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IN THE WRITINGS OF JOHN OF THE CROSS,
Emmanuel J. Sullivan, O.C.D.
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IN JOHN OF THE CROSS,
Richard P. Hardy, Ph.D.
Claretian Father John M. Lozano is professor of spirituality at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, IL, and the author of numerous books and articles, including Grace and Brokenness in God's Country: An Exploration of American Catholic Spirituality (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1991) .
One of the many things that intrigue me in reading Saint John of the Cross is the way he interprets the demands that the following of Christ places on believers. His interpretation has drawn my attention for two main reasons: first, because the Saint's use of the Gospel sayings on discipleship shows how basic the idea was for him; and second, because his understanding of these texts constitutes an original contribution to a long and rich herme neutic tradition.
In this essay, I will attempt to sketch the history and interpretation of these texts, to analy ze the Saint's contribution to this history and to examine the role discipleship plays in his spiritual doctrine.
DISCIPLESHIP SAYINGS IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH
What it means to be a disciple of Jesus was one of the most pressing questions in the apo stolic church. Obviously the answer to this question took on different nuances in the vario us traditions.
Even so, discipleship total adherence to Jesus and communion with him was the key con cept shared by the different apostolic communities in order to describe what we would refer to today as Christian identity. Of course, discipleship is a modern, abstract term not found as such in Hebrew, Aramaic or even biblical Greek; the early church instead spoke more concretely of "going after" Christ (Aramaic) or of "following" him (Greek).
The synoptic tradition of Matthew, Mark and Luke, and, in a different way, the Johannine writings, began early on to create a paradigm of discipleship. The stories of calling disci ples (e.g., the first four, Levi, the rich young man) were reinterpreted through a process of growing idealization and radicalization in order to make Peter and the other disciples a pattern and source of inspiration for Christian believers.
But even before the Gospels began to take definitive written shape, oral tradition had been transmitting a series of sayings attributed to Jesus, dealing with what was to be expected of his followers. These sayings originally referred to men and women who might want to become Jesus' followers. To be a companion or disciple of Jesus meant basically to share his faith and hope in the inbreaking grace of God's reign. For those closest to Jesus, it meant forming with him a small eschatological community (a community created by hope in the coming reign of God) and sharing in his ministry of proclamation and healing.
After Jesus was crucified and raised up, those who had known him personally began re peating certain sayings that emphasized the demands discipleship placed on those who accepted the Christian call to faith and repentance. Even at this second stage, discipleship was essentially a matter of faith/hope. But the early group had now become the church, and ministry had come to mean a proclamation in the name of the glorified Jesus.
The sayings on discipleship were so important to the early Christian communities that they were carefully kept in the various traditions. One block of them was transmitted by Mark (8:34-38), followed by Matthew (16:24-26) and, in a fuller form, by Luke (9:23-26). Befo re Jesus' passion, the first verse of this block, "If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let [him or her] take up the cross and follow me," may have been understood in the sense of "let him/her be ready to face the tragic destiny that hangs over everyone who is suspec ted of rebellion." After Jesus' death, the saying took on a deeper meaning: "let him/her be ready to share the cross of Jesus." This saying was so memorable, even shocking, that the source common to Matthew and Luke (the "Q" source) had it too (Mt 10:38, Lk 14:27), and so Matthew and Luke repeat it twice.
The group of sayings, or logia, underlying the source common to Matthew and Luke insi sted particularly on the hardships of discipleship. Matthew and Luke have two further lo gia, one on the uprootedness of Jesus ("The Son of man has nowhere to lay his head" Mt 8:20, Lk 9:58), a condition to be shared by his disciples, and the other on the need to transcend family ties ("Let the dead bury their dead" Mt 8:21, Lk 9:60), to which Luke adds a more sweeping and general saying on the determination one must have in saying yes to the Gospel ("Whoever sets hand to the plough and looks back..." Lk 9:62).
Finally, Luke seems to have added another saying in the form of a conclusion: "So, those who do not renounce all their possessions cannot be my disciples" (Lk 14:33). Although this formulation is probably Luke's own, its content is already found implicitly in the call stories, and more explicitly in the call of the rich young man (see Mt 19:21 and parallels).
RENUNCIATION
According to these Gospel texts, while discipleship essentially consists of following Jesus (adhering to his message, sharing in his faith), it also demands a strong renunciation as a precondition. One must be ready to lose one's life, to go beyond family bonds and to be free of any enslavement occasioned by material concerns.
