UM Honors Blog 2020-2021

 One of my favorite childhood movies is Ratatouille, and if you haven’t seen that movie, good luck trying to understand what I’m about to write. Those of us cultured people who have seen the masterpiece of a movie must remember the scene where Remmy first eats good food. There is like an explosion of colors, music, and the whole scene just changes for a split second. This scene affected child me so much that I used to close my eyes and appreciate my first bite of food on my plate mirroring Remmy. I know, I was one weird child. I still am weird. Anyways, I think that music has the same affect on our minds. Have you ever had that feeling when you’re listening to a song, and you are just whisked away to another world. You don’t feel the pressure and anxiety of your real life. You have a split second of music and a scenery change. Yeah, I got nothing else to say. I just thought that was a cool connection that popped in my head.  I commented on Emma Kate and Addison’s blogs.

 What do we listen to? How do we listen to it? What exactly is the music talking about? The madrigals    we've listened to and talked about in class have definitely brought out a change in music that our culture is not use to hearing. As a sit here and read and listen to the madrigals, it's weirdly soothing. Almost like you're listening to a ASMR for fun or when falling asleep. I don't think anyone else got that feeling, but yeah. Don't call me weird. It also reminded me of a noise that you may catch within a scary movie... like The Nun in the Conjuring universe (heads up, the movie isn't scary). Through high school, all I listened to was rap music. Getting grounded for a whole summer in 2016 allowed me to dive into music more and my best friend got me into collecting records. The amount of music I listen to in a record store or even finding cheap, $1 albums because I'm broke, opens up a massive world of music outside of the normal genre people tend to liste...

 The idea in the reading that stood out the most was the crossing of musical traditions in England and Italy. The article discusses how Italian music of the time period influenced the music of England. This shows how music can affect a culture and how music from one culture can affect another culture. It reminds me of how music can bring multiple cultures together. One culture can learn and gain knowledge from the music of another culture. Music can help us to learn about other cultures and teach us how other cultures think. It is important that we recognize the affect culture has on music and how in turn the music off certain culture can affect another one. There is so much to be learned from music. Music allows us to see other cultures and helps us to better understand how different cultures work and the customs they hold. This shows just how important music is to our everyday lives and shows us how much we can learn from music.  I commented on Lily Caswell’s and Caroline Tu...

 I'm gonna be honest. I have no clue what I just read. Me reading this was like a first grader trying to read. They can read the words, but they have no clue what they actually mean. This may as well have been in Greek because I retained mostly nothing from reading this. All of the music terms just completely went over my head, which made the task of reading and writing about Weelkes daunting. Despite the fact I could not really comprehend what I was reading, I did notice something. The one thing I thought is that I found it odd that he wrote so much music for the church. That alone isn't odd, but it's odd once you consider the fact that this guy was infamous for being a drunkard. Like, a drunkard writing music for the church? It just conflicts with the image I have in my head. On one hand, you have a drunk belligerent person, and on the other hand, you have a guy writing music that was deemed appropriate for the church. Neither of those images really click in my mind, so I...

 Am I gonna write on Hamilton and other Broadway shows? Absolutely. Did Jamie also write on Hamilton? Absolutely. Am I ashamed in any way? No, absolutely NOT. WORD PAINTING IS MY FAVORITE LYRICAL TROPE. Is that what it's called? A trope? Probably not. You get what I'm saying. English Madrigals were deliberately lighthearted and avoided emotionally intense topics, but retained musical puns such as sopranos singing the words "all alone" up high on the scale... all alone. Unlike English Madrigals, Broadway has no problem getting serious... but its music loves puns. The three songs that come to my head straight away are Watch What Happens (Newsies), One Day More (Les Miserables), and The World Was Wide Enough (you guessed it...Hamilton). In Watch What Happens, the character singing it is writing a news article, while the jaunty tune and tempo sound like a typewriter in the backgroud. In One Day More, a whole slew of characters are joining together on sides of a revolution...

