Issue #17: 16th Century Carmelite Mystics
Many Protestants think that the Protestant Reformation was the only true and decisive reformation of the Roman Catholic Church. However, the Catholic Church—at least parts of it—did in fact undergo significant reform. For example, the Gregorian Reform of the 11th century addressed clerical corruption and simony; the Council of Trent (1545–1563) was a major Catholic reform, often called the Counter-Reformation in response to the Protestant movement. There were also several monastic reforms throughout church history—for instance, the reforms of Cluny and Cîteaux, which revitalized spiritual life. The Carmelite Reform in 16th-century Spain was another major renewal within the monastic tradition, led by Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) and Saint John of the Cross (1542–1591). Both became Doctors of the Church—Teresa as the first female Doctor, and John as the Doctor of Mystical Theology.
The Carmelites were originally founded by hermits on Mount Carmel, in northern Israel, in the 12th century. The mendicant order reached continental Europe, and there it underwent reformation. The reformed Carmelites became known as the Discalced, meaning “Barefoot” Carmelites.[1]
Teresa was born Teresa de y Cepeda Ahumada in Ávila, “into a merchant-class family who were descendants of Spanish Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity in 1492.”[2] She had nine brothers and two sisters,[3] and played with her brothers, exercising leadership among them, says Frohlich. She was loved dearly by her father; sadly, however, her mother was almost always pregnant and often took ill; she died when Teresa was 12 or 13 years of age.[4] After she had turned 20 years old, she joined the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation in Ávila.[5]
This convent housed many of the daughters of some of the wealthiest and most powerful men of the city, explains Peters. He says that some of them even arrived with their own servants! This does not necessarily mean that they were bad nuns; rather, during this time, monasteries were a good choice for the affluent who could live a comfortable life there.[6]
Frohlich says that Teresa’s first 19 years of religious life were lukewarm. She loved social chatting and flirting, and at one point, she even gave up prayer. However, she had a spiritual experience in front of a statue of the crucified Christ when she was 39 years of age that profoundly changed her attitude. From there, she developed a deep mystical relationship with Jesus.[7] Peters tells us that Teresa’s reading of Saint Augustine’s Confessions also had a significant impact on her spirituality at this time. Not long after, she began to have intense and frequent religious experiences, such as visions, hearing voices, entering trances, and enjoying states of mystical union with God. She even had a vision of hell. Teresa’s spiritual directors were sceptical of her mystical experiences, and yet her devotion and her influence continued to grow.[8]
When Teresa was 47 years of age, she founded St. Joseph’s Monastery in Ávila. This would be the first of the monasteries that she was involved in founding for the Discalced Carmelites dedicated to the reform. These were small religious communities that were fully enclosed. The Carmelites that belonged to these communities were to embrace poverty and the contemplative life.[9] In 1567, Teresa received permission to found more houses for women, and the Discalced branch was formally recognised only in 1580 by Gregory XIII.[10] Soon after this, she met with Saint John of the Cross. The two of them would work together in reforming the Carmelite order. More about him later.
At the age of 62, Teresa wrote of her spirituality in her book titled “The Interior Castle,” sometimes called “The Mansions,” in 1577 at the request of her spiritual director, and it is widely considered her masterpiece. It was written in just a few months.[11] All of her writings were written chiefly “for her sisters in the monasteries she founded, but she also had to be sensitive to the fact that they would be intensively examined by the Spanish Inquisition, which was very active at the time.”[12] Teresa was regarded with suspicion because she was a mystic, a descendant of Jewish converts, and a woman who also happened to be a significant leader in her order.[13]
Nevertheless, in “The Interior Castle,” Teresa highlights the degrees of prayer and explains her understanding of spiritual growth, says Peters.[14] He explains that she highlights four degrees of prayer, namely, (1) vocal prayer (speaking audibly with God) and discursive meditation where one controls “the senses by meditating on one’s life and the life of Christ”, (2) recollection where one enters oneself to be with God, (3) prayer of quiet, that is mystical contemplation where one’s faculties are stilled, and (4) mystical union, where all of one’s faculties are quietened and are focused on God. The more the soul progresses through successive stages of prayer, the more it becomes dependent upon God.[15] She shows throughout her work “that the journey of prayer is long, demanding, and complex, but it is also as simple as the brilliant light of God that eternally pours itself forth at the center of the human soul.”[16]
The main idea is that there are seven stages of prayer, or the Christian life. Teresa calls them seven dwelling places that eventually lead to full conformation to Jesus Christ, which is the goal of the Christian’s life, that is, to journey towards the center of the “Interior Castle” where Jesus is enthroned.[17]