The renunciation Jesus demanded was not merely material. He did not expect Peter to di vorce his wife; in fact, Jesus seems to have been a visitor in their household (Mk 1:28-31 and parallels). He did not expect them materially to abandon all their possessions; after "leaving their nets and boats" (Mk 1:18-20 and parallels), the disciples returned to them later. Leaving possessions and breaking family ties meant setting one's heart so firmly on God's reign that neither wealth nor family would stop one from being faithful to it.
It was simply a new interpretation of the first and greatest commandment: to love God with one's whole heart, soul and strength (Lv 6:4-5). In its negative form, this command ment did not forbid disciples to love God's creation; rather, it forbade them to set any creature ahead of God, thus making an idol of it. In Jesus' teaching, this commandment took on an eschatological interpretation (to love the God who is definitively coming to save us) and a Christian nuance (to follow Jesus and be with Jesus). Neither the great commandment nor Jesus' invitation to follow him imposed any specifically ascetical re nunciation. Jesus was talking about the spiritual freedom necessary for accepting God's reign. This may have been the original meaning of the story of the rich young man, a story that was elaborated several times, as can be seen in the different versions in each of the synoptic Gospels.
LASTING IMPACT
Christians have always been keenly aware of the importance of these Gospel passages. The stories of the call of the disciples and the sayings on the cost of discipleship have been reread constantly, with a view to adapting them to changing historical circumstances.
In the early church they were applied to the martyrs. After the first disciples, the martyrs became the prototypes of radical discipleship. Martyrs were those whose hearts were so firmly set on God's grace that they lost not only their possessions (which were confisca ted) and their families (many of whom turned against them), but their very lives for its sake. Origen, in his Exhortation to Martyrdom (12, 14 and 37: PG 11: 557-580, 581 and 613), reverts three times to the Gospel sayings on discipleship in order to encourage Chri stians to die for their faith.1 He quotes Mt 16:24-27 ("taking up the cross"; "being ready to lose one's life"; "what will it profit anyone to gain the whole world?"). He also recalls Peter's question in Mt 19:27 ("We have left everything to follow you. What can we ex pect?"), Lk 14:26 ("Anyone who does not hate father and mother ") and Jn 12:25 ("Anyo ne who loves [his or her] life will lose it, while anyone who hates [his or her] life in this world will keep it for life eternal").
With the end of the era of the martyrs, the same Gospel texts were crucial in raising up the monastic calling in the church. The stories and sayings on the call and cost of disci pleship were cited by Athanasius, Jerome and others to explain the meaning of the solitary life. The Pachomian writer Theodore (in Egypt) and the author of the Rule of the Master (in Italy) allude to these Gospel passages in explaining the renunciation that is basic to the cenobitic life. The discipleship sayings, to which the mission charge and rule were added, enjoyed great popularity among the poverty movements of the twelfth century, forming the very core of Francis's Rule and strongly influencing the Dominicans. They reappear in the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and afterward in other modern texts.2
Hence monks, nuns and successive groups of women and men religious have drawn their inspiration from the Gospel texts on discipleship. As martyrs exemplified discipleship by dying for Christ, religious embodied it by publicly committing their life to God's service and renouncing family and possessions. In both cases, the material renunciations to which they felt called by the Spirit are a concrete expression of setting one's heart on God's reign and thereby receiving total spiritual freedom, which is the very core of discipleship in the New Testament.
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS
Saint John of the Cross also considers the Gospel sayings on discipleship as basic to an understanding of the meaning of Christian existence. This is not to say that he quotes them very often, but he does allude to them several times. In his works, there are 17 references to the poor in spirit (19 if we include Mt 5:3) compared to 10 Gospel texts on discipleship (11 if Mt 5:3 is included). Hence the significance of these references lies not so much in their quantity as in their quality: Saint John of the Cross quotes these texts precisely in dealing with subjects that constitute fundamental tenets of his spiritual doctrine. In fact, discipleship is the one basic idea underlying his teaching on a person's attitude in journey ing toward the goal of union with God. And for that very reason the sayings on the de mands imposed on Christians by their call to follow Jesus come readily to his mind.
He expressly quotes Mk 8:34-35 on taking up one's cross and losing one's life (A, 2, 7, 10), Mt 10:36 on one's family being one's enemies (N, 2, 14, 1; 16, 12), Mt 16:24 on de nying oneself (A, 3, 23, 2), Mt 16:25 and Lk 9:24 on losing one's life (A, 2, 7, 6). He twice cites the question of Mt 16:25 on what it profits to gain the whole world and lose one's soul (A, 3, 18, 3 and Sayings of Light and Love, 79). He cites two Matthean texts only once: Mt 19:21 on selling all and following Christ (Sayings, 165); and Mt 19:23 (or rather, its parallel, Lk 18:21) on how hard it will be for the rich to enter heaven (A, 3, 18, 1). In contrast, he cites one Lukan text four times: Lk 14:33 on the impossibility of beco ming a disciple unless one renounces all possessions (A, 1, 5, 2; 2, 6, 4; 3, 7, 2; F, 3, 46).
