The Letters of Saint John of the Cross
Eighteen of John’s letters in David Lewis’s translation as revised by Benedict Zimmerman (1912), from 1581 to the last weeks of his life in 1591: spiritual direction to Carmelite nuns and friars, to a young woman hoping to enter, and to lay penitents, with Lewis’s one-line summaries.
Contents (18)
Letter I
To Mother Catherine of Jesus, Barefooted Carmelite and companion of St. Teresa of Jesus.
Jesus be in your soul, my daughter Catherine. Although I know not where you are, I write you these few lines, trusting that our Mother will forward them to you if you are not with her. And even if you are not with her, comfort yourself with me, who am further away and alone here. For since I was swallowed by that whale, and cast forth upon this distant shore, I have not been counted worthy to see her or the saints who are down there. God has done it for our good; for loneliness is a file, and to suffer darkness is the way to great light. God grant that we may not walk in darkness. Oh! how many things would I fain say to you! But I am writing very much in the dark, fearing that you may not receive this letter; and therefore I break off without finishing it. Recommend me to God. I will say no more from here, for I am weary.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Baeza: the 6th of July, 1581.
Letter II
To the religious in Veas.
Jesus be in your souls. My daughters are thinking that I have lost sight of them because I do not write, and that I have ceased to consider how easily they can become saints and rejoice in the Bridegroom Whom they love with great gladness and in strong security. I will come to Veas, and you will see that I have not forgotten you. We shall then see the treasures obtained by pure love and on the pathways of everlasting life; the blessed progress you have made in Christ, Whose joy and crown are His brides. This crown ought not to be rotting on the ground, but rather borne by the hands of the seraphim, and placed with respect and reverence on the head of our Lord.
When the heart is grovelling meanly on the ground the crown rolls in the dust, and is trampled on in every act of meanness. But when man shall ‘come to a heart that is high’ according to the words of David, then shall God be exalted with the crown of the heart of His bride; wherewith they crown Him in the day of the joy of His coronation, for His delight is to be with the children of men. The sources of the waters of interior joy are not on the earth; the mouth of desire must be opened heavenwards, utterly empty; and in order that the mouth of desire may be neither closed nor vitiated by the taste of anything, it should be kept perfectly empty and open before Him Who says, ‘Dilate thy mouth and I will fill it.’ For so it is, he who seeks for satisfaction in anything is not keeping himself in a state of emptiness that God may fill him with this unspeakable joy; his hands are encumbered, and he cannot lay hold of that which God is giving him; as he went to God, so he returned. God save us from these miserable embarrassments by which a freedom so sweet and so delightful is disturbed. Serve God, my daughters beloved in Christ, following Him on the road of mortification in all patience and in all silence, with all your soul bent on suffering, having made yourselves executioners of your own will. Mortify yourselves, and if there be anything still living that hinders the interior resurrection of the spirit let it die in your souls. Amen. Your servant,
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Malaga: November 18, 1586.
Letter III
To the religious of Veas.
He gives them some spiritual advice, full of heavenly instruction, and worthy of perpetual remembrance.
Jesus, Mary be in your souls, my daughters in Christ.
Your letter greatly consoled me, and may our Lord reward you for it. It was not from want of will that I have refrained from writing to you, for truly do I wish you all good; but because it seemed to me that enough had been said already to effect all that was needful, and that what is wanting, if indeed anything be wanting, is not writing or speaking—whereof ordinarily there is more than enough—but silence and work. For whereas speaking distracts, silence and action collect the thoughts, and strengthen the spirit. As soon therefore as a person understands what has been said to him for his good, he has no further need to hear or to discuss; but to set himself in earnest to practise what he has learnt with silence and attention, in humility, charity, and contempt of self; not turning aside incessantly to seek after novelties which serve only to satisfy the desire in outward things—failing however to satisfy it really—and to leave it weak and empty, devoid of interior virtue. The result is unprofitable in every way; for a man who, before he has digested his last meal, takes another—the natural heat being wasted upon both—cannot convert all this food into the substance of his body, and sickness follows. It is most necessary, my daughters, to know how to avoid the devil and our own sensuality, for if we do not we shall find ourselves to be very unprofitable servants, very far away from the virtues of Christ; and in the end we shall awake from our sleep to find our toil and labour to have been the reverse of what they were. The lamp which we believed to be alight will be found extinguished, because the breath whereby we thought to kindle it, served perhaps to put it out. There are no means to avoid this, and preserve spirituality, better than suffering, doing good works, silence, custody of the senses, the practice of, and the inclination to solitude, forgetfulness of creatures, and of all that is going on, even if the world were to come to an end. Never fail, whatever may befall you be it good or evil, to keep your heart quiet and calm in the tenderness of love, that it may suffer in all circumstances. For so momentous a thing is perfection, and so priceless is spiritual joy, and may God grant that this may be enough; for it is impossible to make progress but by the way of good works and suffering courageously, always in silence. I have heard, my daughters, that the soul which is ready to talk and converse with creatures, is not very ready to converse with God; for if it were, it would be at once drawn forcibly inwards, be silent and avoid all conversation; for God would that the soul should delight in Him rather than in any creature, however excellent and profitable it may be. I commend myself to your charitable prayers; and do you rest assured that, scant as my charity is, it is so bound up in you that I never forget those to whom I owe so much in our Lord. May He be with us all. Amen.