The Interior Castle: Journey Into the Seven Dwelling Places
Although the layout and theology of “The Interior Castle” has seven dwelling places (morada, in Spanish), which are sometimes rendered “rooms” or “mansions,” says Frohlich.[18] She suggests that one should not think of this as a luxuriously large building, as is usually the case with mansions, and one should not think of there being only seven such dwelling places, for there are countless, as Teresa says. There are many ways in which people enter. Therefore, she talks of the first, second, third (and so on) dwelling places in the plural. And as Frohlich explains, moving between the dwelling places is not always clearly defined, and people experience the journey in and between each of them differently; in other words, there is a diversity of experience. The seventh dwelling place is the ultimate final destination where one experiences a profound union with God.[19] A summary of each of the seven dwelling places is as follows:
The First Dwelling Places
Vocal Prayer: Saying spontaneous prayers and reciting learned prayers.[20]
Prayer and reflection are the doors through which we enter the interior castle. People who enter the first Dwelling places are those who only occasionally entrust themselves to God in prayer and reflection during their everyday lives. The more one does this, the more they awaken an awareness of God’s presence within them, and they begin to grow in humility and self-knowledge, which are all very important during one’s growth in Christian spirituality.[21]
The Second Dwelling Places
Mental Prayer: Meditating on Jesus’s life and Scripture.[22]
To develop further in one’s spiritual growth, one would need to employ spiritual practices to fight off temptation, seek the friendship of godly companions, consult others who have experience in spiritual matters, like confessors and spiritual directors, and so on. Further, they learn to conform their lives to God’s will, accept the cross of Jesus Christ, and always get up again when they fall.[23]
The Third Dwelling Places
Affective Prayer: Prayer of the heart. [24]
Those with well-ordered Christlike lives dwell in the third dwelling places. They often take part in the holy sacraments, avoid sin, do penance, and do acts of charity. However, despite this, they frequently experience distraction, boredom, and dryness in their devotion. Understandably, people find these dwelling places difficult because they believe they are doing everything well, and generally, they are. Unfortunately, however, they come to a point where they are almost about to give up on their spiritual journey, and many of them turn back and turn to the first dwellings, while others think they have achieved the height of spiritual life.[25]
The Fourth Dwelling Places
Prayer of Quiet: God floods the soul with divine love.[26]
The so-called “supernatural experiences” begin in the fourth dwelling places. Here, one learns to become familiar with God’s voice, usually as a gentle whisper. There is also a gentle drawing towards inner silence and recollection, but it’s not very frequent in the early stages. These new experiences are developed by practicing active meditation until the experiences become more passive and begin to intensify, becoming a “spiritual delight,” as Teresa calls it. One learns in the fourth dwelling places to let go of the intellect and surrender oneself to the divine love of God. One begins to grow in humility, love, gratitude, detachment, and determination to do God’s will.[27]
The Fifth Dwelling Places
Prayer of Full Union: Will, understanding, and memory are united to God.[28]
You might think of the fifth dwelling places “like a worm that enters a cocoon to be transformed into a butterfly,” says Frohlich.[29] This is where union with God begins. Teresa also uses the image of the first meeting of a couple who are to be betrothed and then married. This union is all about surrendering oneself entirely to the will of God, where one's soul becomes soft like wax, and thereupon God impresses his seal upon them—this is the first “experience of union as God’s own.”[30] Here, prayer follows through into practical action, the love of one’s neighbour, and so on.[31]
The Sixth Dwelling Places
Ecstasy and Conforming Union: The Senses are suspended and feel a sense of “Betrothal” to Christ.[32]
The sixth dwelling place takes up a large part of Teresa of Ávila’s “Interior Castle.” Frohlich explains that it discusses in considerable detail the “locutions, imaginative and intellectual visions, raptures, suspensions, flights of the spirit, and many other experiences given only to mystically gifted souls.”[33] These, Teresa warns, should not be desired, for it is dangerous to do so, but if one experiences them, and not everyone does, that should be accepted as graces from God.[34] Here one experiences God very quickly and often quite magnificently, and sometimes he comes “sounding the soul ‘in the most exquisite way’ (VI:2,2).”[35] The paradox is that one experiences profound peace and delight, and yet on the other hand, intense pain. However, this pain is not diabolical, because one acquires a strong “desire to suffer for God and to withdraw from earthly satisfactions.”[36] It is also true that the experiences from these dwelling places are often impossible to describe. This is where one often experiences the “Dark Night of the Soul,” which St John of the Cross talks about. These dwelling places purify faith, hope, and charity. Although it is the most painful of the dwelling places, once one enters it, one never turns back.