The reader will have noticed that most of the quotes and allusions occur in the Ascent of Mount Carmel (11), followed by the Dark Night (3). The reason for this is clear: both the Ascent and the Night explain the need for total purification, and hence, for the denial of everything in order to be readied for union with God. The Ascent deals precisely with acti ve purification, i.e., what Christians carry out actively with the help of God's grace; the Night describes the various levels of God's own purifying action on the soul. It is therefo re only natural for the Saint to turn especially to the Gospel texts on renunciation in these two works or rather in these two parts of one work but with greater reason in the first part, the Ascent. Saint John's Sayings of Light and Love and his Counsels often move within the same perspective. In them, too, the Mystical Doctor twice recalls the Gospel texts on discipleship.
We should also point out that, among all these texts on discipleship, John of the Cross shows a special predilection for two. First, there is the radical statement of Lk 14:33 on the absolute need to give up everything if one wants to become Jesus' disciple. As we noted above, John cites this text four times. The Saint's own radical teaching on denial harmonizes perfectly with Luke's insistence on leaving everything behind. In both cases we have two witnesses to a Christian experience strongly emphasizing the need for radical discipleship. Our Saint reads the same idea in Mt 19:21 ("Go sell all you own...") and in Mt 19:21 ("How hard it is for the rich..."). Each of the latter sayings is quoted only once. In all, then, we have six passages in which Saint John focuses on three Gospel texts stres sing the need to renounce all possessions.
Second, there is the saying on those who would save their life and thus lose it, as opposed to those who lose their life for Jesus' sake and thus save it. This saying is found in two Gospel traditions: in the material common to Mt 16:25 and Lk 9:24, and in the distinctive formulation found in Mk 8:35. This statement is cited a total of four times by John. In three instances (A, 2, 7, 6; N, 1, 7, 3; C, 29, 11), the Matthean/Lukan addition "for the sake of the gospel" is missing. Only in one instance A, 2, 7, 4) does John refer expressly to the Markan version. We should also note that Saint John of the Cross discovers the sa me basic meaning in Jn 12:25: "Those who hate their life in this world keep it for life eternal" (A, 2, 7, 6). In support of this he twice recalls the "what does it profit if one gains the whole world" of Mt 16:26/Lk 9:25 (A, 3, 18, 3; Sayings of Light and Love, 79).
The conclusion to be drawn from an examination of these texts is obvious. Most of them revolve around two concepts: the need for total renunciation, and the axiom that we keep our life by losing it for Christ. Saint John of the Cross has a special fondness for these two ideas.
GIVING UP ALL THAT IS NOT GOD
Let us now examine how Saint John of the Cross interprets Jesus' sayings on giving up possessions. We have seen that his favorite text on the subject is Lk 14:33, the most radi cal statement in the Gospels concerning the renunciation of riches, and one that Luke him self probably developed as a kind of general conclusion: "You cannot be my disciples un less you part with everything you possess."
We find this text for the first time in the first book of the Ascent, where John is explai ning the need to mortify the appetites in order to reach union with God:
People, indeed, are ignorant who think it is possible to reach this high state of union with God without first emptying their appetite of all the natural and supernatural things that can be a hindrance to them . Instructing us about this way, our Lord stated according to St, Luke: Qui non renuntiat omnibus quae possidet, non potest meus esse discipulus (Whoever does not renounce all that the will possesses cannot be my disciple) . (A, 1, 5, 2)
In scholastic philosophy, in which John had been well educated, the "appetite" (appetitus) means the self as inclined toward whatever appears good and desirable to it.
