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St. John of the Cross directs us to the contemplative knowing of the Godhead and how our soul prepares for the inner working only the Divine can work within and by Grace:
God, like the sun, stands above souls ready to communicate himself. Let directors be content with disposing them for this according to evangelical perfection, which lies in nakedness and emptiness of sense and spirit; and let them not desire to go any further than this in building, since that function belongs only to the Father of lights from whom descends every good and perfect gift [Jas. 1:17]. If the Lord, as David says, does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor [Ps. 127:1]. ... The natural operations and affections at this time impede rather than help. It is your duty [spiritual director] to prepare the soul, and God's office, as the Wise Man says, is to direct its path [Prv. 16:9], that is, toward supernatural goods, through modes and ways understandable to neither you nor the soul.
Do not say, therefore: "The soul does not advance, because it is not doing anything." For if it is true that it is not doing anything, I will prove to you that it is accomplishing a great deal by doing nothing. If the intellect empties itself of particular knowledge, natural or spiritual, it advances; and the freer it becomes of particular knowledge and acts of understanding, the further it advances in its journey toward the supreme, supernatural Good.
*The Living Flame of Love. Trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez. Rev. Ed.
Spiritual Exercise
Breath prayer ...
Breathing in: God, You
Breathing out: I Desire
Breathing in: Give Yourself
Breathing out: Thank You (smile)
See any major on-line bookseller for his book An Ache for Union.
For replies and biographical information, and submission to "The Light Shines" daily devotionals ~ a ministry of Christ Community United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, FL, see next page:
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