(also called Divinization or Spiritual Marriage,
it is compete, permanent incorporation into
Christ, and is intended to occur in this life)
This divine union is the goal for any method of
spiritual advancement.
↑
The Four Stage System may also be used to obtain the same results, as follows: 1. Active dark night of senses; 2. Passive dark night of the senses;
3. Active dark night of the spirit
4. Passive dark night of the spirit
Dark night of the soul, and its necessity
Outline of the Dark Nights.
The three stage system or outline of spiritual
advancement is highly effective, when followed through to completion which is divinization in this life. Fifteen hundred years later, Saint John of the Cross wrote a reorganization of the spiritual advancement process. This reorganization had four stages, its main accomplishment was to investigate the
“dark nights of the soul”, which had been felt by many, but with only limited explanation to date. St. John was a priest and did most of his work giving instruction to other monks and nuns. In a practical parallel, his “coworker”, St. Theresa of Avila, made profound and contemporaneous exploration and
writing concerning prayer. This new system was first detailed by St. John of the Cross, but anyone attaining perfection necessarily goes through the dark nights of the soul.66
Spiritual advancement may be broken down into our
own efforts, which are the active nights, (from our view point), and passive nights which are God’s efforts to include us into the next level of spiritual advancement. Both phases are termed “nights” because the soul has limited understanding of what is happening. The biblical story of the trials of Job has Job attaining spiritual excellence, then undergoing further passive type trials in which his best response was to deepen his faith in these trials.
66 Exceptions are few, but do exist. St. Pio, who is the best documented saint in history died in 1968. He never seems to have undergone purgation of heavy, basic sensual sin. At age ten he was writing fiery essays on the sanctity of marriage. He did have a lengthy “passive dark night of the spirit”, in which he suffered much persecution from his fellow priests and bishop.
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Few people begin the discipline of spiritual
advancement with a goal of divine union with Christ, and in this life…but to get there one must transit the dark nights of the soul, and there are four in total: 67
Regardless of labels or stages, there is only on path to
spiritual perfection, and it is common to all the major religions.
The nights of the soul in order are:
— Active night of the senses
— Passive night of the senses
— Active night of the spirit
— Passive night of the spirit
67 The “dark night of the soul” is the title of a book (poem and commentary) written by St. John of the Cross, which describes the soul’s final purifications prior to divine union, John was completing this trail when he wrote the book. St. John expanded the “dark night” idea (an uncharted path to divine inclusion) into a four stage system, which is discussed in this chapter. John was not the first to experience a journey through obscurity to divine union, but he was the first to make a detailed observation of its elements.
His contemporary and friend, St. Teresa of Avila wrote likewise about systematic advancement in prayer. Being in religious communities, with most days being the same, Teresa was able to observe and gauge her own spiritual advancement in will and prayer, by comparing one week to the last.
The traditional three stages of purgation, illumination and union, assume God is likewise at work, but does not give detail about this assumption. The four stage “dark nights of the soul” system does give details about God’s activity in our advancement (God’s activity are the two
“passive” nights). As a result the “purgative” and “il uminative” stages are combined into the “active” night in St. John’s system. Either system is effective, neither is easier, and God fully participates in both, so results are determined by the student. In the end, spiritual work is real work, and labels are just labels. Historically, most practitioners of spiritual advancement could not even read, and relied on the Holy Spirit as their guide, rather than any written system.
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The dark nights of the soul are well termed; human
perfection is well laid out in lists such as the ten commandments, or a list of virtues. But when advancing past such lists, into divine perfection and union, the student enters into unknown territory, hence the term “dark night of the soul.”68 This figurative ‘darkness’ arises because: 1. the will must push ahead of the intellect, and the intellect was the students previous guide; 2. the denial of all selfishness (even hidden), leaves the senses of the soul ‘blinded’ from its previous emotional guides and rewards; 3. the goal is union with God himself, who cannot be fully envisioned. We strive towards an unknown end, by unknown means. We do have a
guide, but it is not ourselves, and our guide reveals himself only as we advance.