The Seventh Dwelling Places
Transforming Union: This is the “spiritual marriage,” the permanent union.[37]
Finally, we come to the seventh dwelling places, a place that can only be described as “spiritual marriage.” Here, the soul experiences lasting inner silence and exquisite peace.[38] The person’s soul has reached maturity in these dwelling places and no longer suffers from frequent “distractions, dryness, or the devil’s antics, it also rarely experiences raptures anymore.”[39] The soul is wholly united to God.
Reading the Interior Castle Today
Although The Interior Castle may appear anthropocentric at first, once you get into it, you will discover that it’s centred around “His Majesty,” Jesus Christ.[40] Yet, as Frohlich explains, Teresa no doubt offers us a “companion and guide to living the spiritual life” in this book. She sets us on a path of spiritual depth and wisdom and describes potential obstacles we might meet along the way, as well as spiritual experiences and manifestations. Teresa also teaches us how to practice discernment. Despite this exciting spiritual journey with countless, or even “millions” of rooms, seven dwelling places, she always reminds us that God’s love poured out in us is what is ultimately important, and that we need to share it with our neighbour, and with the world.[41]
The seven dwelling places, or stages of prayer and spiritual growth, can be overlaid on the three traditional ways of the spiritual life as follows:
Purgative Way — Dwelling Places 1–3 (overcome sin, acquire virtue)
Illuminative Way — Dwelling Places 4–6 (infused graces, gifts of the Holy Spirit)
Unitive Way — Dwelling Place 7 (full transformation into Christ). The seventh dwelling place ought to be the life’s goal of all Christians, where “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)[42]
John of the Cross: Mystical Theology and the Dark Night
This brings us to Teresa’s dear friend and companion, John of the Cross. He was born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez in Fontiveros, near Ávila. His father died when John was about three years old, and the family later moved to Medina del Campo.[43] John knew what it was like to live in poverty, as his mother struggled to provide for her three children after her husband’s death. This had a lasting influence on him, which instilled a need in him to care for others.[44] Peters explains that John was educated in Medina and worked as a nurse while studying at a Jesuit school, where he achieved well academically. He soon joined the Carmelites in Medina, and after his profession, he took the name John of the Cross and was moved to Salamanca. It was here that for four years he studied philosophy and theology and was made prefect of studies at the Carmelite College of San Andrés in Salamanca.[45] But he never lost his deep desire for the contemplative life and even wished to join the Carthusian order. Instead, he moved back to Medina in 1567, and there he met Teresa of Ávila, “who was looking for friars to adopt the reform that she had initiated among the Carmelite nuns.”[46] He was soon asked to be the master of the novice house, where he started his ministry as a spiritual director. Although he had a life of difficulty, most notably being imprisoned by his order in 1577. The Carmelite reform gained approval by Pope Gregory XIII in 1580, and so they formed “a separate province of Carmelites and become self-governing.”[47]
In a time of political and ecclesial unrest, Saint John of the Cross wrote his famous poem, The Dark Night of the Soul, and then sometime later he wrote two commentaries on it, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, which highlights the active purification as human cooperation, and The Dark Night, highlighting passive purifications, that is God’s deep work within us.[48] The Dark Night of the Soul reads as follows:
In a dark night,
With anxious love inflamed,
O, happy lot!
Forth unobserved I went,
My house being now at rest.
In darkness and in safety,
By the secret ladder, disguised,
O, happy lot!
In darkness and concealment,
My house being now at rest.
In that happy night,
In secret, seen of none,
Seeing nought myself,
Without other light or guide
Save that which in my heart was burning.
That light guided me
More surely than the noonday sun
To the place where He was waiting for me,
Whom I knew well,
And where none appeared.
O, guiding night;
O, night more lovely than the dawn;
O, night that hast united
The lover with His beloved,
And changed her into her love.
On my flowery bosom,
Kept whole for Him alone,
There He reposed and slept;
And I cherished Him, and the waving
Of the cedars fanned Him.
As His hair floated in the breeze
That from the turret blew,
He struck me on the neck
With His gentle hand,
And all sensation left me.
I continued in oblivion lost,
My head was resting on my love;
Lost to all things and myself,
And, amid the lilies forgotten,
Threw all my cares away.
