of my OCDS Secular Carmelite formation program .    Every Friday afternoon, I spend an hour in the Adoration Chapel at church. Today, I had the idea to practice lectio divina with the stanzas. I was surprised by some of the reflections I had. For some reason, I was pulled to the topic of mental illness, specifically anxiety disorder , panic attacks and borderline personality disorde r.  The first twelve stanzas struck me as "angsty" and full of longing and distress. Anxiety permeates the entire section. The "bride" has seen God, who is "the bridegroom," only for an instant, and then He was gone. If she had not seen Him or known He was there, she could not feel the pain of loss, and because he caused the sense of loss, only He could heal her. The phrases of the Canticle are intense and dramatic,such as, " If you shall see Him Whom I love the most, Tell...