 Something about Mr. Weelkes interested me very much. During this age of the Church, you have many people arguing what kind of music should be played in Church. The older generation holds more closely to hymns while the younger generation tends to enjoy more modern, contemporary worship. Although, this description is not strict obviously, it is still a debate that happens within the Church. I think we can learn something from Thomas Weelkes and his music. He was not tied down to one style of music, but his music was very diverse in the style in which he wrote it.  Weelkes was focused on the quality of the content he produced and that is what the Church should be focused. When there is quality in music, and it worships the Lord the way it is meant to, then that music is something to be accepted. (Disclaimer: I know this is only my opinion) I commented on Isabelle and Lily's blog posts.

  Word painting in Weelkes’s As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending is quite interesting. And because that is a really long title, I’m calling it Vesta from now on. Word painting is basically when the melody matches up with the lyrics. So in Vesta, when it says “ascending” and “descending”, there are obviously scales going up and down. The madrigal was written for six voices to sing unaccompanied, so when they start to come together, it matches with the lyrics; so if the lyric says “two by two”, there are only two voices; “three by three” there is another voice added, and so forth. All the parts combine in exclamation before Vesta before it is left “all alone” to the highest soprano. All the way to the end of the piece, word painting continues when shouts of “Long live fair Oriana” with the bass sustaining long notes. Word painting in and of itself is a highly interesting topic because a musician takes the words of a poem or a sonnet and writes a melody line that pertains to cer...

  I just want to offer a few thoughts on the history of English madrigals. First, I found it interesting that the English took Italian madrigals and toned them down. They changed the meaning to be more pleasing to the English ear. Apparently, the English weren't into all that deep Italian drama.  Secondly, an idea that seems to permeate this topic is that of the nature of music. For the Italians, music, specifically the madrigal, was used as a mouthpiece for the composer. He could convey his personal feelings. Expressing emotion towards a lover who broke his heart, or one who had stolen his affections. The Italians put so much emotion and significance in the words and the sound of the music. Not so with the English interpretations. The English adopted a style of madrigal that took the complete opposite track. They continued to word-paint in the Italian style, but the overall meaning was not as deeply significant. The English diluted the drama to make it comical or trivial. Thi...

It is now confirmed that, at our musical roots, puns conquer all. In the main article we read for this weekend, "The English Madrigal", it discusses much of the amusing nuances that these early writers caught on to. In discussing the madrigals of Thomas Weelkes, the article says, "In his score for six unaccompanied voices, the composer revels in every conceivable chance to have the music illustrate the text. The words 'descending' and 'ascending' are predictably set to scales going down and up" (2). I am unsure where I came across this information, but in the modern musical setting, this nuance is still heavily practiced, with many writers trying new, innovative ways to word-paint. In the musical Wicked, much of the chorus of "Defying Gravity" is in, you guessed it, a higher vocal range than the rest of the song. My personal favorite example of word-painting is in the musical Hamilton , when King George is singing "You'll Be Back...

 Reading about English madrigals was interesting and enlightening. I found it interesting how the transition from Italian to English happened and what caused it to happen. It is very interesting the idea or motivation behind translating the madrigals from Italian to English. Thomas Morley believed that the songs would not be appreciated enough or enjoyed enough if no one knew what the lyrics meant. To combat this, he translated the Madrigal songs for those around him and even wrote books of the translations. I think this is an interesting concept. This idea is different from all the other cultural tendencies we have read so far this semester. Before this, if you did not know the language (AKA Latin) you had to trust inflection, performance, and what people told you to know what is being said in songs. Morley believed that those who do not understand what is being said cannot appreciate what is being said. It does not have enough impact. I think this interesting because up to this p...

 "As a translator, arranger, publisher, and literary propagandist, Thomas Morley (1557-1602) deserves most of the credit for the English craze for Italian music that arose after the publication of the first volume of Musica transalpina in 1588."  Italian music likely dominated because of Morley's influence at the English Madrigal School. I really wish there were more than this one sentence on Morley, because it reminded me of Jules Verne. He was a French author who loved Edgar Allen Poe. He grew up reading Poe's works, an most of his publications were written in similar style to Poe. Most notably, Five Weeks in a Balloon  by Verne reflects Poe's The Balloon Hoax  in being mixed between the real world and the "fantastic." While Verne's work isn't always as dark as Poe's, similarities can be seen within the two authors' lines. Verne even went so far as to translate some of Poe's work in his language to popularize it in his country. Poe ...

 I'm sure that everyone knows who The Beatles are. They are one of if not the biggest rock group to ever exist. I will admit that I am not a rock expert in any way so if something I say regarding The Beatles is wrong, then I apologize in advance. The Beatles were a British rock band that started back in the 1960s. They became huge in England in 1963 and then came to America in 1964. The Beatles were so huge in America that the press adopted the term "Beatlemania" to describe the enormous hype among the fans for The Beatles. In essence, British music invaded American audiences in the 60s. That last sentence is very important for what I will talk about in this post. The phrase "history repeats itself "is very true. The Beatles take over in America has happened in history before. This was not the first time on nations music had an impact in another nation. In 1588, we see a very similar play-through in England with Italian music. There were some differences in the ...

Honestly, I am not fairly certain on what to directly write about, so I am just going to discuss what I enjoyed as I read through the information about the English madrigals. I think that it was kind of funny when it said that the English almost took the edge off the Italian versions when they "Englished" them. I enjoyed this statement because it sort of reminded me why I enjoy singing in the ensemble I do. Yes, there are many songs that are serious and should be sung and performed in a serious and respectful manner, but being in a small ensemble of only 5 guys, there are also many songs where we just get to have fun. It reminded me that people already have so much serious stuff going on in life, so not everything we do has to be serious. Reading this section reminded me of this truth and it gave me more appreciation for the fun and almost silly songs that my ensemble does. Sometimes people just need a lighthearted moment to just laugh and smile, and that message not only app...

  The changing of times is never easy for those who have gone through life immersed in a culture that carried a certain set of virtues and values. The age-old debate of tradition versus change sparks conflict and disagreement between nations and across generations, and all seemingly without a clear answer as to which side is correct in the matter. This clash is further highlighted by late-sixteenth-century English music, specifically dealing with its composers, as Italian Madrigals began to take the scene by storm after the first translated works were published in 1588. The vast majority of Englishmen and women were fascinated by the Italian works, with musicians/composers such as Thomas Watson and Thomas Morley being some of the first to introduce the genre to England. An interesting aspect to note about the English madrigals that would follow this craze is that love is still the topic of choice, despite English composers/translators watering down the more obvious innuendos and re...

My two younger siblings have always been pretty good at drawing. As they have gotten older, they have branched out a bit more and are currently trying to get better at crafting expressions. While emotion is a fairly simple thing to capture in a photo or a painting, feelings are a bit more difficult to express through words! After all, incomprehensible rambling is what often results as a side effect of the most intense forms of emotion and, in all seriousness, our words are ultimately meaningless. On that note, let's shift our attention to the power of music! Through word painting, the madrigals were able to inflict images within the minds of their audience members, crafting perfect mental pictures through sound. Though there is a spoken element to songs, the underlying beat is what makes it. The amount of times I have told people, "So, it's a little strange, but the beat's good!" is astronomical! Sometimes, it takes a bit more than words to set the scene. Occasion...

  If you'll familiar with both pop music and madrigals, you'll notice that the line separating them isn't all that thick. Love/sex is all everyone wants to hear about in today's time, and love/sex was all everyone wanted to hear about back in the 16th century. Nothing has really changed when it comes to the world of music. The only difference is their delivery and perspective, and that may very well be the most important. The people during that time were subtle and didn't stray beyond an innuendo. You have to remember they were just coming out of that quiet phase, where music was sacred. In their songs, they treated love/sex like a playful secret, where only the knowledge acquired the meaning and understood. Nowadays, innuendos rarely exist. We just come right out and say it explicitly, which in my view, loses the magic that is love. Some things are better left vague, sometimes a lack of privacy and discretion ruins what is meant to be done in private. We live in a ...

     Music has existed since the beginning of time. Our first signs of music in the Bible are in Genesis. Genesis 31:27 says, "Why did you flee secretly and and deceive me, and did not tell me so that I might have sent you away with joy and with songs, with timbrel and lyre..." There are many verses in the Bible that talk about the use of music to praise God. During The Middle Ages, the church was the source of government; therefore, almost all known songs in this time were written to praise God. I find it interesting how much music has changed in topic choice and lyrical meaning.      I find it amusing now that the number one used topic in music is love. Most of the madrigals written in the Renaissance were written about love, and even in current popular music, I would guess love is the topic in more than ninety-five percent of the songs on the radio. During the Renaissance, I think the shift of becoming more secular influenced culture to the extent t...

