The Great Exchange

One dark night,

fired with love's urgent longings

- ah, the sheer grace! - 

I went out unseen,

my house being now all stilled.

 In darkness, and secure,

by the secret ladder, disguised,

- ah, the sheer grace! - 

in darkness and concealment,

my house being now all stilled.

On that glad night,

in secret, for no one saw me,

nor did I look at anything,

with no other light or guide

than the one that burned in my heart.

This guided me

more surely than the light of noon

to where he was awaiting me

- him I knew so well - 

there in a place where no one appeared.

O guiding night!

O night more lovely than the dawn!

O night that has united

the Lover with his beloved,

transforming the beloved in her Lover.

Upon my flowering breast

which I kept wholly for him alone,

there he lay sleeping,

and I caressing him

there in a breeze from the fanning cedars.

When the breeze blew from the turret,

as I parted his hair,

it wounded my neck

with its gentle hand,

suspending all my senses.

I abandoned and forgot myself,

laying my face on my Beloved;

all things ceased; I went out from myself,

leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies.

Right now,  I am reading the "Dark Night of the Soul" by St. John of the Cross and discussing it with a friend.  Not knowing much about St. John, I did some research on EWTN's website and found a beautiful series on him by Fr. Thomas Dubay called "The Great Exchange".  I highly recommend his section on disordered attachment.

Also, Leonardo Defillips provides on EWTN a one man musical dramatization of The Life of St. John of the Cross that is worth listening to if you are interested in a more vivid account.

For a written biography on St. John, Ethereal Classics provides a clear account of his life.

Series: The Great Exchange

1. Introduction
2. The Personality of St. John
3. The Experience of God
4. Experiences of God
5. The Great Exchange
6. Disordered Attachments
7. Effects of Disordered Attachments
8. Creation and Christian Contemplation
9. Infused Contemplation
10. The Two Nights
11.The Transforming Union
12.The Transforming Union Continued
13. San Juanist Gems