by

Practical religion. The Christian life

Mysticism

Table of Contents

p. 1 Title Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 2 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 7 Prologue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 9 Song of the Soul and the Bridegroom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 17 Argument. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 18 Explanation of the Stanzas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 19 Stanza I.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 27 Stanza II.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 30 Stanza III.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 34 Stanza IV.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 36 Stanza V.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 38 Stanza VI.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 40 Stanza VII.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 43 Stanza VIII.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 45 Stanza IX.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 48 Stanza X.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 50 Stanza XI.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 55 Stanza XII.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 59 Stanza XIII.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 64 Stanza XIV, XV.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 71 Stanza XV.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 75 Stanza XVI.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 78 Stanza XVII.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 82 Stanza XVIII.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 85 Stanza XIX.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 88 Stanza XX, XXI.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 94 Stanza XXII.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 97 Stanza XXIII.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 99 Stanza XXIV.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 103 Stanza XXV.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 107 Stanza XXVI.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 113 Stanza XXVII.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 116 Stanza XXVIII.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 120 Stanza XXIX.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

p. 123 Stanza XXX.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 127 Stanza XXXI.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 130 Stanza XXXII.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 133 Stanza XXXIII.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 136 Stanza XXXIV.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 138 Stanza XXXV.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 141 Stanza XXXVI.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 145 Stanza XXXVII.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 148 Stanza XXXVIII.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 152 Stanza XXXIX.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 157 Stanza XL.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 160 Indexes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 160 Index of Scripture References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

p. 162 Latin Words and Phrases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

THE present volume of the works of St. John of the Cross contains the explanation of the "Spiritual

Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ." The two earlier works, the "Ascent of Mount

Carmel" and the "Dark Night of the Soul," dealt with the cleansing of the soul, the unremittant war

against even the smallest imperfections standing in the way of union with God; imperfections which

must be removed, partly by strict self-discipline, partly by the direct intervention of God, Who,

searching "the reins and hearts" by means of heavy interior and exterior trials, purges away whatever

is displeasing to Him. Although some stanzas refer to this preliminary state, the chief object of the

"Spiritual Canticle" is to picture under the Biblical simile of Espousals and Matrimony the

blessedness of a soul that has arrived at union with God.

The Canticle was composed during the long imprisonment St. John underwent at Toledo from the

beginning of December 1577 till the middle of August of the following year. Being one of the

principal supporters of the Reform of St. Teresa, he was also one of the victims of the war waged

against her work by the Superiors of the old branch of the Order. St. John’s prison was a narrow,

stifling cell, with no window, but only a small loophole through which a ray of light entered for a

short time of the day, just long enough to enable him to say his office, but affording little facility

for reading or writing. However, St. John stood in no need of books. Having for many years

meditated on every word of Holy Scripture, the Word of God was deeply written in his heart,

supplying abundant food for conversation with God during the whole period of his imprisonment.

From time to time he poured forth his soul in poetry; afterwards he communicated his verses to

friends.

One of these poetical works, the fruit of his imprisonment, was the "Spiritual Canticle," which, as

the reader will notice, is an abridged paraphrase of the Canticle of Canticles, the Song of Solomon,

wherein under the image of passionate love are described the mystical sufferings and longings of

a soul enamored with God.

From the earliest times the Fathers and Doctors of the Church had recognized the mystical character

of the Canticle, and the Church had largely utilized it in her liturgy. But as there is nothing so holy

but that it may be abused, the Canticle almost more than any other portion of Holy Scripture, had

been misinterpreted by a false Mysticism, such as was rampant in the middle of the sixteenth

century. It had come to pass, said the learned and saintly Augustinian, Fray Luis de Leon, that that

Index of 1559, forbade the circulation of the Bible or parts of the Bible in any but the original

languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; and no one knew better than Luis de Leon himself how

rigorously these rules were enforced, for he had to expiate by nearly five years’ imprisonment the

1 ‘Los nombres de Cristo.’ Introduction.

2 This exceptionally severe legislation, justified by the dangers of the time, only held good for Spain and the Spanish colonies,

and has long since been revised. It did not include the Epistles and Gospels, Psalms, Passion, and other parts of the daily service.

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

Again, one of the confessors of St. Teresa, commonly thought to have been the Dominican, Fray

Diego de Yanguas, on learning that the Saint had written a book on the Canticle, ordered her to

throw it into the fire, so that we now only possess a few fragments of her work, which, unknown

to St. Teresa, had been copied by a nun.

It will now be understood that St. John’s poetical paraphrase of the Canticle must have been welcome

to many contemplative souls who desired to kindle their devotion with the words of Solomon, but

were unable to read them in Latin. Yet the text alone, without explanation, would have helped them

little; and as no one was better qualified than the author to throw light on the mysteries hidden

under oriental imagery, the Venerable Ann of Jesus, Prioress of the Carmelite convent at Granada,

he was no longer in that state of spiritual exuberance in which he had been when composing the

Canticle, and that there only remained to him a confused recollection of the wonderful operations

of Divine grace during the period of his imprisonment. Ann of Jesus was not satisfied with this

answer; she not only knew that St. John had lost nothing of his fervor, though he might no longer

experience the same feelings, but she remembered what had happened to St. Teresa under similar

circumstances, and believed the same thing might happen to St. John. When St. Teresa was obliged

to write on some mystical phenomena, the nature of which she did not fully understand, or whose

effect she had forgotten, God granted her unexpectedly a repetition of her former experiences so

St. John undertook to write an explanation of the Canticle he would soon find himself in the same

mental attitude as when he composed it.

St. John at last consented, and wrote the work now before us. The following letter, which has lately

come to light, gives some valuable information of its composition. The writer, Magdalen of the

Holy Spirit, nun of Veas, where she was professed on August 6, 1577, was intimately acquainted

with the Saint.

"When the holy father escaped from prison, he took with him a book of poetry he had written while

there, containing the verses commencing ‘In the beginning was the Word,’ and those others: ‘I

know the fountain well which flows and runs, though it is night,’ and the canticle, ‘Where have

you hidden yourself?’ as far as ‘O nymphs of Judea’ (stanza XVIII.). The remaining verses he

composed later on while rector of the college of Baeza (15791 – 81), while some of the explanations

were written at Veas at the request of the nuns, and others at Granada. The Saint wrote this book

in prison and afterwards left it at Veas, where it was handed to me to make some copies of it. Later

3 Ann de Lobera, born at Medina del Campo, November 25, 1545, was a deaf-mute until her eighth year. When she applied for

admission to the Carmelite convent at Avila St. Teresa promised to receive her not so much as a novice, but as her companion

and future successor; she took the habit August 1, 1570, and made her profession at Salamanca, October 21, 1571. She became

the first prioress of Veas, and was entrusted by St. Teresa with the foundation of Granada (January 1582), where she found St.