"Charity, too," he writes elsewhere, "causes a void in the will regarding all things, since it obliges us to love God above everything. We have to withdraw our affection from all in order to center it wholly in God. Christ says through Saint Luke: Whoever does not re nounce all that the will possesses cannot be my disciple " (A, 2, 6, 4). In another text he states that a person should never strive to fix in his or her memory the images, ideas and feelings summoned up by extraordinary experiences such as visions, or dwell on them, but should remain detached from them and oriented toward God in pure hope, "for whoever does not renounce all possessions cannot be Christ's disciple" (A, 3, 7, 2). According to the last passage in which the Lukan clause appears, Saint John holds that:
The soul [must] not be tied to any particular knowledge, earthly or heavenly, or to any covetousness for some satisfaction or pleasure, or to any other apprehension; in such a way that it may be empty through the pure negation of every creature, and placed in spiri tual poverty. This is what the soul must do of itself, as the Son of God counsels: Whoever does not renounce all possessions cannot be my disciple [Lk 14:33]. (F, 3, 46)
Neither should one rejoice in temporal goods (wealth, status, position, family, etc.), since one may very easily "become attached to them" and fail God.
This is why the Lord in the Gospel calls them thorns; the one who willfully handle them shall be wounded with some sin [Mt 13:22, Lk 8:14]. In St. Luke's Gospel the exclama tion which ought to be greatly feared asserts: How difficult will it be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of heaven (those who have joy in them), and demonstrates clearly a person's obligation not to rejoice in riches, since one is thereby exposed to so much danger [Lk 18:24]. (A, 3, 18, 1)
RENUNCIATION
The idea of renunciation implicit in these passages and others in the writings of Saint John of the Cross is very precise, both regarding the objects we must renounce and the way in which we must renounce them.
Total renunciation First, as to the objects we must renounce, John is most explicit: we must give up everything that is not God.
He says that we must empty our appetite of all natural and supernatural things that can be a hindrance to union with God (A, 1, 5, 2). The meaning is not that some creatures may be an impediment while others may not; any attachment to any creature will constitute a hindrance, since we tend to become attached to any created thing that has the appearance of good. We must therefore read him to mean that, to the extent that anything may be an impediment to union with God, "we must withdraw our affection" from it in order to love God above all (A, 2, 6, 4). We must be empty through the pure negation of every creature (F, 3, 46). In the third book of the Ascent, from chapter 17 to the end, John lists all the goods we must renounce by not fixing our joy in them. They are of all kinds: temporal (riches, status, family), sensory (including artistic objects aimed at stirring our devotion, such as liturgies, sermons, paintings, churches), and even supernatural goods (such as spe cial charisms). In earlier chapters of the same work he tells us that we must not desire or place our joy in supernatural experiences, such as words, visions and revelations. In fact, in book 3, chapter 2 of the Ascent, this general principle is applied to all concrete images, particular ideas or feelings that may have been evoked by extraordinary spiritual experien ces, such as visions, voices and revelations (A, 3, 7, 2).
What is left, then, that we may rightly desire and rightly rejoice in possessing? We know the answer already: God alone.
How to renounce all things From the passages we have quoted, it is abundantly clear how Saint John of the Cross understands the total renunciation of all creatures. We must "emp ty the appetite of all" (A, 5, 2). We must "withdraw our affection from all" (A, 2, 6, 4). We must "not be tied" to any spiritual experience (F, 3, 46). It is dangerous to handle ri ches "with our will"; in other words, to place our joy in them.
Very clearly, Saint John is not just preaching a kind of material renunciation. He does not expect people materially to renounce all riches, nor does he restrict union with God to members of religious institutes. Some of his directees were in fact well-to-do laywomen. He does not intend people to close their ears to beautiful music or their eyes to beautiful paintings or sculptures. In fact, he himself was endowed with an exquisite artistic sensibili ty. Today he is ranked among the greatest classic poets in Spanish literature, and he used his poems and masterly prose to raise his own heart and the hearts of others to God. He drew a famous image of the crucified Christ leaning over the world (the inspiration for Salvador Dali's well-known re-creation), and loved to carve crucifixes. John does not me an to condemn religious statues or paintings, but rather the "great attachment" that some pious people have to such objects (A, 3, 35, 4; 36, 1). Still less does he expect mystics to reject their spiritual experiences (these are, after all, God's gifts), if for no other reason than that, at least in the deepest and strongest experiences, there is nothing one can do about them.
What the Saint constantly emphasizes is detachment of the heart. As he sees it, the pro blem lies in the fact that we may easily stop at some created good and become attached to it. If this happens, any creature can take the place of God and become an idol. To put it in a sharper and more positive way: Saint John of the Cross insists on the need for the grea test spiritual freedom.
