Sharing in the Glory of the Powers
The interior purifications that our Lord modeled as He carried His Cross and was crucified are high above what our natural human minds can comprehend, accept, and imitate. Even those who live lives of deep faith will initially struggle as they come face-to-face with the extraordinary depth of holiness necessary to live through, with, and in Christ as He sacrificed His human life. Do not be surprised if your initial reaction to the purity and profundity of Christ’s sacrificial love is shock. Our fallen human nature immediately rebels against such sacrificial love until divine wisdom transforms our minds so that our wills choose that wisdom in hope. Only when this happens do our desires and emotions conform to those truths, propelling us into the mystery of Christ’s Cross.
In the previous step, we began by reflecting upon Saint Paul’s words to the Corinthians, “…we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:23–25, RSV-CE). In this stage, we must embrace the wisdom of the Cross more fully so that the human will, desires, and emotions align with the Cross and turn away from every fallen human tendency caused by concupiscence. The Cross must become our wisdom, freely and wholeheartedly embraced, desired, and loved. In order to advance through this stage, the Cross can no longer be a stumbling block or be perceived as folly.
Step Four begins the Illuminative Way of the Proficient in which there are three steps or stages—Beginning Illumination, Proficient Illumination, and Perfect Illumination. The angelic choir of the Powers, the lowest choir of the central triad, can reasonably be associated with this stage and will assist those passing through it. Virtue has already exceptionally transformed the soul entering into this stage who is ready to eliminate the final attachments to sin.
It is difficult to understand the depth of holiness one lives in this and subsequent stages. The life of infused contemplation begins in the Illuminative Way. Supernatural enlightenment—illumination—is necessary to penetrate the divine mysteries fully. Though concepts and examples from Christ’s life will assist us, a full understanding of this depth of interior transformation requires a profound level of grace and angelic enlightenment to understand and respond completely.
The angelic choir of the Powers is made up of warrior angels who are sent on missions by the Principalities to combat evil spirits and sinful temptations in order to maintain the cosmic order. They are engaged in every form of spiritual warfare. They are especially associated with this fourth step of the spiritual journey because it is here that the soul enters into the first passive purification that correlates to what Saint John of the Cross calls the Passive Night of the Senses.
Recall Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.” As we ponder this stage of spiritual development and purification, we must remember that the holy choir of the Powers comes to our defense, but there is also a demonic order that fell from the Powers and now uses its incredible natural abilities to attack with one final temptation those who enter into this level of holiness. The good angel choir of the Powers, however, defeats these demons and their temptations when we turn to them in our time of testing.
In the previous stage—in which we considered Jesus’ Agony in the Garden, Scourging at the Pillar, and Crowning with Thorns—we saw our Lord model an exceptional depth of surrender. In His human nature, as He came face-to-face with His pending Passion, He exercised a free decision to unite His human will with His divine will and that of the Father. This act of obedience empowers all of us to do the same. As He was scourged, we witnessed His willing acceptance of the consequences of embracing the Cross. As He was crowned with thorns and mocked, we see Him returning love for hate, humility for pride. In so doing, Jesus perfectly lived and expressed divine wisdom and love.
The transition from the third to the fourth stage is subtle but important. As we contemplate Jesus carrying His Cross and His Crucifixion, we are invited to see Him move from acceptance to intentionality. He Himself said to His disciples, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:18 RSV-CE). Jesus picked up His Cross not because He was forced but because He willed it and did it by His own power and authority. As He died upon the Cross, He perfected the human manifestation of His free gift of His life as the Sacrificial Lamb of God.
This stage of spiritual development is exceptionally painful, largely on account of an interior dryness one experiences in prayer during the dark night of the senses. Those who imitate our Lord in His selfless Sacrifice are already purified of every habitual sin. They are living for God alone, choosing Him and His will continuously. However, even in those who have reached such heights of holiness, there are still some final spiritual attachments that must be purged. In particular, Saint John of the Cross identifies the Seven Capital Sins on a deeper and spiritual level as still present in the soul who enters here. Jesus’ Crucifixion perfectly models for us the way to conquer the remaining attachments to those sins and spiritual imperfections. As the experience of good spiritual feelings dwindles, the attachment to those spiritual feelings is overcome by an act of the will as the soul cooperates with infused purifying grace.