John of the Cross, who was prior of the convent of The Martyrs (well known to visitors of the Alhambra although no longer a

convent). St. John not only became the director and confessor of the convent of nuns, but remained the most faithful helper and

the staunchest friend of Mother Ann throughout the heavy trials which marred many years of her life. In 1604 she went to Paris,

to found the first convent of her Order in France, and in 1607 she proceeded to Brussels, where she remained until her death,

March 4, 1621, The heroic nature of her virtues having been acknowledged, she was declared ‘Venerable’ in 1878, and it is

hoped that she will soon be beatified.

4 See ‘Life of St. Teresa’: ed. Baker (London, I904), ch. xiv. 12, xvi. 2, xviii. 10.

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

on it was taken away from my cell, and I never knew who took it. I was much struck with the

vividness and the beauty and subtlety of the words. One day I asked the Saint whether God had

given him these words which so admirably explain those mysteries, and He answered: ‘Child,

The autograph of St. John’s work which is preserved at Jaén bears the following title:

As might be expected, the author dedicated the book to Ann of Jesus, at whose request he had

written it. Thus, he began his Prologue with the following words: "Inasmuch as this canticle,

"The stanzas that follow, having been written under the influence of that love which proceeds from

the overflowing mystical intelligence, cannot be fully explained. Indeed, I do not purpose any such

asked me to do so, and since this, in my opinion too, is the better course." And again: "I shall,

however, pass over the more ordinary (effects of prayer), and treat briefly of the more extraordinary

to which they are subject who, by the mercy of God, have advanced beyond the state of beginners.

This I do for two reasons: the first is that much is already written concerning beginners; and the

from Our Lord the grace of being led on from the elementary state and led inwards to the bosom

of His divine love." He continues thus: "I therefore trust, though I may discuss some points of

scholastic theology relating to the interior commerce of the soul with God, that I am not using such

language altogether in vain, and that it will be found profitable for pure spirituality. For though

Your Reverence is ignorant of scholastic theology, you are by no means ignorant of mystical

theology, the science of love, etc."

From these passages it appears quite clearly that the Saint wrote the book for Venerable Ann of

Jesus and the nuns of her convent. With the exception of an edition published at Brussels in 1627,

they to be found in Mr. Lewis’s version. There cannot be the least doubt that they represent St.

John’s own intention, for they are to be found in his original manuscript. This, containing, in several

parts, besides the Explanation of the Spiritual Canticle, various poems by the Saint, was given by

him to Ann of Jesus, who in her turn committed it to the care of one of her nuns, Isabelle of the

Incarnation, who took it with her to Baeza, where she remained eleven years, and afterwards to

Jaén, where she founded a convent of which she became the first prioress. She there caused the

precious manuscript to be bound in red velvet with silver clasps and gilt edges. It still was there in

6 Cf. Berthold-Ignace de Sainte Anne, ‘Vie de la Mère Anne de Jésui’ (Malines, 1876), I. 343 ff.

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

1876, and, for all we know, remains to the present day in the keeping of the said convent. It is a

pity that no photographic edition of the writings of St. John (so far as the originals are preserved)

has yet been attempted, for there is need for a critical edition of his works.

The following is the division of the work: Stanzas I. to IV. are introductory; V. to XII. refer to the

contemplative life in its earlier stages; XIII. to XXI., dealing with what the Saint calls the Espousals,

appertain to the Unitive way, where the soul is frequently, but not habitually, admitted to a transient

union with God; and XXII. to the end describe what he calls Matrimony, the highest perfection a

soul can attain this side of the grave. The reader will find an epitome of the whole system of mystical

theology in the explanation of Stanza XXVI.

This work differs in many respects from the "Ascent" and the "Dark Night." Whereas these are

strictly systematic, preceding on the line of relentless logic, the "Spiritual Canticle," as a poetical

work ought to do, soars high above the divisions and distinctions of the scholastic method. With a

boldness akin to that of his Patron Saint, the Evangelist, St. John rises to the highest heights, touching

on a subject that should only be handled by a Saint, and which the reader, were he a Saint himself,

will do well to treat cautiously: the partaking by the human soul of the Divine Nature, or, as St.

mind threatens to turn; but St. John, with the knowledge of what he himself had experienced, not

once but many times, what he had observed in others, and what, above all, he had read of in Holy

Scripture, does not shrink from lifting the veil more completely than probably any Catholic writer

on mystical theology has done. To pass in silence the last wonders of God’s love for fear of being

misunderstood, would have been tantamount to ignoring the very end for which souls are led along

the way of perfection; to reveal these mysteries in human language, and say all that can be said

with not a word too much, not an uncertain or misleading line in the picture: this could only have

been accomplished by one whom the Church has already declared to have been taught by God

As has already been noticed in the Introduction to the "Ascent," the whole of the teaching of St.

John is directly derived from Holy Scripture and from the psychological principles of St. Thomas

Aquinas. There is no trace to be found of an influence of the Mystics of the Middle Age, with whose

writings St. John does not appear to have been acquainted. But throughout this treatise there are

many obvious allusions to the writings of St. Teresa, nor will the reader fail to notice the encouraging

remark about the publication of her works (stanza xiii, sect. 8). The fact is that the same Venerable

Ann of Jesus who was responsible for the composition of St. John’s treatise was at the same time

making preparations for the edition of St. Teresa’s works which a few years later appeared at

Salamanca under the editorship of Fray Luis de Leon, already mentioned.

Those of his readers who have been struck with, not to say frightened by, the exactions of St. John

in the "Ascent" and the "Dark Night," where he demands complete renunciation of every kind of

7 On this subject see Fray Eulogio de San José, ‘Doctorado de Santa Teresa de Jesús y de San Juan de la Cruz.’ Córdoba, 1896.

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

satisfaction and pleasure, however legitimate in themselves, and an entire mortification of the senses

as well as the faculties and powers of the soul, and who have been wondering at his self-abnegation

which caused him not only to accept, but even to court contempt, will find here the clue to this

almost inhuman attitude. In his response to the question of Our Lord, "What shall I give you for

all you have done and suffered for Me?" "Lord, to suffer and be despised for You" — he was not

animated by grim misanthropy or stoic indifference, but he had learned that in proportion as the

human heart is emptied of Self, after having been emptied of all created things, it is open to the

influx of Divine grace. This he fully proves in the "Spiritual Canticle." To be made "partaker of

the Divine Nature," as St. Peter says, human nature must undergo a radical transformation. Those

who earnestly study the teaching of St. John in his earlier treatises and endeavor to put his

recommendations into practice, will see in this and the next volume an unexpected perspective

opening before their eyes, and they will begin to understand how it is that the sufferings of this

time — whether voluntary or involuntary — are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come

that shall be revealed in us.

Mr. Lewis’s masterly translation of the works of St. John of the Cross appeared in 1864 under the

auspices of Cardinal Wiseman. In the second edition, of 1889, he made numerous changes, without,

however, leaving a record of the principles that guided him. Sometimes, indeed, the revised edition

is terser than the first, but just as often the old one seems clearer. It is more difficult to understand

the reasons that led him to alter very extensively the text of quotations from Holy Scripture. In the

first edition he had nearly always strictly adhered to the Douay version, which is the one in official

use in the Catholic Church in English-speaking countries. It may not always be as perfect as one

would wish it to be, but it must be acknowledged that the wholesale alteration in Mr. Lewis’s second

edition is, to say the least, puzzling. Even the Stanzas have undergone many changes in the second

edition, and it will be noticed that there are some variants in their text as set forth at the beginning

of the book, and as repeated at the heading of each chapter.

