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Chapter 38NocheOscura.1.38

Libro Segundo — Capítulo 19

The First Degree: The Sickness of Love

The soul begins its ascent by losing its appetite for worldly things, becoming 'sick' with a holy longing for God.

He begins to explain the ten degrees of the mystical ladder of divine love according to Saint Bernard and Saint Thomas. The first five are set forth. 1. We say, then, that there are ten degrees on this ladder of love, by which the soul climbs from one to the next until it reaches God. The first degree of love makes the soul sick in a way that is good for it. Of this degree of love the Bride speaks (Song of Songs I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, that if you find my Beloved, you tell him I am sick with love. But this sickness is not for death; it is for the glory of God, because in this sickness the soul faints away from sin and from all things that are not God, for the sake of God himself, as David (Ps.1 My soul fainted—that is, concerning all things—toward your salvation.2 For just as a sick person first loses their appetite and taste for every kind of food and changes color, so also in this degree of love the soul loses its taste and appetite for all things, and as a lover, it changes the color and outward character of its past life.3 The soul doesn't fall into this sickness unless an excess of heat is sent to it from above, as this verse of David makes clear (Ps. 67:10), which says: You will set apart a willing rain, O God, for your inheritance, and it was weakened, etc.✦4 We have already explained this sickness and this loss of strength toward all things—the beginning and first step toward going to God—when we spoke of the annihilation the soul experiences as it begins to climb this ladder of contemplative purgation, where it can find no pleasure, support, comfort, or resting place in anything. For this reason, from this step it then begins to climb to the second, which is:

The Second Degree: The Restless Search

The soul moves from passive sickness to an active, ceaseless seeking of the Beloved in all things.

2. The second degree makes the soul seek without ceasing. From this, when the Bride says that, seeking him by night in her bed—when, according to the first degree of love, she was faint and failing—and she did not find him, she said (Song✦ I will rise and seek him whom my soul loves.5 And as we say, the soul does this without ceasing, as David advises (Ps. 104:4), saying: 104:4), saying: Always seeking the face of God; and, seeking him in all things, I stopped at none until I found him—like the Bride, who, once she had asked the watchmen for him, then went on and left them (Song6 3:3-4). Mary Magdalene didn't even stop at the angels of the tomb (Jn. 20:11-13).✦7 20:14). At this stage, the soul is so focused that it seeks the Beloved in everything. Whatever it thinks about, it immediately relates to the Beloved. Whatever it says, and in every matter it handles, it is constantly speaking of and dealing with the Beloved. Whether it's eating, sleeping, keeping watch, or doing anything at all, its entire concern is for the Beloved, just as was mentioned earlier regarding the yearnings of love. As the soul recovers and gains strength in the love of this second stage, it begins to climb to the third through a new kind of purgation in the night, as we'll explain later, which produces the following effects in the soul.

The Third Degree: The Zeal of Service

Love ignites a fervor for service, leading the soul to count great labors as small and to embrace deep humility.

3. The third step on the ladder of love is the one that sets the soul to work and provides the heat it needs to keep from failing. The Royal Prophet speaks of this (Ps. 111:1): Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, because he eagerly longs to do his commandments greatly.8 If fear, as a child of love, produces such eager desire, what will love itself do?9 . At this stage, because the fire of love is already burning, great works for the Beloved seem small, many seem few, and a long time of service seems short. As with Jacob, who, though he had been made to serve seven years upon another seven, found them few because of the greatness of love (Gen. 29:20). If love could do that much for Jacob when it was only the love of a creature, what will the Creator's love be able to do when, in this third degree, it takes hold of the soul?✦ Here the soul, because of the great love it has for God, feels deep grief and pain over how little it does for Him; and if it were allowed to spend itself a thousand times for Him, it would be consoled. That’s why it considers itself useless in everything it does, and it feels as though it lives for nothing.10 Here it works another wonderful effect in her: she holds herself, with clear certainty in her own judgment, as worse than all other souls—for one thing, because love keeps teaching her what God deserves; and for another, because, since the works she does for God here are many, and she knows them all as faults and imperfect, from every one of them she draws confusion and grief, seeing how low a way she has of working for so high a Lord. At this third degree, the soul is very far from having vainglory or presumption, and from condemning others. This third degree produces these earnest effects, along with many others of the same kind, in the soul; for that reason, she gains the courage and strength to climb to the fourth, which follows.11

The Fourth Degree: The Strength to Suffer

The soul gains the habitual strength to suffer for God, seeking only to please Him rather than its own consolation.

4. The fourth degree of this ladder of love is the one in which, because of the Beloved, a habitual suffering without growing weary is produced in the soul. For, as Saint Augustine says, love makes almost nothing of all great, grave, and heavy things.12 In this degree the Bride was speaking (Song of Songs13 8:6), when, already longing to find herself in the last degree, she said to the Bridegroom: Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love—that is, the act and work of love—is strong as death, and hard rivalry and contention like hell.✦1415 At this point, the spirit possesses such strength that it keeps the flesh entirely subject, regarding it as of little account, much as a tree regards one of its leaves. In no way does the soul here seek its own consolation or pleasure, either in God or in anything else, nor does it go longing for or trying to ask favors from God, because it sees clearly that he has already granted her more than enough of them, and all its care remains on how it can give some pleasure to God and serve him in some measure for what he deserves and for what it has received from him, even if it should cost a great deal.16 It says in its heart and spirit: “Ah, my God and Lord, how many people look to you for consolation and pleasure, or for you to grant them favors and gifts—but those who aim to give you pleasure and to offer you something at their own expense, setting aside their own interests, are very few.”17 Because the fault, my God, is not that you refuse to grant us new favors, but that we fail to put the ones we have received to use only in your service, so as to oblige you to keep granting them to us continually! This level of love is very high, because since the soul here, with such true love, is always pursuing God with a spirit ready to suffer for him, His Majesty often and very commonly gives it joy, visiting it in spirit sweetly and delightfully; for the immense love of Christ the Word cannot bear his lover's sufferings without coming to help. He affirms this himself through Jeremiah (2:2), saying: I have remembered you, taking pity on your youth and tenderness when you followed me in the desert.✦18 Speaking spiritually, this is the detachment the soul here has inwardly from every creature, never stopping or settling in anything.19 This fourth degree so inflames the soul and kindles in it such a desire for God that it makes the soul rise to the fifth, which is the one that follows.

The Fifth Degree: The Impatient Hunger

The soul experiences an intense, impatient hunger for union with God, finding no rest until it reaches the Beloved.

5. The fifth degree of the ladder of love makes the soul hunger for God and crave him impatiently. At this degree, the lover's desire to take hold of the Beloved and be united with him is so intense that any delay, no matter how slight, feels long, bothersome, and heavy; he constantly thinks he is finding the Beloved, and when he sees his desire frustrated—which happens at almost every step—he faints in his craving, just as the Psalmist describes when speaking of this degree (Ps. 83:2).✦2021 83:2), saying: My soul craves and faints for the dwellings of the Lord.✦ At this degree, the lover must either see what he loves or die; this is why Rachel, because of her great craving for children, said to her husband Jacob: Give me children; if not, I will die (Gen. 30:1).✦ 30:1).✦ Here they suffer hunger like dogs, and they encircle and go around the city of God (Ps. 58:7). 58:7).✦ In this hungry degree the soul fattens itself on love, because the fullness matches the hunger.22 From here, it can climb to the sixth degree, which produces the following effects.

Read the original Latin

Comienza a explicar los diez grados de la escala mística de amor divino según San Bernardo y Santo Tomás. Pónense los cinco primeros

1. Decimos, pues, que los grados de esta escala de amor, por donde el alma de uno en otro va subiendo a Dios, son diez.

El primer grado de amor hace enfermar al alma provechosamente. En este grado de amor habla la Esposa (Ct. 5, 8) cuando dice: Conjúroos, hijas de Jerusalén, que, si encontráredes a mi Amado, le digáis que estoy enferma de amores. Pero esta enfermedad no es para muerte, sino para la gloria de Dios, porque en esta enfermedad desfallece el alma al pecado y a todas las cosas que no son Dios, por el mismo Dios, como David (Sal. 142,7) testifica diciendo: Desfalleció mi alma, esto es, acerca de todas las cosas a tu salud. Porque así como el enfermo pierde el apetito y gusto de todos los manjares y muda de color primero, así también en este grado de amor pierde el alma el gusto y apetito de todas las cosas, y muda como amante el color y accidente de la vida pasada.

Esta enfermedad no cae en ella el alma si de arriba no le envían el exceso de calor, según se da a entender por este verso de David (Sal. 67, 10), que dice: Pluviam voluntariam segregabis, Deus, haereditati tuae, et infirmata est, etc. Esta enfermedad y desfallecimiento a todas las cosas, que es el principio y primer grado para ir a Dios, bien lo habemos dado a entender arriba, cuando dijimos la aniquilación en que se ve el alma cuando comienza a entrar en esta escala de purgación contemplativa, cuando en ninguna cosa puede hallar gusto, arrimo, ni consuelo, ni asiento. Por lo cual, de este grado luego va comenzando a subir al segundo grado, y es:

2. El segundo grado hace al alma buscar sin cesar. De donde, cuando la Esposa dice que, buscándole de noche en su lecho, cuando según el primer grado de amor estaba desfallecida, y no le halló, dijo (Ct. 3, 2): Levantarme he, y buscaré al que ama mi alma. Lo cual, como decimos, el alma hace sin cesar, como lo aconseja David (Sal. 104, 4), diciendo: Buscando siempre la cara de Dios, y, buscándole en todas las cosas, en ninguna reparé hasta hallarle, como la Esposa, que, en preguntando por él a las guardas, luego pasó y las dejó (Ct. 3, 3-4). María Magdalena ni aun en los ángeles del sepulcro reparó (Jn.

20, 14).

Aquí, en este grado, tan solícita anda el alma, que en todas las cosas busca al Amado; en todo cuanto piensa, luego piensa en el Amado; en cuanto habla, en cuantos negocios se ofrecen, luego es hablar y tratar del Amado; cuando come, cuando duerme, cuando vela, cuando hace cualquier cosa, todo su cuidado es en el Amado, según arriba queda dicho en las ansias de amor.

Aquí, como va ya el alma convaleciendo y cobrando fuerzas en el amor de este segundo grado, luego comienza a subir a tercero por medio de algún grado de nueva purgación en la noche, como después diremos, el cual hace en el alma los efectos siguientes.

3. El tercer grado de la escala amorosa es el que hace al alma obrar y la pone calor para no faltar. De esto dice el Real Profeta (Sal. 111, 1) que: Bienaventurado el varón que teme al Señor, porque sus mandamientos codicia obrar mucho. Donde, si el temor, por ser hijo del amor, le hace esta obra de codicia, ¿qué hará el mismo amor? . En este grado las obras grandes por el Amado tiene por pequeñas, las muchas por pocas, el largo tiempo en que le sirve por corto, por el incendio de amor que ya va ardiendo. Como a Jacob, que, con haberle hecho servir siete años sobre otros siete, le parecían pocos por la grandeza del amor (Gn.

29, 20). Pues si el amor con Jacob, con ser de criatura, tanto podía, ¿qué podrá el del Criador cuando en este tercer grado se apodera del alma?

Tiene el alma aquí, por el grande amor que tiene a Dios, grandes lástimas y penas de lo poco que hace por Dios; y, si le fuese lícito deshacerse mil veces por él, estaría consolada. Por eso se tiene por inútil en todo cuanto hace, y le parece vive de balde.

Hácele aquí otro efecto admirable, y es que se tiene por más mala averiguadamente para consigo que todas las otras almas: lo uno, porque le va el amor enseñando lo que merece Dios; y lo otro, porque, como las obras que aquí hace por Dios son muchas, y todas las conoce por faltas e imperfectas, de todas saca confusión y pena, conociendo tan baja manera de obrar por un tan alto Señor. En este tercer grado, muy lejos va el alma de tener vanagloria o presunción y de condenar a los otros. Estos solícitos efectos causa en el alma, con otros muchos a este talle, este tercer grado; y por eso en él cobra ánimo y fuerzas para subir hasta el cuarto, que es el que sigue.

4. El cuarto grado de esta escala de amor es en el cual se causa en el alma, por razón del Amado, un ordinario sufrir sin fatigarse. Porque, como dice san Agustín, todas las cosas grandes, graves y pesadas, casi ningunas las hace el amor. En este grado hablaba la Esposa (Ct. 8, 6), cuando, deseando ya verse en el último dijo al Esposo: Ponme como señal en tu corazón, como señal en tu brazo; porque la dilección, esto es, el acto y obra de amor, es fuerte como la muerte, y dura emulación y porfía como el infierno. El espíritu aquí tiene tanta fuerza, que tiene tan sujeta a la carne y la tiene tan en poco como el árbol a una de sus hojas. En ninguna manera aquí el alma busca su consuelo ni gusto, ni en Dios ni en otra cosa, ni anda deseando ni pretendiendo pedir mercedes a Dios, porque ve claro que hartas las tiene hechas, y queda todo su cuidado en cómo podrá dar algún gusto a Dios y servirle algo por lo que él merece y de él tiene recibido, aunque fuese muy a su costa. Dice en su corazón y espíritu: ¡Ay, Dios y Señor mío, cuán muchos hay que andan a buscar en ti consuelo y gusto y a que les concedas mercedes y dones, mas los que a ti pretenden dar gusto y darte algo a su costa, pospuesto su particular, son muy pocos.

Porque no está la falta, Dios mío, en no nos querer tú hacer mercedes de nuevo, sino en no emplear nosotros las recibidas sólo en tu servicio, para obligarte a que nos las hagas de continuo!

Harto levantado es este grado de amor, porque, como aquí el alma con tan verdadero amor se anda siempre tras Dios con espíritu de padecer por él, dale Su Majestad muchas veces y muy de ordinario el gozar, visitándola en espíritu sabrosa y deleitablemente, porque el inmenso amor del Verbo Cristo no puede sufrir penas de su amante sin acudirle. Lo cual por Jeremías (2, 2) lo afirma él, diciendo: Acordádome he de ti, apiadándome de tu adolescencia y ternura cuando me seguiste en el desierto. Hablando espiritualmente es el desarrimo que aquí interiormente trae el alma de toda criatura, no parando ni quietándose en nada. Este cuarto grado inflama de manera al alma y la enciende tal deseo de Dios, que la hace subir al quinto, el cual es el que se sigue.

5. El quinto grado de la escala de amor hace al alma apetecer y codiciar a Dios impacientemente. En este grado el amante tanta es la vehemencia que tiene por comprehender al Amado y unirse con él, que toda dilación, por mínima que sea, se le hace muy larga, molesta y pesada, y siempre piensa que halla al Amado; y cuando se ve frustrado su deseo, lo cual es casi a cada paso, desfallece en su codicia, según hablando en este grado lo dice el Salmista (Sal. 83, 2), diciendo: Codicia y desfallece mi alma a las moradas del Señor. En este grado el amante no puede dejar de ver lo que ama o morir; en el cual Raquel, por la gran codicia que tenía a los hijos, dijo a Jacob su esposo: Dame hijos; si no, yo moriré (Gn. 30, 1). Padecen aquí hambre como canes y cercan y rodean la ciudad de Dios (Sal. 58, 7).

