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The Classics of Western Spirituality
Francisco De Osuna: The Third Spiritual Alphabet
Francisco de Osuna (c. 1492-c. 1540) was born in the Seville region of Spain on the eve of that country's golden age of mysticism that saw the sublime achievements of Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. Osuna entered the Order of Friars Minor of the Regular Observance when Cardinal Jimenez de Cisneros was spearheading a reform movement that encouraged believers to nourish a simple, Christ-centered, inner spirituality.
In the midst of the controversy over the nature of true interior prayer that raged during the 1520's between the advocates of recollection (recogimiento) and those who practiced abandon (dejamiento), Osuna wrote a series of maxims as a practical guide for recollection. These he arranged into a series of "Spiritual Alphabets," the third of which appears in this volume. Long recognized for its influence on the famous Spanish Carmelites of the sixteenth century, The Third Spiritual Alphabet is itself a masterpiece of mystical literature that will richly repay those who seek its treasures.
624 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
63 people are currently reading
439 people want to read
About the author
Francisco De Osuna
14 books10 followersFrancisco of Osuna, O.F.M. (1492 or 1497 – c. 1540), was a Spanish Franciscan friar and author of some of the most influential works on spirituality in that nation in the 16th century.
His book The Third Spiritual Alphabet influenced Saint Teresa of Jesus. It is considered a masterpiece of Franciscan mysticism. His premise in the book is that friendship and communion with God are possible in this life through cleansing one's conscience, entering one's heart, resting in loving stillness, and then rising above the heart to God alone.
His book The Third Spiritual Alphabet influenced Saint Teresa of Jesus. It is considered a masterpiece of Franciscan mysticism. His premise in the book is that friendship and communion with God are possible in this life through cleansing one's conscience, entering one's heart, resting in loving stillness, and then rising above the heart to God alone.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 21, 2023
This book is amazing! Shortly after I began it, I realized that I was not going to begin to take all of it in with one reading. This is a book which merits multiple readings. Once I acknowledged that, I did not even try to assimilate all of it during this initial foray. Instead, I just copiously highlighted the kindle version and covered the paperback version with sticky notes. When I return to it (hopefully next year) I want to read it treatise by treatise, commenting on each.
I only have one bone to pick with Osuna, and I do mention this as he returned to it several times in the text. He not only asserts that Eve’s sin was greater than Adam’s, but also that Adam’s action in hiding himself was an act of humility. This is what he writes:
All that said, I also recognize the timeframe Osuna was writing from, so I will graciously disagree and realize that wherever he is, he knows this plus an infinite amount more about everything than I do. I simply make this point for future readers. There are ways to set straight our ancestors biases and then move on.
May 25, 2023: Working through this very slowly. I have both the kindle and paper versions and was hoping to go back and forth but unfortunately, they are not interchangeable. The paperback version contains more information than the kindle, so while I can listen to the book while I exercise and I benefit from hearing things in one way, I need to go back and reread the book, to not only highlight the important parts and read what is not even contained in the kindle version. Had wanted to do a treatise every few days, but that was optimistic. The material is too dense and my schedule too full, not to mention I am reading other things. Here I am not following what De Osuna advises about guarding my heart. 🤔😟
April 30, 2023: Have wanted to read this FOREVER! This little Franciscan priest—and this book in particular—taught Teresa of Ávila how to do recollective Prayer. She was given Third Spiritual Alphabet by her wise uncle who was hoping she would be influenced by it. In spiritual terms, this gift to her may be compared to the Wright brothers receiving their first bicycle or Babe Ruth his first baseball and bat. It was the perfect tool for just the right person at exactly the best moment in time. A complete God-thing.
Osuna managed to safely navigate the murky waters of the tempestuous early sixteenth century era with his life and reputation intact. He knew all the issues/dangers inherent with the Reformation, Spanish Inquisition, differences beginning to divide the Protestants as well as the emerging squabbles among the various Catholic religious orders.
But relevant here, Osuna was able to steer clear of the controversy within his own order involving two different methods of prayer: recogimiento and dejamiento. Although the book’s Introduction doesn’t go into detail about what exactly these two different methods are/were, I hope/believe they will be explained more fully in the text.