Spiritual freedom is precisely what he expects of someone who is having spiritual expe riences in prayer. Here he is far more insistent, and for two solid reasons. First, while an attachment to material riches or social status can be easily perceived as a danger, spiritual greed can often go undetected. People may treasure their spiritual experiences to the point of fixing their hearts on them. Are they not, after all, rejoicing in God's gifts? Yes, but they may end up loving the gifts of God, instead of looking first to God, the giver. This is a very important point for spiritual direction. Many visionaries have become obsessed with their visions or inner words, constantly reverting to them, speaking or writing about them, recreating them. They succumb to an unhealthy self-centeredness. Genuine mystics, on the contrary, though grateful to God for the gifts they receive, continue their search for the invisible God. Every experience leaves them hungrier for God. They fly beyond their ex periences.
Secondly, there is another, more profound reason for this greater stress on the need to be detached from spiritual experiences: all particular feelings, images and concepts of God are only finite reflections of the divinity, and if mystics remain attached to the experiences, they will close their spirit to the infinite, transcendent reality to which these experiences point. In this connection, John has some beautiful passages in which he recommends that those who would advance should abide in hope. While attachment to memories holds us anchored in the past, hope remaining in the expectation of God opens us to the God who is never fully attained in this life (A, 3, 2, 2; 3, 11, 1).
"LOSING ONE'S SOUL"
The second of the Gospel logia cherished by Saint John of the Cross is one of those few that were so important for the early disciples of Jesus that they have been preserved both in Mark and in the material common to Matthew and Luke (Mt 16:25 and Lk 9:24). In other words, it is one of those sayings on radical discipleship favored by the wandering preachers who seem to have been behind the material common to these two evangelists (the so-called "Q" source): "Those who would save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake will save it." In the second half of this saying, Mk 8:35 has: "Those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel will save it."
We have seen that this Gospel text is explicitly cited four times by Saint John of the Cross, three of them in the Matthean/Lukan version (A, 2, 7, 6; N, 1, 7, 3; C, 29, 11) and one in the Markan version (A, 2, 7, 4). We also saw that the Saint discovers the same ba sic meaning in John 12:25, about "hating one's soul." In the passage citing the Markan version (A, 2, 7, 4), John begins with Mk 8:34 on denying oneself, taking up the cross and following Jesus (which is common to all three synoptics). An allusion to this part of the text occurs a little later (in A, 2, 7, 7).
According to these texts from the seventh chapter of the second book of the Ascent, "lo sing one's life" means denying oneself any desire for consolations or spiritual experiences in one's prayer life. Such a desire for consolations or experiences would be tantamount to seeking oneself in God, rather than searching for God alone. The interpretation offered in Night, 1, 7, 3 is very similar. In the preceding paragraph the Saint has warned the soul not to be looking for delights in prayer. But now he enlarges his consideration, elevating it to a level of a general principle: he finds it blameworthy to seek one's own satisfaction and not God's will. This can easily happen, especially with beginners who are not yet suffi ciently strengthened by love. "They measure God by themselves and not themselves by God, which is in opposition to his teaching in the Gospel that those who lose their life for his sake will gain it, and those who desire to gain it will lose it [Mt 16:25]." John repeats the same message in Canticle, 29, 11, when he states that one who walks in the love of God does not seek one's own gain or reward, but only to love all things and oneself for God. But it is in the immediately preceding passage (C, 29, 10) that Saint John of the Cross gives the best definition of what he understands by "losing oneself." The soul, he says, becomes "lost to herself by paying no attention to herself in anything, by concen trating on her Beloved and surrendering herself to him freely and disinterestedly, with no desire to gain anything for herself; [and] lost to all creatures, paying no heed to all her own affairs, but only to those of her Beloved."
The common element in these varied but overlapping interpretations is the idea of denying self for the sake of God. In fact, Saint John of the Cross quotes Mk 8:34-35, where taking up one's cross and losing one's life (or soul) are blended (A, 2, 7, 4). In Ascent, 3, 23, 2, he recalls the Matthean saying on self-denial (Mt 16:24) in order to make the point that no one should rejoice in his or her natural goods, "because those who pay some attention to themselves do not deny themselves or follow Christ."3
There is a common core to Saint John's reading of Lk 14:33, on total poverty, and that of the sayings on self-denial. Both insist on the need to transcend self, to go out of oneself, in order to meet God in the divine uniqueness and transcendence. This is precisely the role of all authentic love. The Greek/scholastic notion of benevolentia, disinterested love, as opposed to that of concupiscentia, self-centered love, seems to have been present in the Spanish master's mind in many of these passages. Love draws us out of ourselves in order to meet the other. And in this case, the other is the Absolute Other.
What is the ultimate thrust of these sayings on "losing one's life," on "denying oneself"? It is that this is the only way to find oneself. In any kind of love, after searching for the good of the other, lovers find themselves in their beloved. But this is all the more true of love for God, since God, far from annulling creatures, gives them their very being. In stan za 29 of the Canticle, the soul who had become lost in such a quest for her Beloved is in fact found.
