On May 30, 2008, I began a commentary on The Spiritual Canticle by St. John of the Cross, from The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD, revised edition (1991). Each day or two, I commented on one of the 40 stanzas of the poem that comprises The Spiritual Canticle and one of the paragraphs of St. John’s commentary on that particular stanza. I began each entry with a link to the stanza and the commentary and identified by number upon which paragraph of his commentary I reflected.
Entries were formatted as such:
- Link to the stanza and St. John of the Cross’s commentary
- Number of the paragraph in the commentary on which I will be reflecting
- Then a short reflection on that stanza and paragraph in his commentary
If you wish to read the entire commentary, I encourage you to do so, although it might be better to purchase the entire text itself from ICS Publications here, instead of attempting to read it in a hurried fashion. However, for my purposes, I only will commented on the stanza itself and the paragraph mentioned.
This was a commentary on my own journey and might not be where you are, but maybe God can speak to you through most importantly, His words through St. John of the Cross, and less importantly, my own feeble attempts at understanding God as through the thoughts expressed by St. John of the Cross.
2 Comments
May 30, 2008 at 12:23 pm
[...] Starting a new journey with St. John of the Cross Today, May 30, 2008, I begin a commentary on The Spiritual Canticle by St. John of the Cross, from The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD, revised edition (1991). For more on this new undertaking, I refer you to the following page: A commentary on The Spiritual Canticle by St. John of the Cross. [...]
September 16, 2009 at 3:40 am
I am starting a commentary on the Spiritual Canticle of t John of the Cross and was happy to see in your blog (after searching ’spiritual canticle commentary’ on google). I really am interested in your commentary and what St John of the Cross means to you. Firstly what methodology do you use-textual, symbolic, theological and finally spiritual/mystical application. I am a Discalced Carmelite priest specialised in Sts John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila from the Centro Internacional Teresiano-Sanjuanista, Avila, Spain. Unfortunately i have not found anyone who is doing a commentary on the spiritual canticle in english. Waiting to hear and learn from you. Fr George Desmond Tambala OCD, Corso d’Italia 38, Roma, Italy