And that brings up another point. As I wanted to really study this book in depth, I procured both a text and kindle copy and I am glad that I did because I discovered the kindle edition does not contain the extremely helpful Introduction. So, if you are only going to buy one copy of these—as most normal people do—get the paper copy. (less) "
I only have one bone to pick with Osuna, and I do mention this as he returned to it several times in the text. He not only asserts that Eve’s sin was greater than Adam’s, but also that Adam’s action in hiding himself was an act of humility. This is what he writes:
(God) ... is highly pleased with it (humility) wherever and however he discovers it. Adam, on account of the humility shown in hiding himself, was punished less severely than the woman.No. First of all, several prominent exegetes (including Scott Hahn assert that actually Adam had the greater sin for not being there to protect his wife, Eve, from the serpent. Then, when God asked Adam why he had disobeyed Him, Adam behaved in a cowardly way by blaming his wife. Husbands should protect and stand up for their wives. And Adam’s action of hiding when he realized he was naked was not humility; it was shame. As to who has the greater punishment, I suppose many would agree that to bear children is a greater punishment, but I would counter that the ‘punishments’ given to Adam and Eve are more by way of an accounting for what our God-given roles are as man and woman. There are up- and down-sides to both, yet they are fitted to our biological and physiological natures.
All that said, I also recognize the timeframe Osuna was writing from, so I will graciously disagree and realize that wherever he is, he knows this plus an infinite amount more about everything than I do. I simply make this point for future readers. There are ways to set straight our ancestors biases and then move on.
May 25, 2023: Working through this very slowly. I have both the kindle and paper versions and was hoping to go back and forth but unfortunately, they are not interchangeable. The paperback version contains more information than the kindle, so while I can listen to the book while I exercise and I benefit from hearing things in one way, I need to go back and reread the book, to not only highlight the important parts and read what is not even contained in the kindle version. Had wanted to do a treatise every few days, but that was optimistic. The material is too dense and my schedule too full, not to mention I am reading other things. Here I am not following what De Osuna advises about guarding my heart. 🤔😟
April 30, 2023: Have wanted to read this FOREVER! This little Franciscan priest—and this book in particular—taught Teresa of Ávila how to do recollective Prayer. She was given Third Spiritual Alphabet by her wise uncle who was hoping she would be influenced by it. In spiritual terms, this gift to her may be compared to the Wright brothers receiving their first bicycle or Babe Ruth his first baseball and bat. It was the perfect tool for just the right person at exactly the best moment in time. A complete God-thing.
Osuna managed to safely navigate the murky waters of the tempestuous early sixteenth century era with his life and reputation intact. He knew all the issues/dangers inherent with the Reformation, Spanish Inquisition, differences beginning to divide the Protestants as well as the emerging squabbles among the various Catholic religious orders.
But relevant here, Osuna was able to steer clear of the controversy within his own order involving two different methods of prayer: recogimiento and dejamiento. Although the book’s Introduction doesn’t go into detail about what exactly these two different methods are/were, I hope/believe they will be explained more fully in the text.
And that brings up another point. As I wanted to really study this book in depth, I procured both a text and kindle copy and I am glad that I did because I discovered the kindle edition does not contain the extremely helpful Introduction. So, if you are only going to buy one copy of these—as most normal people do—get the paper copy. (less) "
February 7, 2017
Practical advice on leading a good life in the 16th century, maintaining relevance today.
It gets interesting about the 13th Treatise: The greatest requirement of prayer is that we do not doubt when we present our petitions but pray firmly confident that we will be heard. Our Lord commanded us to pray (and to be brief). Of all vocal prayers the most blessed prayer of the Pater Noster is preeminent, primarily because of the merit of its author, who was absolutely wise and absolutely powerful and could grant more pardons to whomever might recite his verses.
The 14th Treatise: Always correct your soul with love and not in anger. Lead the soul from evil to good. The perverse are hard to be corrected. The first thing recollected people must discipline in themselves is negligence.
