7 — THE MOUNTAIN OF PERFECTION

Presence of God. — “Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord?” (Ps. 23, 3). I ask my God to allow me to approach the holy mountain where He dwells, where only His honor and glory reign.

Meditation

1 — St. John of the Cross left us a diagram that summarizes and expresses the whole spiritual life in synthesis. It is the outline of a mountain whose summit, representing the state of perfection, is shown by a circle; the ascent is symbolized by three roads that move toward the center of the circle, but only one, the narrowest, reaches it: it is the way of “nothing,” that is, of total self-denial; it leads straight to the center of the circle where it is written: “only the honor and glory of God dwell here.”

The soul reaches this supreme summit when, ruled by perfect charity, it adheres totally to the divine will, is moved only by it, and therefore tends solely to the glory of the Most Holy Trinity. “Here there is no longer any road, because for the just man there is no law...” is written around the circle. In fact, the soul totally ruled by the love of God no longer needs, in order to do its duty, the spur of an external law forcing it to remain on the right path; the divine will has become spiritually the one “principle of activity” that moves and directs it in all its actions. Therefore the Saint says that, in this state, of the two wills—the human and the divine—only one has been made, and this single will is the divine will become the soul’s will which, by losing itself in it, has abandoned every other choice.

All the infused virtues, the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit blossom abundantly in this soul, making it taste intimacy with God in an “eternal banquet, divine silence, divine wisdom.”

TO REACH TASTING TO KNOWING TO POSSESSING TO BEING ALL

WILL TO TASTE TO KNOW TO POSSESS TO BE NOTHING YOU MUST CONTINUE WITHOUT TASTE WITHOUT KNOWING WITHOUT POSSESSION YOUR WAY:

YOU MUST GO BY WHERE YOU ARE NOTHING

DIAGRAM OF THE MOUNTAIN OF PERFECTION OF ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

Thus, through the harsh way of “nothing,” the soul reaches the immense “all” of its God, the only treasure in which it loses itself.

2 — The only way capable of leading to the summit of perfection is the harsh path of nothingness, which leaves aside the two comfortable roads “of the imperfect spirit,” which close off halfway up the mountain and prevent the ascent. The imperfect spirit is the one “attached” to earthly goods, or even to spiritual goods, loved in a disordered way for the sake of one’s own satisfaction.

To leave “the path of the imperfect spirit,” therefore, one must no longer love anything except in full conformity with the will of God. In fact, every object loved for itself, and not according to the divine will, becomes in us a source of concern, desire, agitation, and seeking; it stirs our heart and drives us to act in search of our own satisfaction. How many “principles of action” different from the will of God in a soul attached to created things! Such a soul is precisely on those “paths of imperfection” that will never lead it to the goal. Therefore next to them it is written: “neither the goods of earth nor the goods of heaven” and therefore nothing. On this fundamental concept several verses insist, written at the base of the diagram: “To reach tasting, knowing, possessing, being all, will neither to taste, nor to know, nor to possess, nor to be anything. You must continue your path without taste, without knowing, without possession; you must go by where you are nothing.” It is the dry and desolate path of purification of sense and spirit that annihilates the soul to prepare it for profound encounter with God, for the “all” of full conformity of its will with the divine will.

Colloquy

My God, here I am at the foot of the sublime mountain of perfection! How shall I endure so harsh and long a journey?

To encourage my faintheartedness I need to think that Your beloved Son came down to earth precisely to show us this only way that leads to You, and to go before us on it. He first told us: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mt. 16, 24): is this not the way of nothing? And with His words: “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt. 5, 48), does He not also invite me to reach that highest perfection where only the honor and glory of God are sought?

If You, Lord, call me to holiness, You Yourself are ready to give me the graces needed to reach it; indeed You always go before me with Your divine help and gently urge me on. Thus, with You, all things, even the most difficult, become easy and gentle.

“O my God, how You know how to show that You are powerful!... Contrary to all human reason, You show clearly that all is possible and that to find everything easy it is enough to love You sincerely and abandon all for You.

“It is truly a case of saying that You pretend to make the law burdensome for us, because I do not see it so, nor do I know how the path that leads to You can be narrow. It is not a path but a royal road, on which whoever sets out to walk courageously goes forward safely, because it is clear of dangerous steps and stumbling stones, I mean occasions of offending You... Whoever truly loves You, O my Good, walks safely on a broad and royal road, far from precipices. If he stumbles even a little, You hasten to stretch out Your hand to him; and if his heart beats only for You, not for the world, they cannot ruin him, I do not say by one fall, but not even by many, because he walks in the valley of humility. I therefore cannot understand what there is to fear in setting out on the road of perfection... Let us fix our gaze on You, and if we are not first to abandon You, we cannot fear that You, Sun of justice, will hide Yourself, leaving us to walk in darkness, in danger of being lost.

“People are not afraid to live among lions always ready to devour us, that is, among what the world calls honors, pleasures and other satisfactions, and then we let ourselves be frightened by the devil even by a cobweb!... How this saddens me! How many tears I would like to shed!

“Do Thou, O merciful and almighty Lord, deign to open our eyes and never allow me to fall again into my past blindness! Amen” (T.G. Vi. 35, 13-15).