Vojtěch of St. Hedwig OCD
ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS: Ascent of Mount Carmel,
Carmelite Publishing, Kostelní Vydří 1999, 334 pp.
Publishing translations of the classics of spiritual literature is always a significant event, and this is no different in the case of the work of St. John of the Cross, who undoubtedly belongs among such authors. Thus, with this next book from the pen of the Mystical Teacher, I believe, the celebration of Czech readers continues, who now have the opportunity to take in their hands his longest and most systematic work.
Ascent of Mount Carmel was considered for three centuries to be the most important work of the saint, perhaps also because it uses contemporary theological language and addresses the so-called active (working) night, that is, primarily what a person must do for their own spiritual growth. Given that the other major works (Dark Night, Spiritual Canticle, and Living Flame of Love) deal more with mysticism, it was thought that they do not have such practical reach and are not intended for a wider audience. Today, this opinion has been surpassed, and thus there is an effort to see all four of the saint’s major writings as mutually complementary and demanding. However, this does not diminish the significance of Ascent, but rather the opposite. Just as the label of “mystical” was removed from the other three books, the limiting perception of this book as purely “theological-ascetic” has also been overcome, and the necessity for simultaneous reading of the entire literary output of John has strengthened the very essence of reading Ascent of Mount Carmel.
The starting point of the book is the mystic's poem One Dark Night. Although the author claims that he will comment on it gradually in full, he does so very little and rather takes this opportunity to present his own, original teaching on spiritual life, as schematically outlined in his second ideological principle of the book – the sketch Mountain of Perfection.
The work itself forms an inseparable diptych with the book Dark Night. Ascent has its own theme and methodology, but the descriptive character of Night very well complements its own somewhat “dry” theological style, and therefore it continually refers back to it. Moreover, they differ in perspective, as Night speaks of the passive purification of the soul.
The structure of Ascent, divided into three books, is relatively compact and thoughtful, but due to the number of longer “digressions” from the main topic, it is not as straightforward as one might wish. In the first book, John speaks of what the active night is and what it is good for. In the second, he first outlines the main principles (the goal of spiritual life is unity with God, which is reached only with the help of the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love, and the denial of self) and then discusses the virtue of faith and its role in spiritual life. The third book is then dedicated to the virtues of hope and love, leaving his work unfinished.
In Ascent of Mount Carmel, we find many impressive texts, of which I would especially like to draw attention to the quite well-known, albeit sometimes very poorly understood, excerpt from the thirteenth chapter of the first book (1V 13), the central chapters – fifth, sixth, and seventh – of the second book (2V 5–7), as well as the compelling twenty-second chapter of the same book (2V 22), where it speaks of “Christ – the only Word of the Father.”
The book is published in a careful translation by the established “court” translator of the Carmelite Publishing Sister Tereza Brichtová OP and is also accompanied by my introduction and a significantly extensive note apparatus, which does not aim to comment on the work, but merely to assist in its correct understanding. Perhaps these two facts will also contribute to the better appreciation and correct recognition of the Mystical Teacher and that he may be a support to all who reach for his books.
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"In order to understand what this union (of the soul with God) is, of which we will speak, it is necessary to know that God essentially abides in every soul, even if it were the greatest sinner in the world, and helps it. And this kind of union between God and all creatures is continually realized, and God preserves their being in it, so that if He were to somehow be absent from them in this way, they would be destroyed and cease to exist.
Therefore, when we speak of the union of the soul with God, we do not speak of this essential, which lasts continually, but of the union of the soul with God and its transformation into Him, which does not take place continually but only at that time when the soul acquires similarity to God through love. Therefore, it will be called the union of similarity, just as that (first) is the union of essence or substance. That union is natural, this is supernatural. It occurs when the two wills, that is, the will of the soul and the will of God, coincide, so that one has nothing in it that contradicts the other. Therefore, when the soul expels from itself everything that opposes God's will and is not in harmony with it, it will be transformed into God through love" (2V 5,3).