The blessed Saint Bernard lamented to Our Lord about himself: O my God, create purity in my heart, for not only do vain thoughts occupy it and ugly ones sully it, but also bitter thoughts scatter it, and I am often so distressed by some insult that my heart is constrained by huge bundles of thoughts and I am thrown from one side to another, blind and anxious, imagining vengeance for the injury and how to find an opportunity to avenge myself. I multiply schemes and do nothing else in my heart but finish off quarrels I cannot end in fact.
How You Should Treat Your Soul When It Is Distracted
Nothing is more skillful than love.
15th Treatise:
Eat only what is necessary for your health and physical needs.
16th Treatise:
Apply Love to Everything and Draw Love from Everything
The riches of man are the ransom of his soul (Amor et redemptio a imoe)
"Wherever my love is, there am I."
Love itself is the empyrean (the highest part of) heaven, which is said to be the first and greatest of heavens as love is the first and greatest commandment.
17th Treatise:
St. James says: A person is sinful who knows what is right and does not do it.
Operibus credite (works): Believe not in thought, but in action. If you do not act on your thoughts when the opportunity arises, then they will deceive you. There are many who follow Christ in interior consolation but refuse to follow him in suffering.
As Christ has two natures, so there are two ways of following him. St. Jerome explains: It is one thing to imitate Christ as man and another to imitate him as God; it is one thing to follow him as man and another to follow him as God. It is greater to imitate him in his Divinity than in his Humanity, so it is loftier to follow him as God than as man. The first is running, but the second is flying. To run is difficult, but flying is much easier and carries us further in a shorter time. Our body runs, our soul flies.
Following his divinity is a sublime matter, known to few and carried out by fewer still.
20th Treatise:
As we enclose ourselves more securely from within, we hear what previously did not disturb us more than when we offered no resistance.
If every place you set your foot will be yours and if every bad angel you vanquish ensures a higher throne, then the hope of a precious crown should lighten the labor; you know that if you dare to resist, the Lord will provide the grace for you to prevail.
Though you be persecuted from all sides, do not lose heart, for the Lord will bring your plight into the open and free you as he did David who had lost all hope of escaping from Saul when he discovered himself surrounded. But the Lord so befriended him that he later enjoyed dominion over his enemy and forgave him, not wishing to return evil for evil.
If you examine the matter carefully, you will see that your adversities lie more within yourself and your concern for your reputation than in themselves. We are deeply hurt by what is insignificant, indeed even nothing; we tend to imagine enemies though no one wishes us ill. Do not be so sensitive. Be more generous.
There is no better defense against peevish words leveled against you than pretense. I know a person very well whose response to anything said against her is to laugh and joke and reply with a playful word. By uttering some gracious remark, she makes her enemies fall silent; in fact they anger soon subsides and they too joke about what they had said in seriousness before. Humility is an expert in all such antics, but pride is offended by everything and never will enjoy peace.
Patience is known as the absence of peace, as penitence is the virtue that substitutes for the original justice that was lost, for had it not been lost, penitence would not be required. Patience is called ours in the gospel because of the lack of peace it implies whereas peace, being the highest and greatest virtue, is called Christ's because he is the beginning of peace. Christ never lost peace through any of his persecutions, for his heart remained perfectly quiet and unchanging during the trials that beset him. His reason was always alert to everything caused by his sensuality, and his sensuality never strayed from reason, nor did his reason act contrary to divinity.
21st Treatise:
Speak of the Soul's Repose, saying: Intimately calm and quiet your understanding
Good conscience is requisite to a peaceful mind
Scripture encourages us to seek rest, saying: A secure mind is like a continual feast.
Ultimately security and repose in the heart will not be attained perfectly through speculative meditation but through recollection, which quiets the heart.
St. Bonaventure cautions that the tree of knowledge prevents our eating of the tree of life: Intimately calm and quiet your understanding.
Synderesis [technical term from scholastic philosophy, signifying the innate principle in the moral consciousness of every person which directs the agent to good and restrains him from evil. It is first found in a singe passage of St. Jerome], the highest part of reason, is represented by the eagle that St. John saw crying out against those who dwell on earth, meaning humans placed in earthly bodies. It belongs principally to the understanding; reduced to its seminal principle, its function is to murmur against evil and encourage us to good.
