St. Francis understood, as did most saints, the importance of contemplating the Crucifixion of Our Lord. I hear excellent sermons here in Dublin, thank God. When was the last time you heard a sermon on the need to concentrate on the Passion and to endure, rather than change a state of suffering? Here is St. John of the Cross on the Dark Night again.
And thus it is fitting that, if the understanding is to be united with that light and become Divine in the state of perfection, it should first of all be purged and annihilated as to its natural light, and, by means of this dark contemplation, be brought actually into darkness. This darkness should continue for as long as is needful in order to expel and annihilate the habit which the soul has long since formed in its manner of understanding, and the Divine light and illumination will then take its place. And thus, inasmuch as that power of understanding which it had aforetime is natural, it follows that the darkness which it here suffers is profound and horrible and most painful, for this darkness, being felt in the deepest substance of the spirit, seems to be substantial darkness. Similarly, since the affection of love which is to be given to it in the Divine union of love is Divine, and therefore very spiritual, subtle and delicate, and very intimate, transcending every affection and feeling of the will, and every desire thereof, it is fitting that, in order that the will may be able to attain to this Divine affection and most lofty delight, and to feel it and experience it through the union of love, since it is not, in the way of nature, perceptible to the will, it be first of all purged and annihilated in all its affections and feelings, and left in a condition of aridity and constraint, proportionate to the habit of natural affections which it had before, with respect both to Divine things and to human. Thus, being exhausted, withered and thoroughly tried in the fire of this dark contemplation, and having driven away every kind148 of evil spirit (as with the heart of the fish which Tobias set on the coals149), it may have a simple and pure disposition, and its palate may be purged and healthy, so that it may feel the rare and sublime touches of Divine love, wherein it will see itself divinely transformed, and all the contrarieties, whether actual or habitual, which it had aforetime, will be expelled, as we are saying.
This exhaustion results from the death of self, the removal of what St. John calls the contrarieties, and the destruction of the ego. One is being prepared for love, in much the same way that Esther was prepared for a year with baths and perfumes, good diet, and training for her marriage to the King. Substantial darkness allows substantial purification. To be continued....