The grace one receives in this state is a “passive” grace, meaning that God takes over the soul and completes the final purifications that one is incapable of achieving alone. The prayer of purgative contemplation is the primary form of prayer. It is infused prayer and the beginning of the contemplative life. Saint Teresa describes this stage as “an amazing new world.” Though the purification is painful, it frees and opens the soul to a flood of mercy. Passive recollection begins through no effort of our own, as God draws the soul into itself and sets its feet on a path of sanctity. The soul also experiences the prayer of quiet when it is drawn into shorter periods of spiritual union with God in silence. Conceptual meditations begin to dwindle in value as God, Who is beyond concepts and human ideas, begins to be known in His deeper essence. The soul acquires a new depth of humility and self-knowledge as it sees itself more with God’s eyes than human eyes.
As you reflect upon how Jesus modeled the intentional embrace of His Cross and Crucifixion, call upon the angelic choir of the Powers to assist you so that you can imitate our Lord. The ministry of these warrior angels teaches us that when we approach the perfection of sacrificial love, a powerful spiritual battle will take place. When the demons see a holy soul entering into this depth of purification, they are filled with envy and attack in one final attempt to thwart spiritual progress. The Powers are fully aware of this last temptation and will do battle with and for you. Trust them, call on them, rely upon them. If we can cooperate with their angelic ministry, we will be assured of the victory of this deep purification in our lives.
As explained in more detail in Part One, Chapters Six and Eight, Saint John of the Cross’ teaching on the Passive Night of the Senses, which is the final sensory purification of habitual sins and attachments, aligns with this step. In Saint Teresa of Ávila’s Fourth Mansions, passive recollection and the beginnings of infused contemplative grace emerge, along with the Prayer of Quiet. Saint Bonaventure assigns “regulating” to this stage—order and discipline are established in the moral and spiritual life as habitual sins and attachments to sin are eliminated.
Carrying of the Cross: Compelled by Sacrificial Love
Unless otherwise noted, quotes in this reflection are taken from Luke 23:26–31, RSV-CE
“And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!” Then they will begin to say to the mountains, “Fall on us”; and to the hills, “Cover us.” For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?’”
“And as they led him away…” Though it might appear that the soldiers forced Jesus to carry His Cross, the deeper spiritual reality is that Jesus was the one doing the leading. We can imagine the soldiers shouting at Him, “Pick up the cross, now!” In reality, even before they might have said this, Jesus had one focus, one intention, one mission. Before He was even told to pick up His cross, we can prayerfully imagine Him already taking the first step toward it. Though His body was covered with lacerations and bruises from His scourging and weakened from the loss of blood, His divine Spirit drove Him to the Cross. There was no hesitation. He didn’t have to accept His Cross; he chose His Cross. The divine love that drove Jesus to His Sacrifice overwhelmed the pain His sacred Body experienced. Jesus was fully in charge. Myriads upon myriads of angels looked on, ready to intervene at a moment’s command, but they knew the command would not come and rejoiced in the divine wisdom that led to this moment. They knew their God was saving the human race, and they gazed upon this holy Sacrifice with the greatest love and devotion.
Jesus’ carrying His cross is a manifestation of a profound invitation to us. The previous mysteries of the Scourging at the Pillar and the Crowning with Thorns revealed God’s invitation to us to respond to injustice with love and to transform every injustice into a source of grace. Now, something even deeper is manifested. Jesus no longer endures and accepts an injustice with love, He positively walks into sacrificial love. The Carrying of the Cross is not so much something done to Jesus, it’s something Jesus did for us. We imitate our Lord and share in this deep mystery of His life by fixing our eyes beyond mere injustices or sufferings we encounter and focusing upon something much greater—laying down our lives for others through sacrificial love. When we begin to do this, we can be assured that countless demons will attack with envy and fear. They will try to get our attention, lying about the apparent “injustice” and the “foolishness of the cross.” Do not listen to them. Call on the Powers of Heaven to do battle so that you are empowered to carry your cross with our Lord.
