Ascent of Mount Carmel Book

This, my second read of Ascent of Mount Carmel, was much richer than my first experience with it. One of St. John's four masterpieces*, it is probably the second best known after Dark Night of the Soul. There is so much here one could devote an entire lifetime just to studying this work by the 'Mystical Doctor''his title as one of the 36 Doctors of the Catholic Church'quite apart from all the rest of his major and minor writings.

Being neither scholar nor saintly, this is not a review of such high caliber. Yet it is my hope to encourage those of us 'little souls' not to avoid Ascent of Mount Carmel out of fear or humility. So long as one is a serious lover of Christ Jesus, this book can be for you.

John's point in writing AoMC is to teach the path of Union with God. He wants us to understand first of all that Union must be God's Way and not ours'something which sounds simple and would be if we, humans, trying to be so clever, looking for shortcuts and 'methods', were not constantly getting in the way of the Almighty. So here John is attempting to teach us what most other Spiritual Masters also insist on, the simple yet also not-so-simple axiom, let go and Let God.

The difference here is John's Method. He wants us to surrender our intellect to dark Faith, let go of our memory to dark Hope and above all, give over our will to God through saying 'no' to all that we believe gives us joy, so that we may be able to embrace the Only One Who will or can give us Himself, Him-Who-is-All-in-All. The message is not new, the methods and details are from the Mystical Doctor's own perspective.

There is no denying AoMC is a dry text. This spiritual novice needed to go over some parts multiple times for the full import to sink in. One thing which helped was listening to it. Last time I listened to my audio CDs which is how I began this time as well. Midway though I discovered an 8 part YouTube presentation of the complete book, this being the link for Part 1 of 8. As each part concludes, you are automatically moved to the next part. (This is an original translation and will not match any of the more conventional ones, also, I found the chapters to be off by one in the last 3 parts.)

Since I have just begun to explore the on-line world, I am quite sure there are many other versions, but my intent here is not provide an exhaustive list of resources, but only to let you know there are options if you find reading the great Carmelite too daunting.

Here are just some of things I gleaned from the AoMC:

-It is completely saturated with Sacred Scripture as St. John himself was constantly immersed in the Word.

-This book can most closely be compared to a user's guide to the human soul. John knows us and our disordered appetites. We may not like how he sees/describes us and what he recommends we do to allow for Union with God'because we must understand that we do NOT effect union, God does, we only cooperate or fight against God'but we ignore him to our own loss.

-Faith as the means to Divine Union is comparable to midnight. Only those who set aside their own knowledge and walk in God's service like unlearned children receive wisdom from God. Accordingly, to reach union with the wisdom of God a person must advance by unknowing rather than by knowing. [1 Cor. 3:18-19]

-'God sustains every soul and dwells in it substantially, even though it may be that of the greatest sinner in the world. This union between God and creatures always exists.' This is known as the essential or substantial union. John wants much more for us because God wants so much more for us. We are designed for 'the union of likeness' which is supernatural and exists when God's will and ours are in perfect conformity, so that nothing in the one is false to the other. When our soul rids itself completely of what is unconformed to the Divine Will, it will rest transformed in God through love.

-Unlike most of the works of his contemporary and cohort, St. Teresa of Jesus (Ávila), AoMC is not a work on or about prayer. There is a short section, however, in Book 2, Chapter 26, where St. John gives his thoughts on Contemplation. According to him, 'there are really no words to describe it (the knowledge of the naked truths of God) for it is God's own knowledge and his own delight and does not deal with particular things since its object is the Supreme Principle'. Towards the end there was also an interesting insight into 'places to pray' - which was more to insist that we not become too attached to those either, something very helpful for right now when many of us cannot go to our usual churches, adoration chapels and/or retreat centers, etc.

-Much of the text is devoted to the dangers of the appetites, the need for divesting ourselves of attachment to all that is not God and the consequences if we do not. Again, whether you are far advanced in the spiritual life or just starting out, are looking for intellectual or spiritual challenge, or don't know quite what you need, St. John has much good solid advice, completely based on the Word Incarnate and His Passion, Death and Resurrection.

An excellent spiritual classic. Most highly recommended!

*The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Dark Night of the Soul, A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and Living Flame of Love

NOTE: Downloaded this version of AoMC because of the linked contents. It is inexpensive and I recommend it over other versions if you are looking for a separate version of this book alone.


April 11, 2020: Had our first meeting on Holy Saturday and discussed many topics concerning this book, such as detachment, night, formation and contemplative prayer, what (we understand) they do and do not mean, how John used the terms as well their applicability to our own lives. This covered the first 31 pages of the book.