Into them he pours his divine light and life. But because this light unceasingly annihilates all that stands in his way, they experience it first as night and death. This is the dark night of contemplation, the death on the cross for the old self… The progressive collapse of nature gives more and more room to the supernatural light and to divine life… Thus a new “incarnation” of Christ takes place in Christians, which is synonymous with a resurrection from death on the cross: the new self.
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross