Dark Night of the Soul

²⁰[More exactly: ‘purificative.’] ²¹St. Luke xviii, 11-12. ²²St. Matthew vii, 3. ²³St. Matthew xxiii, 24. ²⁴[Lit., ‘Presuming.’] ²⁵[The original merely has: ‘and are often eager.’] ²⁶[Lit., ‘a thousand envies and disquietudes.’] ²⁷St. Matthew xxv, 8. [Lit., ‘who, having their lamps dead, sought oil from without.’] ²⁸[Lit., ‘to have.’] ²⁹[Lit., ‘these fervours.’] ³⁰[Lit., ‘into something of this.’] ³¹The agnusdei was a wax medal with a representation of the lamb stamped upon it, often blessed by the Pope; at the time of the Saint such medals were greatly sought after, as we know from various references in St.

Teresa’s letters. ³²[The word nómina, translated ‘token,’ and normally meaning list, or ‘roll,’ refers to a relic on which were written the names of saints. In modern Spanish it can denote a medal or amulet used superstitiously.] ³³[No doubt a branch of palm, olive or rosemary, blessed in church on Palm Sunday, like the English palm crosses of to-day. ‘Palm Sunday’ is in Spanish Domingo de ramos: ‘Branch Sunday.’] ³⁴[Lit., ‘recreation.’] ³⁵[Lit., ‘recreation.’] ³⁶[Lit., ‘of everything.’] ³⁷All writers who comment upon this delicate matter go into lengthy and learned explanations of it, though in reality there is little that needs to be added to the Saint’s clear and apt exposition.

It will be remembered that St. Teresa once wrote to her brother Lorenzo, who suffered in this way: ‘As to those stirrings of sense.... I am quite clear they are of no account, so the best thing is to make no account of them’ (LL. 168). The most effective means of calming souls tormented by these favours is to commend them to a discreet and wise director whose counsel they may safely follow. The Illuminists committed the grossest errors in dealing with this matter. ³⁸St.

John iii, 6. ³⁹[Lit. ‘they even do it.’] ⁴⁰[Lit., ‘spiritual road.’] ⁴¹[Lit., ‘these persons.’] ⁴²[Lit., ‘and treat this as their God.’] ⁴³[The Spanish is impersonal: ‘immediately this is taken from them,’ etc.] ⁴⁴[Lit., ‘and opinion.’] ⁴⁵[Lit., ‘anyhow.’] ⁴⁶[Lit, ‘the other boldnesses are.’] ⁴⁷[Lit., ‘they strive to obtain this, as they say, by the strength of their arms.’

The phrase is, of course, understood in the Spanish to be metaphorical, as the words ‘as they say’ clearly indicate.] ⁴⁸[Lit., ‘who are not influenced, neither act by reason, but from pleasure.’] ⁴⁹[Lit., ‘which we shall give.’] ⁵⁰[áspero: harsh, rough, rugged.] ⁵¹[Lit., ‘against all the sweetlessness of self- denial.’] ⁵²[Lit., ‘causing them to enter.’] ⁵³[Lit., ‘and, as they say, their eye (el ojo) grows’—a colloquial phrase expressing annoyance.] ⁵⁴1 Corinthians xiii, 6.

The Saint here cites the sense, not the letter, of the epistle. ⁵⁵St. Matthew xvi, 25. ⁵⁶[Lit., ‘they are very weak for the fortitude and trial of perfection.’] ⁵⁷St. Matthew vii, 14. ⁵⁸[Lit., ’say.’] ⁵⁹[Lit., ’say.’] ⁶⁰[plática: the word is frequently used in Spanish to denote an informal sermon or address.] ⁶¹[Lit., ‘low’; the same word recurs below and is similarly translated.] ⁶²[Lit., ‘to the better time.’] ⁶³[Lit., ‘And in this it is known very probably.’] ⁶⁴Numbers xi, 5-6. ⁶⁵[Lit., ‘makes us to desire our miseries.’] ⁶⁶[Lit., ‘incommunicable.’] ⁶⁷Canticles vi, 4 [A.V., vi, 5]. ⁶⁸[Lit., ’satisfactory and pacific.’] ⁶⁹Psalm lxxxiv, 9 [A.V., lxxxv, 8]. ⁷⁰[The stress here is evidently on the transience of the distempers whether they be moral or physical.] ⁷¹[Lit., ‘spoiling themselves in the one.’] ⁷²[Lit., ‘because they seek their spirit.’] ⁷³[Lit., ‘without doing anything themselves.’] ⁷⁴[Lit., ‘which it may then wish to have.’] ⁷⁵Psalm lxxii, 21 [A.V., lxxiii, 21-2]. ⁷⁶[Lit., ‘livingness’: cf. the quotation below.] ⁷⁷Psalm xli, 3 [A.V., xlii, 2]. ⁷⁸[Lit., ‘and chance’: the same word as in the verse-line above.] ⁷⁹St. Matthew vii, 14. ⁸⁰Genesis xxi, 8. ⁸¹Exodus xxxiii, 5. ⁸²[Job ii, 7-8]. ⁸³[Lit., ‘the deep heights.’] ⁸⁴Isaias lviii, 10. ⁸⁵Isaias xxviii, 19. [The author omits the actual text.] ⁸⁶To translate this passage at all, we must read the Dios cómo of P. Silverio (p. 403, 1. 20), which is also found in P. Gerardo and elsewhere, as cómo Dios. ⁸⁷Isaias xxviii, 9. ⁸⁸Habacuc ii, 1. ⁸⁹St. Augustine: Soliloq., Cap. ii. ⁹⁰Psalm lxii, 3 [A.V., lxiii, 1-2]. ⁹¹Psalm xxxviii, 3 [A.V., xxxix, 2]. ⁹²Psalm lxxvi, 4 [A.V., lxxvii, 3-4]. ⁹³Psalm lxxvi, 7 [A.V., lxxvii, 6]. ⁹⁴Psalm l, 19 [A.V., li, 17.] ⁹⁵[The ’spirit of giddiness’ of D.V., and ‘perverse spirit’ of A.V., Isaias xix, 14.] ⁹⁶Ecclesiasticus xxxiv, 9-10. ⁹⁷Jeremias xxxi, 18. ⁹⁸[Lit., ‘for certain days.’]