How should we approach the poetry of St. John of the Cross?

Fraces Harry, OCDS, interviews poet Tim Bete, OCDS, about the poetry of St. John of the Cross. Below are resources and links to things mentioned in the podcast.

Books of poetry by Tim Bete: The Raw Stillness of Heaven, Wanderings of an Ordinary Pilgrim

Primary source material: The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross (includes The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night, The Spiritual Canticle, The Living Flame of Love, Letters, and The Minor Works) [Revised Edition]. ICS Publications.

The Living Flame of Love by St. John of the Cross

1 O living flame of love that tenderly wounds my soul in its deepest center! Since now you are not oppressive, now consummate! if it be your will: tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!

2 O sweet cautery, O delightful wound! O gentle hand! O delicate touch that tastes of eternal life and pays every debt! In killing you changed death to life.

3 O lamps of fire! in whose splendors the deep caverns of feeling, once obscure and blind, now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely, both warmth and light to their Beloved.

4 How gently and lovingly you wake in my heart, where in secret you dwell alone; and in your sweet breathing, filled with good and glory, how tenderly you swell my heart with love.

Spanish 1 ¡Oh llama de amor viva, que tiernamente hieres de mi alma en el más profundo centro! Pues ya no eres esquiva, acaba ya, si quieres; ¡rompe la tela de este dulce encuentro!

2 ¡Oh cauterio suave! ¡Oh regalada llaga! ¡Oh mano blanda! ¡Oh toque delicado, que a vida eterna sabe, y toda deuda paga! Matando, muerte en vida la has trocado.

3 ¡Oh lamparas de fuego, en cuyos resplandores las profundas cavernas del sentido, que estaba oscuro y ciego, con extraños primores calor y luz dan junto a su Querido!

4 ¡Cuán manso y amoroso recuerdas en mi seno, donde secretamente solo moras y en tu aspirar sabroso, de bien y gloria lleno, cuán delicadamente me enamoras!

The Living Flame of Love in song

In Spanish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjvx3dx8RNI

Living Flame of Love (Marcus Steer) Malone University Chamber Choir https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqLgA5cX0R0

Love's Living Flame sung by a choir (text by St. John of the Cross) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx6PP954Dh8

John Michael Talbot (song) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFdI6JMQuqg

O Living Flame of Love (song by Karl Kohlhase) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOaE2U0xljQ

Fr. Bonaventure Sauer's talk about poetry

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxECpvpN_K6BU3U0cXRucDF2WDQ/view

The Carmelite Conversations Podcast is an apostolate of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites community of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Dayton, Ohio. Discalced Carmelite Seculars are practicing members of the Catholic Church who, under the protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and inspired by St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross, make the commitment to the Discalced Carmelite Order to seek the face of God for the sake of the church and the world. For more information about Secular Carmelites, visit our website.