 Francis of Assisi writes that “The servant of God cannot know how much patience and humility he has within himself as long as everything goes well with him.” (XIII) Even if Francis had left it at that, that quote could stand by itself and it would have been powerful enough. But he continues by saying that “when the time comes in which those who should do him justice do quite the opposite to him, he has only as much patience and humility as he has on that occasion and no more.” (XIII) As someone who has a younger sister, believe me when I say that if she gets me really mad, it is very hard for me to be patient with her. I consider myself a very patient person but if you get on my bad side, all bets are off.

  I really love how St. John started the first book off with explaining the usual transgressions that baby Christians fall prey to-not to talk down condescendingly on any of his readers who may be new to the church but to instead gently warn them as a fellow believer who has been in that position before and holds the right to teach such matters. These seven sins that he goes on to introduce are pride, sloth, envy, greed, lust, gluttony (Okay, okay, St. John. I'm putting down my Snickers bar now), and anger. Moreover, they do not just happen because they are 'natural human characteristics, innately bred into humans'. Rather, they happen because a believer has neglected something in their personal walk and relationship with God.  St. John then goes on to tie these in with what he calls the "dark night of the soul." As soon as that phrase was mentioned, I immediately thought of a quote made by Ram Dass, which was, "The dark night of the soul is when you have los...

Growing up, I had a sort of unconventional family. I lost my dad to cancer when I was young, but my mom remarried a few years later. I got adopted by my stepdad when I was seven, and I had an innate sense of the role that a dad plays to his kids. This really helped me in my understanding of how God relates to His children, because I have always known Him as The Father. This was thrown out of the window in the very first chapter of Dark Night of the Soul. God is described as nurturing and tender like a mother. The metaphor even goes so far as to include breastfeeding and snuggling the soul of man, and then eventually teaching said soul to walk. This is a completely new side of God to me. Tender motherly nature isn't something that runs rampant in my family, so it's harder for me to relate to the idea of someone who is tender and loving and compassionate in that way. It makes me want to run back to God and ask Him to show me that side of Him. A goal that is very close to my heart...

 Let me start off by saying: what? I was completely lost reading this. I think I gleaned a little bit of information, though, so this will be my thoughts on what little I could grasp. So, the dark night as I understand it, is a spiritual journey of sorts in which the person going on the journey is deprived of something. I am unsure of what exactly it is, so I'll avoid that part. What I want to talk about is the purpose of the deprivation.  The super-sensor theory is one that says that as we lose one sense, the others will become better to pick up the slack. Think Daredevil, who was blinded and whose hearing became almost supernaturally good. Now, this is a loose connection, but hear me out. The point of being deprived of something on the journey is so that our spiritual senses get better. This allows us to get closer to God on our own spiritual journey. The deprivation is so that we could gain something (a closeness with God) out of the journey.  Anyway, that's my incoher...

To say this reading convicted me would be an understatement. Making the comparison between my own spiritual life, health and journey with that of a beginner is not far off; yes, I grew up in a religious home, so it would seem that I would have everything figured out by now, but in fact it's quite the opposite. Because of my exposure to religious ideas since infancy, I have almost begun to tune out the topics that seem repetitive. Such statements like "Jesus loves you" and "You should be a modern day David to Goliath" lose their significance because I assume I understand all there is to know about them.  Regarding this week's reading, one thing in particular hit home with me and that's the idea of literal and spiritual sloth-like behavior. I don't know why this is, but if I don't have the pressure of a deadline staring me down, I don't do homework. Instead, I mull around on my phone, my playstation, whatever it is that distracts me from the wo...

