#st-john-of-the-cross — Public Fediverse posts

Quote of the day, 6 September: St. John of the Cross

Since it is true that one must ever adhere to Christ’s teaching, and that everything unconformed to it is nothing and worthy of disbelief, anyone who desires to commune with God after the manner of the old law is walking in vain. […]

This is why He also affirmed in the Gospel: Ubi fuerint duo vel tres congregati in nomine meo, ibi sum ego in medio eorum (Where two or three are gathered to consider what is for the greater honor and glory of my name, there I am in the midst of them—that is, clarifying and confirming truths in their hearts) [Mt 18:20].

It is noteworthy that he did not say: Where there is one alone, there I am; rather, he said: Where there are at least two. Thus God announces that he does not want the soul to believe only by itself the communications it thinks are of divine origin, or for anyone to be assured or confirmed in them without the Church or her ministers. God will not bring clarification and confirmation of the truth to the heart of one who is alone. Such a person would remain weak and cold in regard to truth.

Saint John of the Cross

The Ascent of Mount Carmel, bk. II, ch. 22

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photographer Christof Timmermann captures this image in absolute black and white photography, which he titles “Silent Moments“. You can view more of his street photography on Flickr.

Quote of the day, 30 August: St. John of the Cross

The benefits the soul acquires from not rejoicing in natural goods.

Many are the benefits derived through withdrawal of the heart from this joy. Besides preparing the soul for the love of God and for other virtues, it directly paves the way for humility toward self and general charity toward one’s neighbor.

By not becoming attached to anyone, despite these apparent and deceptive natural goods, a person remains unencumbered and free to love all rationally and spiritually, which is the way God wants them to be loved. As a result, one realizes that no one merits love except for virtue. And when one loves with this motive, the love is according to God and exceedingly free.

If the love contains some attachment, there is greater attachment to God, for as the love of neighbor increases so does the love of God, and as the love of God increases so does the love of neighbor, for what proceeds from God has one and the same reason and cause.

Another excellent benefit coming from the denial of this kind of joy is the fulfillment of the counsel our Lord gives in the Gospel of St. Matthew, that those who would follow him should deny themselves [Mt. 16:24]. In no way could a soul do this if it were to rejoice in its natural goods, because those who pay some attention to themselves do not deny themselves or follow Christ.

Saint John of the Cross

The Ascent of Mount Carmel: Book Three, Chapter 23, nos. 1–2

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Céline Martin (Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face), Saint John of the Cross, 1894, oil on canvas. Céline noted: “The Carmel had asked me to paint it. It is the familiar subject. I took particular care to give the Cross a strong sense of relief.” Discalced Carmelites (by permission).

Saint John of the Cross, Doctor of the Church: A Century of Teaching That Still Enlightens

“Turn to his teaching and writings as to the pure source of Christian understanding and the spirit of the Church.”

Pius XI, August 24, 1926

On August 24, 1926, Pope Pius XI proclaimed Saint John of the Cross a Doctor of the Universal Church. One hundred years later, that recognition takes on special significance. We’re not celebrating merely the anniversary of a title bestowed upon one of Carmel’s great saints. We’re celebrating the Church’s solemn recognition of John of the Cross as a teacher whose words could help all Christians enter more deeply into the mystery of God.

His declaration as a Doctor of the Church marked the culmination of a long journey. Saint John had been canonized two hundred years earlier, in 1726, and his spiritual authority had continued to grow over time. His writings were studied by theologians, religious, and men and women seeking to deepen their spiritual lives. He was already commonly known as the Mystical Doctor, but beginning in the late nineteenth century, requests multiplied for this recognition to be made official. Cardinals, bishops, religious superiors, universities, and numerous prominent figures petitioned the Holy See to recognize his teaching as part of the heritage of the entire Church.

Pius XI answered that desire in the Apostolic Letter Die vicesima, issued in Rome on August 24, 1926. The document recalls the life of the man born in Fontiveros in 1542, his entrance into Carmel, his studies in Salamanca, and, in a special way, his meeting with Saint Teresa of Jesus in 1567. From that encounter onward, John committed himself wholeheartedly to the Teresian reform and embarked upon an adventure that would forever transform the history of Carmel.

But the papal document dwells particularly upon what justified his recognition as a Doctor of the Church: his teaching. Pius XI recalls the Spiritual Canticle, composed in large part during the terribly harsh months of John’s imprisonment in Toledo, and also mentions The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night, and The Living Flame of Love. These writings address profound questions of spiritual experience and, as the Pope observed, contain such an abundance of teaching that they may be regarded as a true school for those who desire to advance toward a fuller Christian life.

This statement helps us understand what it truly means to call Saint John of the Cross a Doctor of the Church. It isn’t simply a recognition of the intellect of a great spiritual writer or the extraordinary beauty of one of the greatest poets in the Spanish language. The Church recognizes in his teaching a wisdom capable of leading us toward God. John doesn’t write about a theory learned from the outside. He speaks from the experience of someone who has traveled the path and discovered that behind every longing of the human heart lies a still greater search: God’s search for us.