SPIRITUAL POVERTY
To this process of going beyond everything in order to be united with God, the Carmelite mystic gives the name "spiritual poverty" or "poverty of spirit." Even a cursory reading of the Saint's writings reveals how frequently this expression appears, especially when taken together with such synonyms as "emptiness" (as in nada, cf. A, 1, 3, 2), "nakedness," "sel flessness," "spiritual purity" (desnudez, enajenacion, pureza espiritual, see A, 2, 7, 5; 24, 8), "dispossession" and "annihilation" or denial (desapropiada y anihilada, see A, 2, 7, 4). Indeed, these passages are so numerous that one would have to refer the reader to the Spa nish concordance of John's complete works.4
For John, spiritual poverty is the attitude or state of those who give themselves utterly to the search for God alone, heedless of all that is not God. As he sees it, a person poor in spirit is one who places all his/her hope in God. Anyone familiar with the biblical tradition of the anawim will see that Saint John of the Cross's interpretation of spiritual poverty is not far from it. According to the Mystical Doctor, it is to this state of concentration on God above oneself and all creatures that Jesus ascribes blessedness, when he says "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (A, 3, 29, 3; F, 3, 46).
This general concept of spiritual poverty takes on various nuances in different passages. In Flame , 3, 46, "poverty of spirit" is all-encompassing. It is "dispossession of all, corporal, temporal and spiritual." In Ascent, 3, 29, 3, the" poor in spirit" are those who do not re joice in their own good works. In a few passages, "spiritual denudation and poverty," or "emptiness, darkness, nakedness regarding all things and spiritual poverty" refer to detach ment from all spiritual experiences and being guided by pure faith (A, 2, 22, 17; 2, 24, 8; 3, 3, 1).
Sometimes "spiritual poverty" has a more concrete significance. In Ascent, 3, 39, 1, it re fers to detachment from oratories and churches. In Night, 1, 3, 1, it is opposed to treasu ring religious objects or rejoicing in spiritual conversations and books. Saint John lays such stress on detachment from religious places, objects and events because in those days it was quite fashionable for the Spanish gentry to boast about their spiritual directors, or to collect paintings, statues and relics in their private oratories, as if this meant that they were more spiritual than others. Now, although we're not so interested in collecting relics, we sometimes boast about our prayer meetings and show a certain amount of satisfaction in our own little accomplishments. We, too, may be more intent on our spirituality than on our quest for God.
Within the mystical horizons of the Canticle, the poor in spirit are Christians who are "stripped of all and possess God by a very intimate and special grace." In some cases "spi ritual poverty" designates a personal attitude, the attitude of those who, having been placed in passive contemplation, remain in passivity without trying to dwell on particular concepts or images. These Christians "live in pure nakedness and poverty of spirit" (A, 2, 15, 4; N, 2, 4, 1). We're dealing here with people who surrender to God's action. In still other pas sages, "spiritual poverty" is the state experienced by those who are passing through a puri fying night, in which God deprives them of discursive meditation, of particular ideas and of consolations (A, 2, 7, 5; N, 2, 8, 5; 2, 9, 4; Letters 11 & 19 [to Juana de Pedraza]).
DISCIPLESHIP
To explain why faithful Christians must renounce everything, deny themselves or even lose their very selves (in other words, why they must live in "spiritual poverty"), Saint John of the Cross offers three reasons, two of them from the Bible, the third from a centu ries-long theological tradition. We will simply summarize them here.
Beginning with the theological tradition of the via negationis, begun by Gregory of Nyssa and developed by Pseudo-Dionysius, Saint John insists overwhelmingly on the divine transcendence and uniqueness. This is why creatures can reach God spiritually only through darkness and emptiness. The metaphysics of divine transcendence stand out so clearly in the words of our Saint that it serves as the point of departure for a practical trea tise on how to ready oneself for the encounter with God: God is a dark night for us in this life (A, 2, 2, 1); the difference between ourselves and God is infinite (A, 2, 8); and we must walk toward God in the darkness of faith (A, 2, 9).
