The Sun and the Eagle
Saint Thomas Aquinas’ thought in Saint John of the Cross
Nowadays we are invaded by false mystics, who even though apparently study so much, make many mistakes.[1] They are those who know not “this way, (the Word) by which they might descend to Him from themselves …; nor that through Him they might ascend unto Him. This way they knew not, and they think themselves exalted with the stars and shining, and lo! They fell upon the earth, and ‘their senseless minds were darkened’ (Rom 1:21) … the Artificer of the creature, they seek not with devotion, and hence they find Him not.”[2]
This has not been the Angelic Doctor’s case. He, being more than just an extraordinary philosopher, was a great theologian who defended and explained the divine truths of faith with great skill to such an extent that he merited the title “Lantern of the Church and of the entire world.”[3] His methodology “before being a instructor’s technical methodology,” declared Saint John Paul II, “has been a saint’s methodology, who lives in the plenitude of the Gospel, wherein charity is everything. Love of God, supreme font of all truth; love of neighbor, majestic work of God; love of created things, which are precious chests full of treasures that God has poured within them. This was the inspiring force of all his studious work and the secret drive of his total donation as a consecrated person. Effectively, the gigantic intellectual effort of this master of thought was stimulated, sustained, and oriented by a heart enlarged with love of God and neighbor. ‘Per ardorem caritatis datur cognitio veritatis.’[4]”[5]
However, there were always those who categorized Saint Thomas Aquinas as belonging only to the philosophical realm, making of him a species of “Christian Aristotle” and are surprised that there are those who have found principles of mystical theology in his works. There are even those who read and comment very non-supernaturally and anti-mystically on his writings orienting the spirit in a sense very distinct from the Aquinate’s intention.[6]
Those who think this way are most likely are absolutely unfamiliar with Saint Thomas. They have not read his treatises on the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Eucharist, grace, the theological virtues, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They have not opened his commentaries on Saint Paul, Saint John, the Psalms, the book of Job, Isaiah. They are ignorant of his pious writings, prayers, his Office of the Blessed Sacrament. Perhaps they do not know his life, neither about his nights spent before the Tabernacle, nor his raptures and the eminent contemplation which forced him to say of his Summa: that it was nothing more than straw in comparison with what he had seen. He himself “recognized that what he had learned in prayer was more delightful than what he had learned in study,[7] and he maintained such lively sentiments of divine transcendence that he placed this principle as a primordial condition before any theological investigation whatsoever: ‘our cognition of God is the more perfect in this life to the extent that we understand more and more that He exceeds whatever is comprehended by our understanding.’[8]”[9]
We want to highlight, therefore, that the doctrine imparted by Saint Thomas in his cathedra was corroborated with testimony of life. “In this way, his entire theology was prayer, conversation with God, contemplation of God.”[10] That is why his works – affirms Saint John Paul II – reveal to us a “thinker capable of the most audacious speculative flights, a mystic habituated to drinking directly from the very font of all truth in order to find the response to the most profound inquiries of the human spirit.
[…] He who approaches Saint Thomas cannot forego the testimony which emerges from his life; what’s more, he must valiantly examine himself in Thomas’ footprints with the commitment of imitating his examples, if he wants to arrive at enjoying the most hidden and savory fruits of his doctrine.[11]
All that we have just affirmed is particularly striking for those, like us, who are exhorted not only to assimilate “the doctrine of the great teachers of spiritual life”[12] but also to follow their examples in order to “spur us to seek the future city… the perfect union with Christ, holiness.”[13]
1. Theology and Mysticism
It is opportune –before continuing– to affirm that “with the term ‘theology’ we indicate all the elements of a reflection about God and His mysteries in the life of the Church, meanwhile we reserve to ‘mysticism’ the elaboration of the facts of this experience of faith, that is without a doubt much more elevated, intimately lived by the Christian.”[14] In this sense, theology and Mysticism are not two different things, they are not two sciences that walk parallel. For Mysticism, as a science, is the vital and pragmatic exposition of what Theology speculatively teaches us about the supreme work of the divinization of the soul or the soul’s ascension unto God.[15] We could say that mysticism is its own specialized sector of theology; “it is its summit, its crown.”[16] Understood in this way, the experience of the mystics confirms and vivifies in the theological teachings on the soul’s spiritual growth, until reaching the transforming union.[17]
The Angelic Doctor was a mystic. He was a mystic to such an extent that Menéndez-Reigada goes to the extent of affirming that the very “theological work of Saint Thomas is essentially mystic, as mysticism is the participation of the divine life and the soul’s ascension unto God.[18] That is why many people emphasize the powerful influence of the Angelic Doctor on the great mystics, among whom Saint John of the Cross is the greatest of all.
Therefore, if Saint Thomas is the eminent reference of philosophy and theology and Saint John of the Cross is the same for mysticism, from the beginning it seems good to apply the title of titles of theologian and mystic to Saint Thomas and Saint John of the Cross respectively, but without exclusivity.
