This essay was submitted on October 5, 2020 for my Christian Spirituality course.
I have chosen the metaphor of the lamp from Living Flame of Love, which serves to explain how God enlightens the soul with knowledge of His attributes, and warms the soul with love. This idea is mainly expressed in the third stanza, and John of the Cross begins his analogy by explaining that “lamps have two properties, which are to give light and heat” (III, 2, p. 206). These two properties of lamps are used to describe the ways in which God interacts with the soul. God is described to be like a collection of many lamps, with each lamp encompassing an attribute of God such as goodness, omnipotence, wisdom, fortitude, mercy and justice (III, 3, p. 207). Moreover, akin to the heat of a lamp God enkindles the soul with a warm love. “The soul, then, is here completely absorbed in these delicate flames, and wounded subtly by love in each of them” (III, 5, p. 208). God expresses love to the soul like the heat of the lamp, a transformative heat which wounds the soul in order to be united with it. John of the Cross identifies this love as the same fiery love that was spoken about in Song of Songs, “It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame” (Song of Songs 8:6 NIV). These lamps shine together as one lamp, as there is one God, and each lamp “gives light to it in wisdom and gives it heat, for from each lamp the soul has distinct knowledge and by each is enkindled in love" (III, 3, p. 206).
The splendour of the lamp is found within the flame itself, which is produced by the union of the soul and Holy Spirit. John of the Cross writes, “these splendours are the communications of loving knowledge which the lamps of the attributes of God give forth to the soul, wherein the soul […] also shines forth like them, being transformed into loving splendours” (III, 9, p. 212). In this union between God and the soul, the God enlightens the soul by communicating His attributes in order for the soul to also manifest these attributes. Unlike material lamps, this splendorous communication between God and the soul is not like the light of the lamp illuminating the things around it, but rather it is like the movement of the flame inside the lamp, caused by the union of the air and the flame. In this metaphor, the soul is portrayed as air and is transformed into flames, as John of the Cross points out that “flame is naught else but enkindled air” (III, 9, p. 212). This union of air and fire causes movement, which “are not made only by the soul that is transformed in the flames of the Holy Spirit, neither are they made by Him alone; but by the Spirit and the soul together, the Spirit moving the soul” (III, 10, p. 212). In this union, “the soul has become God of God by participation in Him and His attributes, which are those that are here called lamps of fire” (III, 8, p. 211). Through the grace of God, the soul and its faculties attain the attributes of God, and with these attributes, the soul is able to express love to God in the abundance and quality that He deserves. "According to the brightness of the other Divine attributes which are here communicated to the soul [...] are the same manners of brightness wherewith the sense, having fruition, is giving to its Beloved, in its Beloved —that is to say, giving that same light and heat that it is receiving from its Beloved" (III, 78, p. 257). The enlightened soul can now love God with the same goodness, omnipotence, wisdom, fortitude, mercy and justice that enlightened it in the first place.
The idea that the splendour of the lamp is the interaction between the air and fire emphasizes the need for our active participation in a relationship with God. The original flame of the lamp is the source of power, but without air the flame dies. John of the Cross also mention that God does not move (III, 11, p. 213), so it is all the more reason that God needs to use us as vessels to move him and allow him to spread His glory and splendorous flame further and wider. Moreover, air cannot transform into fire without a flame to enkindle it. It is with the grace of God that we are able to spread the flame through our actions on Earth, because without God as the source of the flame, our souls would not be on fire in the first place. We are able to share and spread the flame of God by treating our neighbours with virtues such as charity, mercy, and justice, or by being stewards of the environment. The works done to spread the flame can work in an evangelical way, which allows the flame of God to unite with another soul and create more splendour to rejoice in. John of the Cross illustrates God’s need for the soul’s participation, while also illustrating the transformation of the air becoming one with the flame.
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