The dark nights of the soul are necessary because our
end point is divine union with Christ, and to attain this union every shred of selfishness must be eliminated, even selfishness which is hidden in our legitimate, virtuous and religious actions. The student is unaware of hidden faults, or the limitations placed on the soul by even legitimate attachments.
But every soul in Heaven has passed through this purgatory.
The Pharisees of Jesus’ time had reached the pinnacle
of virtue and religion…or so they thought. How could they know that they had only reached the midpoint, and they would have to detach from their hard earned satisfaction in virtue and religion, and make divine union with God. They had legitimate satisfaction in their hard earned virtues, but this is 68 We might think of our moral advancement to virtue as traveling a lighted path, in which we instinctively know the path, and we may consult many moral guides such as the ten commandments or the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The perfection of faith is the second half of our journey to reunion with God, and it is not well lit because it is a matter of faith. We see only the light of God at the end, and must push through the darkness of unknowing to get there. The biblical Job did.
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exactly what had to go. If our goal is divine union with Jesus Christ, then stopping our spiritual advancement by resting short of Christ, even in religious satisfaction, is a mistake.
The student need not give up family, friends or job,
only his attachment to them. Once this attachment is broken, he resumes an even greater love for family and virtue, but now as a member of Christ. Jesus Christ himself spoke of this.
"If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even their own life, such a person cannot be my disciple.”
The trials given and the effort made are not exclusive
to the dark nights of the unitive stage. At every moment of our advancement we are called to detach from the accidents of this life, but in the unitive stage, this is our primary effort. The dark nights are simply specific titles given to our specific efforts in the wide realm of detachment.
Few people would dare to aspire to divine
personhood with God, yet this is Catholic doctrine. Since this divine union must be made in this life or in Purgatory, it is quite correct that this doctrine be clearly stated.69 We do not live
our lives with Jesus in Heaven; we make divine union with
Jesus Christ in this life (or the next) and live as a member of
Christ in Heaven; Heaven being the very person of Christ.70
Pope Benedict XVI made repeated statements that Heaven is
the very person of Christ, not primarily a place, but a person.
69 The idea of divine union or divinization occurs repeatedly in bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church: 2Pet 1:4, 1Jn 3:2, Lk 6:40, 16:26; CCC 260, 398, 460, 795, 1988. Related verses for the faithful as the literal body of Christ: CCC 790, 795, 789; 963, 1213; 1Cor 12:27, Rm 12:5, 1Cor 1:2, 1Cor 6:15.
70 Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ, God, Trinity, Son of God; what is the union and difference between these persons and terms? Read the appendix on Christology.
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Pope John Paul II said of the dark nights;
“It is totally sustained by grace, which
nonetheless
demands
an
intense
spiritual
commitment and is no stranger to painful
purifications. But it leads, in various possible ways, to the ineffable joy experienced by the mystics as
“nuptial union”, [divine union with God].
These higher levels of spiritual advancement cannot
be obtained by rewards or satisfaction of this world, not even spiritual self satisfaction; this would be working against divine union which requires that we forego all traces of selfishness and ultimately even self being. We become members of the
single, divine person of Christ). Christ is now the many individual members who constitute the body of Christ.71
An extreme example of the dark night may be found
in the book of Job. Job was scrupulous and perfect in his obedience to the decrees of God, and was richly rewarded.
God sought to advance Job’s soul by stripping him of his good fortune, leaving only faith in his life. He was to maintain faith and virtue, simply for the sake of God. Job had no part in sin, now he was tasked with eradicating even legitimate self interest. It was a necessary process, if Job was to advance past the limitations of spiritual satisfaction. God called Job to purify and deepen his faith beyond its attachment to the health and wealth, and spiritual self satisfaction that he enjoyed.
In
painful stages, Job’s wealth, family, and finally health failed, and all with God’s permission. Job maintained his faith, even though his new home was a dung pile, his robes were now stinking rags, his skin was a field of open sores, and he was even burdened with “spiritual counselors”, (his former friends), who held their moral high ground, by blaming Job for all these misfortunes.