“Saint John of the Cross, and mystics in general, look more toward the pragmatic and experimental part of the soul in their becoming ‘deiform,’[19] nearly disregarding the speculative part which is properly scientific; so, we must not be surprised when studying Saint John of the Cross to note that he barely mentions the gifts of the Holy Spirit, when nearly all that he teaches us is the proper effect of these very gifts. We could also say the same of grace. He is not interested in investigating the causes nor in declaring their nature, but rather in describing as much as possible the living and transcendent reality which the soul continues to discover within itself, and the practical means which lead the soul to perfect union with God in this life: the end he proposes.
On the contrary, Saint Thomas poses and resolves the human problem in all its extension and complexity with a rigorously scientific method; solidly establishing principles, analyzing the causes, recording the effects, yet not pausing to describe the phenomena which accompany such effects. For this reason, to he who superficially studies Aquinas, it could seem that Saint Thomas is not a mystic, when in reality he is the Incomparable Master of Mysticism, as he is of Theology.”[20]
Our resolution is to demonstrate in this article the fact that the doctrines of the Angelic Doctor and the Mystic Doctor are not only in complete concordance, but also that both systems –each one with its singular richness – offer a unique contribution that in some way defines and gives a remarkable brand to authentic Christian spirituality.
To this end, we must consider the presence of Thomistic thought, or better said, of some of the fundamental doctrines of the Thomistic synthesis which relate more to the spiritual life, in Saint John’s writings.
2. Saint John of the Cross, Thomist
We hereby begin by saying that “the scientific theological environment in which the University of Salamanca breathed at its height, when Saint John of the Cross frequented its classrooms, was certainly Thomistic.”[21]
For this reason, the Aquinate’s works were the texts commented upon by the doctors and studied by the students and which all recognized as the indisputable authority in scholastic questions. Yet he not only attended the first year of theology in the University of Salamanca where, as was just previously mentioned, Thomism was the dominant current, but also John of the Cross completed his formation in the school of San Andrés with the teachings of various Carmelite authors. There even admitting clear divergences that refer rather to philosophical themes, Thomism was the system followed by most of the Carmelite masters.[22] Consequently, it’s undeniable that Saint John of the Cross was educated in a Thomistic atmosphere. Furthermore, it was during those years when the Mystic of Fontiveros attended the Salamancan University that Saint Thomas Aquinas was proclaimed Doctor of the Church (1567).
He not only had a Thomistic formation, but also was “eminently Thomistic in his entire doctrine”[23] and followed him “ever faithfully.”[24]
Now, “the presence of Thomistic thought in Saint John’s writings cannot be measured by explicit citations; there are few, practically only two, and furthermore these two writings are not representative. The entire synthesis of Saint John of the Cross is sustained, however, by the Scholastic philosophical and theological conception whose greatest exponent is Saint Thomas. Almost every time that the Mystic Doctor refers to the ‘theologians’ without naming them, he is thinking of Aquinas,”[25] affirms the great studier of Saint John’s figures and themes, Eulogio Pacho. Fr. Juan González Arintero’s affirmation coincides with this. He says that John of the Cross had so assimilated Saint Thomas from the schools of Salamanca that even though he very seldomly explicitly cites Saint Thomas, everything seems inspired and supported by him; and we see him exhibit the purest Thomistic doctrine.[26] In order to illustrate this, here is one of the many examples which could be cited. [27]
In his book The Ascent of Mount Carmel, the Mystic Doctor speaking of how faith is a dark night for the soul, says: “Faith, the theologians say, is a certain and obscure habit of the soul. It is an obscure habit because it brings us to believe divinely revealed truths, that transcend every natural light and infinitely exceed all human understanding.”[28] Such an affirmation is fundamental for the comprehension of Saint John’s doctrine, especially in the Ascent and the Night. This affirmation is an echo of the classical scholastic thought about the nature of faith expressed by Saint Thomas in the Summa Theologiae II-II, 1-4; or in the Summa Contra Gentiles 3, 40; or in De Veritate 14, 1 (“because the truths of faith exceed human reason. Therefore, they do not fall under man’s contemplation if God does not reveal them”), etc.