The present edition, allowing for some slight corrections, is a reprint of that of 1889.

May 16, 1909.

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

INASMUCH as this canticle seems to have been written with some fervor of love of God, whose

and as the soul, taught and moved by Him, manifests the same abundance and strength in the words

it uses, I do not purpose here to set forth all that greatness and fullness the spirit of love, which is

fruitful, embodies in it. Yes, rather it would be foolishness to think that the language of love and

the mystical intelligence — and that is what these stanzas are — can be at all explained in words

us makes petitions for us with groaning unutterable for that which we cannot well understand or

grasp so as to be able to make it known. "The Spirit helps our infirmity . . . the Spirit Himself

requests for us with groanings unspeakable." For who can describe that which He shows to loving

souls in whom He dwells? Who can set forth in words that which He makes them feel? and, lastly,

who can explain that for which they long?

2. Assuredly no one can do it; not even they themselves who experience it. That is the reason why

they use figures of special comparisons and similitudes; they hide somewhat of that which they

feel and in the abundance of the Spirit utter secret mysteries rather than express themselves in clear

words.

3. And if these similitudes are not received in the simplicity of a loving mind, and in the sense in

which they are uttered, they will seem to be effusions of folly rather than the language of reason;

as anyone may see in the divine Canticle of Solomon, and in others of the sacred books, wherein

the Holy Spirit, because ordinary and common speech could not convey His meaning, uttered His

mysteries in strange terms and similitudes. It follows from this, that after all that the holy doctors

have said, and may say, no words of theirs can explain it; nor can words do it; and so, in general,

all that is said falls far short of the meaning.

4. The stanzas that follow having been written under influence of that love which proceeds from

the overflowing mystical intelligence, cannot be fully explained. Indeed I do not purpose any such

thing, for my sole object is to throw some general light over them, which in my opinion is the better

course. It is better to leave the outpourings of love in their own fullness, that everyone may apply

them according to the measure of his spirit and power, than to pare them down to one particular

sense which is not suited to the taste of everyone. And though I do put forth a particular explanation,

still others are not to be bound by it. The mystical wisdom — that is, the love, of which these stanzas

8 [This canticle was made by the Saint when he was in the prison of the Mitigation, in Toledo. It came into the hands of the

Venerable Anne of Jesus, at whose request he wrote the following commentary on it, and addressed it to her.]

9 Wisdom 8:1

10 Rom. 8:26

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

speak — does not require to be distinctly understood in order to produce the effect of love and

tenderness in the soul, for it is in this respect like faith, by which we love God without a clear

comprehension of Him.

5. I shall therefore be very concise, though now and then unable to avoid some prolixity where the

subject requires it, and when the opportunity is offered of discussing and explaining certain points

and effects of prayer: many of which being referred to in these stanzas, I must discuss some of

them. I shall, however, pass over the more ordinary ones, and treat briefly of the more extraordinary

to which they are subject who, by the mercy of God, have advanced beyond the state of beginners.

This I do for two reasons: the first is, that much is already written concerning beginners; and the

second is, that I am addressing those who have received from our Lord the grace of being led on

from the elementary state and are led inwards to the bosom of His divine love.

6. I therefore trust, though I may discuss some points of scholastic theology relating to the interior

commerce of the soul with God, that I am not using such language altogether in vain, and that it

will be found profitable for pure spirituality. For though some may be altogether ignorant of

scholastic theology by which the divine verities are explained, yet they are not ignorant of mystical

theology, the science of love, by which those verities are not only learned, but at the same time are

relished also.

7. And in order that what I am going to say may be the better received, I submit myself to higher

judgments, and unreservedly to that of our holy mother the Church, intending to say nothing in

reliance on my own personal experience, or on what I have observed in other spiritual persons, nor

on what I have heard them say — though I intend to profit by all this — unless I can confirm it

with the sanction of the divine writings, at least on those points which are most difficult of

comprehension.

8. The method I propose to follow in the matter is this: first of all, to cite the words of the text and

then to give that explanation of them which belongs to the subject before me. I shall now transcribe

all the stanzas and place them at the beginning of this treatise. In the next place, I shall take each

of them separately, and explain them line by line, each line in its proper place before the explanation.

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

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.

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.

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.

O groves and thickets

Planted by the hand of the Beloved;

O verdant meads

Enameled with flowers,

Tell me, has He passed by you?

A thousand graces diffusing

He passed through the groves in haste,

And merely regarding them

As He passed

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

Clothed them with His beauty.

Oh! who can heal me?

Give me at once Yourself,

Send me no more

A messenger

Who cannot tell me what I wish.

All they who serve are telling me

Of Your unnumbered graces;

And all wound me more and more,

And something leaves me dying,

I know not what, of which they are darkly speaking.

But how you persevere, O life,

Not living where you live;

The arrows bring death

Which you receive

From your conceptions of the Beloved.

Why, after wounding

This heart, have You not healed it?

And why, after stealing it,

Have You thus abandoned it,

And not carried away the stolen prey?

Quench my troubles,

For no one else can soothe them;

And let my eyes behold You,

For You are their light,

And I will keep them for You alone.

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

Reveal Your presence,

And let the vision and Your beauty kill me,

Behold the malady

Of love is incurable

Except in Your presence and before Your face.

O crystal well!

Oh that on Your silvered surface

You would mirror forth at once

Those eyes desired

Which are outlined in my heart!

Turn them away, O my Beloved!

I am on the wing:

Return, My Dove!

The wounded hart

Looms on the hill

In the air of your flight and is refreshed.

My Beloved is the mountains,

The solitary wooded valleys,

The strange islands,

The roaring torrents,

The whisper of the amorous gales;

The tranquil night

At the approaches of the dawn,

The silent music,

The murmuring solitude,

The supper which revives, and enkindles love.

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

Catch us the foxes,

For our vineyard has flourished;

While of roses

We make a nosegay,

And let no one appear on the hill.

O killing north wind, cease!

Come, south wind, that awakens love!

Blow through my garden,

And let its odors flow,

And the Beloved shall feed among the flowers.

O nymphs of Judea!

While amid the flowers and the rose-trees

The amber sends forth its perfume,

Tarry in the suburbs,

And touch not our thresholds.

Hide yourself, O my Beloved!

Turn Your face to the mountains,

Do not speak,

But regard the companions

Of her who is traveling amidst strange islands.

Light-winged birds,

Lions, fawns, bounding does,

Mountains, valleys, strands,

Waters, winds, heat,

And the terrors that keep watch by night;

By the soft lyres

And the siren strains, I adjure you,

Let your fury cease,

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

And touch not the wall,

That the bride may sleep in greater security.

