Saint John of the Cross is particularly insistent in the teaching that a life lived fully given to God throws a certain something into the atmosphere.
In the Spiritual Canticle there is the verse “let its fragrance flow,” which John comments thus (St 16, #7):
Sometimes the fragrance is so abundant that it seems to the soul that she is clothed with delight and bathed in inestimable glory to such an extent that the experience is not only within her but overflows and becomes manifest outside her, and those capable of recognizing it are aware of her experience. It seems to them that she is in a pleasant garden filled with the delights and riches of God. And not only when these flowers are open can you see this in these holy souls, but they ordinarily bear in themselves an “I-don’t-know-what” of greatness and dignity. This causes awe and respect in others because of this supernatural effect diffused in such persons from their close and familiar conversation with God.
To this, John immediately adds,
It is said of Moses in Exodus that others were unable to look on his countenance because of the honour and glory that remained with him after he conversed face to face with God.
In other words, John adds the image in the Old Testament that Saint Paul and the Synoptic Gospels clearly indicate were an anticipation of Jesus’ Transfiguration on Mount Tabor. (The Eastern Fathers often called the transformation of which John speaks “transfiguration”. John calls it “transformation”, but he’s clearly talking about the same reality.)
The result of conversation with God cannot, for Saint John of the Cross any more than for the Fathers and other Doctors of the Church, be sufficiently summarized by any particular actions that we do. There is more. The result has a certain “I-don’t-know-what” that is perceptible. It’s a diffusion. It’s a silent breaking into the world of something. It spreads goodness around itself without noise and agitation.
When does this diffusion of “fragrance” occur? John says that “sometimes” the soul appreciates it itself. But “ordinarily”, “holy souls” bear it in themselves and it can be perceived by those around them. The “holy souls” see it less than those around them. It is primarily by its diffusive effect, not by any consciousness of its diffusive effect, that transfiguration is real.
Indeed, the important thing is to
let its fragrance flow
Some related posts:
Contemplative in the Mud 