John of The Cross Recommended Reading

The Collected Works of St John of the Cross

Includes: The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night, The Spiritual Canticle and The Living Flame of Love. This book is used in O.C.D.S. John of the Cross Formation classes

The Ascent of Mount Carmel Reflections by Marc Foley, O.C.D.

Foley weaves together insights from psychology, theology, and literature to make The Ascent of Mount Carmel both understandable and relevant to daily life. Recommended reading for O.C.D.S. members to accompany The Collected Works.

Union with God According to St John of the Cross by Fr Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalen

Christian perfection consists in the twofold way of charity: service of neighbor and our direct quest for God’s love. Many of us discover ways to love our neighbor, but few achieve intimacy with God. Why? Because we don’t know how to prepare ourselves properly to reach this exalted goal.

In these pages, Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen lays out for us a time-tested path toward achieving complete intimacy with God, the path first mapped out centuries ago by the Church’s acclaimed master of the contemplative life, St. John of the Cross (1542-1591).

Although not required O.C.D.S. reading, I personally love this book.

The Science of the Cross by Edith Stein

To help celebrate the fourth centenary of the birth of St. John of the Cross in 1542, Edith Stein received the task of preparing a study of his writings. She uses her skill as a philosopher to enter into an illuminating reflection on the difference between the two symbols of cross and night. Pointing out how entering the night is synonymous with carrying the cross, she provides a condensed presentation of John’s thought on the active and passive nights, as discussed in The Ascent of Mount Carmel and The Dark Night. All of this leads Edith to speak of the glory of resurrection that the soul shares, through a unitive contemplation described chiefly in The Living Flame of Love. In the summer of 1942, the Nazis without warrant took Edith away. The nuns found the manuscript of this profound study lying open in her room.