That’s why, a century later, his teaching remains surprisingly relevant. Saint John speaks to human beings who are still searching for freedom, meaning, and fulfillment. He reminds us that not everything we cling to can satisfy the heart; that growth also means learning to let go; and that there are nights when every certainty seems to disappear, precisely when God may be silently carrying out a new work. His teaching doesn’t promise a comfortable spirituality, but it does offer a path toward a freedom deeply rooted in love.

He also helps us understand something essential: the night never has the last word. John personally experienced misunderstanding, suffering, imprisonment, and darkness. Yet the Spiritual Canticle was born from one of the most painful periods of his life. Where it seemed that everything might be reduced to silence, a song of love arose. This paradox runs through all his teaching: when our securities disappear, the One who truly sustains our lives may begin to reveal himself more clearly.

And at the end of the entire journey traced by Saint John stands love. Not emptiness for its own sake, nor renunciation understood as contempt for life. The whole process of purification has one goal: union with God. The Living Flame of Love expresses precisely this fullness, when a person discovers that he or she was created to allow God to love them and to respond to that love with their entire life.

That’s why the Church wanted Saint John of the Cross to belong not only to Carmel. By proclaiming him a Doctor of the Universal Church, she recognized that his words are a treasure for everyone. His experience can accompany contemplatives and laypeople, priests and religious, those passing through a spiritual night and those just beginning to discover the path of prayer. His teaching continues to provide words for human experiences that are often difficult to express.

The first centenary of his declaration as a Doctor of the Church is therefore much more than a historical anniversary. It’s an invitation to return to John of the Cross, to read him, and above all, to allow him to accompany us. This was already understood in 1926 by the Superior General of the Discalced Carmelites, William of Saint Albert. When he announced the long-awaited news to the entire Order, he invited its members to enter ever more deeply into the saint’s teaching and to follow him on the ascent toward God that he had described in his works.

One hundred years later, that invitation remains unchanged. In a world filled with noise, Saint John continues to teach us the value of silence. In a society clinging to so many securities, he speaks to us of interior freedom. When we pass through darkness, he reminds us that God remains present. And amid so many fragmented pursuits, he points toward a horizon capable of unifying our whole existence: love.

On August 24, 1926, the Church officially gave a name to what generations of believers had already discovered: John of the Cross is a master of the journey toward God. One hundred years later, his words continue to invite us to undertake that journey into the depths, where we discover that our entire search ends in an encounter with the God who was searching for us first.

Discalced Carmelite Friars of Spain

August 21, 2026, Actualidad, Aventuremos la Vida

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: This detail from an image of St. John of the Cross was engraved in 1788 by Gilles Antoine Demarteau. The technique used—of which Demarteau was a master—was crayon-manner in red and black, based on a drawing by Taillasson. The Art Institute of Chicago has a marvelous image of the tools used in crayon-manner engraving with detailed figures of the process. Image credit: Rijksmuseum, Antwerp (Public domain)

Quote of the day, 21 August: St. Teresa of Avila

To Padre Jerónimo Gracián, Madrid
Avila, 21-22 August 1578

… I tell you that ever-present to me is what they did with Fray John of the Cross, for I don’t know how God bears with things like that; even you don’t know everything about it.

For all these nine months he was held in a little prison cell where small as he is, he could hardly fit. In all that time he was given no change of tunic, even though he had come close to the point of death. Only three days before his escape the subprior gave him one of his shirts. He underwent harsh scourges, and no one was allowed to see him.

I experience the greatest envy. Surely our Lord found in him the resources for such a martyrdom. And it is good that this be known so that everyone will be all the more on guard against these people. May God forgive them, amen.

An investigation should be conducted to show the nuncio what those friars did to this saint, Fray John, without any fault on his part, for it is a pitiful thing. Tell this to Fray Germán; he will do it because he’s quite mad about this.

Saint Teresa of Avila

Letter 260 to Padre Jerónimo Gracián

Note: Father Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, Discalced Carmelite scholar and co-translator and editor of the collected works of Saints Teresa and John of the Cross, explains: “These are two fragments from one letter. They reflect Teresa’s first impressions on learning of St. John of the Cross’s escape from his prison cell in Toledo and of what he suffered there.” Saint John escaped during the night, possibly on August 17–18, 1578; Teresa wrote these lines only a few days later.

Teresa of Avila, St 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Composite image of Saint John of the Cross escaping during the night. Image credit: Carmelite Quotes, created with Adobe Express.

Quote of the day, 17 August: St. John of the Cross

So dark the night! At rest
and hushed my house, I went with no one knowing
upon a lover’s quest
– Ah the sheer grace! – so blest,
my eager heart with love aflame and glowing.

