John of the Cross’s Dark Night of the Soul or Catherine of Siena’s Dialogue

[Count Claydus]

Howdy! Can anyone tell the differences between Dark Night of the Soul and Dialogue? Their style? Which do you prefer?

[fides' Jack]

Interesting, I wasn't aware of a Dominican perspective on Catholic mysticism. 

I'm familiar with the Dark Night of the Soul (though I recommend starting with the Ascent of Mt. Carmel).  I'm also familiar with St. Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle, which I highly recommend (might be a slightly more feminine take, but still very worth it). 

Thanks for the post!  I'll be looking for a copy of Dialogue.

To answer your question, as I'm struggling to gain progress in the spiritual life, I'm finding that there are snippets of wisdom that are helpful across all of the above.  I've also been watching videos online of Fr. Ripperger's talks, specifically on spiritual warfare, and there are saintly tidbits there as well.  I'm weary of most information on the internet, and I was very weary of Fr. Ripperger at first, but I've now listened enough and done enough research on him that I trust him completely.  I can't say the same of all the priests/sermons that are included on SensusFidelium.

As far as style goes, I find St. John of the Cross to be very much deeper, to the point that it's extremely easy to miss a point if you get distracted for a second or two while reading.  So it ends up taking a long time to read, as you have to go back and read again quite a bit.  I'm sure others would have better luck with that than I have.

St. Teresa of Avila is much more into explaining by metaphor, which makes it easier to understand, and is also very structured.  Still, I think I prefer St. John of the Cross; he just seems to speak more directly to my own mindset and personal struggles.

Edited October 23, 2019 by fides' Jack
grammar

[tinytherese]

I haven't read The Dialogue. I have read The Dark Night of the Soul though. I found it hard to understand. I tried reading the passages multiple times and I still didn't get it. I wish that there was a Sparknotes or Cliffnotes for Catholic literature.

[Dogtag]

Read John Ruuysbroek's The Spiritual Espousals. This is no exaggeration, it is better than both Dark Night of the Soul and the Dialogues of St. Catharine of Sienna combined.

 

[Catherine Therese]

On 10/24/2019 at 4:06 AM, fides' Jack said:

Interesting, I wasn't aware of a Dominican perspective on Catholic mysticism. 

You haven't lived until you've encountered the Rhineland Mystics. Some Dominican contributors to mysticism apart from my own personal patroness Catherine, include Meister Eckhart and John Tauler. A great point of entry into a discussion of these that gives you historical context before trying to grapple with their thought is the work by Bernard McGinn entitled "The Harvest of Mysticism" which is Volume 4 I think in a series he produced on the history of the Catholic spiritual tradition.

An excellent study on the spiritual approach of St Catherine of Siena is in a book by Fr Thomas McDermott OP, called "Catherine of Siena: Spiritual Development in her Life and Teaching" - probably the most significant study of its kind in English.

I have SO MUCH to say on the original question about JotC and CoS (significant component of my PhD study) but I'll have to exercise some restraint for now as I'm just wrapping up my VERY late lunch break at work. Hoping to come back to this thread soon...

[Anastasia]

On 1/29/2020 at 1:02 PM, Dogtag said:

This is no exaggeration, it is better than both Dark Night of the Soul and the Dialogues of St. Catharine of Sienna combined.

In which respect? They are all excellent. The best is what suits most to a person’s make up, including psychological or better to say what speaks to a person most at a given stage of their life…