#Saint John of the Cross

[dorrance30]

The Madonna and Child with Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint John of The Cross.

[majestativa]

With the map of the winter sky you drew for me, I will go out before dawn, into a square now empty of men, and life my eyes to meet the stellar passersby, who slowly move around the Pole of the Bear. Of the most glittering I will ask: “Are you Rigel? Are you Betelgeuse? Sirius? Or Capella?” still in much doubt about the answer. Meanwhile, I will think about San Juan, for that will be the night of God, after the night of the senses and the soul, and the stars, recognized or unknown, for me will be so many angels whose silent flight guides me toward day. And I will also think of you who, equally absorbed, are contemplating the same firmament from another parallel, feeling, like me, an outer ice and inner fire, while our hearts, so distant from each other, and still prisoners of time, beat in unison.

— Margherita Guidacci, Landscape with Ruins: Selected Poetry of Margherita Guidacci, transl. by Ruth Feldman, (1992)

[fiat-veritas]

How gentle and loving is Your awakening, O Bridegroom Word, in the center and depth of my soul… Awaken and enlighten me, my Lord, so I might know and love the blessings You ever propose to me, and I might understand that You have moved to bestow favors on me and have remembered me.

St. John of the Cross, Living Flame

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (December 14)

December 14 is the liturgical memorial of Saint John of the Cross, a 16th century Carmelite priest best known for reforming his order together with Saint Teresa of Avila and for writing the classic spiritual treatise “The Dark Night of the Soul.”

Honored as a Doctor of the Church since 1926, he is sometimes called the “Mystical Doctor,” as a tribute to the depth of his teaching on the soul's union with God.

The youngest child of parents in the silk-weaving trade, John de Yepes was born on 24 June 1542 in Fontiveros near the Spanish city of Avila.

His father Gonzalo died at a relatively young age, and his mother Catalina struggled to provide for the family.

John found academic success from his early years but failed in his effort to learn a trade as an apprentice.

Instead, he spent several years working in a hospital for the poor and continuing his studies at a Jesuit college in the town of Medina del Campo.

After discerning a calling to monastic life, John entered the Carmlite Order in 1563.

He had been practicing severe physical asceticism even before joining the Carmelites and got permission to live according to their original rule of life – which stressed solitude, silence, poverty, work, and contemplative prayer.

John received ordination as a priest in 1567 after studying in Salamanca but considered transferring to the more austere Carthusian order rather than remaining with the Carmelites.

Before he could take such a step, however, he met the Carmelite nun later canonized as Saint Teresa of Avila.

Born in 1515, Teresa had joined the order in 1535, regarding consecrated religious life as the most secure road to salvation.

Since that time, she had made remarkable spiritual progress. During the 1560s, she began a movement to return the Carmelites to the strict observance of their original way of life.

She convinced John not to leave the order but to work for its reform.

Changing his religious name from “John of St. Matthias” to “John of the Cross,” the priest began this work in November of 1568, accompanied by two other men of the order with whom he shared a small and austere house.

For a time, John was in charge of the new recruits to the “Discalced Carmelites” – the name adopted by the reformed group, since they wore sandals rather than ordinary shoes as sign of poverty.

He also spent five years as the confessor at a monastery in Avila led by St. Teresa.

Their reforming movement grew quickly but also met with severe opposition that jeopardized its future during the 1570s.

Early in December of 1577, during a dispute over John's assignment within the order, opponents of the strict observance seized and imprisoned him in a tiny cell.

His ordeal lasted nine months and included regular public floggings along with other harsh punishments.

Yet it was during this very period that he composed the poetry that would serve as the basis for his spiritual writings.

John managed to escape from prison in August of 1578, after which he resumed the work of founding and directing Discalced Carmelite communities.

Over the course of a decade, he set out his spiritual teachings in works such as “The Ascent of Mount Carmel,” “The Spiritual Canticle” and “The Living Flame of Love” as well as “The Dark Night of the Soul.”

But intrigue within the order eventually cost him his leadership position, and his last years were marked by illness along with further mistreatment.

St. John of the Cross died in the early hours of 14 December 1591, nine years after St. Teresa of Avila's death in October 1582.

Suspicion, mistreatment and humiliation had characterized much of his time in religious life, but these trials are understood as having brought him closer to God by breaking his dependence on the things of this world.

Accordingly, his writings stress the need to love God above all things – being held back by nothing, and likewise holding nothing back.

Only near the end of his life had St. John's monastic superior recognized his wisdom and holiness. Though his reputation had suffered unjustly for years, this situation reversed soon after his death.