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Granada: the 22nd of Nov., 1587.
Letter IV
To Mother Eleanora Baptist, prioress of the convent of Veas.
The blessed father consoles her under an affliction.
Jesus be in your soul. Think not, my daughter in Christ, that I am not sorry for you in your troubles, and for those who share them with you; but when I remember that God has called you to an apostolic life, which is a life of contempt, I am comforted, for He is leading you on that road. God will have a religious to be a religious, that he shall be dead to all things, and all things dead to him; because He will be his riches, his consolation, his glory, and his bliss. God has conferred a great grace upon your reverence, for now, forgetting all things, you may rejoice in Him alone, caring nothing, in your love of God, for what may come upon you, since you are no longer your own, but His. Let me know whether your departure for Madrid is certain, and whether the mother prioress is coming. I commend myself especially to my daughters Magdalene and Ana and to all the rest, not having leisure to write to them.
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Granada: the 8th of February, 1588.
Letter V
To Mother Anne of St. Albert, prioress of the Barefooted Carmelites of Caravaca.
He makes known to her by a prophetical inspiration the state of her soul, and delivers her from scruples.
Jesus be in your soul. How long, my daughter, must you be carried in the arms of others? I long to see in you a great detachment of spirit, and such a freedom from any dependence upon creatures, that all the powers of hell may be unable to disturb you. What useless tears have you been shedding in these last days: How much precious time, think you, have these scruples caused you to throw away? If you would communicate your troubles to me, go straight to that spotless mirror of the Eternal Father, His only Begotten Son; for there do I daily behold your soul, and without doubt you will come away consoled, and have no more need to beg at the door of poor people.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Granada.
Letter VI
To the same religious.
On the same subject.
Jesus be in your soul, very dear daughter in Christ. Though you say nothing to me, I will say something to you; let those vain fears which make the spirit cowardly find no place in your soul. Leave to our Lord that which He has given and daily gives; you seem to measure God by the measure of your own capacity; but that must not be so. Prepare yourself to receive a great grace. Your servant in Christ,
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Granada.
Letter VII
To the same religious.
The holy father informs her of the foundation of the monastery at Cordova, and of the removal of the nuns in Seville.
Jesus be in your soul. I wrote to you in haste when I left Granada for the foundation at Cordova. I have since received your letter there, and those of the gentlemen who went to Madrid, thinking that they should find me at the council. You must know, however, that it never met, for we have been waiting to finish these visitations and foundations, while our Lord is now making such haste in the matter, that we are without strength to follow Him. The friars have been received at Cordova with the greatest joy and solemnity on the part of the whole city. No Order has been better received there. All the clergy and confraternities of Cordova assembled on the occasion, and there was a solemn procession of the Most Holy Sacrament from the Cathedral Church—all the streets being decorated—with great concourse of people, as on the feast of Corpus Christi.
This took place on the Sunday after Ascension day, and the bishop preached, praising us much in his sermon. The house is in the best part of the city, and belongs to the Cathedral. I am now busied at Seville with the removal of our nuns, who have bought some very considerable houses; though they cost about 14,000 ducats, they are worth more than 20,000. They are now established there. My lord Cardinal is to place the Blessed Sacrament there with great solemnity on the feast of St. Barnabas. Before my departure I intend to establish another house of friars here, so that there will be two of our Order in Seville. Before the feast of St. John I shall set forth for Ecija, where, with the divine blessing, we shall found another; thence to Malaga, and then to the council. I wish I had authority to make this foundation, as I had for the others. I do not expect much from what is going on; but I trust in God that the foundation will be made, and in the council I will do what I can; and you may say so to these gentlemen to whom I am writing.
Send me the little book of the Stanzas of the Bride which I think Sister of the Mother of God will by this time have copied. Remember me very specially to señor Gonzalo Muñoz, I do not write for fear of being troublesome to him, and because your reverence will make known to him that which I have here related to you,
Dearest daughter in Christ,
Your servant,
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Seville: June, 1586.
Letter VIII
To F. Ambrose Mariano of St. Benedict, prior of Madrid.
Containing wholesome instructions for the training of novices.
Jesus be in the soul of your reverence. Our need of religious is very great, as your reverence knows, because of the many foundations. It is therefore necessary that your reverence should have patience until father Michael leave this place to wait at Pastrana for the father provincial; the foundation of the convent of Molina being nearly completed. It has seemed good to the fathers also to assign to your reverence a sub-prior, and have made choice of father Angelus, believing that he will agree perfectly with the prior, which is most necessary in a monastery. Your reverence will give to each of these his letters patent, and will not fail to take care that no priest meddle or converse with the novices, for as your reverence knows, nothing is more injurious to them than to pass through many hands, or that strangers should frequent the novices. Since, however, you have so many under your care, it is reasonable that you should help and relieve father Angelus. Give him authority, as he is already sub-prior, that he may be more considered in the house.
It does not seem that father Michael is so much needed here, and he might do greater service to the order elsewhere. Of father Gratian nothing new, except that father Antony is now here.
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Segovia: Nov. 9, 1588.
[St. John was now the president of the consultors in the absence of Father Nicholas Doria, and therefore wrote this letter as a member of the council.]
Letter IX
To a young lady at Madrid, who desired to become a Barefooted Carmelite, and who was afterwards professed in a convent at Arenas, in New Castile, afterwards transferred to Guadalajara.
Jesus be in your soul. Your messenger came at a time when I was unable to reply before he left the place, and now, on his return, he is waiting for my letter. May God ever grant you, my daughter, His holy grace, that always and in all things you may be wholly occupied with His holy love; for to this are you bound, and for this only He created and redeemed you. On the three questions there is much to say, more than time and a letter will allow. I will speak of three other points which may be profitable to you.
As to sins, God so hates them that He submitted to die; it is expedient, in order utterly to root them out, and never to commit any, to have as little intercourse with people as possible, avoiding them, and never speaking an unnecessary word on any subject—for all conversation, beyond what necessity or reason absolutely requires, has never done good to any man, however holy—and at the same time keeping the law of God with great exactness and love.
As to the Passion of our Lord, chastise your body with discretion, hate and mortify yourself, and never in anything follow your own will and your own inclination, for that was the cause of His death and passion. Whatever you may do, do it all under the advice of your director. As to the third, which is glory; in order to meditate well upon it, and love it, you must hold all the riches of the world and all its pleasures to be mere dross, and vanity, and weariness, as, in truth, they are; and make no account of anything, however great and precious it may be, but only to be well with God; because the best things here below, when compared with the eternal good for which God created us, are vile and bitter; and though the bitterness and deformity be but for a moment, they shall abide for ever in the soul which esteems them.
I have not forgotten your matter; but at present, much as I desire it, nothing can be done. Recommend it earnestly to our Lord, and take our Lady and St. Joseph as your advocates with Him.
Remember me especially to your mother, to whom, as well as to yourself, this letter is addressed; and do you both pray for me, and ask your friends in their charity to do the same. May God give you His Spirit.
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Segovia: February, 1589.
Letter X
To a spiritual son in religion, teaching him how to employ his whole will in God, withdrawing it from pleasure and joy in created things.
The peace of Jesus Christ, my son, be ever in your soul.
I have received the letter of your reverence, wherein you tell me of the great desire you have, given you by our Lord, to occupy your will with Him alone, loving Him above all things, and wherein you also ask me for some directions how to obtain your end. I rejoice that God has given you such holy desires, and I shall rejoice the more at their fulfilment. Remember, then, that all pleasure, joy, and affections come into the soul through the will and the desire of those things which seem good, befitting, and pleasurable, because they seem to be pleasing and precious; now the affections of the will are drawn to them, and the will hopes for them, delights in them when it possesses them, and dreads the loss of them. The soul, therefore, by reason of these affections and joys, is disturbed and disquieted.