The Cross comes to each of us, but in varied ways. Though some carry heavy burdens due to others’ sins, physical ailments, destitution, or other painful situations out of their control, others live relatively comfortable lives, free of evident suffering. Each of us, no matter the burdens or lack of burdens we carry, is invited to carry the Cross through intentional sacrificial living. This means our eyes turn away from ourselves, both our burdens and comforts, and gaze upon the ways we can selflessly serve others for their good.
The “good” we must offer is anything and everything that benefits their eternal salvation. We must serve, forgive, be empathetic, pray, go out of our way, and do all we can out of love as souls who are driven by Christ’s divine love. We must choose only sacrificial love and reject every deception from the demons. When we do so, even those who are materially blessed or free from any apparent burden in life will share in the Cross of Christ. Jesus’ Cross was first about acceptance and endurance, but the perfect manifestation of the Cross is found in His being driven to love, to give His life for our salvation, not counting the cost to Himself, focused only upon the infinite merits He was able to bestow through the selfless act.
“…they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.” By divine strength, Jesus could have carried His Cross alone. Permitting Simon to help carry His Cross was an act of the greatest generosity by our Lord, an act in which Simon will forever glory. By carrying Jesus’ Cross, Simon was actually carrying his own. Like all of us, Simon is the reason Jesus suffered and died. Jesus’ death was the source of our salvation. Though Simon might not have realized it at that moment, something compelled him to do what he did not understand.
We must see ourselves as Simon. We must see our Lord’s Cross as ours. The Cross is only “unfair” in the life of Christ, since He was perfect. We are the guilty for whom He suffered. If we wish to share in the redemption won by Jesus’ Cross, we must carry it without hesitation, with gratitude, and by divine strength infused into our souls. Doing so will not only unimaginably assist us in our journeys toward the heights of holiness, it will also greatly benefit the salvation of those whom we are sent to serve.
“And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him.” Among the holy women who followed Jesus was His mother. Among them all, her interior sentiments were unique and perfect. Though her Immaculate Heart was pierced with the deepest holy sorrow imaginable, there was no despair. She faced Jesus’ sufferings with perfect love. By the fullness of grace, she knew that what her Son was doing was the Father’s will. She consented, and with her Son, perfectly willed Him to carry His Cross. His sufferings, faced with pure love, produced mercy for everyone in need of redemption. She longed not for an end of her Son’s sufferings but for a completion of them, to see every one of her spiritual children join her Son in His Passion, to walk with Him and die with Him so that all could share in the Resurrection. The demonic lies had no power over her. She knew only Truth, and that Truth kept her free to love like her Son, carrying His Cross with Him.
“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” Jesus chastised those whose tears were due to despair and confusion, redirecting their sorrow. True sorrow is the response to sin. Jesus’ death was an act of perfect love. To have sorrow over His Crucifixion is a misdirection of such sentiments. Jesus wanted their sorrow to be directed toward their own sins, the sins of their children, and all those in need of His Sacrifice. Jesus wanted the holy women to join Him in His Sacrifice, to accompany Him, and to will His Sacrifice with the hope that their own souls and those of their children would be open to the purification made possible by His Passion. In a sense, as He carried His Cross, Jesus was doing spiritual battle within their souls.
Jesus’ walk from Herod’s palace where Pilate condemned Him to Mount Calvary where He died was just under a half mile. Though not recorded in Scripture, tradition has handed down to us, especially in the Stations of the Cross, other holy moments on that final journey. Jesus met His mother on the way to Calvary, He fell three times, and Veronica wiped His face with her veil as an act of love and on which our Lord left an imprint of His face. In addition to those sacred encounters, we can only imagine so many others as He walked.
As you ponder our Lord’s final sacred journey, look at the carrying of the Cross through our Blessed Mother’s eyes. She uniquely knew what was taking place, and she understood that this was the culmination of her Son’s mission. She longed for His Sacrifice as her Immaculate Heart endured the worst torments of love, desiring His Sacrifice to cleanse the sins of all her children. This must be our reaction to the Cross we carry in our lives.