In reality, “Saint John of the Cross was a good disciple of Saint Thomas: faithful and original; because he based himself in validly traditional principles, he knew how to take strides in the mystic field with a sense of balance, renewed admiration, and theological orientation. He even created an original system, describing and elaborating the effects of grace in those souls who live only in and for God.”[29]
All of Saint John’s doctrine us firmly rooted in the purest current of Catholic thought. It is a fact that among the literary-doctrinal sources used by the saint for his writings,[30] we find the “holy doctors”[31] (the expression used by the saint to denote the Holy Fathers); the aesthetic authors from whom the saint knew “some points of scholastic theology”[32] –as he himself designates in the Prologue of the The Spiritual Canticle– referring especially to Thomistic doctrine; the Sacred Scriptures (with 1653 Biblical citations, of which 1538 are explicit and 115 implicit); and finally, as the supreme norm and indefectible testing stone of his orthodoxy: “the judgement of Holy Mother Church.”[33]
Eulogio Pacho affirms that “Saint John of the Cross’s predilection for Saint Thomas among the scholastics is well established by the fact that he is the only one mentioned explicitly. This appreciation is not contradicted by the fact that the two most representive and consistence citations correspond to writings which are now considered apocryphal. They were not considered so in the time of the Saint, who values them precisely because he thought that they were genuinely the Angelic Doctor’s.”[34]
One of these explicit mentions is the case of the famous citation of Saint Thomas which Saint John of the Cross uses in order to describe the ten grades of love in The Dark Night (Book 2, chap. 19-20). The writing which very closely follows the Master of faith is, as previously states, an apocryphal writing of Saint Thomas,[35] entitled De decem gradibus amoris secundum Bernardum. Although more diluted, the presence of another Thomistic apocryphal writing called De beatitudine ends up being much more extensive. It is explicitly cited in The Spiritual Canticle (Stanza 38, 4), it reads: “Until attaining this equality of the love the soul is dissatisfied, nor would she be satisfied in heaven if, as St. Thomas affirms in the opuscule De Beatitudine, she did not feel that she loved God as much as she is loved by him. And even though in this state of spiritual marriage we are discussing there is not that perfection of glorious love, there is nonetheless a living and totally ineffable semblance of that perfection.”
The quoted test is found in the second chapter of the mentioned opuscule, which although it was not an authentic Thomistic writing, had no little impact in Saint John’s writings. Moreover, this serves to verify the fact that the pages of those works were very frequented by the spiritual authors of the Spanish Golden Age above all because of the halo of wisdom of the master to whom said work was attributed.[36]
The explicit citations of authentic writings of Saint Thomas deal with secondary topics in Saint John’s synthesis, referring also to Thomistic writings of second category. The first explicitly quoted Thomistic text comes opportunely with a simple phrase to explain the vision of the entire world that Saint Benedict had in a spiritual vision. “St. Thomas in the first Quodlibetum affirms that this vision was received through a light from above, as we stated.”[37] Take note that the Johannine reference is very precise and exact, and is read in Quodlibetum, question 1, article 1, in the response to the first objection.
The other nominal reference to Saint Thomas is less concrete, the reference is so generic that its identification is rather uncertain. It is introduced in this way: “contemplation is mystical theology, which theologians call secret wisdom and which St. Thomas says is communicated and infused into the soul through love. This communication is secret and dark to the work of the intellect and the other faculties.” [38] It’s true that this doctrine could be attributed to various theologians; however, some argue that when Saint John of the Cross says “mystical theology” he is making reference to the Thomistic commentary of De divinis nominibus, chap. 7, 1-2. In any case, it treats of something marginal with little relevance in Saint John’s system.
Other quite perceptible Thomistic resonances do have a greater relevance. As, for example, the immediate source used to define the number and distinction of the passions: “which are joy, hope, fear, and sorrow,”[39] which is most probably based on the Thomistic summary in Summa Teologiae I-II, 25, 4; Summa Teologiae I-II, 80; II Sent. Dist. 5-8. Or when John of the Cross writes in the Ascent that “God, who loves every good, even in the barbarian and gentile … [as] He did with the Romans because of their just laws,” [40] he seems to allude to the Doctor of Aquinas’ text De regimine principium (bk. 3, chap. 5-6). Likewise, he seems to echo the Thomistic doctrine Contra pestiferam doctrinam retrahentium homines a religionis ingressu when the Mystic Doctor denounces those spiritual directors who impede many from embracing the evangelical counsels. Their consonance reaches even unto the vocabulary used with typical and strong expressions such as “pestiferous trait” and “compel them” [41] etc.
Furthermore, there are many concrete points which, without such clear textual resonance, announce their Thomistic parentage.
By way of example, we can recall the theme of revelations and their inclusion within the scheme of the spirit of prophecy: “Logically, our next discussion should deal with the second kind of spiritual apprehensions, which are termed revelations and, properly speaking, belong to the spirit of prophecy. First it should be understood that a revelation is nothing else than the disclosure of some hidden truth, or the manifestation of some secret of mystery. […] We can affirm, therefore, the existence of two kinds of revelation: first, the disclosure of truths to the intellect (these are properly called intellectual notions or concepts); second, the manifestation of secrets. The term revelation is more properly applied to these latter than to the former. […] As a result, we can divide revelations into two classes of apprehensions: One we shall call intellectual knowledge, and the other, manifestation of God’s secrets and hidden mysteries.”[42] All of which is found magnificently treated in the Summa Teologiae II-II, 171-174.
