Dr. Anthony Lilles joins Kris McGregor to give a brief introduction Book 2 to the spiritual classic “The Ascent of Mt. Carmel” by St. John of the Cross. We hope this will be a helpful support to those who are choosing to enter into this rich spiritual work.
Wherein is treated the proximate means of ascending to union with God, which is faith; and wherein therefore is described the second part of this night, which, as we said, belongs to the spirit, and is contained in the second stanza, which is as follows.
STANZA II.
In darkness, and in safety,
By the secret ladder, disguised,
happy lot !
In darkness and concealment,
fily house being now at rest.
Chapter 1
Commentary on the second stanza.
Chapter 2
Which begins to treat of the second part or cause of this night, which is faith. Proves by two arguments how it is darker than the first and than the third.
Chapter 3
How faith is dark night to the soul. This is proved with arguments and quotations and figures from Scripture.
Episode 1 Introduction – The Mystery of Mercy with Sr. Gill Goulding C.J.
Pope Francis in accordance with his two predecessors has brought to public attention mercy as a determining characteristic of our God. He has elevated the conversation about mercy making clear that it involves a principle of dialogue and a use of discernment. The Holy Father’s own Ignatian formation as a Jesuit influences the way in which he understands a certain guidance and governance within the Church. In addition, he has recovered for the Church the importance of popular piety including devotion to the Sacred Heart. In a series of podcasts, Sr Gill Goulding CJ shares the fruit of a sabbatical year she spent working on this project of mercy.
Sr Gill Goulding CJ is a member of the Congregatio Jesu an order founded by Mary Ward in 1609. The Congregation has the same constitutions as the Society of Jesus. Sr Gill is Professor of Systematic Theology at Regis College, the Jesuit Graduate School of Theology at the University of Toronto. She is a member of the Theological Commission of the Conference of Religious in Canada and was appointed by the Conference of Canadian Bishops as one of two RC members of the Council of Canadian Churches. In 2012 she was honored and humbled to be appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as a theological expert to the 2012 Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization and the transmission of the Christian Faith. In 2017 Sr Gill was awarded a Henry Luce III Fellowship for a project looking at the dynamic impact of mercy on the mission of the Church. During this sabbatical year, she spent a number of months in Rome and was thrilled to meet Pope Frances and to present to him an outline of her project and to receive his blessing on her work.
Sr. Gill’s project was made possible by a grant from the Luce Foundation
To obtain a copy of the book on which this series is based visit here
“Gill Goulding, C.J. invites readers to move beyond a debilitating polarization in the Church and to adopt an ecclesiology of communion. She presents the ecclesial disposition of St Ignatius of Loyola, rooted in love for Christ, alive to the inseparable union between Christ and the Church, and aware that to love Christ is to love the Church – the real, concrete, hierarchical, “institutional” Church, the people of God, the spouse of Christ infused by His Spirit. Goulding’s love for the Church is evident in all she writes and suffuses the exposition with warmth. One cannot read this book without feeling the call to communion in the Church. A Church of Passion and Hope also serves to highlight an underemphasized part of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises – the Rules for Thinking (sentir) with the Church – a valuable contribution to Ignatian writing and practice.” ―Fr Timothy Gallagher, O.M.V., Saint Clement Eucharistic Shrine, USA
The nature of the obscure night, the necessity of passing through it in order to attain to the divine union: and especially the obscure night of sense and desire, with the evils which these inflict on the soul.
STANZA I.
In an obscure night,
With anxious love inflamed,
0, happy lot!
Forth unobserved I went,
My house being now at rest.
Chapter 14
Wherein is expounded the second line of the stanza.
With anxious love inflamed,
Chapter 15
Wherein are expounded the remaining lines of the aforementioned stanza.
. . . oh, happy chance! — I went forth without being observed,
My house being now at rest.
“I could easily have created men possessed of all that they should need both for body and soul, but I wish that one should have need of the other, and that they should be My ministers to administer the graces and the gifts that they have received from Me” (The Dialogue, Catherine of Siena).
As you carry your cross with Jesus:
Pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary for the cross you carry.
Judge yourself in the confessional, so your sin will not be held against you at the last judgment.
If you struggle with boundaries (which is a lack of charity), watch Candice’s video in which she explains that a lack of boundaries sometimes proceeds from trauma bonds
Out now! My newest book with Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers: Ignite, Read the Bible Like Never Before. Get a preview of the introduction and first chapter here.
1Co 11:31-32 But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Jas 4:11-12 Do not speak evil against one another, brethren. He that speaks evil against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you that you judge your neighbor?
