David, as tradition tells us, had a heart like God's. This means that he loved God.
St. John of the Cross writes that David "affirms that a person obtains in this night these four benefits: the delight of peace; a habitual remembrance of God, and solicitude concerning Him; cleanness and purity of soul; and the practice of virtue."
Psalm 77 reveals this movement of the soul for us.
"My soul refused consolations, I remembered God and found consolation, and exercised my self, and my soul swooned away...I meditated at night in my heart, and I exercised myself, and swept and purified my spirit..."
What a correct description of the Dark Night of the passive purification this is.
St. John notes that anger and impatience leave one at this stage of the passive purification. One becomes accepting of one's slow progress towards union and one accepts one's sinful nature with patience, realizing that God wills for one to become perfect.
The clearest sign of King David's holiness is his freedom of spirit. This liberty comes through the passive purgation.
And, just as the theological and cardinal virtues come out in the Dark Night, so, too, the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit are free to flourish. I shall write more about this later today.
Again, we all have these fruits, but none of these are operative without the experience of purgation.....
to be continued...