The doctrine about charisms: “Indeed, our Lord infuses habits about different truths in many souls […] among them he includes wisdom, knowledge, faith, prophecy, discernment or recognition of spirits, knowledge of tongues, interpretation of words, and so on. All these kinds of knowledge are infused habits that God grants naturally or supernaturally to whomsoever he wills. […] It is worthy of note, though, that individuals whose spirit is purified can naturally perceive […] The spirit searches all things. […] And though they can often be deceived in the knowledge deduced from these indications, they are more often correct in their surmise. But they must not put trust in knowledge acquired through either of these two ways, because, as we will point out, the devil is a notorious and subtle meddler in this area.”[43]
For his part, Saint Thomas teaches: “they are numbered amongst the gratuitous graces, inasmuch as they imply such a fullness of knowledge and wisdom that a man may not merely think aright of Divine things, but may instruct others and overpower adversaries.” [44]
The Saint of Fontiveros picks up the Thomistic doctrine on essential and accidental glory when he writes in the Canticle: “essential glory lies in seeing God […] There are two reasons [for this]: First, just as the ultimate reason for everything is love (which is seated in the will), whose property is to give and not to receive, whereas the property of the intellect (which is the subject of essential glory) lies in receiving and not giving, the soul in inebriation of love does not put first the glory she will receive from God, but rather the surrender of herself to him through true love without concern for her own profit.”[45] He also adopts the Aquinate’s teaching on the gifts of the glorious body when he writes, for example, in the Ascent: “It is unnecessary to discuss the goods of glory that come in the next life through the negation of this joy. Besides the fact that the bodily endowments of glory, such as agility and clarity, will be far more excellent in those who denied themselves than in others who did not, there will be an increase in essential glory in the soul that responds to the love of God and denies sensible goods for him. For every momentary and perishable joy souls deny, as St. Paul states, there will be worked in them eternally an immense weight of glory.[46]”[47] The Angelic Doctor exhibits this doctrine in his Summa I-II, 2-5; 67, 3; Suppl. 92-96.
There is without a doubt a great Thomistic influence in the writings of Saint John and having pointed out some passages where his influence was more obvious, it seems convenient to point out together with Eulogio Pacho that “John of the Cross separates on occasions from “Thomism” for the demands of thought, influence of other philosophic currents, and, principally, for practical reasons of communication. This last reason is most probably due to Saint Thomas’ varience (desmarque) in the proposal of three distinct potencies of the soul and in the uniting of the memory with hope. Something similar occured with the naming of the interior corporal senses and their attributed functions. However, they are details which do not substantially alter the constant closeness of John of the Cross and the Angelic Doctor.”[48] In the words of P. Arintero: “Saint John of the Cross, while to a certain point most original, is similar to him in everything, deep down and with utmost frequency even to the very form or expressions of the loftiest teachings which most characterize him and bring him credit.”[49]
3. Thomistic Mysticism
Now, beginning from some of the principal fundamental doctrines of the Thomistic synthesis that have the greatest relation to the spiritual life, we would like to show how these are reflected in the mysticism of the Master of faith.
Regarding our intellectual knowledge in the natural order, above all of the first rational principles, such as the principle of non-contradiction, the Aquinian teaches that no being, created or uncreated, can be and not be at the same time and under the same aspect. Following this, the Mystic Doctor does not hesitate to affirm that “two contraries (even as philosophy teaches us) cannot coexist in one person; and that darkness, which is affection set upon the creatures, and light, which is God, are contrary to each other, and have no likeness or accord between one another.”[50] It is necessary that the soul pass through the dark night in order to arrive at the divine union since the affections are darkness and God is pure light. For light and darkness cannot agree.
About the principle of causality according to which all contingent beings, body or spirit, have a cause; consequently, Saint John of the Cross writes: “All the being of creation, then, compared with the infinite Being of God, is nothing. […] all the beauty of the creatures, compared with the infinite beauty of God, is the height of deformity […] and all the grace and beauty of the creatures, compared with the grace of God, is the height of misery and of uncomeliness […] and all the goodness of the creatures of the world, in comparison with the infinite goodness of God, may be described as wickedness[…] All the wisdom of the world and all human ability, compared with the infinite wisdom of God, are pure and supreme ignorance.”[51]
Likewise, based on the principle of finality by which every agent, material or spiritual, works for an end, Saint John of the Cross affirms: “God sets the soul in this dark night to the end that He may quench and purge its sensual desire […] He allows it not to find attraction or sweetness in anything whatsoever.”[52] “Because the ultimate reason for everything is love,”[53] and “although it is true that glory consists in understanding, the ultimate end of the soul is to love.”[54]
Lastly, according to the fundamental moral principle that says that we must do good and avoid evil, the Fontivarian Mystic writes: “the way to look for God is to do good works for him and mortify evil within oneself.”[55]
