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Letters 1-9

[To Catalina de Jesús, discalced Carmelite

Baeza, July 6, 1581]

Jesus be in your soul, my daughter Catalina.1

Although I don't know where you are, I want to write these lines trusting that our Madre2 will send them on to you if you are not with her. And if it is so - that you are not with her - be consoled with the thought that you are not as abandoned and alone as I am down here. For after that whale swallowed me up and vomited me out on this alien port, I have never merited to see her again or the saints up there.3 God has done well, for, after all, abandonment is a steel file and the endurance of darkness leads to great light. May it please God that we do not walk in darkness!

Oh, how many things I should like to say! But I am writing this very much in the dark as to whether you will receive it or not. So, I'll stop here without finishing.

Commend me to God. I do not want to say any more about matters down here, for I have no desire to do so.

From Baeza, July 6, 1581.

Your servant in Christ,

Fray John of the Cross

Address: for Sister Catalina de Jesús, discalced Carmelite, wherever she may be.

-=O=-

[To María de Soto, in Baeza

Granada, March 1582]4

Jesus be in your soul, my daughter in Christ.

I received your letter, which was an act of charity toward me, and I would very much like to comply with what you ask of me in it and thereby please you and your sisters.5 But since God ordains things differently from what we may have in mind, we must conform ourselves to his will.

They have made me prior of this house in Granada; and it is a place very apt for the service of God. His Majesty does everything for the best. Would that you with your sisters lived here so that I could then in so me way make you happy. I trust in God that he will give you great happiness.

Be careful that you do not stop going to confession; and tell the same to your sisters. May you all recom mend me to God, for I will never forget to do so for you.

Don't fail to have recourse to Father Fray Juan,6 however tired he may be. Remain with God, and may His Majesty give you his Holy Spirit.

From Los Santos Mártires in Granada, March 1582

Your servant in Christ

Fray John of the Cross

-=O=-

[To Madre Ana de San Alberto, prioress of Caravaca7

Granada, 1582]

...since you say nothing to me, I tell you not to be foolish and not to walk with fears that intimidate your soul. Return to God what he has given you and gives you each day. It seems you want to measure God by the measure of your own capacity, but it will not be so. Prepare yourself, for God desires to grant you a great favor.

-=O=-

[To the same Ana de San Alberto

Granada, 1582]

...How long, daughter, do you think you will be carried in the arms of others? Now I desire to see you so greatly despoiled of and detached from creatures that all hell would not be enough to disturb you. What te ars are these, so trifling, that you are shedding these days? How much good time do you think you have lost with these scruples? Should you desire to let me know of your trials, go to that Spotless Mirror of the Eternal Father [Wis. 7:26], that is, His Son, for there I see your soul every day, and doubtless you will be consoled and not find it necessary to beg at the doors of poor people.

-=O=-

[To Madre Ana de San Alberto, prioress of Caravaca

Sevilla, June 1586]8

Jesus be in your soul.

At the time I left Granada for the foundation in Córdoba, I wrote to you in haste. And afterward, while in Córdoba, I received your letters and those of the gentlemen who were going to Madrid and who must have thought they would meet me while I was at the meeting of definitors. But you know this meeting never took place because we were waiting for the completion of these foundations and visitations. The Lord gives us so much to do these days that we can hardly keep up with it all. The foundation for the friars in Córdoba was completed with greater applause and solemnity throughout the entire city than was ever given there to any other religious order. All the clergy and confraternities of Córdoba gathered, and the Most Blessed Sacrament was brought with great solemnity from the Cathedral. All the streets were beautiful ly decorated, and the people acted as though it were the feast of Corpus Christi. This took place on the Sunday after Ascension Thursday. The Bishop came and preached, praising us highly. The house is situa ted in the best district of the city, in the neighborhood of the Cathedral.

