A LITURGICAL MYSTICISM

the "Collected Works of St. John of the Cross" translated by Kavanaugh & Rodriguez (ICS) have a

Scriptural Index which reveals that Juan cited almost every book of the Old & New Testaments in his

writings and the citations number somewhere between 800-1,000 bible references (i haven't counted but

that is a fair estimate)!!

it is easy to understand how new students of contemplative spirituality focus on, what is to them, the

novelty of Juan's via negativa. one would err, however, by failing to take into account Juan's fidelity to

Scripture, Sacraments, Liturgy and almost-Ignatian emphasis on "God in All Things" and almost-

Franciscan emphasis on creation. (how's that for a litany of kataphatic modalities?)

trials in prison in Toledo was not being able to celebrate Eucharist) and to the other sacraments (strong

emphasis on reconciliation), Juan quoted the Church's liturgical books liberally, including hymns,

antiphons of the LOH - Divine Office, Roman Ritual, etc etc etc!

Richard Hardy, PhD in "Embodied Love in John of the Cross" states: "The question we must answer is

whether John is espousing the goal of an ethereal, "purely spiritual" love, or rather an embodied love

replete with sensuality and delight." Juan's emphasis on nature, the imagery of his poetry, his relational

imagery reveal a man overflowing with sensuality and delight! he is selling us on nothing less than Divine

Eros and as Hardy says: "in the light of this erotic love challenges today's Christian to embrace a lifestyle

that risks all for the sake of all."

the apophatic-kataphatic remains in a highly creative tension with Juan and gets resolved, not by emphasis

on one mode versus the other, but rather by a rhythmicity, by Juan's recognition of God's every "spiration"

and by Juan's "re"-spiring in accordance with same. Juan does NOT move us away from sensory delight but

devotion. it is reminiscent of the early Tony de Mello who would have us not cling to a note, not because

the note is not beautiful, but so we would not miss the symphony. the early-Tony bids us "Wake Up!" and

take it all in. the later-Tony did articulate a radical apophaticism which is, to me, at the least, an

impoverished formative spirituality.

perhaps my studies of neurological and biological circadian rhythms biased or sensitized me to paschal

rhythmicities, liturgical seasonalities, liturgical rhythms of the day and night, and finally to resolve

apophatic-kataphatic tensions rhythmically, cyclically.

camp and positiva sans negativa is equally high on the occidental side of the mountain.

Thomas Keating on aprophatic/kataphatic contemplation -

a misleading distinction suggesting opposition between the two, in fact, a proper preparation of the faculties

(kataphatic practice) leads to apophatic contemplation, which in turn is sustained through appropriate

kataphatic practices.

*** Thomas Keating; Open Heart, Open Mind.

I guess i burned a lot of bandwidth to suggest that there are "onenesses" and there is the ONENESS. people

from manifold religions, traditions, paths can and do experience both on their earthly sojourns.

my discernment, in the final analysis, is that when one is desiring or yearning or panting or longing or

aching or wounded or in the desert or in dryness or in desolation or in aridity or in the dark night, and there

experiences

a "luminosity of the will" which sees clearly a path of love through the dark,

a "steadfastness of the heart" which follows steps in the sand after that lover Who has trod unseen beyond

the many dunes ahead, and

a kenosis, but not of those Godly attributes which Jesus didn't cling to, but rather an emptying of,or a

fasting from, the appetites to acquire those attributes (which are not our inheritance in the first place), then

they will know that all shall be well.

Are you desiring or yearning or panting or longing or aching or wounded or in the desert or in dryness or in

desolation or in aridity or in the dark night but passionately committed to Truth, Beauty, Justice and Love,

with them as friends= philia? because of storge = your connaturality with them?

Are you unswervingly dedicated to these paths because they are their own rewards?

Then I would say you have an agapic love for God.

Hang on and the day will come when you will desire to desire, yearn to yearn, long to long, will ache

bittersweetly, will drink of the dryness and will experience the aridity as Presence. Then you will have an

erotic love for God, too.

You will know that this Lover is desiring you. She is yearning and longing for you, no less than you for

Her. You have been transformed from image to a greater likeness because you will be experiencing within

you God's very experience of and toward you! You wanted to be like God?!? Well that is how He feels

toward you! deep desire! endless longing! boundless yearning!

