Online Course: Reading & Studying St. John of the Cross
Testimonials: “unique”, “monumental”, “a gold mine”, “I’m taking this course! I think it should be mandatory for all Catholics. It’s absolutely fabulous.” “Thank you for these lectures. Great material here! It’s useful for both beginners and specialists, indeed a rare mix.“
Presentation: This Course started 1s July 2020 and is still ongoing. Its primary goal is to discover what St. John of the Cross says and not what we say about him or his books. The distance between the two can sometimes be considerable! Hence the title: “Reading & Studying”. This experience has never before existed online. Yes, it is long and arduous, but it pays and it pays abundantly. Each session of the course, provides an on-screen English translation of one of the Saint’s works, and this is constantly checked with its original Spanish counterpart for greater accuracy. St. John of the Cross is a Master of myticism who constantly talks about what God wants to give us, what we need to do to receive it, and describes what will happen. This teaching is a unique help for all of us on our spiritual journey. Before us he unravels the marvels of God’s Gift. He is the Master when it comes to deep spiritual discernment. ‘He starts where others end.’ With his help we can read correctly other saints and doctors like St. Teresa of Avila and St. Therese of the Child Jesus. Since he examines God’s work within us in great depth, in order to read him and to really understand what he is saying we need to use methods adapated to this type of writing. We can see these new methods implemented progressively during this Course.
– Playlist of the first part of the Course: Reading & Studying “Ascent of Mount Carmel”, Book I, Playlist, 49 Videos.
– Text: Text used during the Course: Ascent of Mount Carmel Book I
– Outline of The Life of Saint John of the Cross
– “God Speaks in the Night” Chapter 8: “Plenitude and Creativity, A Writer in Granada”
– Prayer of a Soul Taken with Love
– The Anagogical Acts, (How to fight temptation)
– The Icon of St. John of the Cross made by the Carmel of the Theotokos Lebanon
– Text: Text used during the online Course Reading and Studying St. John of the Cross: Ascent of Mount Carmel Book II: Part I , Part II
– Text: Text used during the online Course: Reading and Studying St. John of the Cross: Dark Night Book I
– Text: Text used during the online Course: Reading and Studying St. John of the Cross: Dark Night Book II,1-14; Dark Night Book II,15-25.
– The Influence of St John of the Cross in Britain and Ireland by Philip Boyce OCD
– Appetite in St. John of the Cross
– We Cannot Help Enjoying Sense Pleasures, Ascent of Mount Carmel I,13
– Faith Gives The Most Vivid Vision of the Beloved (text)
– The Second Level of Discernment
– On the Passions, St. Thomas Aquinas
– St. John of the Cross Precautions (Text)
– Spiritual Canticle B Stanza 29
– Lectio Divina and Contemplative Prayer According to the Carmelite Tradition
– Why the Delay in Revealing an Important Doctrine to us?
First Video of the Course: Reading & Studying St. John of the Cross
School of Mary 