 When I saw that we had to read Dark Night of the Soul for this class, I was extremely excited. I have always enjoyed the rich tradition and practice of Christian mysticism and St. John of the Cross is part of that tradition. St. John changed what it meant to know God intimately and that can clearly be seen in the opening of Dark Night of the Soul. St. John brought a new definition of knowing God in the deepest part of the heart and knowing Him as much as possible in the soul. Dark Night of the Soul brought life to Christian tradition and countered some of the ideas circulating the church at this time. St. John had such great influence even though he was imprisoned and that led to the Dark Night of the Soul  I commented on Jackson and Clabo's posts. 

  In Dark Night of the Soul Chapter 1, St. John writes that “The loving mother is like the grace of God, for, as soon as the soul is regenerated by its new warmth and fervour for the service of God, He treats it in the same way; He makes it to find spiritual milk, sweet and delectable, in all the things of God, without any labour of its own, and also great pleasure in spiritual exercises, for here God is giving it the breast of His tender love, even as to a tender child.” (1.2) St. John is saying that the grace of God regenerates our souls to serve God and gives us spiritual milk. 1 Peter 2:1-3 says “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” (NKJV) God gives us milk by giving us the Bible. It is our job to drink that spiritual milk so that we can grow to eat more solid food of the Spirit.  We are like...

Hey y'all, my brain is dead, and I'm sure that yours are too. However, I'm going to do my best to get across to you what I got out of these passages. I think one of my overall thoughts of this book is that it highlights and shows the intricate details of the progression of a Christian and his/her walk with Christ. Personally, I reflected a lot with this book in that I know that all of the unfortunate things I have gone through have served a purpose. They have pushed me to be closer to God and trust in Him more. Now, have a lot of those unfortunate things been brought upon by myself? Possibly, but nonetheless, God has used them to further my relationship with Him. I may not be completely on base with my discussion, but this is what came to my mind as I was reading through the sections.  Overall, our sins as human beings come with the plan of redemption from and through God. That is one of the most important and main things I thought of regarding this book? What are y'all...

 In the Dark Night of the Soul, there is basically darkness everywhere. Might be foreshadowed in the title of the book *cough cough*. Anyways, the thought I had while reading this book was that we are also going through life blindly. We need to lean on God in order to get through the darkness of life. Sometimes, we have no clue what to do. We don’t know where to turn, nonetheless know where to look. It’s a shot in the dark, but instead of with an arrow, it is a shot with our own soul. We can’t really see God (how could we in a world with black-out curtains?), but we know when he is near. We can ask where to go and use Him as a guide. The Bible is our map that we can somehow read in the dark. Oh! One could say that the Holy Spirit lights our eyes to understand the Bible to show us the way. Yep, I’m going to stick with that.  I commented on Hailey Morgan and Emma Kate’s posts. 

 Reading Dark Night of the Soul has been really great so far. It honestly allows a deep side of thinking, conviction, and change. A big thing we have to realize is that we're sinners. When allowing the devil to play mind games with us and run to his playground, we're no longer wanting to rid ourselves of sin and temptation. Along with sin, we seem to have a lot of pride more often than not. Now, pride may not be how we see things, but it's sneaky and can truly break you apart, "there often comes to them, through their imperfections, a certain kind of secret pride, whence they come to have some degree of satisfaction with their works and with themselves" (Book 1, Chapter II). Take a look at Ezekiel 29:9-10, "The land of Egypt will become a desolate wasteland, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD. "Because you said, 'The Nile River is mine; I made it,' I am know the enemy of both you and your river..." The Nile River was Egypt's ...

   ADHD + quiet time = yikes.  I know I'm not the only one who struggles with this. I set aside the time and I think about how I'm going to read my Bible and just spend time with the Lord, but as soon as I start trying to focus on the Lord, my brain gives me a million other random things to think about. It usually sounds like this: "Did I do my theory homework? You need to text mom back! This room is a mess and I need to clean it right now." It is so difficult for me to let go of those things and spend enough time for all of it to quiet down. The Dark Night of The Soul says: "The truth is that they will be doing quite sufficient if they have patience and persevere in prayer without making any effort." Patience and perseverance. I know that though I blame it all on the chaos in my head, if I would just be patient and persevere, it would be so worth it.  St. John of the Cross. Dark Night of the Soul (Dover Thrift Editions) (p. 61). Dover Publications. Kindle E...