When you realize this, you will be brought to the heights! you will have ascended Mt Carmel by

descending to the depths! you will have entered a horizonless, beatific expanse having gone deep within

your own interior mansions!

I'd say that in many respects, our storge and philia of God are our natural endowments, our humanity, our

image, our connaturality and that agape and eros of God (and Hers toward us) are our supernatural

endowments, our deification, our likeness, our transformation.

inauthentic paths perhaps place eros in front of agape. this is a perilous path in human relationships as it is,

however much western civilization has idolized romantic love. God will not let us suffer that peril with Her

and so agape without eros comes first, that is to say the aridity, the darkness.

lo and behold, we pursue agape and eros ensues and you will know this when the darkness becomes a

luminosity of numinosity, the dryness becomes a fountain of charity, the longing becomes fulfillment, the

desert an oasis of purified love.

there is no temptation to "throw in the towel" or to give up searching for this Lover. the darkness is

limerance. the dryness is infatuation. in their perfection they are transformed into a Divine "Glandular"

Chemistry of rarified eros, far removed from the pre-pubescent or adolescent hormonally-driven selfish

energy.

in reflecting on aridity or darkness or the metaphor du jour within the context of our agapic and erotic love

for God

i thought of how, in our human loves, we typically pursue eros then agape ensues or the relationship dies; i

recall how when we experience the raging hormones, the glandular chemistry, the limerance, the

infatuation, we don't want the eros to end, as it surely will in many respects. it is a type of yearning that has

been called "falling in love with love" and we have observed this addictive cycle of euphoric recall.

i then thought of how, in our love for God, we eventually must pursue agape and have eros ensue (not that

we don't try the other way around) and how the relationship perdures in this "approach". occasionally we

hear anecdotes of married lovers having started out as friends prior to falling in love and how such

relationships seem superior in many aspects.

and you will recall this from earlier:

well the yearning and longing and pining away for God does not end after we are wounded. people talk

about what a curse it would be to stay in limerance or infatuation throughout the course of any human

relationship. well i've got good news and i've got bad news.

the bad news: our erotic love for God that ensues in the wake of our agapic love persists; this insistent

longing, this yearning, this aching and wounded heart, remains a "curse" of the beloved as this eros

endures.

the good news: this curse transforms to blessing and the eros perdures, the yearning never ends, the longing

goes on and on. now think about it. do you *really* want this "falling in love with Love" to end?

this, in fact, is what it is all about Alfie!

befriending desires, welcoming darkness, drinking from a dry well, are all about eros staying with you in

your love relationship.

it is delightfully wounding. it's the driest but the most delectable vintage. it is perpetual orgasmic energy on

the brink, never post-climactically spent. it is a forever-parched thirst unquenchable in the pouring rain. it is

a beauty ever-revealing, neither timid nor coy, but never exposed from all vantage points. it is an expanding

horizon ever receding. it is an appetite ever-tasting morsels, but never satiated. do you *really* want this to

end? this is what calls you forth, sends you where you'd not otherwise go.

anyway, give some thought to this because it may be that, as dark nights go, the only difference between a

twilight and a dawn might be a hermeneutic of your own making, might come about from facing west and

not east. your desire to have God's hermeneutics is the beginning of His work in you and, at that stage of a

true dark night (one not due to mere backsliding), other than pure desire on your part, the rest of the work is

His. i just offer these ideas as a way to companion with you while you wait (for what could be a very long

time).

And so our truth-seekers will continue their discourse and

analyses; our justice-seekers will continue their advocacies; our

love-complements will build vibrant communities and continue to

serve. What I wish to advocate, here, though, is the notion that

we need to better nurture both the individual and collective

application of our intuitive faculties, especially in our western

spiritualities. Tony deMello spent his life teaching the

importance of awareness versus analysis, of insight versus

information, perhaps patterned after the founder of his order,

St. Ignatius, who emphasized the need to "taste" the truth versus

merely "knowing" the truth. Oliver Sacks' book and movie,

"Awakenings", describes how brain-damaged individuals can be

roused out of stupor by music and art when nothing else can reach

them. None of this is to denigrate the other modes of

contribution. It is offerred as an affirmation of what has been

too often neglected, of what we might more often be about in

spiritual direction.

And so, perhaps a different experience of the mystery of God is

in store for the asking. Our growth in freedom, in love ...in

awareness via all faculties ...may ensue.