Luke 8:17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.
Mat 5:21-26 You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny.
Luke 12:57-59 And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out till you have paid the very last copper.
Luke 9:23 Then Jesus said to all of them, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.…
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!”
LOVE the Word™ is a Bible study method based on Mary’s own practice: lectio without the Latin. This week’s LOVE the Word™ exercise is according to a Augustinian* personality approach.
Listen (Receive the Word.)
“You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow man, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:17-19).
Observe (Connect the passage to recent events.)
Did Jesus correct anyone while carrying His cross?
As best you can, identify where you are judging yourself through perfectionism and others in condemnation.
What do you see in yourself in the mirror of your difficult neighbor?
What situation in your life has gotten out of control due to your unwillingness, for whatever reason, to erect proper boundaries or to confront your neighbor before you lose control in anger, whether anger toward the person directly, to someone else in gossip or slander, or interiorly with thoughts of revenge, resentment, or hatred?
Where do you lack charity toward yourself or your neighbor in offering a measured, rational, unemotional reproof?
Where do you lack charity in offering yourself or your neighbor forgiveness?
In what instance recently did you stand in God’s place as judge?
How does this passage offer you hope?
Verbalize (Pray about your thoughts and emotions.)
In your journal or on your journal page (get a free page to the right), write down your thoughts and feelings about these verses. What’s the main thing God wants you to know from this passage? What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through the mystery of how Jesus carried His cross?
Entrust (May it be done to me according to your word!)
Abba, Father, show me what it means to take up my cross and follow Jesus.
Visit here for more on Sonja’s “LOVE the Word” journal
*LOVE the Word™ exercises vary weekly according to the four personalities, or “prayer forms,” explored in Prayer and Temperament, by Chester Michael and Marie Norrisey: Ignatian, Augustinian, Franciscan, and Thomistic. These prayer forms correspond to the Myers-Briggs personality types.
The nature of the obscure night, the necessity of passing through it in order to attain to the divine union: and especially the obscure night of sense and desire, with the evils which these inflict on the soul.
STANZA I.
In an obscure night,
With anxious love inflamed,
0, happy lot!
Forth unobserved I went,
My house being now at rest.
Chapter 12
Which treats of the answer to another question, explaining what the desires are that suffice to cause the evils aforementioned in the soul.
Chapter 13
Wherein is described the manner and way which the soul must follow in order to enter this night of sense.
The nature of the obscure night, the necessity of passing through it in order to attain to the divine union: and especially the obscure night of sense and desire, with the evils which these inflict on the soul.
STANZA I.
In an obscure night,
With anxious love inflamed,
0, happy lot!
Forth unobserved I went,
My house being now at rest.
Chapter 11
Wherein it is proved necessary that the soul that would attain to Divine union should be free from desires, however slight they be.
The nature of the obscure night, the necessity of passing through it in order to attain to the divine union: and especially the obscure night of sense and desire, with the evils which these inflict on the soul.
STANZA I.
In an obscure night,
With anxious love inflamed,
0, happy lot!
Forth unobserved I went,
My house being now at rest.
Chapter 9
Wherein is described how the desires defile the soul. This is proved by comparisons and quotations from Holy Scripture.
Chapter 10
Wherein is described how the desires weaken the soul in virtue and make it lukewarm.
The nature of the obscure night, the necessity of passing through it in order to attain to the divine union: and especially the obscure night of sense and desire, with the evils which these inflict on the soul.
STANZA I.
In an obscure night,
With anxious love inflamed,
0, happy lot!
Forth unobserved I went,
My house being now at rest.
Chapter 7
THE DESIRES TORMENT THE SOUL. PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
Chapter 8
THE DESIRES DARKEN THE SOUL. PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,
and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan.
He was among wild beasts,
and the angels ministered to him.After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
“This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
Msgr. John A. Esseff is a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Scranton. He was ordained on May 30, 1953, by the late Bishop William J. Hafey, D.D. at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Scranton, PA. Msgr. Esseff served a retreat director and confessor to St. Mother Teresa. He continues to offer direction and retreats for the sisters of the missionaries of charity around the world. Msgr. Esseff encountered St. Padre Pio, who would become a spiritual father to him. He has lived in areas around the world, serving in the Pontifical missions, a Catholic organization established by St. Pope John Paul II to bring the Good News to the world especially to the poor. Msgr. Esseff assisted the founders of the Institute for Priestly Formation and continues to serve as a spiritual director for the Institute. He continues to serve as a retreat leader and director to bishops, priests and sisters and seminarians and other religious leaders around the world.
