“Swift-winged birds,
lions, stags, and leaping roes,
mountains, lowlands, and river banks,
waters, winds, and ardors,
watching fears of night:
By the pleasant lyres
and the siren’s song, I conjure you
to cease your anger
and not touch the wall,
that the bride may sleep in deeper peace.”
Saint John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, Stanza 20
Juan de Yepes who was to become Saint John of the Cross was born in Spain in 1542. His family was left in poverty when his father died in 1545. In 1551 he moved with his mother and brother to Medina del Campo and attended a school for poor children. He also worked at the Hospital de la Conception helping people suffering from infectious diseases.
In 1559, John attended a Jesuit school under the patronage of the hospital administrator who was impressed by his dedication. In 1563 he entered the Carmelite order taking the name John of St. Matthias and then studied theology and philosophy at the University of Salamanca. He was ordained a priest in 1567 and in 1568 he took the name John of the Cross as he joined Saint Teresa of Avila’s reform movement of the Carmelite order.
He served as a novice director and founder of many new houses of reform which fostered resentment from members of the Carmelite order who opposed the reforms. Shockingly, tensions increased to the point where group of non-reforming Carmelite monks captured, imprisoned, and tortured Saint John in a monastery jail for nine months.
It was during this time of great suffering that the saint began writing his most important and creative spiritual works including thirty-one stanzas of The Spiritual Canticle. He later added a stanza and reordered the poem.
The Spiritual Canticle is Saint John’s explicitly Christian reimagined version of the biblical Song of Songs where the bride is clearly the human soul, and the bridegroom is Christ. Using a Spanish poetic style of his time, he portrays the soul’s journey toward spiritual transformation and union with God. This is a work of “bridal mysticism” where we are to metaphorically see ourselves in the role of bride as we encounter Christ the bridegroom.
Making sense of bridal mysticism
The bridal imagery might be a particular challenge for men (and possibly for many women). As a man, I have focused on my “sonship” with God the Father and my fraternity with Christ, the Son of God. I am an adopted child of God which affords me an unspeakable dignity.
Historically, I have had a great deal of difficulty picturing myself as a bride. I could not easily see past the romantic language, gender role reversal, and sexual connotations I thought might be involved in this approach.
In the past year, I have been on a journey to gain a better understanding of bridal spirituality and how I can come to terms with it and possibly discover its spiritual benefits.
I began with the premise that my relationship with God as son represents a filial love. God has unconditional “agape” love for me which means He desires my good and the good of all humans. In the person of Christ, He freely demonstrates this love by sacrificing Himself for us on the cross. This agape love is foundational to our faith, and we are to cultivate agape love for others. This makes perfect sense to me.
So, what did I further learn about bridal mysticism that opened my mind and heart to God’s love?
Saints of the Church such as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Clare of Assisi, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint John of the Cross, and Saint Teresa of Avila taught that God, who is Love, offers the unimaginable: an even greater love for humankind than agape love.
Inspired especially by the Song of Songs and their own prayer experiences, these saints taught that God has “eros” love for us! This eros love is passionate and desires a deep emotional connection. As I reflected on this, I realized that this was very true of my experience. I have often experienced an intimate relationship with God, especially through my encounter with Jesus. Perhaps that was only the beginning – God had more that He wanted to show me.
The bridal metaphor started to make sense to me. The closest human experience that captures this eros type of love is found in an intimate, loving, and romantic marriage. The bridegroom metaphor expresses God’s desire for intimacy with us. The bridal metaphor represents our longing for union with Him.
Saints such as Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila not only believed this truth of God’s desire for intimacy with us, but they experienced it in their contemplative prayer. No human words could really capture the feeling of being “lifted up” in a kind of ecstasy of divine love. The bridal imagery, although imperfect as any human words would be, offered the best comparison.
