Canción XIII
The Soul's Dark Night and Purification
The soul suffers darkness and fire as it draws near to God, being purified for union.
Annotation of the following song The reason the soul suffers so much for him at this time is that, as she keeps drawing nearer to God, she feels within herself the emptiness of God and the heaviest darknesses in her soul, with a spiritual fire that dries and purges her so that, once purified, she may be united with God; because as long as God does not send into her some ray of supernatural light from himself, God is intolerable darkness to her when he is near her according to the spirit, for supernatural light darkens the natural by its excess—all of which David meant when he said: Clouds and darkness are round about him.12 . . fire goes before him; "Cloud and darkness are round about him; fire goes before his presence."3 And in another psalm he says: “He made darkness his hiding place, his tabernacle round about him: dark water in the clouds of the air.” At the brightness before him the clouds passed—hail and coals of fire. He made darkness his covering and hiding place, and his tabernacle round about him is dark water in the clouds of the air. From his great brightness in his presence there are clouds and hail and coals of fire—that is to say, this is what the soul undergoes as she draws nearer to him, because the closer the soul comes to him, the more she feels within herself all that has been said, until God enters with his divine splendors for the transformation of love.4 But since in God, by his immense goodness, the consolations and delights he gives the soul are also in keeping with her darknesses and emptinesses—for As his darknesses, so also is his light—and because even while he raises and glorifies them he also humbles and wearies them, in this way he sent the soul, amid her sufferings, certain divine rays from himself with such glory and force of love that he stirred her through and through and unhinged her whole nature; and so, with great dread and natural fear, she spoke to the Beloved the beginning of the following song, while the same Beloved continued the rest of it.56
The Song of the Bride and Bridegroom
The bride asks the Beloved to turn away his eyes as she takes flight, and the Bridegroom calls her back as a dove, revealing himself as the wounded stag.
Turn them away, my Beloved, for I am taking flight.7 BRIDEGROOM Turn back, dove, for the wounded stag appears over the hill to the air of your flight, and cools himself.8
Exposition on the Bride's Flight
John explains the rapture and ecstasy of the soul, the torment of divine visitations, and the soul's desire to receive the Beloved outside the flesh.
Exposition In response to the great desires and fervent love the soul has shown in the songs just past, the Beloved usually visits his bride with loftiness, delicacy, and love, and with great force of love; because ordinarily, according to the great fervors and yearnings of love that have gone before in the soul, the favors and visits God grants are also great. And since the soul had now longed so yearningly for these divine eyes she had just spoken of in the previous song, the Beloved revealed to her some rays of his greatness and divinity, as she desired; and these were communicated with such loftiness and force that they drew her into rapture and ecstasy—which at first causes great harm and fear to the natural self. And so, unable to bear such excess in so frail a subject, she says the verse that follows:910 Turn them away, Beloved. That is to say: those divine eyes of yours, because they make me fly, going out of myself into the highest contemplation beyond what nature can bear—which she says because it seemed to her that her soul was flying out of the flesh, which is what she desired, and that is why she asked him to withdraw them; namely, by ceasing to communicate them to her in the flesh, where she cannot bear and enjoy them as she would wish, and communicating them to her instead in the flight she was making outside the flesh; which desire and flight the Bridegroom then hindered, saying: Turn back, dove, for the communication you now receive from me is not yet of that state of glory you now seek; but turn back to me, for I am the one whom you, wounded by love, are seeking; for I too, like the stag wounded by your love, am beginning to show myself to you through your high contemplation, and I take delight and refreshment in the love of your contemplation.11 So the soul says to the Bridegroom: Turn them away, Beloved. As we have said, the soul, in keeping with the great