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Job was not crushed by misfortune as it came
tumbling down on top of him. Job cultivated his faith, even in these new circumstances. It was not easy, but Job ascended out of his former legitimate privileged life, bringing his strengthened, purified faith with him. In the end God restored wealth, family, and honor to Job.
More commonly the casualty is not our material life
as Job suffered, but our legitimate material and spiritual attachments. These selfish attachments are likely to be imperfections rather than sin, but even these ‘legitimate’ self indulgences must go. Until now the soul had attained conformity to God by degree, and now over an extended period may attain actual union with God—we become Christ,
(CCC 795, 1213).
Labels and categories are not necessary to attain
spiritual advancement, spiritual perfection, or even divine union. In fact most people who made the journey could not even read the bible, or purchase a book about spiritual advancement. Their guide was the Holy Spirit. These people set their goal, and used the powerful tools of fasting and prayer; love and forgiveness; chastity, humility and single mindfulness.
• The active dark night of the senses perfects physical
sensuality. Eating, drinking, sleeping, leisure, family and more are all brought into conformance with God,
then to perfection. In the three step system discussed
earlier, the purgative and illuminative stages would exist largely in this active stage of the senses. This stage does not only defeat serious sin, but it may also
defeat selfishness hidden in legitimate sensual
activity, such as in eating.
• The passive dark night of the senses involves things
that the student has no direct control over. The serial
disasters that Job suffered would be included here.
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Job actively loved his family, success, health, and the favor of God…but could only respond when all these were taken from him. In its widest sense, this passive
night of the senses includes all sensory or physical occurrences that the student has no control over.
• The active dark night of the spirit has the student
acting in increasing union with God, by proactive
work of the soul: Prayer, meditation, reverence, love,
mercy, thoughts of God, all acts of will are made by
our spirit or soul. We might observe that Job’s
reaction to his trials was continued praise of God, and
forgiveness to his former friends who abandoned
him, and of his new set of friends who made religious
bullying on him. This night of the spirit deals more with virtues, while the night of the senses deals more
with emotions and drives.
• The passive dark night of the spirit is not directly observed by the student, but his prayer deepens, his
meditation grows more perfect and more easily
entered into. Extraordinary phenomena may result.
All of this is the result of God allowing the student a
share in his very life. Sanctifying grace is cultivated to its completion in divine union, in the transforming union or mystical marriage, which is the product of the passive dark night. In its widest sense the passive
night includes all spiritual events which the student has no control over.
____________________________________
Generally:
— Sensual acts are physical acts; it is not simply a matter of sensing, or of pleasurable indulging. Of 90
course, every moral physical act is a firstly a willed act.
If we will it, then it is our “active” act; if it happens by will of other people, nature or God, then it is a passive
act which affects us.
— Spiritual acts really include all acts: passive or active, spiritual or sensual, made by one’s self or others. If we are rubbernecking in the store, being drawn toward the many people and things, then our
spirit is misdirecting our senses, even though we
might place this misadventure into the active
sensual category. In this case our own soul must turn upon itself and force the correction.
— Active acts are acts that the student himself
performs. Although it is easy to think of many hybrid
active-passive acts, where our action is so interwoven
with the acts of others, that neither party has
complete moral responsibility. Sharing credit with
others is a happy example of this idea.
— Passive acts are substantially the result of others,
including God. In the book of Job, God arranged for
Job’s trials, but also increased Job’s sharing in the very person of God, and then in the end God arranged for
the restoration of health, family and fortune to Job.
In the four stage system made well known by St. John
of the Cross, we can make combinations, as follows.
The Active Dark Night of the Senses
This is the most basic level in spiritual advancement
— the student makes the effort, and starting with his most fundamental problems to be corrected. Overarching all the stages must be a worthy starting point and a worthy goal; how 91
can we even advance toward God if we hate our existence, hate others, or hate God.