In order then to annihilate and mortify the desire of sensible pleasure in things that are not God, your reverence will observe, that everything in which the will can have a distinct joy is sweet and delectable, because pleasant in its eyes; but there is no delectable thing in which it can have joy and delight in God, for God is not cognisable by the apprehensions of the other faculties, and therefore not by the pleasure and desires of the will. In this life, as the soul cannot taste of God essentially, so all the sweetness and delight of which it is capable, and, however great they may be, cannot be God, for whatever the will takes pleasure in and desires as a distinct thing, it desires so far as it knows it to be that which it longs for. For as the will has never tasted of God, nor ever known Him under any apprehension of the desire, and therefore comprehends Him not, so by its taste it can never know Him; its very being, desire, and taste can never desire God, because He is above and beyond all its powers.
It is, therefore, plain that no distinct object whatever that pleases the will can be God; and for that reason, if it is to be united with Him, it must empty itself, cast away every disorderly affection of the desire, every satisfaction it may distinctly have, high and low, temporal and spiritual, so that, purified and cleansed from all unruly satisfactions, joys, and desires, it may be wholly occupied, with all its affections, in loving God. For if the will can in any way comprehend God and be united with Him, it cannot be through any capacity of the desire, but only by love; and as all delight, sweetness, and joy, of which the will is sensible, is not love, it follows that none of these pleasing impressions can be the adequate means of uniting the will to God; the means are an act of the will. And because an act of the will is quite distinct from feeling; it is by an act that the will is united with God, and rests in Him; that act is love. This union is never wrought by feeling, or exertions of the desire, for these remain in the soul as aims and ends. It is only as motives of love that feelings can be of service, if the will is bent on going onwards, and for nothing else.
These sweet impressions of themselves do not lead the soul to God, but rather cause it to rest upon them: by an act of the will, that is, by loving God, the soul puts its whole affection, joy, delight, contentment, and love in Him only, casting everything else aside, and loving Him above all things.
For this reason, then, if any one is moved to love God by that sweetness he feels, he casts that sweetness away from him, and fixes his love upon God, Whom he does not feel; but if he allowed himself to rest in that sweetness and delight which he feels, dwelling upon them with satisfaction, that would be to love the creature, and that which is of it, and to make the motive an end, and the act of the will would be vitiated; for as God is incomprehensible and unapproachable, the will, in order to direct its act of love unto God, must not direct it to that which is tangible and capable of being reached by the desire, but must direct it to that which it cannot comprehend nor reach thereby. In this way the will loves that which is certain and true, according to the spirit of the faith, in emptiness and darkness as to its own feelings, above all that it can understand by the operations of the understanding; its faith and love transcend all that it can comprehend.
He, then, is very unwise, who, when sweetness and spiritual delight fail him, thinks for that reason that God has abandoned him, and when he finds them again, rejoices and is glad, thinking that he has in that way come to possess God.
More unwise still is he who goes about seeking for sweetness in God, rejoices in it, and dwells upon it; for in so doing, he is not seeking after God with the will grounded in the emptiness of faith and charity, but only in spiritual sweetness and delight, which is a created thing, following herein his own will and fond pleasure. Such an one does not love God purely above all things, which is to direct the whole strength of the will to Him—for by clinging to and resting on the creature by desire, the will does not ascend upwards beyond it to God Who is unapproachable. It is impossible for the will to attain to the sweetness and delight of the divine union, to feel the sweet and loving embraces of God, otherwise than in detachment, in refusing to the desire every pleasure in the things of heaven and earth, for that is the meaning of David, when he said: ‘Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.’ Now, in this place ‘the mouth’ of the will is the desire: the mouth opens, when not filled or hindered with the morsels of its own satisfactions: for when the desire is bent upon anything, it is then restrained, because out of God everything is a restraint.
The soul, then, that is to advance straightway unto God, and to be united with Him, must keep the mouth of the will open, but only for God Himself, in detachment from every morsel of desire, in order that God may fill it with His own love and sweetness: it must hunger and thirst after God alone, seeking its satisfaction in nothing else, seeing that in this life it cannot taste Him as He is. That which may be tasted here, if there be a desire for it, hinders the taste of God.