Facing the Cross with pure faith, hope, and love requires a thorough purification of our souls. We need the angelic Powers to engage in battle for us. The intensity of love to which we are called requires a profound degree of spiritual perfection and detachment from every habitual sin and every demonic deception. Pray to the Powers of Heaven and rely upon their help.
Instead of despair, confusion, hesitancy, or resistance, we must choose to sacrifice our lives with our Lord, to carry every burden with the loving hope of redemption, and to unite with His Passion all we endure. With the eyes of faith and hearts on fire with love, we will be given every grace we need to walk with Him in our own lives, so as to be freed of every habitual sin, so that all that remains within the sacrifice of our lives is love. Pure love, divinely initiated as He carried His Cross, would be divinely completed as He died. Carry every cross with our Lord so that you, too, will be driven toward the sacrificial love He lived as He died upon the Cross.
Crucifixion: Completing the Dark Night of the Senses
Quotes in this reflection are taken from RSV-CE translation
“So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them” (John 19:17–18).
Jesus’ hour had arrived. He mounted His throne of the Cross from which He manifested the perfection of divine love, wisdom, and power. He spent three hours on the Cross—three being a symbol of perfection—during which Scripture records seven last divine statements, traditionally referred to as Jesus’ “Seven Last Words.” Each of these “words” offers extraordinary insight into Jesus’ love and the completion of His mission.
During this stage, which correlates to the Passive Night of the Senses, Saint John of the Cross teaches that the soul is passively purified of the seven capital sins in their spiritual form. Exteriorly, these sins have already been overcome, but only divine grace—through purgative contemplation and angelic warfare—can remove the remaining interior spiritual attachment to them. Jesus’ Seven Last Words offer much insight into the ways that we overcome these seven capital sins in their spiritual form.
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). In the midst of Jesus’ greatest sufferings, He forgave His persecutors. He did so not just intellectually because it was the right thing to do, but also with every passion of His human soul, every desire, and every human appetite. Jesus’ entire human soul perfectly expressed mercy and forgiveness during a time that most of us could never do so.
One demonic temptation that souls will experience in this stage will be to withhold perfect mercy for those who have wounded us. Mercy goes beyond what common sense and natural human reason alone can fathom. Only divine light can transform our reason to comprehend the wisdom of mercy. Reject the lies of the demonic powers, and turn to the angelic Powers to overcome this temptation.
If we wish to share in Christ’s Passion and experience the purification it produces within us, we must not only forgive absolutely, we must allow God’s mercy to encompass every part of our being. Not only will this allow us to conquer the sin of anger, it will also remove every spiritual form of anger and impatience within us.
A soul who has made great progress on the spiritual journey will begin to experience dryness in prayer. That dryness is a gift from God because it invites the soul to love God without interior consolations. However, when a soul first experiences this purifying dryness—this dark night—the soul becomes agitated and disappointed, wanting the good spiritual feelings to return. This is spiritual anger. Jesus conquered the sin of anger by forgiving His persecutors, making it possible for each of us to overcome even this spiritual form of that sin.
Look into your own soul and ponder whether you have struggled with agitation and dissatisfaction during periods of prayer or apostolic work. If the root cause was some other sin, then you must deal with that sin. If, however, the dryness or darkness was a gift from God by which God wanted to purify your prayer and apostolic activity, then rejoice in that fact and ponder the satisfaction Jesus experienced in His human soul as He fully desired mercy in the face of such cruelty and pain. Previously we reflected upon the fact that Jesus willed His Cross. It was not imposed upon Him; He laid His life down freely. If we wholeheartedly choose our crosses, including the interior dryness we may experience, then those experiences will not lead to agitation or anger but to gratitude and peace.
“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise’” (Luke 23:39–43).