For me, then, the bridal imagery can be appropriated if I focus on the deeper truth that God wants me to be open and receptive to His love. He cherishes me and desires me. In return I long for Him and desire to be always intimately close to Him. Yes, He loves me as a child. But He also loves me, not because I deserve it whatsoever, but as an equal! I’m not in any way His equal and yet He elevates me to the status of “spouse.”
“On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” (John 14:20) “Through His grace, I participate in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). He seeks mutual love with me. This is a truth discovered by the mystical saints that is mind blowing!
I no longer need to do mental gymnastics imagining myself as a female or anything like that. Nor try to convince myself that the bridal imagery is just fine, after all, God is pure spirit and so does not technically have a human sex or gender.
Instead, I simply want to be a “bride” enthusiastically because I want this indescribable gift of union and intimacy with a God who is Love. He sees me and delights in me for who I am at my core, a human man with a heart that longs for Him. He elevates me to a status of mutual sharing of love.
This metaphor of the bride and bridegroom is also not just about me. This metaphor of an intimate union happens on multiple levels: the Church as a whole is the bride (macrocosm) and each one of us is also a bride (microcosm). God is so great and so transcendent that He is “bridegroom” to all of us individually and collectively. This love that we experience is also a love we share with others. It is fruitful and overflowing.
Reflection and meditation
With all of this in mind – primarily that bridal imagery represents a universal longing we have for God and a divine longing He has for union with us – let us explore Saint John of the Cross’ poetry in a spirit of reflection and meditation.
As we “enter into” this poem it has the potential to introduce powerful and dynamic imagery into our interior world. The bride is the inmost self, the spiritual center of the soul, in relationship with Christ. But the bride, the inmost self, also interacts with a rich interior landscape.
I will cite select stanzas from the poem (feel free to seek out the whole poem) and reflect on some of Saint John’s commentary as I interpret from a parts work perspective. Although I do not provide direct citations from Saint John’s commentary (it is long!) I do summarize its main points throughout. Here is the first stanza:
“Where have you hidden,
Beloved, and left me moaning?
You fled like the stag after wounding me;
I went out calling you, but you were gone.”
Here the soul calls out for God, complains of His absence, and longs for His return. This wound is one of love and Saint John refers to it as “touches of love” which “inflame the will.” The soul goes in search of her (I will use the feminine pronoun to identify the bride) lover in the third stanza:
“Seeking my love
I will head for the mountains and for waterslides,
I will not gather flowers,
Nor fear wild beasts;
I will go beyond strong men and frontiers”
The soul must take action and practice virtue as she seeks her lover. Saint John tells us the mountains represent the virtues, the waterslides represent penance and spiritual exercises, while the flowers represent earthly delights.
She must let go of temporal pleasures as she sets out to find her lover. The wild beasts are our own negative thoughts and beliefs. Saint John, a brilliant psychologist for his time, refers to the “imagination of the soul” that leads us to fear losing friends, reputation, and wealth. She fears losing her creature comforts and that others will make fun of her and see her as worthless. In this stanza the bride refuses to accept false beliefs and cognitive distortions (lies) that emerge from within.
The “frontiers” refers to the “natural rebellions of the flesh against the spirit.” According to Saint John in his commentary, the soul requires steadfastness, courage, bravery, strength, and perseverance to overcome these internal struggles. This is beginning to sound more and more like the inmost self exercising qualities and virtues (e.g. the 8 C’s and 5 P’s) as it attends to its parts who carry burdens and are sometimes overwhelmed by fear and shame.
As the soul unburdens and heals from these problems, she develops self-knowledge which Saint John in his commentary tells us is the beginning of the process of gaining knowledge of God.
The bride then turns to earthly creatures because they manifest God’s excellence. She wants to learn about her beloved’s whereabouts by asking nature (the elements i.e. “the woods”) and the heavens (“green meadow”) and the saints and angels (that “coat” the meadow) which He “clothed in beauty.”
But notice how this journey of exploration happens within the soul, within the interior world of each person. And we learn from these interior “creatures,” perhaps parts of the self-system, that as the bridegroom passes, He pours out “a thousand graces.” Our interior world is a beautiful place, in much the same way as the exterior world, where God blesses as He moves and acts.
