Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591)
Carmelite, Doctor of the Church
The Spiritual Canticle, B, stanza 1, 6-7 (trans. ©Institute of Carmelite Studies)
“When you pray, go to your inner room”
The soul asks the Bridegroom: «Where have you hidden?»… It would be well for us to answer… and point out the place where he is most surely hidden. She may then surely find him there with the perfection and delight possible in this life, and thus not wander in vain after the footprints of her companions (Sg.1:7).
It should be known that the Word, the Son of God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is hidden by his essence and his presence in the innermost being of the soul. Individuals who want to find him should leave all things…, enter within themselves in deepest recollection, and let all things be as though not. St. Augustine, addressing God in the Soliloquies, said: «I did not find you without, because I wrongly sought without you who were within». God, then, is hidden in the soul, and there the good contemplative must seek him with love exclaiming: “Where have you hidden?”
Oh, then, soul, most beautiful among all creatures, so anxious to know the dwelling place of your Beloved so you may go in search of him and be united with him, now we are telling you that you yourself are his dwelling and his secret inner room and hiding place. There is reason for you to be elated and joyful in seeing that all your good and hope is so close as to be within you, or better, that you cannot be without him. «Behold,» exclaims the Bridegroom, «the kingdom of God is within you» (Lk. 17:21). And his servant, the apostle Saint Paul, declares: «You are the temple of God» (2Cor 6:16).