Saint Thomas affirms that intellectual knowledge of these primordial truths comes in a certain way from the senses, because our intellect abstracts its ideas from sensible things. Nevertheless, such an affirmation does not affirm that the intellectual certainly of the first principles takes place formally in the sensation (this would be subordinating the superior to the inferior, the intellect to the senses). Saint Thomas says that “intellectual certainty of the first principles is resolved in the pre-acquired sensation only materially. (I, 84, 6); formally it is resolved in the purely intellectual evidence of the truth of these principles, which seem to be fundamental laws, not only of the phenomena, but of being, or all intelligible reality, corporeal or spiritual. This evidence presupposes in us an intellectual light of an order infinitely superior to that of sensation or the most subtle, continually enriched imagination; an intellectual light that is a distant image of the divine light and illuminates nothing except with the constant help of God (I, 84, 5).”[56] In this sense, firmly situated in the natural order, Saint John of the Cross expresses himself as follows: “For, although it is true that all creatures have, as theologians say, a certain relation to God, and bear a Divine impress (some more and others less, according to the greater or lesser excellence of their nature), yet there is no essential resemblance or connection between them and God, on the contrary, the distance between their being and His Divine Being is infinite. Wherefore it is impossible for the understanding to attain to God by means of the creatures, whether these be celestial or earthly, inasmuch as there is no proportion or resemblance between them.”[57] Therefore, “the soul must be emptied of all such things as can enter its capacity, so that, however many supernatural experiences it may have, it will ever remain as it were detached from them and in darkness. It must be like to a blind man, leaning upon dark faith, taking it for guide and light, and leaning upon none of the things that he understands, experiences, feels and imagines. For all these are darkness, which will cause him to stray; and faith is above all that he understands and experiences and feels and imagines. And, if he be not blinded as to this, and remain not in total darkness, he attains not to that which is greater namely, that which is taught by faith.”[58] Furthermore he adds in the Canticle: “God is not entirely obscure to the soul as is a dark night; but it is a tranquility and quietude in divine light, in the new knowledge of God, in which the spirit elevated to the divine light is in quiet. She very appropriately calls this divine light “the rising dawn,” which means the morning. Just as the rise of morning dispels the darkness of night and unveils the light of day, so this spirit, quieted and put to rest in God, is elevated from the darkness of natural knowledge to the morning light of the supernatural knowledge of God. This morning light is not clear, as was said, but dark as night at the time of the rising dawn.”[59]
Saint Thomas’ principle referring to the supernatural life that we have so often read, studied and taught is well known: “Grace does not destroy nature, but perfects it”[60]. “Sanctifying grace makes us partakers of the divine nature (2 Pt 1:4). As theologians say, it is a physical and formal –though analogous– participation in the divine nature itself,”[61] which indicates the irreplaceable importance of grace in the salvific economy.
Now, it is clear that, although God gives himself to the soul when He infuses His grace, the soul neither corresponds with the perfect gift of itself, nor does it live for God alone. Grace modifies the soul in its very substance, communicating this divine life; however, the disorder of the passions and an unthinkable quantity of appetites and affections incompatible with grace remain in the soul. These impede it from going out of itself toward the total self-giving that God’s gift begs and demands for in correspondence. Saint Thomas, admirably maintains the infinite elevation of grace over nature, as well as their harmony. Yet this harmony is only manifest after the nature is profoundly purified by mortification and the cross. Hence the Johannine teaching is typical, explaining: “the truly spiritual soul might understand that the more they annihilate themselves for God in those two parts, the sensory and spiritual, so much more will they be united to God and the greater the good they will accomplish. When they are reduced to nothing, the highest degree of humility, the spiritual union between their souls and God will be an accomplished fact.”[62] Here we see the need of the active and passive purifications as an ordinary means for reaching union with God. “If one fails in this exercise,” warns the Mystic Doctor, “which is the root and sum total of all the virtues, the other methods would amount to no more than going around in circles without getting anywhere, even were one to enjoy considerations and communications as lofty as those of the angels.”[63] For, as he himself clarifies, it was in order for us to be “deiform”, that is, that the soul be transformed in the three Persons in power and wisdom and love, that God created us.[64]
In respect to the theological virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Saint Thomas carefully analyzes each one of them, in general and in particular, paying little attention to describing their effects on the soul. Saint John of the Cross, on the contrary, barely cares to investigate the causes, showing only the soul’s path, in its experiential and positive aspect, until it reaches union with God.
According to the aforesaid, “faith is a participation in the knowledge that God has of His own essence, which no created intelligence can reach on its own. Therefore, it is an infused and totally supernatural virtue, by means of which the life of grace is acts in the intellective order.”[65]
Faith gives us an obscure knowledge since it deals with a transcendent truth: “the being of God is different than the being of His creatures. God, by His being, is infinitely distant from all of these creatures.”[66] Thus, even the highest ideas we could form of God by abstracting them from things, are infinitely far off from God.
This supernatural knowledge of God moves us to love, not naturally as to our first principle, but to a love of true friendship, which is the love that unites us to God. Saint Thomas explains in his treatise De charitate, that faith itself, without charity, is dead and cannot lead us to the end to which it tends.
The relation between knowledge and love becomes ever more intimate. True knowledge always leads to love, and the latter ‘animates’ or gives new value to all of the operations. This is reaffirmed in clear terms the Angelic Doctor: “Although the contemplative life consists chiefly in an act of the intellect, it has its beginning in the appetite, since it is through charity that one is urged to the contemplation of God. … And this is the ultimate perfection of the contemplative life, namely that the Divine truth be not only seen but also loved.”[67] And the Mystical Doctor makes the same doctrine his own: “contemplation [is] … a science of love … which is an infused loving knowledge that both illumines and enamors the soul, elevating it step by step to God, its Creator. For it is only love that unites and joins the soul to God.”[68] For this reason our proper law teaches: “by faith man freely commits his entire self to God.”[69]
Love unites; for, “the loved object becomes one with the lover, and so does God with the one who loves him.”[70] Just as God’s love for man moved Him to unite Himself to us by grace, so charity, man’s love for God, is that which brings him to the heights of mystical union by perfecting him.