Envy is one of the two sins that the demons are capable of committing since it is spiritual in nature. The other is pride. Jesus’ abundant mercy offered to the good thief gives us insight into the final purification of all envy within our souls. By acknowledging the goodness of this thief and offering him eternal salvation, Jesus reveals the disposition we must have toward everyone who acts in grace and the severe temptation we will experience when we are called upon to exercise such a profound level of mercy. We must rejoice, from the depths of our hearts, at every merciful blessing our Lord bestows upon others.
When you see others’ goodness and the blessings bestowed upon them, how do you react interiorly? Spiritual envy will lead us to consider others’ sins more than God’s grace at work within them or their innate dignity. When we see others praised or thanked for what they have done, envy can sadden us and cause us to turn in on ourselves. By promising the good thief that he will be with Him in Paradise, Jesus models for us the interior disposition we must have toward every sinner who cooperates with God’s grace. We must rejoice, overlook the person’s past sins, and be grateful, knowing that Jesus offers that soul the same promise of eternal life and desire that every heavenly blessing be bestowed upon them. Envy is conquered when we exercise charity toward every soul, loving them and rejoicing in the blessings given to them.
As a practical exercise, imagine that you were standing at the foot of Jesus’ cross and that of this good thief. Further imagine that one of the crimes committed by the good thief had been done to you. As you listened to Jesus’ conversation with him and heard Jesus promise him eternal life, how would you react? Envy would lead to sadness. Charity would lead to interior joy and gratitude, knowing that the criminal was not only forgiven but was also given the eternal gift of Paradise.
Perhaps there is someone in your life who has changed from sinful ways and turned to God’s grace. How would you respond to his newfound faith? Would you discount him, dwell on the past, and be saddened by his good actions, especially if he is praised? Or would you look at him with hope, interiorly rejoicing that God has touched him and is using him for good? Can you love all people and rejoice in their every good action and the divine blessings they are granted? True charity drives us to this height of selfless rejoicing in others’ blessings. Envy saddens us at the sight of that goodness.
Strive to identify any form of spiritual sin that is within you toward another and try to prayerfully imagine Jesus saying to that person, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” Allow those words to sink in and purge any remaining envy within your soul. Doing so will require a spiritual battle within your soul. It is difficult to rejoice at the level of mercy our Lord offers. In order to enter fully into this stage of spiritual development, imitating Jesus by His grace is essential. The spiritual battle of this trial must be waged with the assistance of the Powers.
“But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home” (John 19:25–27).
Spiritual greed is a sin by which the beginner clings more to the consolations of God than to the God of consolation. The person hoards spiritual trinkets, books, and experiences. In this stage of spiritual development, the soul needs to let go of the spiritual consolations that those good experiences and objects formerly produced so that it can cling to God and God alone. The best way to do this is to allow the fullness of spiritual generosity to permeate one’s soul. There could be no greater act of spiritual generosity than Jesus giving His own Immaculate mother to Saint John and to all of us.
Jesus was completely poor as He hung upon the Cross. All earthly possessions had been stripped away from Him. After being stripped of His clothing, the soldiers divided it among themselves. After being nailed to the Cross, Jesus’ earthly freedom was stolen. He had only one thing left—His mother as she stood before the Cross.
Jesus’ mother was His greatest earthly possession. He and she loved each other with perfect love and experienced the consoling effects of that human love. As Jesus looked down on her standing faithfully before Him, He referred to her as “Woman.” As we read in the meditation on the Wedding of Cana, this symbolic title was not only an address of the greatest respect, it also pointed to Mary being the New Eve in Genesis 3:13–16 and the woman in Revelation 12:1–3; 5; 17. Jesus was giving His mother as the new Eve to the entire Church by which we are born again into His family of grace. He acknowledged that the transformation of His relationship with His earthly mother was now complete. She was no longer only His mother. She was the Mother of All the Living and, therefore, the new mother of all members of God’s family. The gift of Jesus’ mother to all who cooperate with grace is His most generous gift. By His divine will, she becomes the mediatrix of the grace bestowed upon us all. In Heaven, she sits as the Queen Mother above the Celestial Hierarchy, closest to the Most Holy Trinity, distributing God’s love and mercy to all of her new children.