In the sixth stanza the bride proclaims:
“Ah, who has the power to heal me?
Now wholly surrender yourself!
Do not send me
Any more messengers,
They cannot tell me what I must hear.”
This is so interesting from a parts work perspective. The bride seeks healing, and this happens through self-surrender – an unburdening. The healing and “letting go” boils down to a desire to be reunited with her Beloved. We can never be satisfied without God.
Just knowing about God, studying theology for example, is not enough. We must experience His presence and His love to truly know Him. In stanza seven Saint John discusses the kinds of wounds one experiences with Christ the bridegroom. The bride is literally dying of love, and this is described as “arrows” piercing the soul. She longs for the bridegroom even more.
The bride experiences such an intense love that she is transformed. One can imagine that this profound love spills out into the entire self-system, empowering the inmost self, but also unburdening and transforming all one’s parts. We will explore this further when we look at stanza 20.
For now, the soul, the inmost self, the bride is still struggling to fully understand and connect with the Beloved who has seemingly “stolen” her heart. In stanza 10 the bride cries out for their miseries to be ended and desires to see only her Beloved with “the eyes of the soul.” And then the next stanza (11) is shocking:
“Reveal your presence,
And may the vision of your beauty be my death;
For the sickness of love
Is not cured
Except by your very presence and image.”
What does it mean that the vision of God’s beauty is the bride’s death? It means that in this “death” all the false attachments, unnecessary concerns, distorted thoughts, false beliefs, and heavy burdens will die away. All the past trauma and negative ways of coping will be no more.
Every part of the self-system will be free to fulfill the role they were meant to fulfill without obstacles. Everything that keeps you from God will be nothing next to His beauty and His presence! The soul will experience unspeakable joy as she experiences union with God and His love.
In this metaphoric “death,” we will know our Beloved fully; the soul-in-love completely surrenders to this eventuality. We will experience the fullness of the Beloved’s beauty, and this will transform us and we will be absorbed into it. We will be made beautiful by it. This is a powerful poetic way of saying that we will experience deification (theosis) when we are transfigured by His beauty.
In stanza 13 we learn that the Beloved, represented as the stag, has been wounded as well and longs for the bride. It is here we see that mutuality mentioned above. What follows in the next few stanzas is a representation of the illuminative stage of the mystical journey where the bride and bridegroom enjoy peaceful love.
This leads to the spiritual betrothal with the “whistling of love-stirring breezes … silent music, sounding solitude” and the “supper that refreshes, and deepens love.” All the noise and distraction of the world is far behind as the two lovers reunite.
In stanzas 20-22 we come to the spiritual marriage. We recall the passage cited at the beginning of this article because it is so important for a parts work approach to this work:
“Swift-winged birds,
lions, stags, and leaping roes,
mountains, lowlands, and riverbanks,
waters, winds, and ardors,
watching fears of night:
By the pleasant lyres
and the siren’s song, I conjure you
to cease your anger
and not touch the wall,
that the bride may sleep in deeper peace.”
John tells us that it is here that Christ offers inner harmony to the bride by unifying the higher and lower dimensions of the soul. In parts work terms this could mean a reconciling of the inmost self with all the parts of the self-system.
At a minimum her spirit and her body experience a transforming union. Now she is free to enjoy the spiritual embrace without distraction by the senses. In parts work terms, the inmost self and the entire self-system, can unite with God which leads to participation in the divine nature (deification/theosis).
The various animals (birds, lions, stags, etc.) all represent parts of the self-system which carry different kinds of problems or passions within the soul. In some cases, it may be impulsivity, in other cases it may be anger or cowardice.
The mountains, lowlands and riverbanks represent parts that exercise vices that come from the memory, intellect, and will. The waters, winds, and ardors and fears of the night represent parts exercising the four passions: sorrow, hope, joy and fear. All of this speaks to the intricate complexity and multiplicity within the soul.