It is interesting to note here, that both doctors use the classic categories to describe the faithful (beginners, advanced or proficient souls, and perfect souls) or the principal stages of the spiritual life (purgative, illuminative, and unitive); moreover, their conclusions are certainly similar. Every human act has salvific power if it is moved by charity; each step is a means toward Christian perfection when assisted by the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, all temporal existence acquires an extraordinary value when what we are and do is imbued with Divine Love Itself.
In his works, the Mystic of Fontiveros delights in explaining the consequences of this. For example, he speaks of the charity that enters the soul[71] and empties it of all that is not authentic love for God and one’s neighbor. Thus, he leaves in writing that beautiful phrase that our proper law takes up in our Constitutions: “to love is to labor to divest and deprive oneself for God of all that is not God.”[72] Since charity is “the bond of perfection”[73] and as a consequence we must make “our entire existence becomes continuous worship to Him in charity.”[74]
The Angelic Doctor points out in the aforementioned treatise, the totality of love that he says it is necessary to have for God. Loving him above all things is to love him very little, since this implies that we with him we love other things. Instead, the love of God has to occupy our entire capacity, informing and giving life to all of our potencies and moving all of our acts. Through continuous purification of the senses and higher potencies, the soul is prepared to receive the degree of love for which God has prepared it; or, as stated by Saint John of the Cross, “until God introduces her into his divine splendors through transformation of love.”[75] For, until this happens, perfect union with the beloved will not be verified, which will be when “all the strength of her faculties is converted into a spiritual communion of exceedingly agreeable interior love with Him [the Beloved].”[76] Then the soul, intoxicated in the wine cellar of the Bridegroom, can sing:
Now I occupy my soul
And all my energy in his service;
I no longer tend the herd,
Nor have I any other work
Now that my every act is love.[77]
Now, in addition to the two theological virtues of faith and charity, another theological virtue is required, and this is hope. As Saint Thomas teaches, love is not content with a superficial knowledge of the Beloved, but wants to enter into His most intimate depths; nor is it satisfied with an imperfect possession of His goodness and beauty, but desires full possession, unimpeded and undisguised. For this reason, the soul anxiously desires that the veil of faith through which she contemplates the Beloved be torn away, that she might see Him as He is, melt into Him, and enjoy Him without limits.[78] And “until attaining this,” says Saint John of the Cross, repeating the Angelic Doctor’s teaching, “the soul is dissatisfied, nor would she be satisfied in heaven […] if she did not feel that she loved God as much as she is loved by Him.”[79]
On this point we would like to note that if “one human thought alone is worth more than the entire world”[80] or a human act cannot compare to all the treasures of the world,[81] than the elevation of the human person to the divine state is the best sign of his inalienable dignity. Thus, Saint John Paul II said wisely: “I think that in order to understand the human person’s dignity, the ability of the human person, it is necessary to pass through Saint John of the Cross’s theology, one must pass –let us say– once through that dimension of man which opens with Saint John of the Cross’s doctrine and thus, one sees what ‘man’ means. Afterward, one cannot forget his dignity.”[82]
* * *
We see, therefore, how Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Sun of Scholastic Theology, and Saint John of the Cross, the Eagle of Mysticism, each with his specific contribution, mutually integrate, complement, and enlighten one another. They do this in such a way that they indicate and help the development of the life of the soul until it reaches the maximum degree of union with God, the summit of authentic Christian spirituality.
Both doctors share the passion for the “Saving Truth”[83]; a knowledge that increases love for God; a love that animates all the acts of the virtues. This is why we can say that the Saintly Aquinian theologian’s clairvoyance has been the mystical experience of the Saint of Fontiveros.
Both of their testimonies end up being particularly moving for those who, like ourselves, have the task of evangelizing the culture. This is a task that “demands a faith on the part of responsible Christians that is illumined by continual reflection when confronted with the sources of the Church’s message, and a continual spiritual discernment pursued in prayer,”[84] together with an extensive intellectual formation, which is ordered to the truth and is unsatisfied with mere theological opinions.[85]
Saint John of the Cross and Saint Thomas Aquinas alike centered their investigations in the person of Christ, and found in contemplation that “Christian common sense, which is none other than a familiarity with the Word made flesh.”[86] Both gave themselves to God, understanding that this gift of self must necessarily be absolute and unconditional. Both personified mystic life, precociously unitive, far beyond mystical phenomena. Both lived internally in Christ with such intensity that they became living images of the Lord.[87]
From all that has been said, it is understood that both of them with their writings not only laid the foundation for a deep Christian life, but also explored its treasures and riches, displaying them to us for the glory of God and the extension of his Kingdom. Therefore, nothing is more in conformity with our “serious spirituality” than the study of Saint Thomas in all that has to do with theology or sacred doctrine, and the following of Saint John of the Cross in his magisterium regarding the mystic life.
