Book reviews 2/28
Dark Night of the Soul (St. John of the Cross)
Rating: 
This was a very difficult book to make it through, partially because the original was written by St. John in the 1500s, but mostly because the material is difficult to comprehend. I need to return this copy to Rae Marie, but I may end up getting a copy of my own to read again someday in an attempt to understand more. The basic premise is that the faithful will at times reach points in their journey of faith where they feel completely cut off from God… in other words, they will enter the “dark night.” Rather than being punishment for things they have done, these are times where God is refining their soul or spirit for the next step in their journey. They may then hit very high points where they feel closer to God than ever, only to enter a time of darkness again, where their spirit is being further refined… and on and on, until… something.
The unfortunate thing with the book is that the something isn’t as obvious as it might be if the translators had access to all of St. John’s original manuscripts. He was providing commentary against eight stanzas of a poem he wrote, but apparently the manuscripts cut off after stanza three for no apparent reason. It is still a very worthwhile read, and if you are completely confused by what I’ve written here so far, then you know exactly how I felt reading it, lol. ;) I would like to at least leave you with a quote from one of the final pages of the text that seems to sum up the point of the book.
For the most important part of my task, and the part which chiefly led me to undertake it, was the explanation of this night to many souls who pass through it and yet know nothing about it, as was said in the prologue. … Although much less has been said of it than might be said, we have shown how many are the blessings which the soul bears with it through the night and how happy is the chance whereby it passes through it, so that, when a soul is terrified by the horror of so many and such precious blessings of God as it gains therein.
I know I certainly have hit times in my life where it feels like God has completely abandoned me. It’s a tough thing to go through, thinking that either (a) He never really existed in the first place, or (b) I’ve done something so horrible in His sights that He can not even be close to me. St. John mentions in his text that these dark nights lead people down several paths… but offers much advice for how to cope with these times of darkness. I believe one of the main pieces of advice is to stick with it… be patient… these things are happening to further your spirituality… and, it is truly a blessing. He says it’s similar to a mother bird kicking one of its babies out of the nest to teach it to fend for itself; it may seem harsh from the baby’s point of view, but it is exactly what the small bird needs in the long run. Even though God appears to have abandoned us in this time of darkness, He is really there… refining away. Yeh, that’s hard to comprehend. I guess maybe everything St. John is saying is similar to the “Footsteps” painting I have on my wall.
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord, “You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”
The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”
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