Treatise on Mystical Death.pdf

Studies of St. Paul of the Cross:<strong>Treatise</strong> on Mystical DeathThe document below is what many believe to be St. Paul of the Cross’ reference tothe <strong>Treatise</strong> on Mystical Death.The author of this document is unknown. As you read it notice how it reflects aspirituality of 16 th and 17 th century European monasticism.The Passion of Jesus ChristI am writing these pages lest through human weakness and my own negligence I losethose lights and holy inspirations which Jesus in His infinite mercy has deigned togive me. I am writing them so that, shaken out of the lethargy of my infidelity andlaziness, I might rise to the light of divine grace and begin that way of perfectionwhich will be more pleasing to my Lord. Therefore, in order to facilitate my journeyand to walk with sureness, may the doctrine in these pages move me to go forwardand to overcome my repugnance with generosity. God seems to be asking this of menow, with the approval of holy obedience, whose martyr and faithful daughter Iwant to be right up to my last breath. May Jesus grant me the grace of a goodbeginning, and holy perseverance.God asks only one thing of me. But many other things are asked of me in order toachieve and attain it. Oh! God, what violence! My Jesus, I must die and obey! Youask too much of me in one thing, because You want me to die with You on the

Cross. A mystical death, a death however sweet, it's too hard for me because I mustundergo a thousand deaths before dying! Lord, human nature is frightened when hethinks of itself alone. It trembles and is dismayed at the very thought of it. Butwhen You command, the spirit is indeed ready to accomplish it with the unfailingcertainty that if You will it, Your help in doing it will not be wanting. However, Imust set aside such a thought so that I may run with complete indifference in blindfaith, like a deer thirsting at the font of Divine Providence in total abandonment toYou. I allow myself to be guided as You will. I do not seek myself but only what ispleasing to God Himself. I will annihilate myself by doing His will and marvelingwithin myself how God wills to receive such meager pleasure from a miserablecreature, full of so many faults and sins. To obtain this, I will always humble myselfinteriorly. I will consider myself as I am and I will foster a very exalted idea of Godas Master of all, Immense Love, Inexorable Judge, Goodness without end. Oh God!I. I will in no way leave my own nothingness unless I am moved by God, my FirstPrinciple and Last End. I will not lift myself up more than what God wills, lessthrough presumption I cast myself down and fall. No, Lord!II. I will be resigned and ready to do that Divine Will by desiring nothing, byrefusing nothing and I will be equally happy with His every will.I will strip myself of everything by a complete abandonment of myself to God. I willleave the care of myself entirely to Him. He knows what I need and I don't know.Therefore, I shall except with equal resignation both light and darkness, consolationand calamities and crosses, suffering and joy. I will praise Him in everything and foreverything. Above all, I will bless that hand which scourges me, as I put my totaltrust in Him.And if sometimes He will grace me with His presence, either with just its effects orby that continual practice of it, I will never attach myself to the delights of thespirit. Neither will I afflict myself through fear of being deprived of it, but I will bemost ready for the pain of His abandonment which I deserve. I will always give Himthe gift of my pure and naked will, by offering a crucified and dead soul to Jesus,Crucified and Dead. I do this because it pleases Him that I returned to darkness andagony when He thus wills it, with a happy and resigned spirit. I ask Him to let mesay, After the darkness I hope for light. My Jesus, I adore you. I am dying by notdying. Oh what a holy death! What agony!III. If Jesus wants me to be desolate, dead and buried in darkness, I will reflectthat I ought to remain in hell deservedly because of my enormous sins. I shouldconsider that it is the goodness of my God which is changed it into such sufferingsfor me. I will unite myself very firmly to the anchor of His most powerful mercy so