For it will always be true that genuine “theological reflection ‘is centered on adherence to Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God. In addition to helping candidates grow in scientific precision, [it] will also help them develop a great and living love for Jesus Christ and for his Church.’[88] That love [both] nourishes spiritual life and serves as a model for the generous exercise of ministry. Therefore, theology must be nourished by prayer and by the love of Jesus Christ. [In this sense] Saint Bonaventure points out, ‘May no one believe that reading without unction is enough, nor speculation without devotion, searching without amazement, observation without joy, activity without piety, science without charity, intelligence without humility, studies without divine grace, investigation without wisdom coming from supernatural inspiration.’[89]”[90]
Finally, may our desire always be “Christ known, searched for, and loved more and more through one’s studies, personal sacrifices, victories over one’s self, in the slow conquest of the virtues of justice, fortitude, temperance and prudence; Christ contemplated with fervent and patient perseverance in order that… there will be imprinted upon them the same face of Christ (cf. 2 Cor 3:18).”[91] For “there is no authentic Catholic pastoral work without a profound spiritual life, without solid doctrinal formation, and without manly discipline.”[92]
[1] Cf. Constitutions, 142.
[2] Ibidem; op. cit. Saint Augustine, Confessions, V, 3, 5.
[3] Saint Paul VI, Lumen Ecclesiae, 1.
[4] Saint Thomas Aquinas, In Ioannem Ev. V, 6.
[5] Saint John Paul II, Discurso al Pontificio Ateneo Internacional “Angelicum” con motivo del primer Centenario de la Aeterni Patris (17/11/1979). [Translated from the Spanish]
[6] Cf. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, OP, La Mística y las doctrinas fundamentales de Santo Tomás.
[7] Vita S. Thomae Aquinatis auctore Guillelmo de Tocco, cap. XXXI; cf. J. Pieper, Einführung zu Thomas von Aquin, München 1958, p. 172 ss.
[8] Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 8, a. 7.
[9] Lumen Ecclesiae, 12.
[10] Mons. Adolfo Tortolo, “Tomás de Aquino, el Santo de la Verdad”, publicado en la Revista Mikael (1974), 7-17.
[11] Saint John Paul II, Discurso al Pontificio Ateneo Internacional “Angelicum” con motivo del primer Centenario de la Aeterni Patris (17/11/1979). [Translation from the Spanish]
[12] Constitutions, 212.
[13] Directory of Spirituality, 256; op. cit. Lumen Gentium, 50.
[14] Emeterio De Cea, OP, Teología y Mística: Santo Tomás y San Juan de la Cruz.
[15] Cf. Fr. Ignacio G. Menéndez-Reigada, OP, “Santo Tomás y San Juan de la Cruz”, publicado en la Revista La Vida Sobrenatural (mayo-junio 1942).
[16] Marcelo del Niño Jesús, OCD, El Tomismo de San Juan de la Cruz, 26.
[17] Cf. Emeterio De Cea, OP, Teología y Mística: Santo Tomás y San Juan de la Cruz.
[18] Cf. Fr. Ignacio G. Menéndez-Reigada, OP, “Santo Tomás y San Juan de la Cruz”.
[19] Saint John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, stanza 39, 4. (In the entire text we used the translation of St. John of the Cross’ Complete Works by Kieran Kavanaugh, 1991.)
[20] Fr. Ignacio G. Menendez-Reigada, OP, “Santo Tomás y San Juan de la Cruz”, publicado en la Revista La Vida Sobrenatural (mayo-junio 1942).
[21] Marcelo del Niño Jesús, OCD, El Tomismo de San Juan de la Cruz, 64.
[22] Cf. Emeterio De Cea, OP, Teología y Mística: Santo Tomás y San Juan de la Cruz. The author clarifies in a footnote: “Already in the special Constitutions of 1540, the Carmelite Congregations had recommended the reading of Saint Thomas’ Summa.” And given the Thomistic atmosphere breathed in the classrooms of the University of Salamanca, Bruno de Jesús María writes: “E’ dunque savio pensare che i maestri carmelitani di Giovanni di San Mattia seguissero, con una certa indipendenza, San Tommaso d’Aquino”; S. Giovanni della Croce, Milano 1938, 31.
[23] Cf. Antonio Royo Marín, Theology of Christian Perfection, Part I, chap. 4; cf. P. Marcelo del Niño Jesús, C.D., El tomismo de San Juan de la Cruz, Burgos 1930.
[24] Antonio Royo Marín, Los grandes maestros de la vida espiritual, BAC 2003, 352; cf. Marcelo del Niño Jesús, C.D., Burgos 1930..
[25] Eulogio Pacho, Diccionario de San Juan de la Cruz, 1175.