The bride has entered

The pleasant and desirable garden,

And there reposes to her heart’s content;

Her neck reclining

On the sweet arms of the Beloved.

Beneath the apple-tree

There were you betrothed;

There I gave you My hand,

And you were redeemed

Where your mother was corrupted.

Our bed is of flowers

By dens of lions encompassed,

Hung with purple,

Made in peace,

And crowned with a thousand shields of gold.

In Your footsteps

The young ones run Your way;

At the touch of the fire

And by the spiced wine,

The divine balsam flows.

In the inner cellar

Of my Beloved have I drunk; and when I went forth

Over all the plain

I knew nothing,

And lost the flock I followed before.

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

There He gave me His breasts,

There He taught me the science full of sweetness.

And there I gave to Him

Myself without reserve;

There I promised to be His bride.

My soul is occupied,

And all my substance in His service;

Now I guard no flock,

Nor have I any other employment:

My sole occupation is love.

If, then, on the common land

I am no longer seen or found,

You will say that I am lost;

That, being enamored,

I lost myself; and yet was found.

Of emeralds, and of flowers

In the early morning gathered,

We will make the garlands,

Flowering in Your love,

And bound together with one hair of my head.

By that one hair

You have observed fluttering on my neck,

And on my neck regarded,

You were captivated;

And wounded by one of my eyes.

When You regarded me,

Your eyes imprinted in me Your grace:

For this You loved me again,

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

And thereby my eyes merited

To adore what in You they saw

Despise me not,

For if I was swarthy once

You can regard me now;

Since You have regarded me,

Grace and beauty have You given me.

The little white dove

Has returned to the ark with the bough;

And now the turtle-dove

Its desired mate

On the green banks has found.

In solitude she lived,

And in solitude built her nest;

And in solitude, alone

Has the Beloved guided her,

In solitude also wounded with love.

Let us rejoice, O my Beloved!

Let us go forth to see ourselves in Your beauty,

To the mountain and the hill,

Where the pure water flows:

Let us enter into the heart of the thicket.

We shall go at once

To the deep caverns of the rock

Which are all secret,

There we shall enter in

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

And taste of the new wine of the pomegranate.

There you will show me

That which my soul desired;

And there You will give at once,

O You, my life!

That which You gave me the other day.

The breathing of the air,

The song of the sweet nightingale,

The grove and its beauty

In the serene night,

With the flame that consumes, and gives no pains.

None saw it;

Neither did Aminadab appear

The siege was intermitted,

And the cavalry dismounted

At the sight of the waters.

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

THESE stanzas describe the career of a soul from its first entrance on the service of God till it

comes to the final state of perfection — the spiritual marriage. They refer accordingly to the three

states or ways of the spiritual training — the purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways, some

properties and effects of which they explain.

The first stanzas relate to beginners — to the purgative way. The second to the advanced — to the

state of spiritual betrothal; that is, the illuminative way. The next to the unitive way — that of the

perfect, the spiritual Marriage. The unitive way, that of the perfect, follows the illuminative, which

is that of the advanced.

The last stanzas treat of the beatific state, which only the already perfect soul aims at.

17

St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

time is uncertain, the last account strict, perdition most easy, and salvation most difficult; and

recognizing also, on the other hand, the great debt that is owing to God, Who has created it solely

for Himself, for which the service of its whole life is due, Who has redeemed it for Himself alone,

for which it owes Him all else, and the correspondence of its will to His love; and remembering

other innumerable blessings for which it acknowledges itself indebted to God even before it was

born: and also that a great part of its life has been wasted, and that it will have to render an account

so great an evil, especially when it is conscious that God is grievously offended, and that He has

hidden His face from it, because it would forget Him for the creature,-the soul, now touched with

sorrow and inward sinking of the heart at the sight of its imminent risks and ruin, renouncing

everything and casting them aside without delaying for a day, or even an hour, with fear and

groanings uttered from the heart, and wounded with the love of God, begins to invoke the Beloved

and says:

11 Job 14:5

12 Matt. 7:14

13 1 Pet. 4:18

14 2 Kings 14:14

15 Matt. 5:26

16 Sophon, 1. 12.

17 Matt. 20:6

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

IN this first stanza the soul, enamored of the Word, the Son of God, the Bridegroom, desiring to

be united to Him in the clear and substantial vision, sets before Him the anxieties of its love,

complaining of His absence. And this the more so because, now pierced and wounded with love,

for which it had abandoned all things, even itself, it has still to endure the absence of the Beloved,

Who has not released it from its mortal flesh, that it might have the fruition of Him in the glory of

eternity. Hence it cries out,

2. It is as if the soul said, "Show me, O You the Word, my Bridegroom, the place where You are

hidden." It asks for the revelation of the divine Essence; for the place where the Son of God is

transcending all mortal vision, and hidden from all human understanding, as Isaiah says, speaking

His presence, however great they may be, and the most sublime and profound knowledge of God

which the soul may have in this life, are not God essentially, neither have they any affinity with

Him, for in very truth He is still hidden from the soul; and it is therefore expedient for it, amid all

these grandeurs, always to consider Him as hidden, and to seek Him in His hiding place, saying,

3. Neither sublime communications nor sensible presence furnish any certain proof of His gracious

presence; nor is the absence thereof, and aridity, any proof of His absence from the soul. "If He

any great communication, or impression, or spiritual knowledge, it must not on that account persuade

itself that what it then feels is to enjoy or see God clearly and in His Essence, or that it brings it

nearer to Him, or Him to it, however deep such feelings may be. On the other hand, when all these

sensible and spiritual communications fail it, and it is itself in dryness, darkness, and desolation,

it must not on that account suppose that God is far from it; for in truth the former state is no sign

18 John 1:18

19 Isa. 45:15

20 Job 9:11

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

of its being in a state of grace, nor is the latter a sign that it is not; for "man knows not whether he

4. The chief object of the soul in these words is not to ask only for that affective and sensible

devotion, wherein there is no certainty or evidence of the possession of the Bridegroom in this life;

but principally for that clear presence and vision of His Essence, of which it longs to be assured

and satisfied in the next. This, too, was the object of the bride who, in the divine song desiring to

be united to the Divinity of the Bridegroom Word, prayed to the Father, saying, "Show me where

ask to be shown the Essence of the Divine Word, the Son; because the Father feeds nowhere else

but in His only begotten Son, Who is the glory of the Father. In asking to be shown the place where

He lies in the midday, was to ask for the same thing, because the Son is the sole delight of the

Father, Who lies in no other place, and is comprehended by no other thing, but in and by His beloved

Son, in Whom He reposes wholly, communicating to Him His whole Essence, in the "midday,"

which is eternity, where the Father is ever begetting and the Son ever begotten.

