Ascent Of Mount Carmel

Saint John of the Cross is one of Christianity’s greatest poets and mystics. Nevertheless, his subject matter and writing style, coupled with his use of Scholastic terminology, can make his prose difficult to understand and intimidating. Readers of The Ascent of Mount Carmel: Reflections will thank Father Marc Foley for making John’s thought accessible and refreshingly contemporary. The author shares with contemporary spiritual seekers his seasoned wisdom, gleaned from years of reading and teaching John of the Cross. He deftly weaves together insights from psychology, theology, and literature to make The Ascent of Mount Carmel both understandable and relevant to daily life.

A hauntingly powerful piece about the soul's journey to the place of God, known in this work as Mount Carmel. Although this book refers to the Dark Night that the soul must pass through, it also refers to many situations and realities that the soul must pass through in its conflict with this world and union with God.

This book is the fruit of Fr. Dubay's many years of study and experience in spiritual direction and in it he synthesizes the teachings on prayer of the two great doctors of the Church on prayer--St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila--and the teaching of Sacred Scripture. But the teaching that Fr. Dubay synthesized is not collected from Teresa and John for contemplatives alone. It is meant for every Christian and is based on the Gospel imperative of personal prayer and the call to holiness. All the major elements of these great teachers are ordered, commented on and put in the context of their scriptural foundations. Here is an outstanding book on prayer and the spiritual life written by one of the best spiritual directors and retreat masters of our time, and based on the writings of the Church's two greatest mystical doctors.

I remained, lost in oblivion; My face I reclined on the Beloved. All ceased and I abandoned myself, Leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies." Thus writes 16th century Spanish poet and mystic, St. John of the Cross. In this, his third work, the author reflects on the nature of a personal union with Christ, found in the abandonment of self.

This work presents an outline of Christian perfection from the point at which the soul first seeks to rise from the earth and soar upward towards union with God. As a poet St John of the Cross was able, in the realm of mysticism, to push the frontiers of human xpression beyond any other writer.

"Ascent of Mount Carmel" is a 16th-century spiritual treatise by Spanish Catholic mystic and poet Saint John of the Cross. The book explains how to attain divine union quickly. The writer presents instructions and doctrines valuable for beginners and experts alike so that they may discover how to relieve themselves of all worldly things, avoid spiritual barriers, and live in that complete nakedness and freedom of spirit necessary for divine union.

The Ascent of Mount Carmel, a spiritual classic of Saint John of the Cross