This is what the prophet Isaias teaches when he says: ‘All you that thirst come to the waters.’ He bids all who thirst for God only to come to the fulness of the divine waters of union with Him: namely, those who have not the money of desire. It is most expedient then, for your reverence, if you wish to have great peace in your soul and to reach perfection, to give up your whole will to God, that it may be united to Him, and utterly detached from the mean and vile occupations of earth. May His Majesty make you as spiritual and as holy as I desire.
Fr. John of the Cross.
Segovia, April 14, 1589.
Letter XI
To Mother Eleonor of St. Gabriel, a Barefooted Carmelite of Seville.
The holy father and the council command her to accept the office of sub-prioress in the newly founded convent at Cordova.
Jesus be in your soul, my daughter in Christ. Your letter was very welcome to me, and I thank God that He has been pleased to make use of you in this foundation, which His Majesty has made for your greater profit; for the more He gives, the more does He enlarge our desires, till He leaves us empty that He may fill us with blessings. You shall be well repaid for those which, for the love of your sisters, you forgo in Seville; for the immense benefits of God can only be received and contained by empty and solitary hearts; and, therefore, our Lord will have you to be alone, and He really wills it, for He desires to be your only companion. Your reverence must therefore apply your mind to Him alone, and in Him alone content yourself, that in Him you may find all consolation, for if the soul were in heaven, but the will without love, that soul would be still unsatisfied. So also though God be ever with us, if our heart be attached to other things and not fixed on Him alone.
I well believe that those in Seville will be very lonely without your reverence. But, perhaps, you have already done all the good there which you were intended to do, and God wills that you should now work here, for this is one of our principal foundations. To this end I pray your reverence to afford all the assistance you can to the mother prioress, with great love and union of heart in all things. I know that I need not say this to you, for you have been so long in the order and so experienced that you know all that is usually done in these foundations. For this reason, we chose your reverence. There are religious enough here, but not fitted for this work. Be pleased to remember me particularly to sister Mary of the Visitation, and to sister Juana of St. Gabriel, to whom I return thanks for her letter. May God give your reverence His Holy Spirit.
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Segovia: the 8th of July, 1589.
Letter XII
To Mother Mary of Jesus, prioress of the Barefooted Carmelites of Cordova.
Containing useful lessons for religious engaged in the foundation of a new convent, of which they are to be the first stones.
Jesus be in your soul. You are bound to correspond to the grace of our Lord in proportion to the welcome which you have received, the tidings of which have rejoiced my heart. It was His will that you should enter so poor a dwelling, under the heat of such a burning sun, that you might give edification, and manifest your profession, which is the imitation of Christ in detachment, in order that those who come to you hereafter may learn in what spirit they must come. I send you all necessary faculties. Be very careful whom you receive at first, because such will be those who follow; and strive to preserve the spirit of poverty and contempt of all earthly things, being content with God alone: otherwise be assured that you will fall into a thousand temporal and spiritual necessities, you will never, and can never, experience greater necessities than those to which you voluntarily subject your heart: for the poor in spirit is more content and joyful when in want; having made very nothingness his all, and having found therein fulness and freedom in all things.
O blessed nothingness, and blessed hiddenness of heart, which is of such surpassing virtue as to render all things subject to the soul that will have nothing subject to itself, and casting away all care to burn more and more intensely with love!
Salute all the sisters in our Lord. Tell them that as our Lord has chosen them for the first stones of this building, they must consider well what they ought to be, for upon them, as on a strong foundation, those who follow after them are to be built. Let them profit by the first fruits of the spirit which God gives in the beginning to make a new start on the way of perfection, in all humility and detachment, inward and outward, not in a childish mind, but with a strong will in mortification and penance. Let them see that Christ costs them something, and not be like those who seek their own ease, and look for consolation either in God or out of Him. But let them suffer either in Him or out of Him, by silence, hope, and loving remembrance. Make this known to Gabriela and the sisters at Malaga. To the others I have already written. The grace of God be with you. Amen.
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Segovia: the 28th of July, 1589.
Letter XIII
To Mother Magdalen of the Holy Ghost, a religious of the same convent of Cordova.
