My Dark Night series is growing and growing. I am trying to unpack St. John as well as share some personal meditations concerning this stage.
One of the great marks of the entering into the purification of the spirit is the giving up of spiritual lust. One becomes content with two important happenings.
The first is that a person stops judging others, as one can see how unholy and imperfect one is and that one has no right to judge anyone. One can judge objective actions, but not persons. This is the beginning of true love of neighbor.
The second happening is the realization that one must be content with the spiritual gifts God has given one. Although all people should strive for union with God and endure all the stages until that Unitive Stage, one must be aware that one may be the violet in the posy and not the rose. We are not to ask for gifts we are not given. This asking could be a sign of spiritual lust.
A violet is perfect in and of itself. So is the rose. So is the daisy, or the cyclamen, or the marigold. For a marigold to want to be a rose would be ludicrous.
We are all called to perfection but in the mode to which God has called us. If I am a violet, and allowing God to perfect me as a violet, I must not compare myself to a rose, or desire to be a rose. To desire to be the rose could be a sin of spiritual lust.
In the Dark Night, such humility becomes the mode of being.
To be continued....