desires she had for these divine eyes—which signify the divinity—received from the Beloved such an inward communication and knowledge of God that it made her say, 'Turn them away, Beloved.' Such is the misery of our nature in this life that what is most life to the soul, and what she so intensely desires—the communication and knowledge of her Beloved—is something she cannot receive when it is finally given to her without it almost costing her her life. So, when she receives the eyes she sought with such care and yearning and by so many paths, she is moved to say: Turn them away, Beloved. Because sometimes the torment felt in visits of rapture like these is so great that no torment unsettles the bones as much or puts nature under such strain—so much so that if God didn't provide, life would end; and in truth, that's how it seems to the soul going through it, because it feels as if the soul is tearing itself from the flesh and abandoning the body. The reason is that favors like these can't be received very much in the flesh, because the spirit is raised up to communicate with the divine Spirit, who comes to the soul; so of necessity it must abandon the flesh in some way.12 And this is why the flesh must suffer, and consequently the soul in the flesh, because of the unity they have in one person; and therefore the great torment the soul feels at the time of this kind of visit, and the great dread that makes it see itself being treated in a supernatural way, make it say:13 Take them away, Beloved. But this doesn't mean that because the soul asks him to turn them aside, she would want him to take them away; that's natural fear speaking, as we've said. On the contrary—even if it cost her much more—she would not want to lose these visits and favors of the Beloved; for although the natural part suffers, the spirit soars into supernatural recollection to enjoy the spirit of the Beloved, which is what she desired and asked for. But she would not want to receive it in the flesh, where it cannot be enjoyed fully—only a little and with pain—but rather in the flight of the spirit outside the flesh, where it is freely enjoyed. That is why she said, "Turn them aside, Beloved"—that is, from communicating them to me in the flesh: That I am taking flight. As if she were saying: I'm taking flight from the flesh so that you may communicate them to me outside it, since they are what make me fly outside the flesh. So that we can better understand what this flight is, we should note that, as we've said, during that visitation of the divine Spirit, the soul's own spirit is seized with great force to communicate with the divine Spirit, to withdraw from the body, and to stop feeling in it and having its actions in it, because it has them in God; and that's why the Apostle Saint Paul said, during that rapture of his, that he didn't know whether his soul was receiving Him in the body or outside it; and that doesn't mean the soul abandons the body and leaves it without natural life, but only that it doesn't have its actions in it; and that's why, in these raptures and flights, the body is left without sensation, and even if things of the greatest pain are done to it, it feels nothing, because this isn't like other natural swoons and faintings, which come back to themselves with pain.14 And these feelings during these visits belong to those who haven't yet reached the state of perfection, but are still on the way, in the state of the proficient; because those who have already arrived already have the whole communication accomplished in peace and gentle love, and these raptures cease—raptures that were communications preparing them for that communication.15 This would have been a fitting place to discuss the differences among raptures and ecstasies, and other transports and subtle flights of the spirit that spiritual people often experience. But since my intent is only to explain these songs briefly, as I promised in the prologue, they'll be left for whoever knows how to treat them better than I; and also because our mother, the blessed Teresa of Jesus, left admirably written accounts of these things of the spirit, which I hope in God will soon be printed and brought to light.16 What the soul says here, then, about flight is to be understood as a transport and ecstasy of the spirit toward God; and then the Beloved says:
The Bridegroom's Response: The Wounded Stag
The Bridegroom calls the soul back, comparing himself to a wounded stag that appears on the hilltop and takes refreshment in the air of her love, and John concludes with an exhortation to charity.