Call to mind that which is your greatest treasure. If it is something worldly, then repent of that superficial attachment and look deeper. Perhaps among your greatest treasures is being a spouse or parent, a priest or religious. Perhaps it’s the interior closeness you feel with God, or an apostolic work in which you are engaged. Whatever it is, choose to surrender it to God without reserve. Do not cling to it. Cling only to God Himself. Surrender every beautiful and holy treasure you possess to Him, trusting that your generosity will be rewarded.
When our Lord gave His mother away to the Church, He did not lose her; He gained every soul who would become her child. When we generously return to God the greatest spiritual goods we have been given, God takes them and multiplies them abundantly. “…give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back” (Luke 6:38). Give everything to God and even more will be poured out upon you. If you struggle doing so, call upon the Powers of Heaven to engage in spiritual battle so that they may assist you.
“After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the scripture), ‘I thirst’” (John 19:28). When the beginner is invited into this stage of the spiritual journey and experiences spiritual dryness and darkness, the soul becomes agitated with spiritual anger, greedy for more of the spiritual delights it used to enjoy. The soul also experiences spiritual sloth, a discouragement regarding its attachment to spiritual delights. Spiritual sloth leads to a lack of energy and motivation for the things of God. The person becomes complacent and finds it difficult to press on.
After generously giving His mother to the Church, Jesus was thirsty but with no ordinary thirst. It was a manifestation of the interior thirst we must all have as a way of overcoming spiritual sloth. Consider the contrast. The soul who is discouraged as a result of spiritual dryness (the dark night of the senses) is not driven, is not “thirsty” for the things of God. To quench Jesus’ spiritual thirst, a soldier took a sponge, soaked it in stale wine (vinegar), raised it to His lips, and He drank it. Many Church Fathers have seen this vinegar as a symbol of fallen humanity. By drinking of this wine, Jesus reveals that despite our fallenness, if we come to Him, we will satiate His thirst.
In our own lives when dryness sets in, leading to a lack of motivation for the mission Christ has given to us, we must imitate Him. We must thirst. Thirst for the salvation of souls. Thirst for the love of God. Thirst to satiate Jesus’ thirst by giving yourself to Him energetically. By doing so, spiritual sloth is conquered.
What do you thirst for? If our thirst is for something passing or worldly, then we must repent of that sin. If we thirst for good spiritual feelings, then we will encounter a lack of desire within us, a lack of zeal, and a lack of spiritual longing when that dryness persists. When that happens, we need to allow Jesus’ thirst to become our own. He must thirst within us. This requires profound faith, hope, and charity. We must allow Him to say within us, “I thirst!”
Consider any way that you lack zeal for the Kingdom of God and say with our Lord, “I thirst!” Let that exclamation become a transforming prayer, welling up from the depths of your spirit. Let Jesus motivate you and encourage you. Be satisfied with stale wine, meaning, a thirst for the sinner, for the crosses you endure, and for everything our Lord wants of you. Beg God for the gift of a thirsty soul in the midst of spiritual dryness. Only by thirsting during every trial and tribulation and maintaining a deep faith and hope in God will the refreshment of charity flood your soul.
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabach-thani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’” (Matthew 27:46, RSV-CE). Like many of the previous spiritual sins, spiritual gluttony is a craving for spiritual delights during the dark night of the senses. Though perfect, Jesus permitted Himself to experience within His human nature a complete absence of His Father’s loving presence. By quoting Psalm 22, Jesus not only expressed the intense interior dryness He felt, He revealed to us the way to overcome that dryness—perseverance. The psalmist first acknowledges the human experience of weakness and feelings of abandonment but goes on to acknowledge the greatness of God and His fidelity, choosing to be faithful himself.
This prayer of our Lord must become our prayer every time we feel alone, weak, confused, and abandoned. God will permit those feelings so that our spiritual faith, hope, and love will become purified and directed only by grace, not by bodily feelings or even spiritual consolations. Eventually, human desires and emotions will fall into place once the soul has persevered through dryness and overcome spiritual gluttony. Spiritual peace and joy will flood the soul. When that happens, the desires and emotions do not drive the person to seek more; rather, purified faith, hope, and love will drive the person to God’s will. All of the appetites will fall into place, helping the soul to fulfill that which it has already chosen in darkness—God’s will.