5. This pasture, then, is the Bridegroom Word, where the Father feeds in infinite glory. He is also

the bed of flowers whereupon He reposes with infinite delight of love, profoundly hidden from all

mortal vision and every created thing. This is the meaning of the bride-soul when she says,

6. That the thirsty soul may find the Bridegroom, and be one with Him in the union of love in this

life — so far as that is possible — and quench its thirst with that drink which it is possible to drink

of at His hands in this life, it will be as well — since that is what the Soul asks of Him — that we

should answer for Him, and point out the special spot where He is hidden, that He may be found

there in that perfection and sweetness of which this life is capable, and that the soul may not begin

to loiter uselessly in the footsteps of its companions.

7. We must remember that the Word, the Son of God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

is hidden in essence and in presence, in the inmost being of the soul. That soul, therefore, that will

find Him, must go out from all things in will and affection, and enter into the profoundest

self-recollection, and all things must be to it as if they existed not. Hence, St. Augustine says: "I

hidden within the soul, and the true contemplative will seek Him there in love, saying,

8. O you soul, then, most beautiful of creatures, who so long to know the place where your Beloved

is, that you may seek Him, and be united to Him, you know now that you are yourself that very

tabernacle where He dwells, the secret chamber of His retreat where He is hidden. Rejoice, therefore,

21 Eccles. 9:1

22 Cant. 1:6

23 ‘Soliloq.,’ c. 31. Opp. Ed. Ben. tom. vi. app. p. 98.

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

and exult, because all your good and all your hope is so near you as to be within you; or, to speak

says the Bridegroom Himself, and His servant, St. Paul, adds: "You are the temple of the living

9. What more can you desire, what more can you seek without, seeing that within you have your

riches, your delight, your satisfaction, your fullness and your kingdom; that is, your Beloved, Whom

you desire and seek? Rejoice, then, and be glad in Him with interior recollection, seeing that you

have Him so near. Then love Him, then desire Him, then adore Him, and go not to seek Him out

of yourself, for that will be but distraction and weariness, and you shall not find Him; because there

is no fruition of Him more certain, more ready, or more intimate than that which is within.

10. One difficulty alone remains: though He is within, yet He is hidden. But it is a great matter to

know the place of His secret rest, that He may be sought there with certainty. The knowledge of

this is that which you ask for here, O soul, when with loving affection you cry,

11. You will still urge and say, How is it, then, that I find Him not, nor feel Him, if He is within

my soul? It is because He is hidden, and because you hide not yourself also that you may find Him

and feel Him; for he that will seek that which is hidden must enter secretly into the secret place

where it is hidden, and when he finds it, he is himself hidden like the object of his search. Seeing,

which the wise merchant gave all that he had, so you, if you will find Him, must forget all that is

yours, withdraw from all created things, and hide yourself in the secret retreat of the spirit, shutting

the door upon yourself — that is, denying your will in all things — and praying to your Father in

love Him, possess Him in secret, and delight in Him in secret, in a way that no tongue or language

can express.

12. Courage, then, O soul most beautiful, you know now that your Beloved, Whom you desire,

dwells hidden within your breast; strive, therefore, to be truly hidden with Him, and then you shall

embrace Him, and be conscious of His presence with loving affection. Consider also that He bids

you, by the mouth of Isaiah, to come to His secret hiding-place, saying, "Go, . . . enter into your

chambers, shut your doors upon you"; that is, all your faculties, so that no created thing shall enter:

24 Luke 17:21

25 2 Cor. 6:16

26 ‘Mt. Carmel,’ Bk. 2, c. 5. sect. 3.

27 Matt. 13:44

28 Matt. 6:6

29 Isa. 26:20

30 Prov. 4:23

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

will most assuredly give you, as He has promised by the prophet Isaiah, "hidden treasures and

the faith, and the object of it, and the faith is the secret and the mystery. And when that which the

faith conceals shall be revealed and made manifest, that is the perfection of God, as St. Paul says,

of these secrets.

13. Though in this mortal life the soul will never reach to the interior secrets as it will in the next,

however much it may hide itself, still, if it will hide itself with Moses, "in the hole of the rock" —

which is a real imitation of the perfect life of the Bridegroom, the Son of God — protected by the

here, as to be united, and transformed by love, in the Son of God, its Bridegroom. So effectually

will this be wrought that the soul will feel itself so united to Him, so learned and so instructed in

His secrets, that, so far as the knowledge of Him in this life is concerned, it will be no longer

necessary for it to say: "Where have You hidden Yourself?"

14. You know then, O soul, how you are to demean yourself if you will find the Bridegroom in His

secret place. But if you will hear it again, hear this one word full of substance and unapproachable

truth: Seek Him in faith and love, without seeking to satisfy yourself in anything, or to understand

more than is expedient for you to know; for faith and love are the two guides of the blind; they will

lead you, by a way you know not, to the secret chamber of God. Faith, the secret of which I am

speaking, is the foot that journeys onwards to God, and love is the guide that directs its steps. And

while the soul meditates on the mysterious secrets of the faith, it will merit the revelation, on the

part of love, of that which the faith involves, namely, the Bridegroom Whom it longs for, in this

face to face, hidden now.

15. But meanwhile, though the soul attains to union, the highest state possible in this life, yet

inasmuch as He is still hidden from it in the bosom of the Father, as I have said, the soul longing

for the fruition of Him in the life to come, ever cries, "Where have You hidden Yourself?"

16. You do well, then, O soul, in seeking Him always in His secret place; for you greatly magnify

God, and draw near to Him, esteeming Him as far beyond and above all you can reach. Rest,

therefore, neither wholly nor in part, on what your faculties can embrace; never seek to satisfy

yourself with what you comprehend of God, but rather with what you comprehend not; and never

rest on the love of, and delight in, that which you can understand and feel, but rather on that which

is beyond your understanding and feeling: this is, as I have said, to seek Him by faith.

Him, felt Him, and comprehended Him, yet you must ever regard Him as hidden, serve Him as

31 Isa. 45:3

32 1 Cor. 13:10

33 Exod. 33:22, 23

34 Sect. 4.

35 Sect. 2.

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

hidden, in secret. Do not be like many unwise, who, with low views of God, think that when they

cannot comprehend Him, or be conscious of His presence, that He is then farther away and more

hidden, when the contrary is true, namely, that He is nearer to them when they are least aware of

very infirmity of your vision makes the darkness palpable; you do well, therefore, at all times, in

prosperity as well as in adversity, spiritual or temporal, to look upon God as hidden, and to say to

Him, "Where have You hidden Yourself?

18. The soul calls Him "my Beloved," the more to move Him to listen to its cry, for God, when

loved, most readily listens to the prayer of him who loves Him. Thus He speaks Himself: "If you

then with truth call Him Beloved, when it is wholly His, when the heart has no attachments but

Him, and when all the thoughts are continually directed to Him. It was the absence of this that made

comprises the thoughts and the feelings. Some there are who call the Bridegroom their Beloved,

but He is not really beloved, because their heart is not wholly with Him. Their prayers are, therefore,

not so effectual before God, and they shall not obtain their petitions until, persevering in prayer,

they fix their minds more constantly upon God and their hearts more wholly in loving affection

upon Him, for nothing can be obtained from God but by love.

