The Thicket of Suffering and Saint John of the Cross

Saint John of the Cross by Francisco de Zurbarán, 1656

Though holy doctors have uncovered many mysteries and wonders, and devout souls have understood them in this earthly condition of ours, yet the greater part still remains to be unfolded by them, and even to be understood by them.

We must then dig deeply in Christ. He is like a rich mine with many pockets containing treasures: however deep we dig we will never find their end or their limit. Indeed, in every pocket new seams of fresh riches are discovered on all sides.

For this reason the apostle Paul said of Christ: In him are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God. The soul cannot enter into these treasures, nor attain them, unless it first crosses into and enters the thicket of suffering, enduring interior and exterior labors, and unless it first receives from God very many blessings in the intellect and in the senses, and has undergone long spiritual training.

All these are lesser things, disposing the soul for the lofty sanctuary of the knowledge of the mysteries of Christ: this is the highest wisdom attainable in this life.

Would that men might come at last to see that it is quite impossible to reach the thicket of the riches and wisdom of God except by first entering the thicket of much suffering, in such a way that the soul finds there its consolation and desire. The soul that longs for divine wisdom chooses first, and in truth, to enter the thicket of the cross.

Saint Paul therefore urges the Ephesians not to grow weary in the midst of tribulations, but to be steadfast and rooted and grounded in love, so that they may know with all the saints the breadth, the length, the height and the depth – to know what is beyond knowledge, the love of Christ, so as to be filled with all the fullness of God.

The gate that gives entry into these riches of his wisdom is the cross; because it is a narrow gate, while many seek the joys that can be gained through it, it is given to few to desire to pass through it. (Saint John of the Cross, from his Spiritual Canticle, written amid the great suffering of his imprisonment by fellow friars who did not want his reform to progress.)

Saint John of the Cross, whose feast day is December 14, wrote these powerful words while imprisoned in a 6’ x 10’ cell for trying to bring reform to the male branch of the Carmelite Order while St. Teresa of Avila was simultaneously reforming the female branch. John was a deeply spiritual and highly intellectual man who has subsequently be named a Doctor of the Church. Yet here in this prison, where he never received a change of clothes, he was lashed at least weekly before the Carmelite friars, forced to read his breviary by the light coming through a hole into the adjoining room, and fed a diet of water, scraps, and occasional salt fish. He lived like this for over eight months until he managed to escape through a window. He was able to compose this Canticle and other poems because the friar who was guarding his cell used to pass him paper.

Everything that John seemed to know about his faith was put to the test in this inhumane prison. It would have been bad enough to be condemned and maltreated by unbelievers, but to have friars of your own congregation abuse you must have been exceptionally difficult to accept. Yet here John realized the great value of suffering and would come to say that it is not enough to accept suffering but we must also embrace it as the greatest good because it is the only way to attain to the riches and wisdom of God.

Popular movies and books often have a similar theme. The hero or heroine must pass through tremendous trials and suffering until emerging stronger, wiser, and mature. We have seen this happen in our lives, time and again. But we do not often recognize the thicket of suffering when we are caught in it.

Blackthorn Thicket

What is a thicket? It’s a place of tangled briers, shrubs, weeds, and trees penetrable only by the smallest and most humble of creatures—snakes, rabbits, squirrels, mice, chipmunks, moles. These little and helpless creatures run into the thicket to escape danger because larger animals including predators cannot follow them into the tangled mess of undergrowth. There is a famous line in both the fairy tale and the movie Bambi where the mother deer tells her fawn Bambi to run for the thicket as there he will be safe. She never makes it. She falls dead to the hunters.

Saint John of the Cross knew that only the humblest of humanity can take refuge in the thicket of suffering. Only the smallest in their own estimation can emerge unscathed. Like Bambi, we must enter the thicket in order to be safe from the dangers of the world. If we do this, and can embrace the cross, in fact, run to the cross, we will find that this thicket will open out into a great meadow of spiritual delight. If we haven’t come to this meadow yet in our spiritual journey, then perhaps we need to be on the lookout for the thicket. It may be closer than we think.

(Inspired by Fr. David Engo, FBM, in his homily on the Thicket of Suffering, December 14, 2013)