that, distrusting myself, I will not offend His Goodness which is so great! Oh, whatgoodness of God!IV. I will try with all my strength to follow the footsteps of my Jesus. If I amafflicted, abandoned, desolate, I will keep Him company in the Garden. If I amdespised and injured, I will keep him company in the Praetorium. If I am depressedand afflicted in the agonies of suffering, I will keep Him company faithfully on theMount, and in a generous spirit I will keep Him company on the cross, with thelance in my heart. Oh, how sweet it is to die!V. I will strip myself of every interest of my own, looking neither to sufferingnor to reward, but only to the glory of God and His pure pleasure. I will strive toremain only within these two terms: here to agonize as long as God wills, and hereto die of His pure love. Oh how blessed is the love of Jesus!VI. I will not seek nor will I love anything other than God alone because in Himalone will I have the joy of Paradise, of peace, happiness and love. I will arm myselfwith a holy and relentless hatred of everything which could turn me away from Him.My Jesus, never let sin be in my heart!VII. I shall banish every foolish fear which can make me faint-hearted in Yourholy service. This will be my only rule: if I shall be strong and faithful to God, Hewill always be mine. I will fear Him alone and I will always avoid what could bringdispleasure to Him. I will always control myself. With all my strength I will try notto displease Him deliberately even in the least way, in so far as it will be possiblethrough His Divine Grace. Oh what beautiful hope!VIII. If through weakness I should fall into some fault, I will rise up immediatelywith repentance. I will acknowledge my misery and what I am and what I can do.With my head bowed down and with tears in my eyes and sighs in my heart, I willbeg God for pardon. I will ask for the grace never to betray Him again, but to rootmyself more firmly in Him. Neither will I pause more than is necessary inacknowledging my misery, but I will turn to Him saying: My God, my Jesus, this isthe fruit I can give you. Do not trust me for I am miserable!

IX. I will always set my heart on God. With all my strength I will detachmyself completely from the earth and from all that is not God. I want to be thedwelling place of Jesus. I want to make that dwelling place a Calvary of suffering, asthe Blessed Clare of Monte Falco did. I want to give the key only to Him so that Hemight be the absolute Master to dwell there at His pleasure and go to put there whatHe pleases. My heart will no longer be mine, because I am not my own anymore.My heart will belong only to God: He is my love!X. I will die completely to myself and live for God alone. I will certainlydie for God, because I cannot live without God. Oh, what a life! Oh, what a death! Iwill live, but like a dead person. With such a thought I shall spend my life by livinga continual death. I want to resolve to die through obedience. Blessed Obedience!XI. I will ponder this strong maxim of the spirit of mystical death in the threevows of poverty, chastity and obedience. I will imagine myself as dead in poverty. Iwill say to myself, a dead person has nothing but what is put on him, nor does hecare whether it is good or bad. A dead person asks for nothing and wants nothingbecause he no longer belongs to this world and to this earth. I will be the poorest,like a dead person. In so far as possible, I will not keep anything from myself. Mysole thought will be that I must possess nothing, and that everything is superfluousas in the case of a dead person. Everything which is put on him is superfluous.I will except in charity whatever is given to me, without ever complaining. I willconsider that it is always too much, because I deserve nothing. I shall not ask foranything, except in extreme necessity and I will accept this in pure charity. I will beslow in asking for it so as to experience and suffer the inconveniences of the holypoverty. As for food and clothing, I will always seek the worst and die to everydesire and pleasure of the senses. I shall not ask for nor ever keep anything withoutthe permission of my superiors. I'll ask the superiors to be strict with me alwaysand to satisfy me to the least extent possible, by entrusting me in everything toGod.Thus, I will seek to imitate Jesus, who was poor in everything. He, the Lord ofHeaven, was not ashamed to embrace this extreme poverty. He was not ashamed tolive a very poor and lowly life in everything out of love for me and as an example forme. I will despise myself and will take pleasure in being despised by others. I willtake pleasure in being passed over by everyone. The real poor man of Jesus is theman who is dead to himself. He cares not about honors and contempt. Therefore, Ishall show neither desire nor inclination for anything, so that I may not expresssatisfaction. In a word, I shall try to be extremely poor, to be deprived of what Ihave, because it is not mine. I shall always try to become poorer so as to beconformed to the very poor Jesus. May I die poor on the cross like You!

