Libro Segundo — Declaración
The Security of the Secret Night
The soul reflects on how the darkness of the purgative night serves as a secure disguise, allowing her to escape spiritual enemies through the hidden ladder of living faith.
1. In this song, the soul continues to sing of further properties of the darkness of this night, repeating the good fortune that came to her through them. She sets them out in answer to a certain unspoken objection, saying that no one should think that, because in this night and darkness she had passed through so great a storm of anguish, doubts, misgivings, and horrors, as has already been said, she was therefore in greater danger of being lost—for on the contrary, in the darkness of this night she gained ground; because in it she was freeing herself and subtly escaping from her enemies, who were always blocking her path, since in the darkness of the night she went with changed dress and disguised in three liveries and colors that we will speak of later, and by a very secret ladder that no one in the house knew about, which, as we will also note in its place, is living faith, by which she went out so hidden and under cover, so as to carry out her purpose well, that she could not help but go very securely—especially since already, in this purgative night, the appetites, affections, and passions, etc.,12 of her soul—put to sleep, mortified, and extinguished—which are the ones that, when awake and alive, would not allow her to do it.3 So the verse follows, and it says: In darkness and secure.
Read the original Latin
1. Va el alma cantando en esta canción todavía algunas propiedades de la oscuridad de esta noche, repitiendo la buena dicha que le vino con ellas. Dícelas, respondiendo a cierta objeción tácita, diciendo que no se piense que, por haber en esta noche y oscuridad pasado por tanta tormenta de angustias, dudas, recelos y horrores, como se ha dicho, corría por eso más peligro de perderse, porque antes en la oscuridad de esta noche se ganó; porque en ella se libraba y escapaba sutilmente de sus contrarios, que le impedían siempre el paso, porque en la oscuridad de la noche iba mudado el traje y disfrazada con tres libreas y colores que después diremos, y por una escala muy secreta, que ninguno de casa lo sabía, que, como también en su lugar notaremos, es la viva fe, por la cual salió tan encubierta y en celada, para poder bien hacer su hecho, que no podía dejar de ir muy segura, mayormente estando ya en esta noche purgativa los apetitos, afecciones y pasiones, etc. , de su ánima adormidos, mortificados y apagados, que son los que, estando despiertos y vivos, no se lo consintieron. Síguese, pues, el verso, y dice así:
A oscuras y segura.
Notes
- 1 ↩Spanish 'antes' here has the corrective force 'on the contrary / rather' (not temporal 'before'): the night did not increase the risk of loss; rather, the soul gained in that darkness.
- 2 ↩'Libreas y colores' keeps the courtly-disguise image of the poem (livery/heraldic dress); later sections identify these with the three theological virtues. 'En celada' is rendered as concealment/under cover (ambush-stealth), matching 'a oscuras y en celada' in the stanza.
- 3 ↩Sentence fragment continues s3: the appetites, affections, and passions of her soul are what have been put to sleep, mortified, and extinguished; when still awake and alive, they would not consent to the soul's free passage.
Dark Night of the Soul companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
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