Jesus be in your soul, my daughter in Christ. The good resolutions expressed in your letter make me glad. I bless God, who provides for all things! for they will be greatly needed in the beginnings of foundations that you may bear poverty, straitness, heat, and labours of all kinds, in such a manner that none may perceive whether or not all these things are grievous to you. Consider that for such beginnings God will not have delicate and feeble souls, far less such as are lovers of themselves; and to this end His Majesty helps us more in our beginnings, that they, with moderate diligence, may advance in all virtues. It is assuredly a great grace, and a sign of the divine favour, that, passing by others, He has led you hither. And though the abandonment may have been painful, it is nothing; for you must in any case have shortly left it all. In order to have God in all things, we must have nothing at all; for how can the heart, given to one, be given at all to another?
I say this also to sister Juana, and beg you to pray to God for me. May He be in your heart. Amen.
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Segovia: the 28th of July, 1589.
Letter XIV
To Doña Juana de Pedraza, a penitent of the holy father in Granada.
Jesus be in your soul. I give Him thanks that He has given me the grace not to forget the poor, and not to take my ease, as you say. It would pain me much if I thought you believe what you say. It would be an evil return after so much kindness, when I deserve none. All that is wanting now is that I should forget you; but consider how that is to be forgotten which is ever present to the soul. But as you are now in the darkness and emptiness of spiritual poverty, you think that all things and all men are failing you; nor is this wonderful, since you think God Himself fails you. But nothing fails you, nor have you need of any counsel, there is no reason why you should, you will learn nothing, you will find none, for all is groundless suspicion. He who desires nothing but God does not walk in darkness, however blind and poor he may think himself to be; and he who indulges in no presumptuous thoughts, nor seeks his own satisfaction either in God or in creatures, who does not serve his own will in anything, is in no danger of falling, or in any need of counsel.
You are in the right path, my daughter; be resigned, and be glad. What! are you to undertake to guide yourself? You would do it well, no doubt. You have never been in a better state than now, for you have never been so humble, so submissive; you have never held yourself, and the things of the world, in greater contempt; you have never seen yourself to be so bad, nor God to be so good; you have never served Him so purely and disinterestedly as now. You are not running after the imperfections of your own will, seeking self, as perhaps you once did. What do you mean? What manner of life and conversation do you propose to yourself in this world? In what do you imagine the service of God to consist, except in abstaining from evil, keeping His commandments, and doing His work as well as we can. When you do this, what need have you to seek here and there for other instructions, other lights, other consolations, in which ordinarily lurk many snares and dangers to the soul, which is deceived and deluded by its appetites and perceptions: its very faculties lead it astray.
It is a great grace of God when He so darkens and impoverishes the soul that the senses cannot deceive it. And that it may not go astray, it has nothing to do but to walk in the beaten path of the law of God and of the Church, living solely by faith, dim and true, in certain hope and perfect charity, looking for all its blessings in heaven; living here as pilgrims, beggars, exiles, orphans, desolate, possessing nothing, and looking for everything above.
Rejoice, then, and put your trust in God, Who has given you these tokens; you CAN do so; nay, you ought to do so. If not, you must not be surprised if He should be angry when He finds you so dull, seeing that He has placed you in so safe a path, and led you to so secure a haven. Desire nothing but this, and bend your soul to it, which is in a good and safe condition, and go to communion as usual. Go to confession when you have some definite matter, and speak of that only. When you have anything to say to me write, and that promptly and frequently, which you can always do through doña Ana, if not through the nuns.
I have been somewhat unwell, but am now much better. Fr. John Evangelist, however, is still suffering. Recommend him to God, and me also, my daughter in our Lord.
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Segovia: Oct. 12th, 1589.
Letter XV
To Mother Mary of Jesus, prioress of Cordova.
Containing much profitable advice to those whose office is to govern and provide for a community.
Jesus be in your soul. My daughter in Christ, the cause of my not having written to you for so long a time has been rather the remote position of Segovia than any want of will. For my good will has ever been, and I trust in God shall ever be, the same towards you. I feel for you in all your trials. But I would not have you take too much thought concerning the temporal provision for your house, lest God should forget it; and you should fall into great temporal and spiritual distress; for it is our over-anxious solicitude which brings us to want. Cast all your care, my daughter, upon God, and He will nourish you: for He Who has given and will give the greater, will not fail to give the less.
Take care that the desire to be in want and poor never fails you, for that instant your courage will fail, and your virtues will become weak. For if in time past you have desired poverty, now that you are in authority you should desire it still more, and love it; for the house must be ruled and furnished with virtues and heavenly desires, rather than by carefulness and arrangements for temporal and earthly things: inasmuch as our Lord hath bidden us to take no thought for our food, nor for our raiment, nor for to-morrow. What you have to do is to train your own soul and the souls of your nuns in all perfection in religion, in union with God, and rejoicing in Him alone; and I will assure you of the rest. It seems to me very difficult to imagine that the other houses will come to your help, when you are settled in so good a position, and have such excellent nuns. Nevertheless, if I have an opportunity, I will not fail to do what I can for you.