If you feel troubled or abandoned by God at times, examine if it is because of your sins. If it is not, then rejoice that God has permitted you to join Jesus on the Cross and cry out with Him, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Pray those words with hope and confidence that the interior experience you feel is not the end; it’s the beginning of a more profound trust in God and a transformation from spiritual gluttony to spiritual fruitfulness. Like every spiritual sin, overcoming spiritual gluttony will require a cleansing interior spiritual battle to take place. Don’t run from that battle; run into it with the confidence and authority of the Powers of Heaven.
“Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!’” (Luke 23:46). Spiritual lust refers to a fleshly attachment to the good spiritual feelings the beginner experienced. Though these feelings might not be sexual, they are related and can stir up passionate desires for more good feelings. Jesus’ complete self-donation to His Father when He made His final offering on the Cross reveals the perfection of every physical and spiritual appetite we must have. As married couples are called to give themselves to their spouse in a selfless way and find deep fulfillment in the act of self-giving, so all of us are to give ourselves completely to the Father in a complete and most generous way. Doing so orders every passion toward God and away from selfishness, which is a form of spiritual lust.
Our prayers are often selfish. “Please help me with this… Give me that… Do me this favor…” The deepest form of prayer is one that seeks nothing for oneself but seeks only to become an offering to God. Spiritual lust is a form of greed on a more sensual spiritual level. Spiritual purity is an act by which we turn to God and say with Jesus, “Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit!” We do not take from God, ask of God, or seek something from Him. We give ourselves away, generously and completely. Even in the midst of a loss of all spiritual and sensual delights, we give ourselves away to God, surrendering to Him in every way.
Spend time praying Jesus’ final, perfect prayer. Allow it to become a cure for every selfishness within your soul. Jesus gave Himself completely to the Father, and the Father gave His Son completely to us. As we receive such a gift, the only appropriate response is to do the same by His power, so that we can share in His self-giving.
You can be certain that the powerful demonic powers mentioned by Saint John of the Cross will severely tempt you toward every selfishness. Do not fear such temptations. Face them with truth, purity of heart, and grace. Be assured that the warriors in Heaven will come to your aid. Rely upon their spiritual powers.
“When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, ‘It is finished’; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30). Pride is referred to as “the mother of all sins.” Spiritual pride is the mother of all spiritual sins. Spiritual pride is best conquered by overcoming the other six spiritual sins. When that happens, spiritual pride is eliminated, and the purification is finished.
When Jesus cried out on the Cross, “It is finished,” we can prayerfully imagine Him saying that the fullness of grace had been manifested within His human nature and made available to us all. For that reason, Jesus’ mission was finished, completed, and perfected.
Spiritual pride is a combination of all of the other spiritual sins, in that they are all selfish in some way. Spiritual humility is an emptying of all selfishness by turning exclusively to God as the source of all grace, honoring and worshiping Him for the exclusive reason that He is God and worthy of our worship. The spiritually humble person seeks nothing for himself. The humble person trusts God completely, knowing that God can choose to give him anything—even in his unworthiness. There is a realization that we do not need to seek anything ourselves; we only need to cooperate with Christ so that we can become a selfless gift to God and a sacrificial gift to God’s children, our brothers and sisters.
Spiritual humility floods a soul with pure wisdom, love, and spiritual authority. God lives within the soul, acting upon and through it. Spiritual humility casts out all fear and replaces it with confidence in God. The only desire left within the spiritually humble soul is to do the will of God. What pleases God, pleases the soul, and the soul’s only desire is to please God for love’s sake.