We should employ all our solicitude to seek this calm and quiet of a good conscience, for this is of such important that all our good depends on it. Root out every vice and place instead the contrary virtue.
The calming of the understanding includes more than the serenity of conscience. Saint Gregory explains that the recollected person hushes the cares of his understanding, scorning the events of this world that cause surprise rather than suffering. The recollected live securely in the present without anxious concern about the future.
Do not be miserable prematurely, as Seneca said. Do not go out to welcome evils, imagining them before they appear, but rather say perhaps they will not come. Do not toil under suspicion, heeding what does not exist. Turn your back on all matters you can avoid. Do not seek out what is in your interest, but what is in Jesus Christ's. Regard yourself like an asparagus stalk in the ground, which needs little. Do not be concerned about yourself so you can be concerned for God. Scorn yourself that you may be relieved of anxiety and find the true rest of humility that neither fears to fall nor hopes to rise. Do not busy yourself in things of the world if you wish to calm yourself. If you are to quiet yourself even more, do not be anxious to have friends and acquaintances nor worry if others esteem or deprecate you. Place your confidence in Our Lord God who, if you are calm, will enlighten everything for you. Do not fear loss nor love gain, for you cannot lose so much that you will be without what you need to live. Nor can you gain enough to satisfy your desires. It may happen that everything you gain corporeally will be your spiritual loss; this is usually the case. And finally, so you may enjoy complete rest, realize that no one can forcibly rob you of virtue, nor must you submit to vice against your free will.
How to Quiet the Understanding
The speculative understanding that goes about curiously, scrutinizing and analyzing the secrets of things: It is proper for you to leave all this in order to know God in the negative way we have expounded, for as Saint Gregory says, whatever we see in contemplation is not God; what we know of him is only true when we fully realize that we can know nothing of him.
Love takes us out of ourselves to place us in what we love; love goes and enters into that which is most secret, leaving understanding outside with creatures. Saint Cyprian says: The affirmation of
the essence of God cannot easily be made, for divinity is not to be defined, but it is more truly and completely explained when we deny rather than affirm what he is. He cannot be anything subject to the senses since he surpasses all understanding, and thus whatever can be heard, seen, or known is not proper to the Majesty. Everything seen by the senses is too coarse for such consideration.
Scripture frequently and wisely advises us to await salvation silently so that while engaged in interior matters we may enjoy the intermediate silence of the saints in this intermediate world and the powerful word of God may descend from the royal throne into our hearts.
The silence of love is marvelous and most admirable and praiseworthy, that silence wherein the understanding is profoundly quieted, receiving the sublimely contenting knowledge of experience. We clearly realize that when lovers are present to each other, they fall silent and the love that unites them supplies the want of words.
God speaks to the heart not with words but by seraphic (like a seraphim: an angelic being, regarded in traditional Christian angelology as belonging to the highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy, associated with light, ardor, and purity) communication: they commune in ways more expressive than any words. God and the soul are quiet like friends who sleep securely in the guest chamber, so conformed by love that they seem like one, the one imitating what the other does.
21st Treatise:
Knowledge comes from the real experience of spiritual things; it is not the result of distracting argumentation but rather the experiential knowledge of what is actually present to the soul, that greatly pacifies and satisfies the understanding so that it wishes to inquire no further.
22nd Treatise:
Speaks of the solicitude we should have for ourselves saying: Zealously guard yourself and you will united perfectly with God.
The key to all knowledge is to know the purpose of each thing and to apply this key properly. In accord with this, we say that the best physician is he who applies medicine most effectively for certain illnesses.
No tree so desires a companion as does the palm, for alone it does not bear fruit, nor does any other virtue so need companionship as does constancy.
The palm tree is said to live and endure longer than others. If we are to be saved, the virtue that must always remain with us until death is perseverance, for all other virtues are worth little unless constancy preserves them and tries to perpetuate them insofar as possible.
We usually are bold enough to seize what we have reason to believe will benefit us. No virtue gives greater claim to the prize than perseverance.