He was beatified by Pope Clement X on 25 January 1675 and canonized by Pope Benedict XIII on 27 December 1726.

He was named a Doctor of the Church in the 20th century by Pope Pius XI.

In a letter marking the 400th anniversary of St. John's death, Pope John Paul II – who had written a doctoral thesis on the saint's writings – recommended the study of the Spanish mystic, whom he called a “master in the faith and witness to the living God.”

[compassionmattersmost]

Rapture: An Inner Experience or a Future Event?

The concept of rapture holds a significant place in many religious traditions, often representing a powerful moment of divine encounter. However, the interpretation of this experience varies widely across spiritual paths. For some, rapture is a future event, a moment of transcendent liberation from the trials of the world. For others, rapture is an immediate, inner experience of union with the…

[lost-victorian-sailor]

Strive always to prefer, not that which is easiest, but that which is most difficult; Not that which is most delectable, but that which is most unpleasing; Not that which gives most pleasure, but rather that which gives least; Not that which is restful, but that which is wearisome; Not that which is consolation, but rather that which is disconsolateness; Not that which is greatest, but that which is least; Not that which is loftiest and most precious, but that which is lowest and most despised; Not that which is197 a desire for anything, but that which is a desire for nothing; Strive to go about seeking not the best of temporal things, but the worst. Strive thus to desire to enter into complete detachment and emptiness and poverty, with respect to everything that is in the world, for Christ’s sake.

– Saint John Of The Cross

[daily-praise]

Today’s Reflection:

In our Gospel today, John the Baptist is seen as the greatest born. Yet, at the same time the least within God’s Kingdom, for others are greater than he. Therefore, the question can be asked: How can John be both the greatest and the least within God’s kingdom at the same time? Yet, it is true, for John is the greatest and the least because he knew his place within the kingdom of God for his role was to make smooth the path for the Lord, something he did well. That is, he understood that once redeemed, one must than live up to what they have received and John did, for he is Elijah, and as such, he decreased while the one who would redeem, that Jesus increased.

Today’s Spiritual Links for December 14, 2023

Join the National Eucharistic Revival Today’s Mass Readings Today’s Reflection The Holy Rosary Liturgy of the Hours New American Bible Non-Scriptural Reading Prime Matters

[turiyatitta]

Embracing the Shadows

The Transformative Power of the Dark Night of the SoulIn the depths of human experience, where the light of understanding seems but a distant memory, we find ourselves in the midst of what Saint John of the Cross coined the “dark night of the soul.” This phrase has transcended its religious origins to signify a period of profound personal turmoil and existential crisis that, paradoxically, can…

[earlgodwin]

"And in the last talk the brothers will ever share, there’s not just a sense of building tension, but a sadness that this is what it’s come to. Juan’s speech of the “world of wonders” granted to him by opium not only speaks to physical pain, but the long-buried regret that he could never be the Borgia his father wanted him to be. It’s a pain Cesare understands and shares, but one he realizes his brother can never be cured of. Awash in a mix of motivations—revenge, jealousy, pity, duty—he buries his dagger deep into Juan’s abdomen, again and again and again. Cesare takes one of his brother’s arms, Micheletto takes the other, and Juan’s dying form is hoisted over the rail—looking almost Christ-like for a split second—to enter the literal dark void he saw in his visions, one more body consigned to the black embrace of the Tiber."

— The Borgias (2011-2013) — Christ of Saint John of the Cross by Salvador Dalí (1951)

[diioonysus]

baroque art + women

[7pleiades7]

Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John (1540-1560) by a Follower of Agnolo Bronzino (Italian, 1503-1572), oil on poplar wood, 40 3/8 x 31 1/2 inches, Portland Art Museum, Portland

[monstrousgourmandizingcats]

It's so over

[anastpaul]

One Minute Reflection – 17 September – “The Month of The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary and The Holy Cross” – The Commutation of the Stigmata of St Francis of Assisi – Galatians 6:14-18; Matthew 16:24-27 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/ “For he who will save his life, will lose it and he who will lose his life, for My Sake, will find it. ” – Matthew 16:25 REFLECTION – “I lost myself and was found”

(via One Minute Reflection – 17 September – “I lost myself and was found” – AnaStpaul)

[dramoor]

"God passes through the thicket of the world, and wherever His glance falls He turns all things to beauty."

~St. John of the Cross

(Photo © dramoor 2023 Wolf Creek Pass Overlook, Colorado)

[christliche-kunstwerke]

Christus am Kreuz mit der Heiligen Maria, Johannes dem Evangelisten und Katharina von Siena, um 1570 von Marco Pino (oil on panel)

[myremnantarmy]