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Wednesday 6 November 2013

a brief note....repetition

Since this is the proper moment, we ought to point out another 
benefit resulting from this night and dryness of the sensory appetite. So 
that the prophecy -- your light will illumine the darkness [Is. 58:10] -- 
may be verified, God will give illumination by bestowing on the soul not 
only knowledge of its own misery and lowliness but also knowledge of his 
grandeur and majesty. When the sensory appetites, gratifications, and 
supports are quenched, the intellect is left clean and free to understand 
the truth, for even though these appetites and pleasures concern spiritual 
things, they blind and impede the spirit. Similarly, the anguish and 
dryness of the senses illumine and quicken the intellect, as Isaiah 
affirms: Vexation makes one understand [Is. 28:19]. But God also, by means 
of this dark and dry night of contemplation, supernaturally instructs in 
his divine wisdom the soul that is empty and unhindered (which is the 
requirement for his divine inpouring), which he did not do through the 
former satisfactions and pleasures.

On the senses being purified....from St. John of the Cross