When St. Mary of Egypt was inspired by a local Mass
service to attain to something greater, she no longer saw her job as a prostitute as being worthy of her newly recognized person. She then lived decades in the desert, fighting her own thoughts, until she conquered them. She conquered the universal tendency to avoid spiritual effort in prayer, and it took the place of boredom and worldly ambition.72 When she finally died in the presence of a monk who stumbled upon her, a lion arrived to claw out her grave and kissed (licked), her feet as best he could. The monk Zosimas learned her story on the previous year’s Lenten pilgrimage into the desert, and returned to tell it to his community and perpetuate her memory.
The active dark night of the senses is not the same as the purgative stage of those beginning spiritual advancement.
It purifies the senses, not only of obvious selfishness, but of hidden sensual selfishness as well. This hidden selfishness is tackled only when the obvious sensual failings are conquered.
Those students living the illuminative stage of virtue
are legitimate in their actions, but not yet perfect. Jesus speaks of such perfection: absolute forgiveness, poverty (at 72 Why would anyone avoid the most beneficial possible activity?
Selfishness is the answer. It is quite easy to watch TV, chat with friends, check one’s facebook account, or do whatever we like doing. When we do such things we are loving ourself. Recall that commitment to ____, is love of ____. Admission to something greater than self—anything greater than self—requires acting above self.
Prayer is a real act of construction, requiring real effort, and it makes a real difference. In our story of St. Mary of Egypt, we also observe substitutes for selfish vice: worldly ambition and boredom. These items are a moral step up from vice, but they are only stepping stones in the path of spiritual advancement. Job had legitimate success, but God saw greater things for Job, and took away his crutches and obstacles.
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least in spirit), detachment from even our family and this life.
These go beyond the call of duty of salvation alone.
The active dark night of the senses has the student exercising his moral virtues, at first with joy, then toward the end of this stage in aridity, which is the lead in to the two dark nights of the spirit. Previously, God gave sensible reward to increased chastity, generosity, and so on, but not now.
Formerly the student had attained emotional joy, and a sense of personal worth in his virtuous actions. God guided the student from a life of sin or mediocrity into a life of virtue and an effective part of this guidance (for the beginner) was the attractive trail of spiritual sweets along the path.
St. John of the Cross writes;
“We call this nakedness [stripping] a night for the
soul, for we are not discussing the mere lack of things; this lack will not divest the soul if it craves for all these objects. Desire to possess nothing, in order to arrive at being everything. The love of God is practiced, because the soul is no longer attracted by sweetness
and consolation, but by God only, in the midst of these aridity and hardships.”
The result of every purgatory of the dark night is a higher quality of virtue and faith and a corresponding deeper sharing in the very life of Christ.
The human soul has the character of habit, anything
that we do repeatedly forms a more permanent union with the soul. On the positive side, we might practice music every day and perfect this good habit. Our bad habits also ingrain themselves by practice. Likewise our efforts to realign our soul through the either denial of self, or a positive act like prayer, will bear fruit as it becomes a repeated habit. Positive habits breed more virtue, and negative habits produce more vice in our soul.
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All four dark nights are purgative. But all along, God
also makes deeper union with the student as selfishness is reformed. The two nights of the senses teaches the student
how to perfect his human life, the two passive nights teaches
the student how to share in the divine life of God.
The Passive Dark Night of the Senses
The passive nights of the senses and of the spirit are
both passive from the students viewpoint; God is active. The most vital part of God’s passive action is making deeper union with the student. We see that in making union with God, the student cannot really take the lead, but is responsible for preparing his soul for this union by purgation of selfishness and cultivating a correct disposition.
God’s activity here also involves assigning trials
(derived from original and subsequent sin of humanity), withholding sensible gifts, assigning other graces such as the prayers of others. Illness and aging fall into the category of the passive dark night of the senses. All these are passive actions, requiring only a good response of the student.
Selfishness has a greater meaning than emotional
attachment. Selfishness is even a legitimate self centered life.
