Introduction
Among the many luminous pages of St. John of the Cross, there is one passage that stands out for its extraordinary beauty and theological depth. In it, the saint places on the lips of God the Father a profound revelation—a divine word addressed to the soul, in which the mystery of Christ is unfolded with striking clarity, simplicity and depth.
In this text, St. John of the Cross reveals that everything the soul seeks—light, wisdom, healing, fulfillment, and truth—is already given in Christ. The Father, having spoken His one Word, has nothing more to say. All subsequent seeking, therefore, must be a deeper listening to Him who is the Word. To search outside of Christ is to miss the gift already given.
This passage helps us renew our act of faith in Christ, not as an abstract assent, but as a concrete turning of the heart. It invites us to go to Him for every need of the soul—practical and profound—and to be nourished by His fullness. It is a text to meditate slowly, to let the Father’s voice echo deeply, and to recognise that the journey of spiritual life is not a search for many things, but a deepening into the One.
Let us listen, then, to this radiant word from St. John of the Cross.
Text
“If I have spoken all things to thee in My Word, Which is My Son, and I have no other word, what answer can I now make to thee, or what can I reveal to thee which is greater than this?
Set thine eyes on Him alone, for in Him I have spoken and revealed to thee all things, and in Him thou shalt find yet more than that which thou askest and desirest.
For thou askest locutions and revelations, which are the part; but if thou set thine eyes upon Him, thou shalt find the whole [todo]; for He is My complete locution and answer, and He is all My vision and all My revelation;
so that I have spoken to thee, answered thee, declared [manifested] to thee and revealed to thee, in giving Him to thee as thy
brother,
companion and
master,
as ransom and
prize.
For since that day when I descended upon Him with My Spirit on Mount Tabor, saying: Hic est filius meus dilectus, in quo mihi bene complacui, ipsum audite[1] (which is to say: This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him), I have left off all these manners of teaching and answering, and I have entrusted this to Him.
Hear Him; for I have no more faith to reveal, neither have I any more things to declare [manifest].
For, if I spake aforetime, it was to promise Christ;
and, if they enquired of Me, their enquiries were directed to petitions for Christ and expectancy [hope] concerning Him,
in Whom they should find every good thing (as is now set forth in all the teaching of the Evangelists and the Apostles);
but now, any who would enquire of Me after that manner, and desire Me to speak to him or reveal aught to him, would in a sense be asking Me for Christ again, and asking Me for more faith, and be lacking in faith, which has already been given in Christ; and therefore he would be committing a great offence against My beloved Son, for not only would he be lacking in faith, but he would be obliging Him again first of all to become incarnate and pass through life and death.
Thou shalt find naught to ask Me, or to desire of Me, whether revelations or visions;
consider this well, for thou shalt find that all has been done for thee and all has been given to thee — yea, and much more also — in Him.
6. If thou desirest Me to answer thee with any word of consolation, consider My Son, Who is subject to Me, and bound by love of Me, and afflicted, and thou shalt see how fully He answers thee.
If thou desirest Me to expound to thee secret things, or happenings, set thine eyes on Him alone, and thou shalt find the most secret mysteries, and the wisdom and wondrous things of God, which are hidden in Him, even as My Apostle says: In quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae Dei absconditi.[2] That is: In this Son of God are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge of God.
These treasures of wisdom shall be very much more sublime and delectable and profitable for thee than the things that thou desiredst to know.
Herein the same Apostle gloried, saying: That he had not declared to them that he knew anything, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.[3]
And if thou shouldst still desire other Divine or bodily revelations and visions, look also at Him made man, and thou shalt find therein more than thou thinkest, for the Apostle says likewise: In ipso habitat omnis plenitudo Divinitatis corporaliter.[4] Which signifies: In Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book II,5-6)
[1] St. Matthew 7:5.
[2] Colossians 2:3.
[3] 1 Corinthians 2:2.
[4] Colossians 2:9.