St. John of the Cross for Beginners: A Commentary on The Ascent of Mount Carmel and The Dark Night of the Soul by William Meninger

Author:William Meninger [Meninger, William]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781590564646
Publisher: Lantern Books
Published: 2014-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

Interior Locutions

We will now speak of another kind of revelation, supernatural locutions. These may come to the spiritual soul without the intervention of any of the physical senses. When such a soul is inwardly recollected, certain clear and distinct words may be received. They may also come when the spirit is not recollected, not as formal words but, in some way, the essence or meaning of words is communicated.

Chapter 29

Words or Locutions in Recollection

When the soul is deep in meditation, the Holy Spirit can assist it in producing a series of reasonable and logical thoughts about the subject of its meditation so that the reasoning reveals things which the soul did not know previously. By its meditation, the soul is united with mysterious truths of the faith. The Holy Spirit is also united with the soul in that truth. Thus aided by the Holy Spirit, the soul is able to reason to conclusions that reveal even further truths. This is one of the ways in which the Holy Spirit teaches. In this spiritual enlightenment of the understanding, no deception is produced. However, on its own, the soul may continue to reflect on these truths and fall into error. The reason for this is that the truths so revealed by the Holy Spirit are so subtle and spiritual that our reasoning, of its own accord, does not have a clear understanding of it. At such times it will seem to the soul as though a third person were speaking which the soul may attribute to God. Some souls may communicate such experiences to others as though they came from God. These communications can be false, misleading and even heretical. Their errors come from themselves but they think they come from God.

One can see that it is extremely important for souls to be humble and reveal all such spiritual experiences to their confessors. Such experiences should engender humility and charity as well as mortification and holy simplicity. If they do not do this, what is their value? It is true that the Holy Spirit might illuminate a recollected understanding. The greatest recollection, however, is done in faith. The purer the faith of the soul, the more it has of the infused charity of God. The more charity it has, the more it is illumined by the Holy Spirit. This illumination comes through faith and not through understanding and is far greater and more profound than any revelation communicated to the understanding. Revelations that require the application of the understanding can lead the soul astray. So we should not apply the understanding to things which are being supernaturally communicated. Rather we should simply and lovingly look to the will of God and passively receive it.

Let the soul learn to be intent upon nothing except grounding its will in humble love and imitating the Son of God in his life and mortifications. This is the road to union with God. So let us understand that various locutions may come to the understanding from

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