Turn back, dove. The soul was very gladly leaving the body in that spiritual flight, thinking its life was already ending, and that it could rejoice forever with its Bridegroom and remain with him unveiled; but the Bridegroom cut short its path, saying: "Turn back, dove"; as if he were saying: Dove, in the high flight you are making, light with contemplation, and in the love with which you burn and the simplicity with which you see (because the dove has these three properties), turn back from that high flight in which you mean to come possess me more truly, for the time of such high knowledge has not yet come, and settle yourself to this lower one that I now communicate to you in this excess of yours, and it is1718 For the wounded stag. The Bridegroom is compared to the deer; here, by the deer, he means himself. It's important to know that the deer's nature is to climb to high places, and when wounded, it quickly goes to seek relief in cold water. Also, if it hears its mate cry out and senses she is wounded, it goes to her and comforts and caresses her. The Bridegroom does the same now: seeing the Bride wounded by his love, he too, upon hearing her moan, comes wounded by her love. For among lovers, the wound of one belongs to both, and they share the same feeling. So it's as if he's saying: 'Return to me, my bride, for if you go wounded with love for me, I too, like the deer, come to you wounded in this wound of yours, for I am like the deer, and also in appearing from the heights.' And that is why he says:19 He appears over the hilltop. That is, by the height of your contemplation—the height you have in that flight—because contemplation is a high place through which God, in this life, begins to communicate Himself to the soul and show Himself to it; but He does not finish, which is why it does not say that He finishes appearing, but that He peeks into view; because, however lofty the knowledge of God given to the soul in this life may be, all of it is like very distant glimpses. And there follows the third property we were speaking of concerning the stag, and it is the one contained in the following verse:202122 To the air of your flight, and takes the cool.23 By the flight, he means the contemplation of that ecstasy we have discussed, and by the air, he means that spirit of love that triggers this flight of contemplation in the soul. He fittingly calls this love, caused by the flight, air, because the Holy Spirit—who is love—is air; indeed, he is frequently compared to air in divine Scripture because he is breathed forth from the Father and the Son. Just as he is the air of the flight there—meaning he proceeds by the will from the contemplation and wisdom of the Father and the Son, and is breathed forth—so here the Bridegroom calls this love of the soul air, because it proceeds to her from the contemplation and knowledge of God she possesses at this time. It is worth noting that the Bridegroom does not say he comes to the flight, but to the air of the flight, because God does not communicate himself to the soul through the soul's flight (which is, as we have said, the knowledge she has of God), but through the love that comes from that knowledge. For just as love is the union of the Father and the Son, so it is the union of the soul with God. It follows that even if a soul has the loftiest knowledge of God and contemplation, and knows all the mysteries, if she does not have love, it does her no good at all for uniting with God, as Saint Paul says.24 As he also says: Charitatem habete quod est vinculum perfectionis; that is: Have this charity, which is the bond of perfection.✦ This charity, then, and love of the soul make the Bridegroom come running to drink from this fountain of his bride's love, just as fresh waters make the thirsty and wounded deer come to take refreshment; and that is why he says: And he takes coolness. Just as the air brings coolness and refreshment to someone worn out by the heat, this air of love cools and refreshes the one who burns with the fire of love. This fire of love has a unique property: the air that provides it with coolness and refreshment is actually more fire of love. For the lover, love is a flame that hungers to burn even more, just like a natural fire. Therefore, when she speaks of “taking coolness,” she means the fulfillment of her desire to burn more—the Bride’s ardor of love, which is the air of her flight. It is as if she were saying: “At the ardor of your flight I burn more, because one love kindles another.”25 It is worth noting here that God does not place his grace and love in the soul except in proportion to the soul’s will to love. Therefore, the true lover must ensure this will does not fail, for in doing so, as we have said, he will move God more—if one may put it that way—to love him more and to delight more in his soul. And to attain this charity, one must practice what the Apostle says of it: Charity is patient, is kind; it is not envious, does no wrong, does not grow proud, is not ambitious, does not seek its own, is not easily stirred, thinks no evil, does not take pleasure in wickedness, but rejoices in the truth; it bears all things that are to be borne, believes all things (that is, all that ought to be believed), hopes all things, sustains all things—that is, all that belongs to charity: Charity is patient, is kind; charity envies not, does not act wrongly, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice over iniquity, but rejoices with the truth; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.26
Read the original Spanish
Anotación de la canción siguiente
La causa de padecer el alma tanto a este tiempo por él, es porque, como se va juntando más a Dios, siente en sí el vacío de Dios y gravísimas tinieblas en su alma, con fuego espiritual que la seca y purga, para que purificada se pueda unir con Dios; porque en tanto que Dios no deriva en ella algún rayo de luz sobrenatural de sí, esle Dios intolerables tinieblas cuando según el espíritu está cerca de ella, porque la luz sobrenatural escurece la natural con su exceso; todo lo cual dio a entender David cuando dijo: Nubes, et caligo in circuitu ejus. . . ignis ante ipsum praecedet; «Nube y obscuridad está en rededor de él, fuego precede su presencia. Y en otro salmo dice: Et posuit tenebras latibulum suum, in circuitu ejus tabernaculum ejus: tenebrosa aqua in nubibus aeris. Prae fulgore in conspectu ejus nubes transierunt, grando, et carbones ignis; Puso por su cubierta y escondrijo las tinieblas, y su tabernáculo en rededor de él es agua tenebrosa en las nubes del aire, por su gran resplandor en su presencia hay nubes y granizo y carbones de fuego; es a saber, pasa el alma que se le va más llegando, porque cuanto más el alma a él se llega, siente en sí todo lo dicho, hasta que Dios entre en sus divinos resplandores para transformación de amor. Pero, como en Dios, por su inmensa bondad, conforme a las tinieblas y vacíos del alma, son también las consolaciones y regalos que le hace; porque Sicut tenebrae ejus, ita et lumen ejus; y porque con ensalzarlas y glorificarlas las humilla también y fatiga, de esta manera envió el alma entre fatigas ciertos rayos divinos de sí, con tal gloria y fuerza de amor, que la conmovió toda, y todo el natural lo desencasó; y así, con gran pavor y temor natural dijo al Amado el principio de la siguiente canción, prosiguiendo el mismo Amado lo restante de ella.