The first scriptural reason derives from the "first and greatest commandment": we must love God with all our heart, above all else. This is one of John's grand, recurring themes. "God allows nothing else to dwell together with him" (A, 1, 5, 8). However, no one should hastily judge this teaching to be strange or one-sided. Saint John describes the bond that closely binds love of God and love of neighbor (A, 3, 23, 1; N, 1, 3, 2), showing how our defects impede us from loving one another and how mystical purification increases our love for one another (A, 3, 25, 5; N, 1, 12, 8; 13, 8). The Saint himself shows a tremen dous love for all creation. He compares Christ with all that is bright and beautiful in this world: mountains, valleys, the song of the wind and even the far distant isles of the "brave new world" of America, with its exotic plants and animals (C, 14 & 15). John never con demns love for any creature, but only attachment to it which he views as bordering on idolatry. In this we can again detect the ring of the first commandment in its primitive form: "You shall not have other gods before me" (Ex 20:2).
The third reason is Jesus Christ and our call to follow him. In the mind and heart of John of the Cross, Christ is the door, the way, the means to union with God (A, 2, 7, 11-12;), and our model par excellence (A, 1, 13, 3-4; 2, 7, 8-9).
Here again we hear the echo of the sayings on the cost of discipleship: we must deny our very selves and follow Christ (A, 3, 23, 2). Poverty of spirit is Jesus' poverty, "the pure spiritual cross and nakedness of Christ's poverty of spirit" (A, 2, 7, 5). In refusing it, we become "enemies of the cross of Christ" (Phil 3:18, cited in A, 2, 7, 5). It is in Christ that the yoke of renunciation becomes light (Mt 11:30 as cited in A, 2, 7, 7).
In the body of John's works there are two special passages fundamental for understanding the central role of Christ in his theology and spirituality. The first is found in those theolo gically dense paragraphs in which he proves that we must not request new revelations, since God has already been fully revealed to us in Christ (A, 2, 22, 2-8; cf. Sayings, 100). The second comprises the two paragraphs in which he shows us how the life of Christians is patterned on Christ's life. Here he recalls another saying on discipleship: Christ had nowhere to lay His head (Mt 8:20, cited in A, 2, 7, 10). He led an uprooted life and died abandoned: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mt 27:46, cited in A, 2, 7, 11). It is for this reason that our journey consists "in the living death of the cross, sensory and spiritual, exterior and interior" (A, 2, 7, 11). In a letter to Fray Luis de San Angelo, he advised his former novice never to look for Christ without the Cross (Letter 24). Elsewhe re he writes: "If you desire to be perfect, sell your will , come to Christ , and follow him to Calvary and the sepulcher" (Sayings, 165). Mount Carmel and Mount Calvary are one and the same.
DISCIPLESHIP AND IMITATION
For Saint John of the Cross, Christ is certainly much more than a model. The "Son of God," as John likes to call him, is the mediator of God's revelation, the one in whom God's self-gift and self-disclosure have been offered to us in a total and definitive way, "once and for all" (Heb 1:1, cited in A, 2, 22). In the Canticle, Christ is the term of a pas sionate relationship of love and the immediate object of union.
Even so, when John speaks about following Christ, he basically means imitating him. In this he is the heir of a long tradition deriving from Saint Francis of Assisi on one hand, and Thomas à Kempis on the other: the imitation of Christ preceded by the contem plation of Christ (cf. A, 1, 13, 3; Sayings of Light and Love, Prologue) sums up ever ything we must do in order to reach union with God. "If like Moses [the soul] hides her self in the cavern of the rock (in real imitation of the perfect life of the Son of God, her Bridegroom), she will merit that, while he protects her with his right hand, God will show her his shoulders [Ex 33:22-23]" (C, 1, 10). Saint John of the Cross loves this passage from Exodus that he, following Saint Gregory of Nyssa, frequently uses in describing the mystics' vision of God (A, 2, 24, 3; F, 1, 27; 4, 12). Only in two places in the Canticle (1, 10 and 37, 3-5) does he give this passage a Christological interpretation. This exegesis, inspired by 1 Corinthians 10:4 ("and the rock was Christ"), appears for the first time in Saint Gregory of Nyssa,5 from whom Saint John appears to borrow it directly. The di stinctive contribution our Saint adds in Canticle, 1, 10 is his introduction of the notion of imitation.6
The imitation of Christ is therefore essential for him. But he gives it a very precise mea ning. "A person," he writes, "makes progress only by imitating Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one goes to the Father but through him, as he states himself in St. John [Jn 14:6]. Elsewhere He says: I am the door; anyone who enters by me will be saved [Jn 10:9]. Accordingly, I would not consider any spirituality worthwhile that wants to walk in sweetness and ease and run from the imitation of Christ" (A, 2, 7, 8). We are therefore not dealing here with the kind of moralistic and pietistic notion of imitation that was so prevalent during the past few centuries. For the great Spanish mystic, "imitation" means sharing in the basic attitude of Jesus: his faith/hope, and the generosity and freedom with which he sacrifices everything to it. The imitation of Christ that the Saint recommends is centered on embracing the denudation and poverty of spirit necessary for union with God (cf. also A, 2, 29, 9). To take up the cross and follow Christ is tantamount to suffering a death "patterned on Christ's, for he is our model and light" (A, 2, 7, 9). And the spiritual poverty that he considers a necessary condition to mystical experience is "Christ's poverty of spirit" (A, 2, 7, 5).