19. The words, "And left me to my sorrow," tell us that the absence of the Beloved is the cause of

continual sadness in him who loves; for as such a one loves none else, so, in the absence of the

object beloved, nothing can console or relieve him. This is, therefore, a test to discern the true lover

of God. Is he satisfied with anything less than God? Do I say satisfied? Yes, if a man possess all

things, he cannot be satisfied; the greater his possessions the less will be his satisfaction, for the

satisfaction of the heart is not found in possessions, but in detachment from all things and in poverty

of spirit. This being so, the perfection of love in which we possess God, by a grace most intimate

and special, lives in the soul in this life when it has reached it, with a certain satisfaction, which

however is not full, for David, notwithstanding all his perfection, hoped for that in heaven saying,

20. Thus, then, the peace and tranquillity and satisfaction of heart to which the soul may attain in

this life are not sufficient to relieve it from its groaning, peaceful and painless though it be, while

it hopes for that which is still wanting. Groaning belongs to hope, as the Apostle says of himself

and others, though perfect, "Ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves

heart is enamored, for where love wounds there is heard the groaning of the wounded one,

36 Ps. 17:12

37 John 15:7

38 Judg. 16:15

39 Ps. 16:15

40 Rom. 8:23

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

complaining feelingly of the absence of the Beloved, especially when, after tasting of the sweet

conversation of the Bridegroom, it finds itself suddenly alone, and in aridity, because He has gone

away. That is why it cries,

21. Here it is to be observed that in the Canticle of Canticles the bride compares the Bridegroom

not only because He is shy, solitary, and avoids companions as the hart, but also for his sudden

appearance and disappearance. That is His way in His visits to devout souls in order to comfort

and encourage them, and in the withdrawing and absence which He makes them feel after those

visits in order to try, humble, and teach them. For that purpose He makes them feel the pain of His

absence most keenly, as the following words show:

22. It is as if it had said, "It was not enough that I should feel the pain and grief which Your absence

causes, and from which I am continually suffering, but You must, after wounding me with the

arrow of Your love, and increasing my longing and desire to see You, run away from me with the

swiftness of the hart, and not permit me to lay hold of You, even for a moment."

23. For the clearer understanding of this we are to keep in mind that, beside the many kinds of

God’s visits to the soul, in which He wounds it with love, there are commonly certain secret touches

of love, which, like a fiery arrow, pierce and penetrate the soul, and burn it with the fire of love.

These are properly called the wounds of love, and it is of these the soul is here speaking. These

wounds so inflame the will, that the soul becomes so enveloped with the fire of love as to appear

consumed thereby. They make it go forth out of itself, and be renewed, and enter on another life,

as the phoenix from the fire.

24. David, speaking of this, says, "My heart has been inflamed, and my reins have been changed;

prophet, are all stirred and divinely changed in this burning of the heart, and the soul, through love,

melted into nothing, knowing nothing but love. At this time the changing of the reins is a great

pain, and longing for the vision of God; it seems to the soul that God treats it with intolerable

severity, so much so that the severity with which love treats it seems to the soul unendurable, not

because it is wounded — for it considers such wounds to be its salvation — but because it is thus

suffering from its love, and because He has not wounded it more deeply so as to cause death, that

it may be united to Him in the life of perfect love. The soul, therefore, magnifying its sorrows, or

revealing them, says,

41 Cant. 2:9

42 Ps. 72:21, 22

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

25. The soul says in effect, "You have abandoned me after wounding me, and You have left me

dying of love; and then You have hidden Yourself as a hart swiftly running away." This impression

is most profound in the soul; for by the wound of love, made in the soul by God, the affections of

the will lead most rapidly to the possession of the Beloved, whose touch it felt, and as rapidly also,

His absence, and its inability to have the fruition of Him here as it desires. Thereupon succeed the

groaning because of His absence; for these visitations of God are not like those which recreate and

satisfy the soul, because they are rather for wounding than for healing — more for afflicting than

for satisfying it, seeing that they tend rather to quicken the knowledge, and increase the longing,

and consequently pain with the longing for the vision of God. They are called the spiritual wounds

of love, most sweet to the soul and desirable; and, therefore, when it is thus wounded the soul would

willingly die a thousand deaths, because these wounds make it go forth out of itself, and enter into

God, which is the meaning of the words that follow:

26. There can be no remedy for the wounds of love but from Him who inflicted them. And so the

wounded soul, urged by the vehemence of that burning which the wounds of love occasion, runs

after the Beloved, crying to Him for relief. This spiritual running after God has a two-fold meaning.

The first is a going forth from all created things, which is effected by hating and despising them;

the second, a going forth out of oneself, by forgetting self, which is brought about by the love of

God. For when the love of God touches the soul with that vividness of which we are here speaking,

it so elevates it, that it goes forth not only out of itself by self-forgetfulness, but it is also drawn

away from its own judgment, natural ways and inclinations, crying after God, "O my Bridegroom,"

as if saying, "By this touch of Yours and wound of love have You drawn me away not only from

all created things, but also from myself — for, in truth, soul and body seem now to part — and

raised me up to Yourself, crying after You in detachment from all things that I might be attached

to You:

27. As if saying, "When I sought Your presence, I found You not; and I was detached from all

things without being able to cling to You — borne painfully by the gales of love without help in

You or in myself." This going forth of the soul in search of the Beloved is the rising of the bride

in the Canticle: "I will rise and go about the city; in the streets and the high ways I will seek Him

of the bride — speaking spiritually — is from that which is mean to that which is noble; and is the

same with the going forth of the soul out of its own ways and inferior love to the ennobling love

itself that it is wounded with love and forsaken; that is, the loving soul is ever in pain during the

absence of the Beloved, because it has given itself up wholly to Him hoping for the reward of its

self-surrender, the Possession of the Beloved. Still the Beloved withholds Himself while the soul

43 Cant. 3:2, 5:7

44 Cant. 5:6, 7

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

has lost all things, and even itself, for Him; it obtains no compensation for its loss, seeing that it is

deprived of Him whom it loves.

28. This pain and sense of the absence of God is wont to be so oppressive in those who are going

onwards to the state of perfection, that they would die if God did not interpose when the divine

wounds are inflicted upon them. As they have the palate of the will wholesome, and the mind pure

and disposed for God, and as they taste in some degree of the sweetness of divine love, which they

supremely desire, so they also suffer supremely; for, having but a glimpse of an infinite good which

they are not permitted to enjoy, that is to them an ineffable pain and torment.

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

THE soul would now employ intercessors and mediators between itself and the Beloved, praying

them to make its sufferings and afflictions known. One in love, when he cannot converse personally

with the object of his love, will do so in the best way he can. Thus the soul employs its affections,

desires, and groanings as messengers well able to manifest the secret of its heart to the Beloved.

Accordingly, it calls upon them to do this, saying:

2. The shepherds are the affections, and desires, and groanings of the soul, for they feed it with

spiritual good things. A shepherd is one who feeds: and by means of such God communicates

Himself to the soul and feeds it in the divine pastures; for without these groans and desires He

communicates but slightly with it.