Apártalos, Amado, Que voy de vuelo. ESPOSO Vuélvete, paloma, Que el ciervo vulnerado Por el otero asoma Al aire de tu vuelo, y fresco toma.
DECLARACIÓN
En los grandes deseos y fervores de amor, cuales en las canciones pasadas ha mostrado el alma, suele el Amado visitar a su esposa alta, delicada y amorosamente y con grande fuerza de amor, porque ordinariamente, según los grandes fervores y ansias de amor que han precedido en el alma, suelen ser también las mercedes y visitas que Dios hace grandes; y como ahora el alma con tantas ansias había deseado estos divinos ojos, que en la canción pasada acaba de decir, descubriole el Amado algunos rayos de su grandeza y divinidad, según ella deseaba; los cuales fueron con tanta alteza y con tanta fuerza comunicados, que hizo salir por arrobamiento y éxtasis, lo cual acaece al principio con gran detrimento y temor del natural; y así, no pudiendo sufrir el exceso en sujeto tan flaco, dice el verso siguiente:
Apártalos, Amado.
Es a saber, esos tus ojos divinos, porque me hacen volar, saliendo de mí a suma contemplación sobre lo que sufre el natural; lo cual dice porque le parecía volaba su alma de las carnes, que es lo que ella deseaba, que por eso le pidió que los apartase; conviene a saber, dejando de comunicárselos en la carne, en que no los puede sufrir y gozar como querría, comunicándoselos en el vuelo que ella hacía fuera de la carne; el cual deseo y vuelo le impidió luego el Esposo, diciendo: Vuélvete, paloma, que la comunicación que ahora de mí recibes, aún no es de ese estado de gloria que tú ahora pretendes; pero vuélvete a mí, que soy a quien tú, llagada de amor, buscas; que también yo, como el ciervo, herido de tu amor, comienzo a mostrarme a ti por tu alta contemplación, y tomo recreación y refrigerio en el amor de tu contemplación. Dice, pues, el alma al Esposo:
Apártalos, Amado.
Según habemos dicho, el alma, conforme a los grandes deseos que tenía de estos divinos ojos, que significan la divinidad, recibió del Amado interiormente tal comunicación y noticia de Dios, que la hizo decir: «Apártalos, Amado»; porque tal es la miseria del natural en esta vida, que aquello que al alma le es más vida, y ella con tanto deseo desea, que es la comunicación y conocimiento de su Amado, cuando se le vienen a dar, no lo puede recibir sin que casi le cueste la vida; de suerte que los ojos que con tanta solicitud y ansias y por tantas vías buscaba, venga a decir cuando los recibe:
Apártalos, Amado.
Porque es a veces tan grande el tormento que se siente en las semejantes visitas de arrobamientos, que no hay tormento que así desconcierte los huesos y ponga en estrecho al natural; tanto, que si no proveyese Dios, se acabaría la vida; y, a la verdad, así lo parece al alma por quien pasa, porque siente como desasirse el alma de las carnes y desamparar el cuerpo. La causa es porque semejantes mercedes no se pueden recibir muy en carne, porque el espíritu es levantado a comunicarse con el Espíritu divino, que viene al alma; así, por fuerza ha de desamparar en alguna manera la carne. Y de aquí es que ha de padecer la carne, y por consiguiente el alma en la carne, por la unidad que tiene en un supuesto; y por tanto, el gran tormento que siente el alma al tiempo de este género de visita, y el gran pavor que la hace verse tratar por vía sobrenatural, le hacen decir:
Apártalos, Amado.