In my last blog post, I was explaining how Dante's writing went against my general knowledge of video games and expressed my frustration at the overall lack of final bosses. That said, you can imagine my joy when reading Dark Night of the Soul as St. John's work could easily be formatted into its own adventure-style, 1st person, choice-driven game. In fact, if someone were to make a little announcement trailer for this video game, the synopsis might sound a little something like this . . . "The minute you press PLAY, your spiritual journey begins! Thrust into a dangerous world as a level one traveler, you must keep your focus on the King and listen to the warnings of all those who have gone before you if you wish to survive the Darkest Night! The more knowledge you acquire, the stronger your character becomes! Your choices alone will determine your destiny as you battle against the Seven Deadly Sins on your way to Knighthood. On this perilous journey, your traveler will n...

 The first thing I noticed in The Dark Night of the Soul is how it ties back to the Bible and Christianity. At the very beginning of Book 1 of The Dark Night of the Soul  it talks about realizing ones weakness. This ties back to the Christian walk in that we as Christians must realize that without the grace of God we are nothing. Every aspect of your life your life is determined by your religion. Your morals, beliefs, and purpose all tie back to your religion. Therefore for us as Christians our lives rely heavily on our religion. The book then goes on to talk about having courage and thirsting for God to give strength, virtues, and love. As Christians we must have courage and faith and trust that God will guide our paths. Although we are weak God provides us strength on our journeys to face whatever challenge is in front of us. Furthermore we as Christians base our virtues and beliefs on the Bible. We get our virtues from the Word of God. Lastly as Christians we are...

"Many such persons desire to be the favorites of their confessors and to become intimate with them, as a result of which there beset them continual occasions of envy and disquiet. They are too much embarrassed to confess their sins nakedly, lest their confessors should think less of them…" On the topic of this issue, I have seen something similar to this within the modern churches I have attended. The pastors are the leaders of the church. For some reason, the congregation (myself, unfortunately, included) expects them be perfect. As the priests in the past, modern preachers are held to a higher standard as being a closer link to God. Thus, they are held to a higher standard. To heighten this issue, pastors have been known to put on the facade of being higher. With an image like this, people within a church are less likely to show their faults and even be afraid of doing so. Members hide their sins and weaknesses instead of boasting in them. Church becomes a place of resentme...

  I found themes in this reading to be reminiscent of themes from my philosophy class. The language and message of St. John is very similar to that of Socrates as written by Plato. The same themes can also be found in Scripture.  According to St. John, the "dark night" is a process of self-contemplation. For Socrates, this is the way to true enlightenment. Both Socrates and St. John of the Cross saw human emotion and desire as hinderances to the path of enlightenment. According to Socrates, the best way to live was to be totally detached from fleshly desires. The same idea comes from St. John. He also says the "dark night" or contemplation purges the soul of sin on two levels: the sensual and the spiritual level.  The difference between these two schools of thought is their end goal. For Socrates, the goal was oneness of the body (sensual) with the soul (spiritual). This merging of the body and soul would, according to Socrates, would lead to ultimate wisdom and vir...

     I find it fascinating that the early believer's spiritual immaturity seems to always lead to their pridefulness. I think when I was a young believer, I behaved in the way Chapter I of Book I describes the "beginner" to behave. I thought I was accomplishing so much when I did anything "for the Lord." I felt so much pride in the fact that I didn't cuss or have social media or struggle with lust like those around me. I felt so much pride in any good works I did. I thought I knew so much about the Bible. The truth is, I was still doing all those things for my own glory. I wanted others to see that I was doing good and applaud me for those good things. I was prideful. It was not until later that I learned that all that I do is to be done for the glory of God and that sometimes that means not being seen. It was not until later that I learned that everyone struggles and that my struggles were far worse than I painted them to be in my head. I was and I am a sin...

       Dark Night Of The Soul really made me self-analyze myself, more specifically my soul. St. John of the Cross focuses on what brings him closer and what takes him away from Christ. This made me think how I struggle with self-evaluation in my Christian walk since my human nature (my flesh) tends to take over my spiritual growth.       In the first chapter St. John of Cross says, "The loving mother is like the grace of God, for, as soon as the soul is regenerated by its new warmth and fervor for the service of God, He treats it in the same way; He makes it to find spiritual milk, sweet and delectable, in all things of God, without any labor of its own, and also great pleasure in spiritual exercises, for here God is giving to it the breast of His tender love, even as to a child." God gives us the blessing of spiritual milk to drink when we are new Christians, but it is our job to grow beyond the simple milk and consume more complex foods. If we ...

