John of the Cross: The Ascent of Joy

I was amazed by the impact of this book on my everyday life. Marc Foley does a great job of explaining the St John of the Cross' allegory of the Dark Night of the Soul. Showing how we all walk through the Dark Night of the Soul (Life) as we grow in relationship with God. This book is a series of selected writings covering St John of the Cross' world renown poetry and his commentaries that he wrote discussing them. Whether you are Protestant or Catholic, any Christian will take away a unique understanding of their walk with God. For me, there we several substantial take aways from this book. The first dealt with how many who are in the faith are looking for the powerful emotional experience as a sign of God working in our lives. In the second part of his allegory relating to our spiritual journey, he describes a time where one is having problems feeling God's presence in our life. It reminds me of Barlowgirl's song "Never Alone". St John tells us that these barren times of feeling apart from God are periods were we often are growing the most spiritual. The second was St John's exhortation to the perils that result when God first comes into our lives as a sinful believer. He talks of the danger of beginners becoming "cocky" and "self focused" as the beginner sees God working in his/her life and takes credit for it. He then relates this problem back to the seven deadly sins. When I read this, many of the things he points out, mirrorred the issues I had as a new Christian. This for me was being prideful and seeking out attention. Doing things to be see and attempting to gain approval. I highly recommend this book. Especially if you are trying to understand a dry time in your spirituality or your spiritual walk with God in general. I gave it a four star rating as the vocabulary used can get ethereal and hard to understand in places.