Pero no se ha de entender que porque el alma diga que los aparte querría que los apartase; porque aquel es un dicho del temor natural, como habemos dicho; antes (aunque mucho más le costase) no querría perder estas visitas y mercedes del Amado; porque, aunque padece el natural, el espíritu vuela al recogimiento sobrenatural a gozar del espíritu del Amado, que es lo que ella deseaba y pedía; pero no quisiera ella recibirlo en carne, donde no se puede gozar cumplidamente, sino poco y con pena, sino en el vuelo del espíritu fuera de la carne, donde libremente se goza; por lo cual dijo: «Apártalos, Amado»; es a saber, de comunicármelos en carne:
Que voy de vuelo.
Como si dijera: Que voy de vuelo de la carne, para que me los comuniques fuera de ella, siendo ellos la causa de hacerme volar fuera de la carne. Para que entendamos mejor qué vuelo sea éste, es de notar que, como habemos dicho, en aquella visitación del Espíritu divino es arrebatado con gran fuerza el del alma a comunicarse con el divino, y destituirse al cuerpo, y dejar de sentir en él y de tener en él sus acciones, porque las tiene en Dios; que por eso dijo el Apóstol San Pablo en aquel rapto suyo, no sabía si estaba su alma recibiéndole en el cuerpo o fuera de él; y no por eso se ha de entender que destituye el alma al cuerpo y le desampara de la vida natural, sino que no tiene sus acciones en él; y esta es la causa porque en estos raptos y vuelos se queda el cuerpo sin sentido, y aunque le hagan cosas de grandísimo dolor no siente, porque no es como otros traspasos y desmayos naturales, que con el dolor vuelven en sí. Y estos sentimientos tienen en estas visitas los que aún no han llegado a estado de perfección, sino que van camino en el estado de aprovechados, porque los que han llegado ya tienen toda la comunicación hecha en paz y suave amor, y cesan estos arrobamientos, que eran comunicaciones que disponían para la tal comunicación.
Lugar era este conveniente para tratar de las diferencias de raptos y éxtasis, y otros arrobamientos y sutiles vuelos de espíritu que a los espirituales suelen acaecer. Mas, porque mi intento no es sino declarar brevemente estas canciones, como en el prólogo prometí, quedarse han para quien mejor lo sepa tratar que yo; y porque también la bienaventurada Teresa de Jesús, nuestra madre, dejó escritas de estas cosas de espíritu admirablemente, las cuales espero en Dios saldrán presto impresas a luz. Lo que aquí, pues, el alma dice de vuelo se ha de entender por arrobamiento y éxtasis del espíritu a Dios; y dice luego el Amado:
Vuélvete, paloma.
De muy buena gana se iba el alma del cuerpo en aquel vuelo espiritual, pensando que se le acababa ya la vida, y que pudiera gozarse con su Esposo para siempre y quedarse con él al descubierto; mas atajole el Esposo el paso, diciendo: «Vuélvete, paloma»; como si dijera: Paloma, en el vuelo alto que llevas, y ligero de contemplación, y en el amor con que ardes y simplicidad con que ves (porque estas tres propiedades tiene la paloma), vuélvete de ese vuelo alto en que pretendes llegar a poseerme más de veras, que aún no es llegado ese tiempo de tan alto conocimiento, y acomódate a este más bajo, que yo ahora te comunico en este tu exceso, y es
Que el ciervo vulnerado.
Compárase el Esposo al ciervo, porque aquí por el ciervo entiende a sí mismo; y es de saber que la propiedad del ciervo es subirse a los lugares altos, y cuando está herido vase con gran priesa a buscar refrigerio a las aguas frías, y si oye quejar a la consorte y siente que está herida, luego se va con ella y la regala y acaricia; y así hace ahora el Esposo, porque, viendo a la Esposa herida de su amor, él también al gemido de ella viene herido del amor de ella, porque en los enamorados la herida de uno es de entrambos, y un mismo sentimiento tienen los dos; y así, es como si dijera: Vuélvete, esposa mía, a mí, que si llagada vas de amor de mí, yo también, como el ciervo, vengo en esta tu llaga llagado a ti, que soy como el ciervo, y también en asomar por lo alto; que por eso dice:
Por el otero asoma.