JOHN'S HERMENEUTICS
Discipleship, understood basically as imitation, remains one of the leading threads in the thought of Saint John of the Cross. To the best of my knowledge, few other spiritual ma sters have so often and so wholeheartedly insisted on it. This is why he returns to the Gos pel sayings on discipleship to prove the most important points of his teaching.
In doing so, he offers a particular interpretation of these sayings. For Origen, the martyrs followed Christ, giving up family, possessions and life itself by dying for their faith. In the history of religious life, beginning with the desert solitaries, one follows Christ, renouncing family and possessions through a public profession. For Saint John of the Cross, too, re nunciation is an essential preparatory step for following Christ. He often calls it "a death," but a death that is carried out throughout one's life. He thus brings renunciation into the whole area of spiritual life.
In his interpretation of the Gospel sayings on discipleship, Saint John of the Cross returns to their original meaning. He does this in three ways. First, in his works as in the Gospels, these sayings are not addressed to a privileged minority (martyrs or religious), but to all who are ready to accept Jesus' message. Second, in his works as in the Gospels, these say ings do not demand a merely material renunciation, but a radical disposition and orienta tion of spirit. Third, for John as well as for Jesus and the Gospels, the demands of disci pleship are based on the uniqueness of God before whom everything else disappears, and are an application of the first Commandment. In both cases, the eschatological orientation of human existence is partly visible.
The difference between the original context of the sayings (Jesus' own preaching) and the doctrinal context from which the Saint's interpretation emerges, is quite clear. For Jesus, it was a matter of an objective historical situation: since the "end" is near and God is going to intervene to save us, we must be ready to give up everything that may be an obstacle to our reception of God's definitive grace. Saint John of the Cross transfers these sayings to the horizons of a spiritual itinerary leading to union with God, horizons that would have been alien to the cultural world of Jesus. He was not the first to effect a transfer of this sort. Very close to him in time and in affection, Saint Teresa of Jesus had often recalled the story of the rich young man whom Jesus had called to follow Him (a story aimed at explaining the demand of discipleship) as a paradigm of our own indecision on our spiritu al way (see Interior Castle, 3, 1, 6).
Saint John of the Cross's treatment of these texts is at the same time a re-reading of the Scriptures and an application of the sayings on discipleship to a particular context. But this application is far from arbitrary. In telling us not to let anything place itself between us and God's reign, Saint John of the Cross discloses a statement concerning God's unique ness and absoluteness which is certainly at the very core of their meaning. Anything that stands below God appears in its full relativeness, and may well become an impediment if we allow ourselves to become attached to it.
NOTES
1. See Origen: An Exhortation to Martyrdom, Prayer, First Principles: Book IV; Prologue to the Commentary on the Song of Songs, Homily XXVII on Numbers, trans. Rowan A. Greer (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1979), 49, 51, 68-69.
2. Cf J. M. Lozano, Discipleship: Toward an Understanding of Religious Life (Chicago: CCRS, 1983), 2-5.
3. It should be noted that in the passage just quoted from the Canticle, the Saint puts the idea of self-denial common to Mk 8:34 and Mt 16:24/Lk 9:23 together with that of dive sting oneself of everything (Lk 14:33), although he does not cite the last-mentioned saying expressly. As we have seen, he does expressly cite Mt 16:24 in A, 3, 23, 3.
4. See Concordancias de los Escritos de San Juan de la Cruz, ed. Juan Luis Astigarraga, Agusti Borrell and F. Javier Martin de Lucas (Rome: Teresianum, 1990).
5. Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses, nn. 245-248 (New York: Paulist, 1978), 118.
6. Saint John of the Cross also cites the Song of Songs 2:14 ("my dove in the clefts of the rock") with the same Christological interpretation, based again on 1 Corinthians 10:4 (C, 36, 2-3). Gregory of Granada (Illiberis) was the first to do so in the West. Shortly thereaf ter, Justus of Urgell saw in these clefts or caverns the wounds of Christ. He was followed by Saint Bede and by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who in turn inspired Saint Gertrude of Helfta.