I wish much consolation to the mother sub-prioress, and I trust in our Lord that He will give it, and strengthen her to bear her pilgrimage and exile cheerfully for love of Him. I am writing to her.
Many salutations in our Sovereign Good, to my daughters Magdalen of St. Gabriel, Mary of St. Paul, Mary of the Visitation, and Mary of St. Francis.
May He be ever with your spirit, my daughter. Amen.
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Madrid: the 20th of June, 1590.
Letter XVI
To Mother Anne of Jesus, a Barefooted Carmelite of the convent of Segovia.
He consoles her on his not having been chosen superior.
Jesus be in your soul. I thank you very much for your letter and I am more your debtor than I was before. Though things have not come to pass as you desired, you ought to be glad and give thanks to God; His Majesty has so ordained, and it is best for all. It remains only that we submit our will, that we may see it in its true light. For when things befall us that we do not like, they seem to us evil and contrary, be they never so good and profitable to our souls. But in this case there is plainly no evil either to me or to any other. To me, indeed, it is most favourable; for being free and without the care of souls, I may, by God’s help, if I like, enjoy peace and solitude, and the blessed fruit of forgetfulness of self and of all created things.
And others, also, will be the better by my being set aside; for so will they escape the faults which by reason of my unfittingness they would have committed. What I beg of you, then, my daughter, is to pray to God that He will continue to me this grace; for I fear that they will send me to Segovia, and that I shall not be perfectly free. However, I shall do my utmost to escape from this burthen also; but if I fail, mother Anne of Jesus will not get out of my hands as she expects, and so will not die of grief at losing the opportunity, as she thinks, of becoming a very great saint. But whether I go or stay, wherever or however I may be, I will never forget her nor withdraw from the charge of her soul, of which she speaks, because I really desire her eternal good. Now, therefore, until God gives it in heaven, let her exercise herself continually in the virtues of patience and mortification, endeavouring to become like in some measure, through suffering, to our great God, Who was humbled and crucified for us, because our life here is not good if we do not imitate Him. May His Majesty preserve you and make you increase daily in His love, as His holy and well-beloved child. Amen.
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Madrid: the 6th July, 1591.
Letter XVII
To Mother Mary of the Incarnation, prioress of the same convent.
On the same subject as the preceding.
Jesus be in your soul. Trouble not yourself, my daughter, about what concerns me, since it troubles me not. The only thing which grieves me much is to see the blame laid upon those to whom it does not belong; for these things are done not by men, but God, Who knows what is best for us, and orders all things for our good. Think of this only, that all is ordained by God. And do you love where there is no love, and you shall have love. May His Majesty preserve you, and make you grow in His love. Amen.
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Madrid: the 6th of July, 1591.
Letter XVIII
To Doña Ana de Peñalosa.
He informs her of his recent illness.
Jesus be in your soul, my daughter. I have received here in Peñuela the letter brought me by your servant, and I prize exceedingly the kindness thus shown to me. I am going to-morrow to Ubeda, for the cure of a feverish attack, which, having hung about me for more than a week past, makes me think I require medical treatment. It is my desire, however, to return here immediately, as I find great good in this holy solitude. As to the advice you give me not to go with F. Antony, be assured that in this, as in all other matters of the kind, I will be careful. I rejoice greatly to hear that Don Luis is now a priest of God; may he be so for many a year, and may His Majesty fulfil all the desires of his soul. Oh, what a blessed state for casting away all solicitude, and speedily enriching his soul! Congratulate him from me. I dare not venture to ask him to remember me, some day, in the mass, though I, as in duty bound, shall always remember him; for never shall I, how forgetful soever I be, fail to recollect him, closely bound as he is with the sister whom I ever bear in my memory. I salute my daughter Doña Inez very heartily in our Lord; and I beg both brother and sister to pray God for me, that He will be pleased to prepare me and take me to Himself.
Now I remember nothing further that I have to write to you, and besides, the fever will not suffer me to add any more. But for this, gladly would I write at much greater length.
Fr. John of the Cross.
From Peñuela: Sept. 21, 1591.