You who go forth in pure love; for all desires and affections do not reach God, but only those which

proceed from sincere love.

3. The sheepcots are the heavenly hierarchies, the angelic choirs, by whose ministry, from choir to

choir, our prayers and sighs ascend to God; that is, to the hill, "for He is the highest eminence, and

because in Him, as on a hill, we observe and behold all things, the higher and the lower sheepcots."

To Him our prayers ascend, offered by angels, as I have said; so the angel said to Tobit "When you

4. The shepherds also are the angels themselves, who not only carry our petitions to God, but also

bring down the graces of God to our souls, feeding them like good shepherds, with the sweet

communications and inspirations of God, Who employs them in that ministry. They also protect

us and defend us against the wolves, which are the evil spirits. And thus, whether we understand

the affections or the angels by the shepherds, the soul calls upon both to be its messengers to the

Beloved, and thus addresses them all:

45 Tob. 12:12

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

That is to say:

5. If, to my great happiness you shall come into His presence, so that He shall see you and hear

but it is then He beholds our necessities when He relieves them, and hears our prayers when he

grants them. God does not see all necessities and hear all petitions until the time appointed shall

have come; it is then that He is said to hear and see, as we learn in the book of Exodus. When the

children of Israel had been afflicted for four hundred years as serfs in Egypt, God said to Moses,

"I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry, and . . . I am come

fear, because God had heard his prayer, and would grant him the son, for whom he had been praying

He does not at once help us and grant our petitions, will still succor us in His own time, for He is,

to pray. This is what the soul means by saying, "If you shall see Him"; that is to say, if the time is

come when it shall be His good pleasure to grant my petitions.

6. "Whom I love the most": that is, whom I love more than all creatures. This is true of the soul

when nothing can make it afraid to do and suffer all things in His service. And when the soul can

also truly say that which follows, it is a sign that it loves Him above all things:

7. Here the soul speaks of three things that distress it: namely, languor, suffering, and death; for

the soul that truly loves God with a love in some degree perfect, suffers in three ways in His absence,

in its three powers ordinarily — the understanding, the will, and the memory. In the understanding

it languishes because it does not see God, Who is the salvation of it, as the Psalmist says: "I am

it dies, because it remembers its privation of all the blessings of the understanding, which are the

vision of God, and of the delights of the will, which are the fruition of Him, and that it is very

possible also that it may lose Him for ever, because of the dangers and chances of this life. In the

memory, therefore, the soul labors under a sensation like that of death, because it sees itself without

46 Deut. 31:21

47 Exod. 3:7, 8

48 Luke 1:13

49 Ps. 9:10

50 Ps. 34:3

51 Ps. 35:9

52 Deut. 30:20

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8. Jeremiah also, in the Lamentations, speaks of these three things, praying to God, and saying:

to which appertain the riches of the knowledge of the Son of God, "in whom all the treasures of

to which appertains the sweetness of the fruition of God, deprived of which it abides in bitterness.

We learn in the Revelation that bitterness appertains spiritually to the will, for the angel said to St.

the will. The gall relates not only to the memory, but also to all the powers and faculties of the soul,

for it signifies the death thereof, as we learn from Moses speaking of the damned: "Their wine is

which is the death of the soul.

9. These three things which distress the soul are grounded on the three theological virtues — faith,

charity, and hope, which relate, in the order here assigned them, to the three faculties of the soul

— understanding, will, and memory. Observe here that the soul does no more than represent its

miseries and pain to the Beloved: for he who loves wisely does not care to ask for that which he

wants and desires, being satisfied with hinting at his necessities, so that the beloved one may do

what shall to him seem good. Thus the Blessed Virgin at the marriage feast of Cana asked not

sent to Him, not to ask Him to heal their brother, but only to say that he whom He loved was sick:

10. There are three reasons for this. Our Lord knows what is expedient for us better than we do

ourselves. Secondly, the Beloved is more compassionate towards us when He sees our necessities

and our resignation. Thirdly, we are more secured against self-love and self-seeking when we

represent our necessity, than when we ask for that which we think we need. It is in this way that

the soul represents its three necessities; as if it said: "Tell my Beloved, that as I languish, and as

He only is my salvation, to save me; that as I am suffering, and as He only is my joy, to give me

joy; that as I am dying, and as He only is my life, to give me life."

53 Lam. 3:19

54 Col. 2:3

55 Rev. 10:9

56 Deut. 32:33

57 John 2:3

58 John 11:3

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THE soul, observing that its sighs and prayers suffice not to find the Beloved, and that it has not

been helped by the messengers it invoked in the first and second stanzas, will not, because its

searching is real and its love great, leave undone anything itself can do. The soul that really loves

God is not dilatory in its efforts to find the Son of God, its Beloved; and, even when it has done all

it could it is still not satisfied, thinking it has done nothing. Accordingly, the soul is now, in this

third stanza, actively seeking the Beloved, and saying how He is to be found; namely, in the practice

of all virtue and in the spiritual exercises of the active and contemplative life; for this end it rejects

all delights and all comforts; and all the power and wiles of its three enemies, the world, the devil,

and the flesh, are unable to delay it or hinder it on the road.

2. Here the soul makes it known that to find God it is not enough to pray with the heart and the

tongue, or to have recourse to the help of others; we must also work ourselves, according to our

power. God values one effort of our own more than many of others on our behalf; the soul, therefore,

I said just now, to seek Him actively, and not rest till it finds Him, as many do who will not that

God should cost them anything but words, and even those carelessly uttered, and for His sake will

do nothing that will cost them anything. Some, too, will not leave for His sake a place which is to

their taste and liking, expecting to receive all the sweetness of God in their mouth and in their heart

without moving a step, without mortifying themselves by the abandonment of a single pleasure or

useless comfort.

3. But until they go forth out of themselves to seek Him, however loudly they may cry they will

not find Him; for the bride in the Canticle sought Him in this way, but she found Him not until she

went out to seek Him: "In my little bed in the nights I have sought Him Whom my soul loves: I

have sought Him and have not found Him. I will rise and will go about the city: by the streets and

4. He, therefore, who seeks God, consulting his own ease and comfort, seeks Him by night, and

therefore finds Him not. But he who seeks Him in the practice of virtue and of good works, casting

59 Luke 11:9

60 Cant. 3:1

61 Cant. 3:4

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

aside the comforts of his own bed, seeks Him by day; such a one shall find Him, for that which is

not seen by night is visible by day. The Bridegroom Himself teaches us this, saying, "Wisdom is

clear and never fades away, and is easily seen of them that love her, and is found of them that seek

her. She prevents them that covet her, that she first may show herself to them. He that awakes early

the house of its own will, and abandon the bed of its own satisfaction, will find the divine Wisdom,

the Son of God, the Bridegroom waiting at the door without, and so the soul says:

5. Mountains, which are lofty, signify virtues, partly on account of their height and partly on account

of the toil and labor of ascending them; the soul says it will ascend to them in the practice of the

contemplative life. Strands, which are low, signify mortifications, penances, and the spiritual

exercises, and the soul will add to the active life that of contemplation; for both are necessary in

seeking after God and in acquiring virtue. The soul says, in effect, "In searching after my Beloved

I will practice great virtue, and abase myself by lowly mortifications and acts of humility, for the

way to seek God is to do good works in Him, and to mortify the evil in ourselves, as it is said in

the words that follow:

6. He that will seek after God must have his heart detached, resolute, and free from all evils, and

from all goods which are not simply God; that is the meaning of these words. The words that follow

describe the liberty and courage which the soul must possess in searching after God. Here it declares

that it will gather no flowers by the way — the flowers are all the delights, satisfactions, and

pleasures which this life offers, and which, if the soul sought or accepted, would hinder it on the

road.