It gets interesting about the 13th Treatise: The greatest requirement of prayer is that we do not doubt when we present our petitions but pray firmly confident that we will be heard. Our Lord commanded us to pray (and to be brief). Of all vocal prayers the most blessed prayer of the Pater Noster is preeminent, primarily because of the merit of its author, who was absolutely wise and absolutely powerful and could grant more pardons to whomever might recite his verses.
The 14th Treatise: Always correct your soul with love and not in anger. Lead the soul from evil to good. The perverse are hard to be corrected. The first thing recollected people must discipline in themselves is negligence.
The blessed Saint Bernard lamented to Our Lord about himself: O my God, create purity in my heart, for not only do vain thoughts occupy it and ugly ones sully it, but also bitter thoughts scatter it, and I am often so distressed by some insult that my heart is constrained by huge bundles of thoughts and I am thrown from one side to another, blind and anxious, imagining vengeance for the injury and how to find an opportunity to avenge myself. I multiply schemes and do nothing else in my heart but finish off quarrels I cannot end in fact.
How You Should Treat Your Soul When It Is Distracted
Nothing is more skillful than love.
15th Treatise:
Eat only what is necessary for your health and physical needs.
16th Treatise:
Apply Love to Everything and Draw Love from Everything
The riches of man are the ransom of his soul (Amor et redemptio a imoe)
"Wherever my love is, there am I."
Love itself is the empyrean (the highest part of) heaven, which is said to be the first and greatest of heavens as love is the first and greatest commandment.
17th Treatise:
St. James says: A person is sinful who knows what is right and does not do it.
Operibus credite (works): Believe not in thought, but in action. If you do not act on your thoughts when the opportunity arises, then they will deceive you. There are many who follow Christ in interior consolation but refuse to follow him in suffering.
As Christ has two natures, so there are two ways of following him. St. Jerome explains: It is one thing to imitate Christ as man and another to imitate him as God; it is one thing to follow him as man and another to follow him as God. It is greater to imitate him in his Divinity than in his Humanity, so it is loftier to follow him as God than as man. The first is running, but the second is flying. To run is difficult, but flying is much easier and carries us further in a shorter time. Our body runs, our soul flies.
Following his divinity is a sublime matter, known to few and carried out by fewer still.
20th Treatise:
As we enclose ourselves more securely from within, we hear what previously did not disturb us more than when we offered no resistance.
If every place you set your foot will be yours and if every bad angel you vanquish ensures a higher throne, then the hope of a precious crown should lighten the labor; you know that if you dare to resist, the Lord will provide the grace for you to prevail.
Though you be persecuted from all sides, do not lose heart, for the Lord will bring your plight into the open and free you as he did David who had lost all hope of escaping from Saul when he discovered himself surrounded. But the Lord so befriended him that he later enjoyed dominion over his enemy and forgave him, not wishing to return evil for evil.
If you examine the matter carefully, you will see that your adversities lie more within yourself and your concern for your reputation than in themselves. We are deeply hurt by what is insignificant, indeed even nothing; we tend to imagine enemies though no one wishes us ill. Do not be so sensitive. Be more generous.
There is no better defense against peevish words leveled against you than pretense. I know a person very well whose response to anything said against her is to laugh and joke and reply with a playful word. By uttering some gracious remark, she makes her enemies fall silent; in fact they anger soon subsides and they too joke about what they had said in seriousness before. Humility is an expert in all such antics, but pride is offended by everything and never will enjoy peace.
Patience is known as the absence of peace, as penitence is the virtue that substitutes for the original justice that was lost, for had it not been lost, penitence would not be required. Patience is called ours in the gospel because of the lack of peace it implies whereas peace, being the highest and greatest virtue, is called Christ's because he is the beginning of peace. Christ never lost peace through any of his persecutions, for his heart remained perfectly quiet and unchanging during the trials that beset him. His reason was always alert to everything caused by his sensuality, and his sensuality never strayed from reason, nor did his reason act contrary to divinity.
21st Treatise:
Speak of the Soul's Repose, saying: Intimately calm and quiet your understanding
Good conscience is requisite to a peaceful mind
Scripture encourages us to seek rest, saying: A secure mind is like a continual feast.
Ultimately security and repose in the heart will not be attained perfectly through speculative meditation but through recollection, which quiets the heart.
St. Bonaventure cautions that the tree of knowledge prevents our eating of the tree of life: Intimately calm and quiet your understanding.
Synderesis [technical term from scholastic philosophy, signifying the innate principle in the moral consciousness of every person which directs the agent to good and restrains him from evil. It is first found in a singe passage of St. Jerome], the highest part of reason, is represented by the eagle that St. John saw crying out against those who dwell on earth, meaning humans placed in earthly bodies. It belongs principally to the understanding; reduced to its seminal principle, its function is to murmur against evil and encourage us to good.
We should employ all our solicitude to seek this calm and quiet of a good conscience, for this is of such important that all our good depends on it. Root out every vice and place instead the contrary virtue.
The calming of the understanding includes more than the serenity of conscience. Saint Gregory explains that the recollected person hushes the cares of his understanding, scorning the events of this world that cause surprise rather than suffering. The recollected live securely in the present without anxious concern about the future.
Do not be miserable prematurely, as Seneca said. Do not go out to welcome evils, imagining them before they appear, but rather say perhaps they will not come. Do not toil under suspicion, heeding what does not exist. Turn your back on all matters you can avoid. Do not seek out what is in your interest, but what is in Jesus Christ's. Regard yourself like an asparagus stalk in the ground, which needs little. Do not be concerned about yourself so you can be concerned for God. Scorn yourself that you may be relieved of anxiety and find the true rest of humility that neither fears to fall nor hopes to rise. Do not busy yourself in things of the world if you wish to calm yourself. If you are to quiet yourself even more, do not be anxious to have friends and acquaintances nor worry if others esteem or deprecate you. Place your confidence in Our Lord God who, if you are calm, will enlighten everything for you. Do not fear loss nor love gain, for you cannot lose so much that you will be without what you need to live. Nor can you gain enough to satisfy your desires. It may happen that everything you gain corporeally will be your spiritual loss; this is usually the case. And finally, so you may enjoy complete rest, realize that no one can forcibly rob you of virtue, nor must you submit to vice against your free will.
How to Quiet the Understanding
The speculative understanding that goes about curiously, scrutinizing and analyzing the secrets of things: It is proper for you to leave all this in order to know God in the negative way we have expounded, for as Saint Gregory says, whatever we see in contemplation is not God; what we know of him is only true when we fully realize that we can know nothing of him.
Love takes us out of ourselves to place us in what we love; love goes and enters into that which is most secret, leaving understanding outside with creatures. Saint Cyprian says: The affirmation of
the essence of God cannot easily be made, for divinity is not to be defined, but it is more truly and completely explained when we deny rather than affirm what he is. He cannot be anything subject to the senses since he surpasses all understanding, and thus whatever can be heard, seen, or known is not proper to the Majesty. Everything seen by the senses is too coarse for such consideration.
Scripture frequently and wisely advises us to await salvation silently so that while engaged in interior matters we may enjoy the intermediate silence of the saints in this intermediate world and the powerful word of God may descend from the royal throne into our hearts.
The silence of love is marvelous and most admirable and praiseworthy, that silence wherein the understanding is profoundly quieted, receiving the sublimely contenting knowledge of experience. We clearly realize that when lovers are present to each other, they fall silent and the love that unites them supplies the want of words.
God speaks to the heart not with words but by seraphic (like a seraphim: an angelic being, regarded in traditional Christian angelology as belonging to the highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy, associated with light, ardor, and purity) communication: they commune in ways more expressive than any words. God and the soul are quiet like friends who sleep securely in the guest chamber, so conformed by love that they seem like one, the one imitating what the other does.
21st Treatise:
Knowledge comes from the real experience of spiritual things; it is not the result of distracting argumentation but rather the experiential knowledge of what is actually present to the soul, that greatly pacifies and satisfies the understanding so that it wishes to inquire no further.
22nd Treatise:
Speaks of the solicitude we should have for ourselves saying: Zealously guard yourself and you will united perfectly with God.
The key to all knowledge is to know the purpose of each thing and to apply this key properly. In accord with this, we say that the best physician is he who applies medicine most effectively for certain illnesses.
No tree so desires a companion as does the palm, for alone it does not bear fruit, nor does any other virtue so need companionship as does constancy.
The palm tree is said to live and endure longer than others. If we are to be saved, the virtue that must always remain with us until death is perseverance, for all other virtues are worth little unless constancy preserves them and tries to perpetuate them insofar as possible.
We usually are bold enough to seize what we have reason to believe will benefit us. No virtue gives greater claim to the prize than perseverance.
March 19, 2017
An absolutely great and awesome rendering of this work, if for no other reason in that it compares the only (2) two English versions and provides other important information regarding the text and insightful notations.
August 14, 2015
This book is one of my all time favorites. As a young girl, St Theresa of Avila read this book to her uncle, as he requested. This was life changing for her, drawing her into a personal relationship with Jesus. This was the catalyst that jump started a journey into the very depths of her Beloved. From this beginning, she too wrote many books. Her complete works which ahve been translated by Kieran Kavanaugh are excellent.
However, this book also achieved for me, God's revelation of mystical union that can be had today.
However, this book also achieved for me, God's revelation of mystical union that can be had today.
April 26, 2025
This is one of those books that will cause your reading list traffic to come to a standstill, with the truly frustrating part being that the Third Spiritual Alphabet is worth putting the others on hold for so long. There are six such Alphabets in total, but the Third seems to be the only one in English. Its influence on St. Teresa of Avila alone justifies the translation, but the book stands well on its own merits and not just as a background to the later Carmelite tradition.
A quick aside: the introductions to these “Classics of Western Spirituality” are great. Don’t skip them, as the context they provide is valuable. In this case, the importance of the term “recollection” needs to be understood in terms of its apposition to the abandonment movement in Spain at the same time, a quasi Gnostic take on Christian practice.
Right from the introduction, de Osuna hits the right note: moderation. Mysticism or anything approaching it runs the risk of excesses, of "insights” that are ascribed to the Divine but are really our own (or worse), and of pride. This method is not for everyone, and for those who do participate in it, guidance and counsel are required. Humility is the path to friendship with God. Both the means and the ends are worth meditating upon. We are not worthy to be the friends of God, but that is still the end God wishes for us, and He will provide should we desire it.
And that becomes the theme of this book, how to truly desire God in this valley of tears. A thousand stumbling blocks are at our left hand, ten thousand at our right, but there is still a path to God for those who truly wish to be with Him above all else. De Osuna’s book is full of useful advice and admonitions for dealing with many of these challenges we face in life, but the theme he keeps coming back to is recollection, of bringing that which is dispersed together and in the light of its purpose, the worship of God.
My favorite treatises were 12, 16, and 21. The interaction between the intellect and the affectus is examined, a topic that has come up in my readings quite a bit recently. We need both: the intellect keeps us from error about God and the faith (Thomas Merton said the same), but this knowledge serves our love of God. One good book that leads to spiritual peace is worth a library of knowledge that scatters our attention all over the place but does not satisfy. Richard Weaver understood this; having removed the first truth, we mistake wisdom as a quantitative measure, as if knowing enough things would bring more peace. Dostoyevsky’s famous quote about the happiness of intelligent people comes to mind.
“…where God’s love is, there is all of paradise, for true paradise is love for God. Thus, heaven would not be paradise without love…Love itself is the empyrean heaven, which is said to be the first and greatest of heavens as love is the first and greatest commandment.”
A quick aside: the introductions to these “Classics of Western Spirituality” are great. Don’t skip them, as the context they provide is valuable. In this case, the importance of the term “recollection” needs to be understood in terms of its apposition to the abandonment movement in Spain at the same time, a quasi Gnostic take on Christian practice.
Right from the introduction, de Osuna hits the right note: moderation. Mysticism or anything approaching it runs the risk of excesses, of "insights” that are ascribed to the Divine but are really our own (or worse), and of pride. This method is not for everyone, and for those who do participate in it, guidance and counsel are required. Humility is the path to friendship with God. Both the means and the ends are worth meditating upon. We are not worthy to be the friends of God, but that is still the end God wishes for us, and He will provide should we desire it.
And that becomes the theme of this book, how to truly desire God in this valley of tears. A thousand stumbling blocks are at our left hand, ten thousand at our right, but there is still a path to God for those who truly wish to be with Him above all else. De Osuna’s book is full of useful advice and admonitions for dealing with many of these challenges we face in life, but the theme he keeps coming back to is recollection, of bringing that which is dispersed together and in the light of its purpose, the worship of God.
My favorite treatises were 12, 16, and 21. The interaction between the intellect and the affectus is examined, a topic that has come up in my readings quite a bit recently. We need both: the intellect keeps us from error about God and the faith (Thomas Merton said the same), but this knowledge serves our love of God. One good book that leads to spiritual peace is worth a library of knowledge that scatters our attention all over the place but does not satisfy. Richard Weaver understood this; having removed the first truth, we mistake wisdom as a quantitative measure, as if knowing enough things would bring more peace. Dostoyevsky’s famous quote about the happiness of intelligent people comes to mind.
“…where God’s love is, there is all of paradise, for true paradise is love for God. Thus, heaven would not be paradise without love…Love itself is the empyrean heaven, which is said to be the first and greatest of heavens as love is the first and greatest commandment.”
September 1, 2022
This is certainly an edifying book for spiritual reading, though I feel that it will connect most deeply with either people in religious life or people who at least have a serious prayer life, especially since that is the audience for whom it was written. Often, I found it dry and verbose, almost like listening to the random thoughts and tangents of an old but wise monk, but there is also much wisdom sprinkled throughout that make it an edifying (if somewhat disorganized) read. One of the aspects I appreciated less was the surprising amount of anecdotes the author used to illustrate or even make a point , almost as like in a modern self-help book. Nevertheless, there was much spiritual wisdom in it, and even many pithy lines, so I can see how people could be very moved by it if it was exactly what they needed to hear, as was the case with St. Teresa of Avila.
September 9, 2021
The book that inspired a Doctor of the Church and a great saint on her path to holiness. Written in the1520s, it is very readable today. It is structured by the Spanish alphabet (given in the footnotes). Read it slowly and ponder how to apply each treatise (and its subchapters) into daily life. Magnificent!
December 14, 2022
Francisco practiced recollection as a method of prayer. In order to develop his inner prayer life, he formulated maxims as a guide for meditation. He arranged them alphabetically. He composed 3 such alphabets, each comprising 23 distiches to correspond with the 22 letters and tilde of the Spanish alphabet. These maxims were used as the skeletal structure for 3 long treatises he built: one on the passion, the second on prayer & ascetic practices, and the third on recollection. In the first treatise of this Osuna asserts that la amistad y comunicación de Dios es posible, friendship with God in this life is possible. He adds that “this communion is just as available to you, whoever you are, as to other people, for you are no less made in the image of God than others, nor do I think you desire this good fortune any less than they.” Here are some parts that I enjoyed as I kept reading both in Spanish and. By the way, the Spanish version is here: https://www.documentacatholicaomnia.e...
Y no se le haga a nadie de mal creer que con amar solamente la obra de virtud ajena la hace en alguna manera propia
= And no one is to deny that the mere loving of virtue in another person makes it ours in some way.
Y no se le haga a nadie de mal creer que con amar solamente la obra de virtud ajena la hace en alguna manera propia
= And no one is to deny that the mere loving of virtue in another person makes it ours in some way.
March 31, 2013
Finished 3 WEEKS AGO.
READ IT FOR 2 YEARS.. it all connected dots for me that i often pondered on.
In depth writing on Prayer and where it leads one which is Union with God.
I strongly suggest this work for any spiritual,religious or and one seeking the Narrow way as it all leads to virtue and BLESSEDNESS thru Christ our Redeemer. This work of The third alphabet is far more envilved than i can write on...If you seek you will find.
READ IT FOR 2 YEARS.. it all connected dots for me that i often pondered on.
In depth writing on Prayer and where it leads one which is Union with God.
I strongly suggest this work for any spiritual,religious or and one seeking the Narrow way as it all leads to virtue and BLESSEDNESS thru Christ our Redeemer. This work of The third alphabet is far more envilved than i can write on...If you seek you will find.
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