In an analogous sense, we could say that every demonic power has “perfected” pride and every form of spiritual pride. The demonic powers’ only concern is themselves. Their constant activity is to impose that pride upon us in an irrational attempt to inflict harm on God. Of course, they err because God cannot be harmed, but we can be. Reject and rebuke these demons when they afflict you with a temptation to pride. Beg for humility. In your humility, acknowledge that all is grace, all is a gift of which we are most unworthy. Rejoice in the fact that God bestows His grace despite our unworthiness. Ponder this truth, believe it, and profess it with all the powers of your soul.
Summary of Step Four: Beginning Illumination
Protected by the Powers, the soul enters a stage of extraordinary spiritual struggle, purification, and spiritual warfare. It’s a time of confronting deeply rooted spiritual sins and attachments, often accompanied by spiritual dryness and trials. The soul learns to rely not on sensible consolations but on infused faith, which leads to a purgative contemplation. This stage is essential for deepening humility, self-knowledge, and reliance on God’s power, rather than on one’s own strength. Suffering begins to be embraced and endured with supernatural strength.
The grace needed for this stage can be found modeled in the Carrying of the Cross and the Crucifixion:
- Carrying of the Cross: Choosing sacrificial love.
- Crucifixion: Completing the Dark Night of the Senses.
This level of interior transformation is profound. The soul who passes through this stage of spiritual development is freed of every habitual sin and walks continuously within the grace of sacrificial love. Though contemplating this level of holiness can lead to discouragement about how far away this height of holiness might seem to be, do not give into that discouragement. Commit yourself to the spiritual battle, and know that every help from Heaven will be given to you.
Though the interior purifications one endures in this stage are exceptionally painful, the peace and interior joy that accompany that pain are beyond sustaining and transforming. Though temptations will remain and occasional falls will take place, the soul quickly repents and returns to a complete cooperation with grace.
By completing this stage of spiritual purification, the soul’s passions, desires, and appetites are ordered by grace, no longer working against the soul but for it. The desire to lay one’s life down for others reaches a supernatural level as the soul’s mind and heart turn away from themselves and toward God and others.
Supernaturally infused contemplation becomes an ongoing and continuous daily activity, enabling one to truly “Rejoice always, pray constantly” and to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18). As a result, the soul begins to understand what it means to “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). By ourselves, this is impossible, but by cooperating with the Powers of Heaven and the purifying grace of God, this form of earthly perfection is suddenly achievable.
Let’s conclude this step with an excerpt from the Diary of Saint Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul, entitled “Conference on Sacrifice and Prayer.” This excerpt comes from one of a series of visions Saint Faustina had of Jesus while on a retreat during which He gave her several spiritual conferences, or teachings, about His mercy. Without a proper understanding of the depth of the spiritual journey our Lord is calling us to embrace, this conference might appear overwhelming. Hopefully, after pondering Jesus’ own interior manifestation of His perfect sacrificial love, His words to Saint Faustina will resonate more clearly:
My daughter, I want to instruct you on how you are to rescue souls through sacrifice and prayer. You will save more souls through prayer and suffering than will a missionary through his teachings and sermons alone. I want to see you as a sacrifice of living love, which only then carries weight before Me. You must be annihilated, destroyed, living as if you were dead in the most secret depths of your being. You must be destroyed in that secret depth where the human eye has never penetrated; then will I find in you a pleasing sacrifice, a holocaust full of sweetness and fragrance. And great will be your power for whomever you intercede. Outwardly, your sacrifice must look like this: silent, hidden, permeated with love, imbued with prayer. I demand, My daughter, that your sacrifice be pure and full of humility, that I may find pleasure in it. I will not spare my grace, that you may be able to fulfill what I demand of you.
I will now instruct you on what your holocaust shall consist of, in everyday life, so as to preserve you from illusions. You shall accept all sufferings with love. Do not be afflicted if your heart often experiences repugnance and dislike for sacrifice. All its power rests in the will, and so these contrary feelings, far from lowering the value of the sacrifice in My eyes, will enhance it. Know that your body and soul will often be in the midst of fire. Although you will not feel My presence on some occasions, I will always be with you. Do not fear; My grace will be with you… (Diary #1767).
Next: Reflections for Step Five—Proficient Illumination: Sharing in the Glory of the Principalities
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