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As I mentioned in my previous article, the demands and the apparent harshness of the path that St. John of the Cross suggests in his writings can seem overwhelming.
But if we read a little more closely, we will find that John has often been presented in an ethereal, almost unrealistic way. In reality, John of the Cross provides us with a very human path to God—a path that is rooted in our everyday lives.
Let’s take a look at three specific ways in which John shows us this human, everyday path to God. It is my prayer that as you read, you will feel more and more encouraged to seek out this God, who is always seeking you.
God Enjoys Being with You. John of the Cross makes it clear that God is present everywhere and at all times. “The Father of Lights,” he says, “is not closed-fisted but diffuses himself abundantly, as the sun does its rays, without being a respecter of persons.” He is…
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Some of John of the Cross strikes me as rhapsodically idyllic and idealistic, particularly that God enjoys playing with his people, takes such delight in the human race, etc. It is hard to imagine God delighting in this our culture at large considering its massive and crass expressions of unbelief and sin - I do not need to enumerate the obvious. Certainly, yes, God is ever-active in us and present to us in order to love us, transform us, and bring us to the overcoming of a destructive sensuality etc. as John of the Cross says. But our culture has no desire to overcome these things! Rather our culture breeds more and more of it and seems is in fact immersed and buried in such a pervasive sensuality and thus not attuned to the love and transformation God desires to offer mankind. Can we even hear St. John Cross? Even more, much of this culture claims to know God or to be Christian yet retains all sorts of sensuality, grasping onto the goods of this world, etc, etc. So it seems to me that the world first needs to be ” convicted of its sin”, then St. John of the Cross might become a powerful spiritual guide. Or is it that this culture can begin to be transformed simply upon hearing the messages of uniion and transforamtion that comes from his writings?
I agree with the above writer that we need to recognize our immersion in a “world” of secularism, materialism and relativistic egoism closes our hearts to the “presence” of God. In order to grow in holiness we need to be conscious of our sinfulness and seek out the healing found in the Sacrament of Reconcilation. Only then can we receive the grace we need to nurture the gifts of the Holy Spirit enabling us to find that true union we crave with our loving Father In heaven.