[26] Cf. Influencia de Santo Tomas en la mística de San Juan de la Cruz y Santa Teresa, “La vida sobrenatural” (1924), 4-5.
[27] Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 2, 8, 3; 2, 17, 2; Book 3, 12, 1.
[28] Ibidem, Book 2, 3, 1.
[29] Cf. Fr. Ignacio G. Menéndez-Reigada, OP, “Santo Tomás y San Juan de la Cruz”.
[30] Resumimos en pocas líneas la información vertida por la investigación realizada por Fr. Simeón de la S. Familia, OCD, Fuentes doctrinales y literarias de San Juan de la Cruz.
[31] The Spiritual Canticle, Prologue; Stanza 30, 7; Stanza 37, 4.
[32] The Spiritual Canticle, Prologue, 3.
[33] The Spiritual Canticle, Prologue, 4.
[34] Diccionario de San Juan de la Cruz, 1176.
[35] Atribuido por la crítica moderna a un dominico del s. XIII o XIV, de nombre Elvico Teutónico.
[36] Cf. Eulogio Pacho, Estudios Sanjuanistas, vol. 2, cap. 11.
[37] Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 2, 24, 1.
[38] Saint John of the Cross, The Dark Night, Book 2, 17, 2.
[39] Cf. Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 1, 13, 5; Book 3, 16, 2; The Dark Night, Book 1, 13, 15; The Spiritual Canticle, stanza 20, 4.9; stanza 26, 19; The Sayings of Light and Love 161; The Spiritual Canticle, stanza 29, 1.
[40] Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 3, 27, 3.
[41] Saint John of the Cross, The Living Flame of Love, stanza 3, 62.
[42] Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 2, 25.
[43] Ibidem, 26.
[44] Summa Teologiae I-II, 111, 4, ad 4.
[45] Saint John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, stanza 38, 5.
[46] 2 Cor 4: 17.
[47] Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 3, 26, 8.
[48] Cf. Diccionario de San Juan de la Cruz, 1177.
[49] Influencia de Santo Tomas en la mística de San Juan de la Cruz y Santa Teresa, “La vida sobrenatural” (1924), 4-5.
[50] Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 1, 4, 2.
[51] Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 1, 4, 4.
[52] Cf. Saint John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul, Book 1, 9, 2.
[53] Saint John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, stanza 38, 5.
[54] Eulogio Pacho, Estudios Sanjuanistas, vol. 2, cap. 11.
[55] Saint John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, stanza 3, 4.
[56] Cf. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, OP, La Mística y las doctrinas fundamentales de Santo Tomás.
[57] Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 2, 8, 3.
[58] Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 2, 4, 2.
[59] Stanza 14 and 15, 23.
[60] Summa Theologiae I, 1, 8, ad 2; 2, 2, ad 1.
[61] Directory of Spirituality, 188.
[62] Cf. Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 2, 7, 11.
[63] Ibidem, 8.
[64] Cf. Saint John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, stanza 39, 4.
[65] Fr. Ignacio G. Menéndez-Reigada, OP, “Santo Tomás y San Juan de la Cruz”.
[66] Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 3, 12, 2.
[67] Summa Theologiae II-II, 180, 7, ad 1.
[68] Saint John of the Cross, The Dark Night, Book 2, 18, 5.
[69] Directory of Spirituality, 73; op. cit. Dei Verbum, 5.
[70] Saint John of the Cross, Letters, Letter 11, to doña Juana de Pedraza, in Granada Segovia (28/01/1589).
[71] Cf. Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 1, 2, 3.
[72] Saint John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book 2, chap. 5, 7.
[73] Saint John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, stanza 30, 9.
[74] Cf. Constitutions, 24.
[75] Saint John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, stanza 13, 1.
[76] Saint John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, stanza 30, 1.
[77] Saint John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, stanza 28.
[78] Cf. Fr. Ignacio G. Menéndez-Reigada, OP, “Santo Tomás y San Juan de la Cruz”.
[79] Saint John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, stanza 38, 4.
[80] Saint John of the Cross, The Sayings of Light and Love, 35.
[81] Summa Theologiae I-II, 13, 1; IV Sent., d. 8, 3, ad 4.
[82] José Vicente Rodríguez, San Juan de la Cruz y San Juan Pablo II, p. 44; op. cit. Acta OCD, vol. 24, 1976, p. 6.
[83] Directory of Evangelization of the Culture, 242.
[84] Directory of Spirituality, 51; op. cit. Saint John Paul II, Address to the Bishops of Zimbabwe in Ad Limina Visit, July 2, 1988; OR (8/21/1988) Spanish Edition.
[85] Cf. Constitutions, 199.
[86] Constitutions, 231.
[87] Cf. Mons. Adolfo Tortolo, Tomás de Aquino, el Santo de la Verdad.
[88] Pastores Dabo Vobis, 53.
[89] Itinerary of the Mind into God, Prologue, 4.
[90] Constitutions, 224.
[91] Constitutions, 235; op. cit. Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, Circular Letter on Some of the More Urgent Aspects of the Spiritual Formation of Seminarians, 1.
[92] Constitutions, 228.