I am now in Sevilla for the transference of our nuns, who have bought some very fine houses. Although the houses cost around 14,000 ducats, they are worth more than 20,000. The nuns are now settled in them, and on the feast of St. Barnabas, the Cardinal will reserve the Most Blessed Sacrament with great solemni ty. I intend to leave another monastery of friars here before departing, so there will then be two monasteries of friars here in Sevilla. Between now and the feast of St. John I shall depart for Ecija, where with God's help, we shall make another foundation, then to Málaga, and from there to the definitory meeting.

Would that I had the commission for this foundation as I have had for the others and could avoid these ma ny delays. But I hope in God that it will be accomplished, and in the meeting I will do all I can. Tell this to these gentlemen to whom I am writing.

I am sorry you did not immediately sign the deed regarding the matter with the Fathers of the Society, for from what I observe they are not people who keep to their word. Thus I think they will not only deviate partly but, if the matter is deferred and if it is expedient for them, they will turn back completely. Hence take care ful note of what I say: Without mentioning anything to them or to anyone, discuss with Señor Gonzalo Muñoz the purchase of the other house in that other locale, and sign the deed. For since they see that they have you by the hook, they are in no hurry. It matters little if afterward it be known that we bought only with the intention of being freed from our annoyance. Thus they will agree without so much breaking of he ads, and we will even oblige them to agree to whatever we desire. Tell this to only a few, and do it, for so metimes you cannot surmount one ruse without using another.9

I should like you to send me the small book of the Canticles of the Bride, for surely by now Sister Francisca de la Madre de Dios is finished copying them.10

This definitory meeting is being greatly delayed, and I am sorry on account of my desire that Doña Cata lina enter, for I want to give...11

From Seville, June, 1586.

Dear Daughter in Christ.

Your Servant

Fray John of the Cross

Be sure to give my heartiest greetings to Señor Gonzalo Muñoz. I am not writing to His Honor becau se I do not want to tire him and because Your Reverence can tell him what I have said here.

-=O=-

[To a discalced Carmelite nun12

en route from Granada to Madrid, August 1586]

...Daughter, those who are strong soldiers God will try in dryness and emptiness concerning all things so they might be victorious in battle, for they know how to drink water from their hands while standing - not bending over to the ground. They are like the soldiers of Gideon who conquered through the dry clay jars that had lighted candles within [Jgs. 7:5-7, 16-23]. The jars signify the dryness of sense; and within, the good and enkindled spirit.

-=O=-

[To the discalced Carmelite nuns of Beas

Málaga, November 18, 1586]13

Jesus be in your souls, my daughters.

Do you think that, since you see me so silent, I have lost sight of you and have ceased considering how with great ease you can become saints and walk in the joy of your beloved Bridegroom with great delight and sure protection? I am coming to Beas, and you will see how I have not forgotten. And we shall see the riches gained in pure love and in the paths of eternal life and the beautiful steps you are making in Christ, whose brides are his delight and crown. It is unworthy of the crown that it roll along the ground, for it should be taken in the hands of the angels and seraphim and placed with reverence and esteem on the head of its Lord.

When the heart walks along the ground among base things, the crown rolls and is kicked by every base thing. But when a person attains to a lofty heart, as David says, then God is exalted [Ps. 64:7-8] with the crown of his bride's lofty heart, with which they crowned him on the day of the joy of his heart [Sg. 3:11], that day in which his delights were to be with the children of the earth [Prv. 8:31]. These waters of inward delights do not spring from the earth. One must open toward heaven the mouth of desire, empty of all other fullness, that thus it may not be reduced or restricted by some mouthful of another pleasure, but truly empty and open toward him who says: Open your mouth wide and I will fill it [Ps. 81:11].

Accordingly, those who seek satisfaction in something no longer keep themselves empty that God might fill them with his ineffable delight. And thus just as they go to God so do they return, for their hands are en cumbered and cannot receive what God is giving. May God deliver us from these evil obstacles that hinder such sweet and delightful freedom.

