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The Hiding Place of the Beloved – St. John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation with Fr. Donald Haggerty
In this introductory episode, Father Donald Haggerty and Kris McGregor discuss the spiritual depth and teachings of St. John of the Cross and his role as a “Master of Contemplation.” St. John of the Cross is portrayed as a mystic and poet whose writings lead believers to a deeper union with God.
St. John’s insights, such as those in his poetry and writings like the Spiritual Canticle, were often birthed from profound suffering, including his imprisonment. This hiddenness of God—where He seems absent but is present in a concealed way—forms a central theme. The longing for God in prayer, even in silence and dryness, is a means of growing in spiritual depth, aligning with John’s teaching that God uses such longing to draw souls closer to Him.
His teachings on love and detachment resonate in the lives of saints like St. Thérèse of Lisieux and St. Teresa of Calcutta, who lived out his call to love in small, selfless acts. Contemplative prayer isn’t a technique but a relational journey toward God, requiring a stripping away of distractions and desires. St. John’s suffering in prison also became a crucible for spiritual beauty, producing poetry that communicates profound truths about God’s presence and longing for the soul.
Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions
- The Hiddenness of God in Prayer: How have you experienced God’s presence as both hidden and mysteriously near in your prayer life?
- Longing for Union with God: In what ways can you embrace the longing for God as a central part of your spiritual journey?
- Learning from Suffering: How can the trials in your life, like St. John of the Cross’s imprisonment, become opportunities for spiritual growth and deeper intimacy with God?
- The Call to Contemplative Prayer: How can you move beyond methods and activities in prayer to focus on cultivating a quiet, loving presence with God?
- Living Love in Small Acts: How can you demonstrate love for God and others in small, selfless ways in your daily life, inspired by saints like St. Thérèse and Mother Teresa?
- Detachment and Freedom: What desires or distractions might you need to surrender to grow in deeper union with God?
- Finding God in the Ordinary: How can you better recognize and serve Christ in the hidden and ordinary moments of your day?
- Reflecting on St. John’s Writings: How can the poetry and teachings of St. John of the Cross inspire a new depth in your spiritual life?
Here is the excerpt from the Spiritual Canticle by St. John of the Cross that Fr. Haggerty references in the podcast:
SONG OF THE SOUL AND THE BRIDEGROOM
I
THE BRIDE
Where have You hidden Yourself,
And abandoned me in my groaning, O my Beloved? You have fled like the hart,
Having wounded me.
I ran after You, crying; but You were gone.
II
O shepherds, you who go
Through the sheepcots up the hill, If you shall see Him
Whom I love the most,
Tell Him I languish, suffer, and die.
III
In search of my Love
I will go over mountains and strands;
I will gather no flowers,
I will fear no wild beasts;
And pass by the mighty and the frontiers.
IV
O groves and thickets
Planted by the hand of the Beloved; O verdant meads
Enameled with flowers,
Tell me, has He passed by you?
Where have you hidden,
Beloved, and left me moaning?
You fled like the stag
after wounding me;
I went out calling you, but you were gone. This initial stanza of “The Spiritual Canticle” unlocks the bolt of a door, allowing us a first glimpse at the soul of Saint John of the Cross and his intense love for God. In these opening lines of a lengthy poem, we hear the agonized voice of a lover tormented by her solitude, in a terrible suffering after the departure of her Beloved. The piercing lament of the bride, wounded in the depth of her soul, is an image of the lover of God who seeks for his return after earlier enjoying his close presence. The mood of loneliness in the poem will shift over the course of its forty stanzas to a recognition of the Beloved’s presence even in his concealment. But for now, as the poem commences, the pain is strong and irremediable. Many of the stanzas of this exquisite poem, full of lush natural images, were composed by Saint John of the Cross without pen or paper, the stanzas kept in his memory, while he was locked in a windowless, six-by-ten-foot converted closet, with only a thin slit of light high up in a wall. That room served as a makeshift prison cell in the Calced Carmelite Friars’ monastery in Toledo, Spain, for nine months of his life, from December 1577 until August 1578. Only in the very last period of the nine months did he receive pen and paper from a sympathetic friar serving as his jailer and write down verses. He later recounted to Carmelite nuns that another important poem, “The Dark Night”, was completed before he left that prison cell.
Haggerty, Donald. Saint John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation (pp. 18-19). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.