XII. I will die to chastity by submitting my body to every kind of anguish andsuffering out of love for my God. I will avoid every occasion of sin so that I may notrebel and tarnish such a beautiful lily. I will watch over my feelings with the utmostvigilance so that no evil may enter through them. A dead person has no feelings.Neither do I want to have any feelings which might offend my God.I will also avoid every least occasion of attachment, because Jesus wants me to besole Master of my heart. He wants my intentions to be pure. He wants me to livefor the glory of God and the salvation of my soul. He wants my affections to bepure, with no love for creatures or anything else. He wants me to be free of desiresand to seek only Jesus who delights in the pure lilies. Thus I want to be dead toevery pleasing of myself, and to sacrifice myself continually on the most holy crossof my spouse, Jesus. Oh, the holy death of one who lives chastity for You, my Jesus!XIII. I will die through obedience. Oh what a holy sacrifice! Oh, holy martyrdomof pure will, making me totally dead to myself. The object of this is to die, bysubmitting one's will, overcoming it in everything and for everything, even to thepoint of death, without even giving forth a breath. By God's grace I will be untiringand ready to obey blindly and without objecting. If I am commanded to dosomething arduous and difficult and most repugnant, I will look to Jesus scourged atthe pillar. I will look at Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the agony of Hisprayer. I will look at Him on the cross where he offered his last human breath to thefather through obedience. Keeping in mind the warnings He gives to me I will say:Blessed obedience, holy obedience, make me die and I will become holy and finally asaint. Thus, obedience will become sweet and gentle for me and I will be happy indoing it. Oh, what a happy death for one who dies through obedience! Like Jesus,the beloved spouse of my soul, I will obey not only those I have to, but also myequals and inferiors. I will try to be all things to all men so that everybody mayfreely give me orders. I will be indifferent in everything. I will not manifestdispleasure or regret in anything so that they may feel a holy freedom to commandme. I will always be careful not to give the slightest inclination that I amdissatisfied with this or that, also for the purpose of being mortified. I also want myself-love to weaken, and in regard to this, to die completely. I shall be happy to dothose repugnant things which are always commanded me against my desire and will.For I know through God's light that solid virtue consists in this strong point in thatthe obedience asked for is a true sacrifice of the Spirit. I will always go contrary tomyself and never trust myself. In this way I will crush my evil inclinations, prideand passions. I will always deprive myself of personal pleasure both in temporal andspiritual things. I will always be ready to leave God for God, with that holy freedomof spirit and purity of intention which are religious, who is dead to self even to thelast breath, must have. Oh, holy death which enables one to live in the true spirit ofJesus! Holy obedience! Holy death! Holy love!

XIV. I will avoid excess of talking. I will remain firm and consistent on this pointtoo, for Jesus rests in souls given to solitude. I will delight in speaking only to God,about God and for God so that He may speak with me. I will not pour myself out invain, superfluous and useless words, less excessive talking cause me to fail incharity and give way to idleness. In speech to, I want to die completely. I want tobe considerate, brief, prudent and holy so that my tongue will be used only for goodexample, and never for scandal. A dead person does not speak, and the religiouswho is dead to self must not speak to anyone except to God alone and for God.Silence!XV. I will always remain in the background in religious matters, as if I were no goodand of no account, never interfering and thus bearing my own nothingness. I willnever give my own opinion but leave everything to him who must do it, because inthis way I must bear my own nothingness. I will esteem myself as nothing. I willknow and understand only this: not to know and understand anything, but only todesire to know and to understand the life of Jesus, humble, despised and unknown.This is the way the truth and the life. Holy humility, I want to die in this way! Ohholy death!XVI. I will be charitable to all and especially to those toward whom I feel someantipathy. About those who have shortcomings, the impatient and the proud, I willsay: Lord, this is my reward. This is my peace--to conquer myself by returninggood for evil, love for hatred, humility for content, patience for impatience. A deadperson does not feel resentment; this is what I want to do. The more charitable I amtoward my neighbor, the more love Jesus will have for me; I am not mistaken in this.Charity conquers the heart for Jesus. In this way, I can become a great saint. Yes, Iwant this: I want to die by dying to myself.XVII. I will have no compassion on myself. In this way I will become a penitentperson who wants to gain heaven by means of violence. I will spend myselfindefatigably for the glory of God and for our holy religion. In order to relieve thedifficulties of others, I will offer myself to do what I can and give myself completelyto my work. I will let my companion supervise while I will be there only to work, toserve, to humble myself and to be commended as if I were the lowliest in themonastery. In this I will imitate (I admit it with all my heart) the great Magdalen ofPazzi, that noble and delicate young woman but a great and humble penitent whoused to say: I want to be the rag of the monastery. My God, I will do this and morewith the help of Your grace. But if You withdraw from me, I will do more evil than

the good I now resolve to do. In order that this may not happen to my disgrace,which I fear very much, I will put all my trust in You. I will try to remain alwaysunited in You. I will fear being separated from you even for a moment because justone single moment apart from You may cause me to lose You. If I lose You, I loseeverything.In this way and with these holy sentiments, I want to enter into a spiritual agony soas to destroy all my self-love, inclinations, passions and desires. I want to die onthe cross with a holy death of Jesus which souls enamored of their Spouseexperience on Calvary. They died by a more painful death than that of the body inorder to rise again with Jesus who is triumphant in heaven.Happy what I'd be if I would practice this holy death. I will praise it in my lastmoment to my great consolation.May Jesus be always with me. Jesus, may my last word be Your name. Jesus, maymy last breath be Your love. Amen.The EndPray For Me!!!Taken from; Mystical Death or Holocaust of the Pure Spirit of a Religious Soul.Translated by Silvan Rouse, C.P.November, 2009