The Beloved orders and calms the passions. John says that in the past the Beloved allowed her to feel difficult feelings such as sorrow and experience suffering to grow in love. But now she realizes she possesses everything she needs such as compassion and all the virtues so she is at peace.
Stanzas 23-27 describe the gifts received by the soul in spiritual marriage. The bride experiences “mystical inebriation” as she drinks divine wisdom. She is no longer distracted by earthly matters as her focus is solely on God. In the final stanzas John describes the mystical marriage as a gem or crystal and how love binds together all the virtues. The goal of all of this is to experience internal harmony and enjoy a union with God in eternal bliss.
There’s so much more that could be said about this rich poem and John of the Cross’s detailed commentary on it. I pray that this mini-introduction into this beautiful and classic work of Catholic Christian mysticism will be helpful to you on your inner journey of the soul as we grow deeper in our relationship with our loving God.
Saint John of the Cross, pray for us!
May God bless you on your journey this week!
Resources:
The translation and passages above were taken from:
St. John of the Cross, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez, Third Edition (Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 2017)
Here are a few videos that might be of interest if you want to learn more about Saint John of the Cross:
Matt Fradd and Fr. Michael-Joseph Paris discuss the life of Saint John of the Cross
If you would like to hear the Spiritual Canticle recited, check out this video by MenInBrownTV which is part of the social media apostolate of the Discalced Carmelite Student Friars of St John of the Cross Monastery, under the Province of St Teresa of Jesus (Philippines).
For a more academic exploration of the mystical poetry of Saint John of the Cross, listen to a lecture by Dr. Keith Egan from Notre Dame University at a Lumen Christi event sponsored by the Carmelite Friars at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish.
Christ is Among us!
Dr. Gerry Crete is the author of Litanies of the Heart: Relieving Post-traumatic Stress and Calming Anxiety Through Healing Our Parts which is published by Sophia Institute Press. He is the founder of Transfiguration Counseling and Coaching, Transfiguration Life, and co-founder of Souls and Hearts.
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Just a few spots left in our Fall FEGs and advanced groups!
Our fall programs through the Formation for Formators community begin next week!
There are just a few spots left in Dr. Gerry’s Advanced Experiential Groups. He will be leading two advanced groups: one will focus on his Litanies of the Heart book and the second will focus on flourishing. Catholic formators who have been IFS Level One trained or have completed a Foundation Experiential Group through Souls & Hearts or the Stepping Stones programs are eligible.
In addition, Dr. Peter has one seat left in his Foundation Experiential Group (FEG), which has no prerequisites. His group begins Monday, Aug. 25. Several other FEGs start in early September with a team of IFS-trained leaders on a variety of days and times. Check out all this information and officially register here.
Check out the Resilient Catholics Community
This coming October we’ll be opening our 11th cohort of the Resilient Catholics Community, named after St. Kateri. This year-long program is all about learning to love self, God, and neighbor more fully. Learn more here and put your name on the interest list so we can reach out with more details.
Access Digital Resources and Support Our Scholarship Fund
Each year, Souls & Hearts provides more than $70,000 in scholarships and financial aid to individuals who are dedicated to their human formation. In order to help support our scholarship fund, we would like to offer a list of digital resources from Dr. Peter, Dr. Gerry, and some of our Resilient Catholics Community and Formation for Formator members in exchange for a donation.
This idea was inspired by Samantha Larin, a member of our Formation for Formators community. She wrote a book introducing parts and systems for her son and has graciously offered a digital copy to Souls & Hearts as part of our scholarship-raising efforts. (If you’d prefer just to buy this book, here is a link to purchase it from Amazon.)
We’ve started compiling a list of digital resources including Samantha’s book as well as charts, maps, cards, prayers and more. As we get submissions, we will add to this list, and anyone who makes a donation can use the download link to get a current list. Check it out. And if you have anything you’d like to add, please contact Pam Malinoski at office@soulsandhearts.com. We would love to include your creative parts’ contributions!