7. These flowers are of three kinds — temporal, sensual, and spiritual. All of them occupy the heart,

and stand in the way of the spiritual detachment required in the way of Christ, if we regard them

or rest in them. The soul, therefore, says, that it will not stop to gather any of them, that it may seek

after God. It seems to say, I will not set my heart upon riches or the goods of this world; I will not

indulge in the satisfactions and ease of the flesh, neither will I consult the taste and comforts of my

spirit, in order that nothing may detain me in my search after my Love on the toilsome mountains

of virtue. This means that it accepts the counsel of the prophet David to those who travel on this

as well as to temporal goods and spiritual consolations.

8. From this we learn that not only temporal goods and bodily pleasures hinder us on the road to

God, but spiritual delight and consolations also, if we attach ourselves to them or seek them; for

these things are hindrances on the way of the cross of Christ, the Bridegroom. He, therefore, that

62 Wisd. 6:13

63 Ps. 61:11

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

will go onwards must not only not stop to gather flowers, but must also have the courage and

resolution to say as follows:

Here we have the three enemies of the soul which make war against it, and make its way full of

difficulties. The wild beasts are the world; the mighty, the devil; and the frontiers are the flesh.

9. The world is the wild beasts, because in the beginning of the heavenly journey the imagination

pictures the world to the soul as wild beasts, threatening and fierce, principally in three ways. The

first is, we must forfeit the world’s favor, lose friends, credit, reputation, and property; the second

is not less cruel: we must suffer the perpetual deprivation of all the comforts and pleasures of the

world; and the third is still worse: evil tongues will rise against us, mock us, and speak of us with

contempt. This strikes some persons so vividly that it becomes most difficult for them, I do not say

to persevere, but even to enter on this road at all.

10. But there are generous souls who have to encounter wild beasts of a more interior and spiritual

nature — trials, temptations, tribulations, and afflictions of diverse kinds, through which they must

pass. This is what God sends to those whom He is raising upwards to high perfection, proving them

and trying them as gold in the fire; as David says: "Many are the tribulations of the just; and out

all things, and relying on His love and favor, finds no difficulty in saying:

11. Evil spirits, the second enemy of the soul, are called the mighty, because they strive with all

their might to seize on the passes of the spiritual road; and because the temptations they suggest

are harder to overcome, and the craft they employ more difficult to detect, than all the seductions

of the world and the flesh; and because, also, they strengthen their own position by the help of the

world and the flesh in order to fight vigorously against the soul. Hence the Psalmist calls them

might: "There is no power upon the earth that may be compared with him who was made to fear

12. There is no human power that can be compared with the power of the devil, and therefore the

divine power alone can overcome him, and the divine light alone can penetrate his devices. No soul

therefore can overcome his might without prayer, or detect his illusions without humility and

mortification. Hence the exhortation of St. Paul to the faithful: "Put on the armor of God, that you

64 Ps. 33:20

65 Ps. 53:5

66 Job 41:24

67 Eph. 6:11

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

here is the world, and the armor of God is prayer and the cross of Christ, wherein consist the humility

and mortification of which I have spoken.

13. The soul says also that it will cross the frontiers: these are the natural resistance and rebellion

as a frontier against the soul on its spiritual road. This frontier the soul must cross, surmounting

difficulties, and trampling underfoot all sensual appetites and all natural affections with great

courage and resolution of spirit: for while they remain in the soul, the spirit will be by them hindered

from advancing to the true life and spiritual delight. This is set clearly before us by St. Paul, saying:

the soul in this stanza says it becomes it to observe on the way to seek the Beloved: which briefly

is a firm resolution not to stoop to gather flowers by the way; courage not to fear the wild beasts,

and strength to pass by the mighty and the frontiers; intent solely on going over the mountains and

the strands of the virtues, in the way just explained.

68 Gal. 5:17

69 Rom. 8:13

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

THE disposition requisite for entering on the spiritual journey, abstinence from joys and pleasure,

being now described; and the courage also with which to overcome temptations and trials, wherein

consists the practice of self-knowledge, which is the first step of the soul to the knowledge of God.

Now, in this stanza the soul begins to advance through consideration and knowledge of creatures

to the knowledge of the Beloved their Creator. For the consideration of the creature, after the

practice of self-knowledge, is the first in order on the spiritual road to the knowledge of God, Whose

grandeur and magnificence they declare, as the Apostle says: "For His invisible things from the

"The invisible things of God are made known to the soul by created things, visible and invisible."

2. The soul, then, in this stanza addresses itself to creatures inquiring after the Beloved. And we

for which they furnish the matter. Thus, in this stanza the soul meditates on the elements and the

rest of the lower creation; on the heavens, and on the rest of created and material things which God

has made therein; also on the heavenly Spirits, saying:

3. The groves are the elements, earth, water, air, and fire. As the most pleasant groves are studded

with plants and shrubs, so the elements are thick with creatures, and here are called thickets because

of the number and variety of creatures in each. The earth contains innumerable varieties of animals

and plants, the water of fish, the air of birds, and fire concurs with all in animating and sustaining

them. Each kind of animal lives in its proper element, placed and planted there, as in its own grove

and soil where it is born and nourished; and, in truth, God so ordered it when He made them; He

commanded the earth to bring forth herbs and animals; the waters and the sea, fish; and the air He

gave as a habitation to birds. The soul, therefore, considering that this is the effect of His

commandment, cries out,

4. That which the soul considers now is this: the hand of God the Beloved only could have created

and nurtured all these varieties and wonderful things. The soul says deliberately, "by the hand of

70 Rom. 1:20

71 Conf. 10. 6.

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St. John of the Cross A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ

the Beloved," because God does many things by the hands of others, as of angels and men; but the

work of creation has never been, and never is, the work of any other hand than His own. Thus the

soul, considering the creation, is profoundly stirred up to love God the Beloved for it beholds all

things to be the work of His hands, and goes on to say:

5. These are the heavens; for the things which He has created in the heavens are of incorruptible

freshness, which neither perish nor wither with time, where the just are refreshed as in the green

pastures. The present consideration includes all the varieties of the stars in their beauty, and the

other works in the heavens.

6. The Church also applies the term "verdure" to heavenly things; for while praying to God for the

departing soul, it addresses it as follows: "May Christ, the Son of the living God, give you a place