One who is married to a career, is a chronic complainer, or who is an alpha male or female, cannot be fully Christ centered. We cannot become Christ if we remain self.
The two dark nights of the senses discipline not only
the five physical senses, but all human virtue. The active and passive dark nights of the senses both deal with human virtues, rather than theological virtues, which are dealt with by the two dark nights of the spirit.73
73 From the chapter on moral and theological virtues; moral virtues are all virtues within the created realm. Theological virtues are the eternal, divine 94
In the passive night of the senses Christ withdraws consolations which taint the student’s moral virtues. The student advances through these selfish imperfections, and Christ makes his second act which is the incorporation of the student into his very person. In the passive night of the senses, Christ fully includes the student into his own human nature; in the passive night of the spirit Christ fully includes the student into his divine nature.
In either case be become members of the body of
Christ, which in practical terms is salvation. Salvation ultimately has a person “participating in the divine nature [of Christ]”, (2Pet 1:4); or as St. John of the Cross states; “we become God by participation”. We know very well that if we attain a state a salvation now, we are likely not walking about as a divine person. There is an entry level within the body of Christ, and an end level. The entry level is participation in the human nature of Christ, with the ultimate end being participation in the divine nature of Christ. The passive night of the senses involves many things, including our initial entry into the Christ, who is now the entire body of Christ.
Both of the passive nights involve God’s proactively,
so they are passive from out viewpoint. In each dark night Christ withdraws his sensory presence, but not his activity in the soul. Christ’s activity in each dark night is union with himself. Christ deprives us of some joyful expectation, then as the soul advances past these legitimate bits of selfishness Christ is able to deepen his union with the student.
The dark nights of the soul include nothing that was
not had from the beginning; aridity, misunderstanding, virtues of Christ, summarized as faith, hope and love, directed to God.
The human virtues of the created realm include faith, hope and love, but when these are elevated to God, they are necessarily divine or theological virtues. From this we see the necessity of belief in God, how can we make divine union with God, if he never occurs in our thought, or will.
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injustice, doubt have all been experienced by the student. In the dark nights the same trial may take on an increased pain.
If the student were previously indifferent to God, a religious insult or accusation now, has much more impact.
The folk saying, “No good deed goes unpunished”,
would fit squarely within the passive dark night of the senses.
A gospel of “health and wealth”, may to some degree exist…but not in the dark nights. We are to keep and increase our faith in the face of ingratitude, obstacles and persecutions of any degree.
The Active Dark Night of the Spirit
The two dark nights of the spirit involves our relations with God, rather than people. The virtues involved are the theological virtues, which are virtues having God as their end.
Only faith, hope and love can drive the student through this terrible privilege, and arrive at divine union. Like all matters of faith, it builds upon itself.
The active night of the spirit involves our activity in
faith, hope and love directed to God. Prayer is perhaps the most significant example. Forgiveness is another. Hope, love, forgiveness all have their strictly human forms, but Christians are to elevate these beyond the human realm, to the divine goal of our life, God.
The student felt good about his acts of virtue, and justly so, but his virtues were to some degree tainted by self satisfaction. Self satisfaction is part of the imperfect soul, and it takes self satisfaction not only in vice, but even in virtue! In the quest for perfection all forms of selfishness must go.
The active night of the spirit involves the student taking the lead in practicing and perfecting his faith feeling little presence of God — forced into pure faith. The goal here 96
is not to doubt God, but to overcome such doubts and scruples, which always occurred but now with a greater intensity, and in the face of much hard won spiritual advancement over many years.
Observe that the two active nights (senses and spirit)
both purge self. In the night of the senses we purge our moral virtues, and in the night of the spirit we purge our theological virtues. In the active night of the spirit we do not purge God, we purge the falsity or selfhood in our participation in God.
When self (separation from God), acts on our moral
virtues we think too much of ourselves; when self acts on our theological virtues we think too little of God. Our participation in the human nature of Christ allows us imperfections; our full participation in the divine nature of Christ may contain no elements of self or selfishness. The goal of the active night of the spirit is not just purification of our theological virtues, but to allow Christ to make divine union with us, and this occurs in the parallel passive night of the spirit. Purgation is the means, divine union is the goal.
