This article was originally published in The Way, 63/1 January 2024, available here: www.theway.org.uk/websubs/631.pdf
THE GOAL OF SPIRITUAL LIFE for John of the Cross is ‘the possession of God through union of love’, and our journey there is pain.2 It is pain, as birth is pain, crossing the thresholds between the flesh and the spiritual, the frontiers from nothingness to existence, from death to life.3 When we hear Him, Christ calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him, ‘for what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?’ (Mark 8:34–38) I’ll answer that to avoid any potential for confusion: it profits us not at all! ‘For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain’ (Philippians 1:21).
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