Perrin explains that people often use the expression, “The Dark Night of the Soul,” when someone is struggling with some kind of calamity, illness, depression, or misfortune, without any understanding of the poem or its origins. But this isn’t what he had in mind; instead, “The Dark Night of the Soul” is all about “a profound state of being-in-love: of being so intimately united with God—a God who can be neither understood nor fully known—that the individual is plunged into the darkness of this unknown. Life no longer makes sense except as a kind of prison in this glorious state of the loving embrace of a mysterious God.”[49]
Unlike today’s pragmatic, DIY culture, Saint John of the Cross does not offer instructions or a programme to follow, says Perrin. Instead, he offers us “a description of the fundamental realities of life and what it means to be a faith-filled human being.”[50] Like Teresa of Ávila, the spiritual theology of John of the Cross has a similar threefold framework:
1. Purgation
2. Betrothal
3. Spiritual Marriage
In addition, he argues for a ten-step ladder to God, and Peters lists them as follows:
1. The soul becomes sick for the glory of God
2. The soul searches unceasingly for God
3. The soul does good works
4. The soul suffers, and the flesh is conquered
5. The soul develops an impatient desire and longing for God
6. The soul moves toward God, sensing his touch
7. The soul is emboldened
8. The soul lays hold of God as beloved
9. The soul burns with love
10. The soul becomes one with God after death[51]
The Dark Night of the Soul, Perrin says, “is characterized by distinct moments as God invites the individual deeper and deeper into relationship. The night of ‘The Dark Night’ is not linear but, consistent with human nature, it’s more cyclical in nature.” This is because people don’t mature in a linear manner; it’s more complicated than that. Therefore, one ought to practice trust and patience, especially when journeying into the Dark Night.[52] John’s writings on the Dark Night reveal profound wisdom into what it is to be fully human and to be fully alive to God in faith in his divine love—It’s more than just knowledge and doctrine, it’s a living relationship with God.[53] This is an “ongoing journey of transformation, purification, and growth,” says Perrin; it’s “not an end in itself, nor is it a once-and-for-all experience.”[54]
The “dark night” ought not to be understood as something bad or destructive, says Forster. Rather, it’s an experience similar to an injured person welcoming surgery, which he knows will bring healing. The so-called darkness is not some kind of punishment or affliction from God—to the contrary, it brings wholeness and freedom. It offers us a magnificent opportunity to draw close to God,[55] as is clear in the verse:
O, guiding night;
O, night more lovely than the dawn;
O, night that hast united
The lover with His beloved,
And changed her into her love.[56]
So, what is the dark night of the soul all about then? As Forster explains, it’s when our dependence on emotions is stripped away, whereby we might feel a deep sense of loneliness, dryness, and even sometimes lostness.[57] Yet, during this season, there is also an experience of God’s gracious protection from sin, and progress in God’s kingdom becomes clear, says Forster. One grows in godly virtues and cares little for the appetites and passions of this world.[58] It truly is a profound experience and could last months or even years.
In other words, it’s an intense purification process of the soul that can only truly be experienced when one reaches a profound closeness to God.[59] And so, to put this in perspective, “The Dark Night of the Soul” best aligns with the sixth dwelling places in Saint Teresa of Ávila’s “Interior Castle.” It is “therefore not a passing psychological state that one will get over,” says Perrin.[60] He explains further that,
It is a theological and spiritual category that describes the state of existence that opens up the radical awareness of one’s absolute and utter dependence on God. As the Christian continues in his or her journey, the loving presence of God in life grows in intensity. This awareness, of course, is of no consolation during the dark night of the soul. What does stand out, however, is that in the public forum, those experiencing the dark night of the soul will scarcely be seen to be doing so at all. What will be seen abundantly are generous acts of charity, spontaneous acts of forgiveness and reconciliation, and extreme moral integrity. The person will be perceived as joy-filled and will exude intense happiness as well as depth of character. An acute awareness of the profound love of God is embodied in the day-to-day life of pilgrims in this phase of the ascent of the mount, which precedes the fullness and culminating phase of the spiritual journey—full union with God.[61]
Peters explains that this season of one’s spiritual journey is often one of alienation and isolation. And it’s often difficult to pray during these times of darkness, and yet it draws us closer towards union with God.[62] But such a union can only be achieved through God’s work of purgation. And with no small amount of persistence, the Christian soul “ascends the mount and begins to experience ever more intensely God’s presence in the world and in his or her own life.”[63] This is a transformative process, says Perrin, which culminates in union with God, whereby one is “drawn fully into participation in the Divine nature.”[64] Once one achieves this “state of union,” they know “that the human vocation rests in God’s vision for the world: to grow in a self-liberating love that moves the individual to give his or her life over for others.[65] The imagery of “The Dark Night of the Soul” sounds gloomy, but to the contrary, it is hope-filled, which becomes more explicit in John of the Cross’s work, “The Living Flame of Love.”[66]
Teresa of Ávila’s sevenfold journey through “The Interior Castle” and John of the Cross’s twofold “Dark Nights” are not competing approaches. Together, they offer two interpretive angles on the same transformative process. Teresa arranges her spiritual progress through the seven stages of prayerful intimacy, and John approaches the same spiritual journey through deep purifications that make intimacy with God possible. On the one hand, Teresa’s later dwelling places correspond to John’s passive nights, and on the other, John’s descriptions illuminate the transitions Teresa often leaves implicit. When read together, their systems reveal a single Carmelite mystical theology and spiritual formation, where the soul journeys from initial conversion, through progressive purification toward loving union with the Triune God.
Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross were instrumental in the Carmelite reform, but their writings offer us a different kind of reform, a reform of our hearts. Are we willing to give ourselves to Jesus and begin this wonderful spiritual journey through the dwelling places and the dark night of the soul until we finally reach union with God?
Task
Choose to read either Teresa of Ávila’s The Interior Castle, available here, or John of the Cross’s The Dark Night of the Soul, available here, and map your spiritual journey.
If you read Teresa, identify which of her dwelling places you resonate with most in this season of your life.
If you read John, reflect on whether any of John’s signs of the dark night of the soul describe your present experience of prayer or God’s presence.
What might God be inviting you into through this stage of your journey?
What obstacles, resistances, or fears might you encounter as you move forward in deeper intimacy with Jesus?
Remember to internalize what you have learned because it’s more about a lived spiritual journey than it is a theoretical framework.
AI Disclaimer:
This blog has been edited for grammar, clarity, and readability using AI-assisted tools. The core content, theological insights, and personal reflections remain my original work.
[1] Greg Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality (Baker Academic, 2015), 220.
[2] Mary Frohlich, “TERESA OF AVILA (1515–82): The Interior Castle,” in Christian Spirituality: The Classics, ed. Arthur Holder (Routledge, 2009), Ch. 18; Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality, 220.
[3] These likely included half-brothers and sisters.
[4] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[5] Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality, 220.
[6] Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality, 220.
[7] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[8] Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality, 220.
[9] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[10] Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality, 220.
[11] St. Teresa’s “Interior Castle” by Fr. Carpenter, directed by St. Catherine Laboure, Torrance, with Fr. Carpenter, 2020, 01:03:14, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKaW3a3ntLk.
[12] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[13] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[14] Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality, 221.
[15] Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality, 221.
[16] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[17] St. Teresa’s “Interior Castle” by Fr. Carpenter.
[18] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[19] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[20] St. Teresa’s “Interior Castle” by Fr. Carpenter.
[21] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[22] St. Teresa’s “Interior Castle” by Fr. Carpenter.
[23] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[24] St. Teresa’s “Interior Castle” by Fr. Carpenter.
[25] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[26] St. Teresa’s “Interior Castle” by Fr. Carpenter.
[27] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[28] St. Teresa’s “Interior Castle” by Fr. Carpenter.
[29] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[30] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[31] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[32] St. Teresa’s “Interior Castle” by Fr. Carpenter.
[33] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[34] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[35] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[36] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[37] St. Teresa’s “Interior Castle” by Fr. Carpenter.
[38] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[39] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[40] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[41] Frohlich, “The Interior Castle,” Ch. 18.
[42] St. Teresa’s “Interior Castle” by Fr. Carpenter.
[43] Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality, 220.
[44] David B. Perrin, “JOHN OF THE CROSS (1542–91): The Dark Night,” in Christian Spirituality: The Classics, ed. Arthur Holder (Routledge, 2009), Ch. 19.
[45] Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality, 220–21; Perrin, “The Dark Night,” Ch. 19.
[46] Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality, 220–21.
[47] Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality, 221.
[48] Perrin, “The Dark Night,” Ch. 19.
[49] Perrin, “The Dark Night,” Ch. 19.
[50] Perrin, “The Dark Night,” Ch. 19.
[51] Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality, 222.
[52] Perrin, “The Dark Night,” Ch. 19.
[53] Perrin, “The Dark Night,” Ch. 19.
[54] Perrin, “The Dark Night,” Ch. 19.
[55] Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth (Hodder Faith, 2012), 126.
[56] Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, 126.
[57] Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, 127.
[58] Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, 129.
[59] Perrin, “The Dark Night,” Ch. 19.
[60] Perrin, “The Dark Night,” Ch. 19.
[61] Perrin, “The Dark Night,” Ch. 19.
[62] Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality, 222.
[63] Perrin, “The Dark Night,” Ch. 19.
[64] Perrin, “The Dark Night,” Ch. 19.
[65] Perrin, “The Dark Night,” Ch. 19.
[66] Perrin, “The Dark Night,” Ch. 19.
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