The Passive Dark Night of the Spirit
The passive night of the spirit is God’s activity in making divine union with the student. In the following paragraph written by St. John of the Cross, he no longer speaks of purgation, but of union into something greater than his own human person.
John writes, “I went out from myself. My intellect departed from itself, changing from human and natural to divine. For united with God through this purgation, it no longer understands by means of its natural vigor and light, but by means of the divine wisdom to which it was united.”
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The two nights of the senses, John says, is “common”
and “comes to many,” but the night of the spirit, active and passive “is the portion of very few.”74
In the advanced stages, the saints report unexpected
feelings of abandonment, and dissatisfaction against God, (St.
Faustina’s diary, entry 77). This is sin presented to the student in its core form — rebellion against God. This undisguised rebellion may be presented alongside incomplete work from the previous stages, and our guide (in part) is our own imperfect soul, which we are trying to correct. Doing this cold turkey in a convent is easiest, but most people must take the home study curriculum.
The turning point often occurs when the student
finally sees the plan for him, and submits. As the student advances to the ultimate perfection and union, the trials may lessen. With his new understanding the student sees the remaining trials as no longer meaningless, but purposeful, the student finally joins in and rapid progress may be made. Near the end, God takes complete command. The student has largely gone as far as he can. God proceeds to strip away the last remnants of self, for the purpose of divine union.
Observe that in the passive night of the spirit the student must not only give up self interest and satisfaction in 74 That is: few people complete the course of divinization in this life. God’s plan has full divine inclusion or divinization for every person in this life.
This plan has not been rescinded, but it seems that most complete their preparation for divinization in afterlife Purgatory. The reasons for incomplete are all somehow related to original sin: early death, hard heart, atheism, lack of instruction.
Name your system of spiritual advancement, name your religion, but anyone arriving to Heaven, which is the person of Jesus Christ, must at least be free of all selfishness. Now, in our current gift of life, we may not only purge selfishness, but also gain in merit. It is a Catholic teaching that merit may not be gained in the afterlife. We are all well advised to make every effort now.
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his dealings with God; the student must renounce his very self, which is the only person he has ever known. We know how
hard it is to reform a bad habit, the passive night has the student absolutely quitting every sin, imperfection and legitimate self interest; and remember that each passive stage has God taking more command in everything, including the creation of the circumstances for advancement…there is a parallel reason that your child will not stop crying, and that your car will not start.
After the student pummels the self to death, the
naked, reduced, simple soul may be incorporated into the very person of Christ. The student becomes a new person, that of Christ. We are called to deny who we have been and who we are; one cannot become Christ if one remains self. Christ sees to the details of how this is actually done, our part is both purgative preparation and positive desire. This mutual desire for union is expressed and perfected in the prayer of union, which occurs in this final portion of this final night.
Remember, if the labels of the dark nights did not exist, it would make no real difference. Such labeling and study are useful in that the student becomes aware of the dark nights and knows how productively respond, for a better
advancement of soul.
After arriving into the person of God, St. John of the
Cross compiled a sort of list. From his book, “The Ascent of Mount Carmel”:
To reach satisfaction in all, desire its possession in nothing.
To come to possession in all, desire the possession of nothing.
To arrive at being all, desire to be nothing.
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To come to the knowledge of all, desire the knowledge of nothing.
To come to the pleasure you have not, you must go by the way in which you enjoy not.
To come to the knowledge you have not, you must go by the way in which you know not.
To come to the possession you have not, you must go by the way in which you possess not.
To come by the what you are not, you must go by a way in which you are not.
When you turn toward something, you cease to cast yourself upon the all.
For to go from all, to the all, you must deny yourself of all in all. And when you come to the possession of the all, you must possess it without wanting anything. Because if you desire to have something in all, your treasure in God is not purely your all.