Esto es, por el altura de tu contemplación, que tienes en ese vuelo, porque la contemplación es un puesto alto por donde Dios en esta vida se comienza a comunicar al alma y mostrársele; mas no acaba, que por eso no dice que acaba de parecer, sino que asoma; porque, por altas que sean las noticias que de Dios se le dan al alma en esta vida, todas son como unas muy desviadas asomadas; y síguese la tercera propiedad que decíamos del ciervo, y es la que se contiene en el verso siguiente:
Al aire de tu vuelo, y fresco toma.
Por el vuelo entiende la contemplación de aquel éxtasis que habemos dicho, y por el aire entiende aquel espíritu de amor que causa en el alma este vuelo de contemplación; y llama aquí a este amor, causado por el vuelo, apropiadamente, porque el Espíritu Santo, que es amor, aire harto también se compara en la divina Escritura al aire, porque es espirado del Padre y del Hijo; y así como allí es aire del vuelo, esto es, que de la contemplación y sabiduría del Padre y del Hijo procede por la voluntad, y es aspirado; así, aquí a este amor del alma llama el Esposo aire, porque de la contemplación y noticia que a este tiempo tiene, de Dios le procede; y es de notar que no dice aquí el Esposo que viene al vuelo, sino al aire del vuelo, porque Dios no se comunica propiamente al alma por el vuelo del alma, que es, como habemos dicho, el conocimiento que tiene de Dios, sino por el amor del conocimiento; porque, así como el amor es unión del Padre y del Hijo, así lo es del alma con Dios; y de aquí es que, aunque un alma tenga altísimas noticias de Dios y contemplación, y conozca todos los misterios, si no tiene amor, no le hace nada al caso, como dice San Pablo, para unirse con Dios. Como también dice el mismo: Charitatem habete quod est vinculum perfectionis; es a saber: Tened esta caridad, que es vínculo de la perfección. Esta caridad, pues, y amor del alma, hace venir al Esposo corriendo a beber de esta fuente de amor de su esposa, como las aguas frescas hacen venir al ciervo sediento y llagado a tomar el refrigerio; y por eso dice:
Y fresco toma.
Porque, así como el aire hace fresco y refrigerio al que está fatigado del calor, así este aire de amor refrigera y recrea al que arde con fuego de amor; porque tiene tal propiedad este fuego de amor, que el aire con que toma fresco y refrigerio es más fuego de amor, porque al amante el amor es llama que arde con apetito de arder más, según hace la llama del fuego natural; por tanto, al cumplimiento de este apetito suyo de arder más el ardor de amor de su esposa, que es el aire del vuelo de ella, llama aquí tomar fresco; y así, es como si dijera: Al ardor de tu vuelo ardo más, porque un amor enciende a otro amor. Donde es de notar que Dios no pone su gracia y amor en el alma, sino según la voluntad de amor del alma; por lo cual, esto ha de procurar el buen enamorado que no falte, pues por este medio, como habemos dicho, moverá más, si así se puede decir, a que Dios le tenga más amor y que se recree más en su alma. Y para conseguir esta caridad, hase de ejercitar en lo que de ella dice el Apóstol, diciéndola: La caridad es paciente, es benigna, no es envidiosa, no hace mal, no se ensoberbece, no es ambiciosa, no busca sus mismas cosas, no se alborota, no piensa mal, no se huelga sobre la maldad, y gózase en la verdad; todas las cosas sufre que son de sufrir, cree todas las cosas (es a saber, las que se deben creer), todas las cosas espera, todas las cosas sustenta, es a saber, que convienen a la caridad; Charitas patiens est, benigna est: charitas non aemulatur, non agit perperam, non inflatur, non est ambitiosa, non quaerit quae sua sunt, non irritatur, non cogitat malum, non gaudet super iniquitate, congaudet autem veritati: omnia suffert, omnia credit, omnia sperat, omnia sustinet.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Col.3.14 — And over all these put on love, which is the bond of perfect unity.