En este hambriento grado se ceba el alma en amor, porque según la hambre es la hartura. De manera que de aquí puede subir al sexto grado, que hace los efectos que se siguen.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.68.10 — A rain of generosity you will shower down, O God; your inheritance, though it had grown weary, you have restored.
  2. ↩Song.3.2 — I will rise now and go about the city, through the streets and through the squares; I will seek the one my soul loves. I sought him, but I did not find him.
  3. ↩John.20.14 — Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and she did not know that it was Jesus.
  4. ↩Gen.29.20 — And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they were in his eyes like a few days, because of his love for her.
  5. ↩Song.8.6 — Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion is fierce as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a flame of Yah.
  6. ↩Jer.2.2 — Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: Thus says the LORD: I remember for you the devotion of your youth, the love of your betrothal—your going after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
  7. ↩Ps.84.2;Ps.85.2 — How lovely are your dwelling places, LORD of hosts! Ps.85.2 — You showed favor, LORD, to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
  8. ↩Ps.83.2;Ps.85.2 — God, do not keep silent; do not be still, do not be quiet, O God. Ps.85.2 — You showed favor, LORD, to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
  9. ↩Gen.30.1 — When Rachel saw that she bore no children for Jacob, Rachel was jealous of her sister, and she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I am dead."
  10. ↩Gen.30.1 — When Rachel saw that she bore no children for Jacob, Rachel was jealous of her sister, and she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I am dead."
  11. ↩Ps.59.7 — They return at evening, they growl like a dog, and they prowl about the city.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Spanish desfallece ... al pecado y a todas las cosas means the soul fails/faints with respect to sin and creatures—not that it faints into them. Rendered as 'faints away from' to keep that detachment sense, which the next sentence’s gloss about all things confirms.
  2. 2 ↩Spanish a tu salud can mean toward/for your salvation (salus) or health; in this psalm gloss, salvation is the stronger reading and is kept here.
  3. 3 ↩Accidente keeps a scholastic sense of outward accidental qualities or bearing, not a mishap; rendered as 'outward character' rather than technical 'accident.'
  4. 4 ↩The Latin Vulgate quotation (Ps 67:10; Hebrew/English often 68:9) is rendered in modern English; pluviam voluntariam is given as 'willing rain' (freely given / voluntary rain), and infirmata est as 'it was weakened,' matching the sickness imagery of this degree of love.
  5. 5 ↩Source 'Levantarme he' is older Spanish future periphrasis (me levantaré); rendered as solemn 'I will rise' for the scriptural quotation.
  6. 6 ↩'en ninguna reparé' uses classical Spanish 'reparar en' = to pause over / linger on / attend to; rendered 'I stopped at none' to preserve the continuous search until God is found.
  7. 7 ↩'ni aun ... reparó' again uses 'reparar en' (to linger over / fix attention on); rendered 'did not even stop at' to match the continuous seeking motif.
  8. 8 ↩Spanish codicia obrar mucho carries strong eager desire/coveting of doing the commandments much; rendered as eagerly longs ... greatly to keep that force without modern pejorative greed.
  9. 9 ↩obra de codicia is the psalm's eager craving for the commandments; rendered as this eager desire rather than greed, which would distort the spiritual sense.
  10. 10 ↩de balde: idle / to no purpose / for nothing — not merely 'free of charge,' but living without fruit or worth before God.
  11. 11 ↩solícitos efectos: rendered as 'earnest effects' (solicitous/diligent workings of love); could also be 'eager' or 'anxious,' but the force is love's careful, pressing interior work.
  12. 12 ↩Spanish 'casi ningunas las hace el amor' means love reduces great and heavy things almost to nothing—not that love performs none of them.
  13. 13 ↩Source sentence is cut mid-citation; reference and quotation continue in the next sentence.
  14. 14 ↩'el último' is elliptical for the last/final degree of the ladder; rendered 'the last degree' for clarity.
  15. 15 ↩'dilección' is glossed in the source itself as the act and work of love; kept as 'love' with that parenthetical retained.
  16. 16 ↩'mercedes' rendered as 'favors' (divine gifts/mercies), matching the nearby pairing with 'dones'.
  17. 17 ↩'pospuesto su particular' rendered as 'setting aside their own interest' (their private advantage), not merely 'their particular case'.
  18. 18 ↩Spanish adolescencia here means the biblical 'youth' of the people (Jer 2:2), not modern adolescence; rendered as 'youth'.
  19. 19 ↩desarrimo is San Juan's technical term for leaning away from creaturely support; rendered as 'detachment' rather than mere emotional distance.
  20. 20 ↩Spanish 'comprehender' here is mystical grasp/possession of the Beloved, not intellectual understanding alone; rendered as 'take hold of'.
  21. 21 ↩'codicia' in this mystical register is intense spiritual craving, not moral covetousness.
  22. 22 ↩Spanish 'se ceba' (from cebar) means to fatten or feed greedily, as one fattens livestock; the image is of the soul engorging itself on love in proportion to its hunger, not a mild 'nourish'.

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