Serve God, my beloved daughters in Christ, following in his footsteps of mortification, in utter patience, in total silence, and with every desire to suffer, becoming executioners of your own satisfactions, mortifying yourselves, if perhaps something remains that must die and something still impedes the inner resurrection of the Spirit who dwells within your souls. Amen.

From Málaga, November 18, 1586

Your servant,

Fray John of the Cross

-=O=-

[To the discalced Carmelite nuns of Beas

Granada, November 22, 1587]

Jesus and Mary be in your souls, my daughters in Christ.

Your letter was a great comfort to me. May Our Lord repay you. My failure to write was not due to any un willingness, for indeed I desire your great good, but to my belief that enough has already been said and writ ten for doing what is important; and that what is wanting, if anything is wanting, is not writing or speaking - rather these usually superabound - but silence and work. Furthermore, speaking distracts one, while silence and work recollects and strengthens the spirit. Once individuals know what has been told them for their be nefit, they no longer need to hear or speak, but to put it into practice, silently and carefully and in humility and charity and contempt of self. They must not then go in search of new things that serve only to satisfy the appetite outwardly - although they are not able to satisfy it - and leave the spirit weak and empty wit hout interior virtue. Hence it follows that neither the former nor the latter is of profit. We can compare this situation to one who eats before digesting what was previously eaten; for since the natural heart is divided between the two portions, it has not the strength to convert everything into substance, and one becomes sick.

It is very necessary, my daughters, to hide the spirit from the devil and from our senses, for if we do not, without realizing it we shall find ourselves very backward and far from the virtues of Christ. Afterward we shall awaken only to find our labor and work done in the wrong way, and thinking that we were carrying a lighted lamp, we shall discover that it has gone out [Mt. 25:7-8]. Because by blowing, in our opinion to keep it lighted, we perhaps did more to extinguish it. I say, then, so this might not happen and the spirit be pre served, that there is no better remedy than to suffer, to do, and to be silent, and to close the senses through the inclination toward and practice of solitude and forgetfulness of all creatures and happenings, even though the whole world crumbles. Never, whether in adversity or in prosperity, cease to quiet your heart with deepest love, so as to suffer whatever comes along. For perfection is so singularly important and the delight of the spirit is so high-priced that all of this is hardly enough to obtain it. It is impossible to advance without doing and suffering virtuously, all enveloped in silence.

Keep this in mind, daughters: the soul that is quick to turn to speaking and conversing is slow to turn to God. For when it is turned toward God, it is then strongly and inwardly drawn toward silence and flight from all conversation. For God desires a soul to rejoice with him more than with any other person, however ad vanced and helpful the person may be.

I commend myself to your prayers; and be assured that although my charity is little, it is so directed toward you that I do not forget those whom I owe so much in the Lord. May he be with us all. Amen.

From Granada, November 22, 1587.

Fray John of the Cross

Our greatest need is to be silent before this great God with the appetite and with the tongue, for the only language he hears is the silent language of love.

Address: To Ana de Jesús14 and the other discalced Carmelite Sisters of the Convent of Beas.

-=O=-

[To Madre Leonor Bautista,15 discalced Carmelite in Beas

Granada, February 8, 1588]16

Jesus be in Your Reverence.

Do not think, daughter in Christ, that I have ceased to grieve for you in your trials and for the others who share in them. Yet, in remembering that since God called you to live an apostolic life, which is a life of con tempt, he is leading you along its road, I am consoled. After all, God wishes religious to be religious - in such a way that they be done with all and that all be done with them. For it is God himself who wishes to be their riches, comfort, and delightful glory. God has granted Your Reverence a great favor, because truly for getful of all things you will be able to enjoy his good in solitude, and for love of him have no care that they do to you what they will, since you do not belong to yourself but to God.17

Let me know if your departure for Madrid is certain and if Mother Prioress is coming, and give my best re gards to my daughters Magdalena and Ana and to all the others, for I have no time to write them.

From Granada, February 8, 1588

Fray John of the Cross