Notes
- 1 ↩vacío de Dios: the soul's felt emptiness/void of God as she approaches union, not a claim that God is empty.
- 2 ↩Sentence ends mid-Latin citation of Ps 96/97; the Latin continues in s4 after two empty period-only sentence slots.
- 3 ↩Continues the truncated Vulgate citation from s1; Spanish after the semicolon is John's vernacular gloss of the Latin. Closing quotation mark appears missing in the source.
- 4 ↩escondrijo rendered as 'hiding place,' paired with 'covering' for cubierta; keeps the psalm image of darkness as God's shelter rather than mere concealment.
- 5 ↩desencasó: unhinged/dislocated her whole natural frame; not merely 'upset' emotionally.
- 6 ↩ensalzarlas y glorificarlas… las humilla: source uses plural las (souls), while the surrounding discourse centers on el alma; rendered 'them' to keep the plural.
- 7 ↩Apártalos: "them" refers to the Beloved's eyes (the overwhelming divine glances/rays named in the preceding stanza and declaration).
- 8 ↩fresco toma: literally "takes the cool/fresh [air]"; rendered as cools himself — the stag refreshes himself in the breeze stirred by the dove's flight.
- 9 ↩mercedes: rendered as "favors" (divine gifts/visits), not misericordia-style "mercy".
- 10 ↩del natural: the natural self/faculties overwhelmed by the visit; not "nature" in the abstract.
- 11 ↩Spanish recreación y refrigerio: rendered as “delight and refreshment,” preserving the traditional mystical sense of consoling recreation rather than mere leisure.
- 12 ↩mercedes rendered as "favors" (divine mystical favors), not generic kindness; alternatives "mercies"/"graces" remain possible in San Juan's register.
- 13 ↩"un supuesto" rendered as "one person" (scholastic suppositum: one individual subject in which soul and body are united). More technical alternative: "one hypostasis/subject".
- 14 ↩Spanish destituirse al cuerpo / destituye el alma al cuerpo: the soul's spirit withdraws its operations from the body without abandoning natural life; rendered as 'withdraw from' / 'forsakes' to keep that mystical distinction.
- 15 ↩aprovechados: San Juan's middle stage of spiritual growth (proficient / those advancing), between beginners and the perfect.
- 16 ↩"quedarse han" is the archaic future periphrastic (habrán de quedarse / se quedarán): the differences among raptures, etc., will be left for a better expositor.
- 17 ↩Spanish exceso here names the soul’s mystical transport or rapture, not moral excess; kept as "excess" to preserve the technical sense.
- 18 ↩al descubierto rendered as "unveiled" (clear, uncovered vision of the Bridegroom), not merely "outdoors" or "exposed."
- 19 ↩Spanish "regala" here means to treat tenderly / comfort with loving care, not merely to give gifts; rendered with "comforts" beside "caresses" (acaricia).
- 20 ↩noticias: mystical knowledge/insights of God, not ordinary 'news'.
- 21 ↩asoma / asomadas: continue the hilltop image of the prior verse (Por el otero asoma)—a peek or partial showing from a height, not a full appearance.
- 22 ↩Source reads por el altura; intended sense is por la altura (by the height). Translated accordingly.
- 23 ↩Fresco here is the cool refreshment the deer seeks (linked in the next section to refrigerio and fresh waters), not mere temperature; kept as 'the cool' to preserve the verse's compact poetic force.
- 24 ↩The Spanish phrase «Espíritu Santo, que es amor, aire harto también se compara» is most plausibly read as «aire; harto también se compara»—the Holy Spirit is air, and is also thoroughly compared to air in Scripture.
- 25 ↩“el ardor de amor de su esposa” is rendered as the Bride’s ardor of love (the soul as bride). The phrase can also be read from the Bridegroom’s side as the loving ardor given to his bride; sense is substantially the same.
- 26 ↩“caridad” kept as charity (theological virtue), not flattened to generic “love,” matching the Pauline citation.
The Spiritual Canticle 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.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent