St. John of the Cross Dec. 14th

 

Today, we celebrate the memorial of St. John of the Cross. He was born in Spain in the 1542. As child, he had a tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Shortly after he was ordained a priest, he met Teresa of Avila. She interested him in reforming the Carmelite Order. He wholeheartedly wanted to pursue her plans of reforming. When he entered the Discalced Carmelite Friars at Durelo, he would be its first member taking the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. He eventually became superior, prior, and vicar general. His struggles to reform the order caused him to be placed in prison by his own order. He eventually escaped taking refuge with the Carmelite Sisters. And was seen levitating in prayer.

In the midst of his exterior labors his heart was always intimately united to God. He is known in the Church as one of the greatest contemplatives and teachers of mystical theology. The spirituality of John of the Cross was centered on the experience of the Cross. Union with God is achieved through rigorous discipline, abandonment to God and purification of the will and senses. If one wants to save one’s life, one must lose it to God through the spirit of abandonment and self-denial. From a spiritual canticle, he states, “We must dig deeply in Christ. He is like a rich mine with many pockets containing treasures: however, deep we dig we will never find their end of their limit. Indeed, in every pocket new seams of fresh riches are discovered from all sides. For this reason, the apostle Paul said of Christ, “In him are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God”. The soul cannot enter into the treasures, nor attain them, unless it first crosses into and enters the thicket of suffering, enduring interior and exterior labors...”

His writings with regard to prayer and union with God especially: The Dark Night of the Soul and The Ascent to Mount Carmel are very beneficial to the people of God throughout the entire Church. Because he is one of the greatest mystics of all time, he would eventually be named a doctor of the Church, as well as his trusted friend, Teresa of Avila.

In his last illness, he had a choice between two monasteries, one of them was a pleasant residence, and its prior was his intimate friend, but he chose the other, which was poor and where the prior was ill-disposed toward him. After much suffering, he died in 1591.

Today, let us daily strive to abandon our self to God, work at self-discipline, and purify our will and senses, that we too may be united to Jesus, through the Cross in imitation of St. John of the Cross thereby, digging deep into the infinite pockets of Christ, attaining union with Him through Mary.