Dark Night of the Soul  is equally an intriguing and confusing text. It is probably confusing to me because I am not the best at initially understanding what is going on with no context. As I read, however, I was able to somewhat understand what is going on in this text. I was both intrigued but also dare I saw convicted. It was very enlightening and I look forward to thinking about the text and reading more of it. As I was reading, many sentences made me close the book and say “wow”, I am going to discuss one of those sentences.  In book I chapter VII, St. John of the cross wrote “Thus they measure God by themselves and not themselves by God, acting quite contrarily to that which He Himself taught in the Gospel...” (18). I found this quote to be a great and convicting thought. I remember having multiple conversations in Sunday school discussing why God did something and how it does not make sense to us as humans, we always came back to the fact that God cannot be compared to ...

The Bible makes the comparison of a new Christian to that of a baby a lot. Honestly it is the best description of a new Christian maturing in the Lord. Chapter one of The Dark Night of the Soul does a great job of going into detail of how God cares for His children like a mother does her baby. It is comforting to know how much God cares for his children's well being as they grow up. He provides us with unconditional love just like a mother does with her baby, and he gives us the proper nutrients from His word like a mother does with her milk. But this can go into so much more than what is given in The Dark Night of the Soul. Whenever we are in times of distress or just stressed out with say papers and exams, we can go to God and let Him comfort us and ask for his help through this time. It is just a wonderful thought of knowing this about God. I commented on Abigale Bell's and Clabo's

This past week's reading made me reflect on a passage of Jonah I studied recently. "Dark Night of the Soul" is really highlighting sins, which is something I have been contemplating a lot these past few days in particular, and the thought of sins and their consequences stirs up many emotions of guilt, fear, and shame. Although conviction is necessary, we shouldn't feel completely hopeless. In the book of Jonah, Jonah realises that his sin merits God's wrath. He think the only way for the sailors to survive is for the sinner, himself, to be destroyed. It is so easy for us to feel so unworthy and undeserving of God's grace and mercy, because we know that sin can't exist in the Presence of God. However, God also spares Jonah. Sure he spent a good while in the belly of a whale, but it was a chance for him to turn to the Lord for forgiveness. Like Jonah, we are condemned to death and the wrath of God, but God is merciful. Not to mention, He physically came to e...

Ok, I get a bit personal in this blog post, so I hope my point comes across accurately. Hope y'all like the change in approach for this one. Book I of “Dark Night of the Soul” seeks to address each of the deadly vices/sins in various entries, each continuing Saint John’s thought process forward through detailing a sort of purging of the evils within someone’s soul through intense prayer and spiritual practice. The entry that stood out the most to me in particular has to be Chapter V, in which Saint John details the pitfalls and spiritual shortcomings associated with the wrathful and sullen. Being a creative person while having a perfectionist side often highlights two aspects of my personality that I am not exactly proud of: my impatience and my pride. Saint John eloquently articulates the typical thought process of a wrathful person in entry three:  “There are others who are vexed with themselves when they observe their own imperfectness, and display an impatience that is not...

Dark Night of the Soul  is extremely interesting for a couple of reasons. First, I am having trouble figuring out where exactly in the timeframe of the Catholic faith this occurrence of the "night of sense" is supposed to happen. According to Thomas Aquinas in his work the Summa Theologiae, the process that St. John of the Cross is describing is the journey towards perfect charity, which is what St. John calls it too. In response to the specific time frame in which this "night of sense" is supposed to occur, Aquinas says, "The spiritual increase of charity may be considered in respect of a certain likeness to the growth of the human body" (Q.24, art.9). In other words, the "night of sense", in which God "weans them from the breasts of these sweetnesses and pleasures, gives them pure aridities and inward darkness...and by all means causes them to win the virtues" is a lifelong process (St. John 1.VII.5). In making this comparison, it is ...