In darkness, hid from sight
I went by secret ladder safe and sure
– Ah grace of sheer delight! –
so softly veiled by night,
hushed now my house, in darkness and secure.

Hidden in that glad night,
regarding nothing as I stole away,
no one to see my flight,
no other guide or light
save one that in my heart burned bright as day.

Surer than noonday sun,
guiding me from the start this radiant light
led me to that dear One
waiting for me, well-known,
somewhere apart where no one came in sight.

Dark of the night, my guide,
fairer by far than dawn when stars grow dim!
Night that has unified
the Lover and the Bride,
transforming the Beloved into him.

There on my flowered breast
that none but he might ever own or keep,
he stayed, sinking to rest,
and softly I caressed
my Love while cedars gently fanned his sleep.

Breeze from the turret blew
ruffling his hair. Then with his tranquil hand
wounding my neck, I knew
nothing: my senses flew
at touch of peace too deep to understand.

Forgetting all, my quest
ended, I stayed lost to myself at last.
All ceased: my face was pressed
upon my Love, at rest,
with all my cares among the lilies cast.

Saint John of the Cross

Poetry, 2 — The Dark Night (Translation by Iain Matthew, OCD)

Note: On which night did Saint John of the Cross escape from his prison cell in Toledo? Scholars differ, but one night during the Octave of the Assumption is the safest guess. Some propose the night of August 17th-18th as the most likely date. Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD writes:

Taking advantage of a new jailer who was kinder and more lenient, John managed to get paper and ink so as to write down his poems. He also had the opportunity, during a daily reprieve from his cell, to familiarize himself with the monastery surroundings. Then, one hot night in August, after being held prisoner for nine months, emaciated and close to death, John chose life and undertook a dangerous escape he had plotted during the short periods out of his cell. He had discovered a window that looked down on the Tajo river, and underneath the window was the top of a wall. But, of course, there was a lock on his prison door. He solved that problem by loosening the screws of the lock while his jailer was absent. When the friars seemed to be asleep and the house all still, he pushed hard on the door of his prison and the lock came loose. This enabled him to leave his prison and find his way in the dark to the window. By means of a kind of rope made out of strips torn from two old bed covers and attached to a lamp hook, he escaped through the window onto the top of the wall. The wall encircled the monastery and its garden, so he walked around the top of it until he came to what he thought was the street side. There he jumped from the wall, only to find himself in another bad predicament. He had landed inside the courtyard of the Franciscan nuns of the Conception monastery that was adjacent to that of the Carmelites. Fortunately, in one corner of the nuns’ garden he found that the stones in the wall could be used as steps, allowing him to climb over the wall to the city street and to his freedom. Some claimed his escape was miraculous.

The new jailer, Fray John of Saint Mary, later gave this testimony concerning the daring escape:

The servant of God took the handle of an oil lamp and wedged it between the timber and the brick. Tearing some old blankets into strips, he tied one strip to the lamp handle, fastened the others end to end, and added an old tunic—or part of one—at the bottom. Even then, his makeshift rope ended about ten feet above the ground. Worse still, it hung over such a dangerous spot that, unless he dropped straight down, or if he slipped, he would plunge over a precipice. The recent construction had left everything in disarray.

Historian Peter Thomas Rohrbach, OCD continues the story:

On the other side of the monastery wall that August night in 1578, John was lost in the unfamiliar city of Toledo. He slept the rest of the night in a hallway, and in the early morning asked directions to the convent of Discalced nuns in the city from a startled passerby. Presenting himself at the convent, disheveled, almost collapsing from fatigue, he said to the nun behind the grille: “Daughter, I am Father John of the Cross, and I escaped from prison last night. Tell the mother prioress.” Anne of the Angels, the prioress, cleverly contrived to have him admitted into the nun’s cloister for the purpose of hearing the confession of a sick nun. A few minutes after she had brought him into the cloister a group of Calced friars arrived at the convent, demanding to know if their escaped prisoner were hiding on the premises. “It would be a miracle if you were to see any friar here,” she slyly answered. Nevertheless they searched the church and the parlors, and they apparently mistrusted the prioress, for they commissioned constables to patrol the area all day. In the evening the prioress called upon a friend of hers, Peter Gonzalez de Mendoza, a canon of the cathedral and administrator of the hospital of Holy Cross, who spirited John away from the convent, hiding him in his carriage. He brought the saint, who was now disguised in a black cassock, to his hospital where he secretly took care of him for two months until he was strong enough to travel.

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Matthew, I 1995, The Impact of God: Soundings from St. John of the Cross, Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd, London.

Rodríguez, J.V. 2015, San Juan de la Cruz: la biografía, 2nd edn, San Pablo, Madrid.

Rohrbach, P 1966, 2015, Journey to Carith: The Sources and Story of the Discalced Carmelites, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Alcazar of Toledo Illuminated by a Starry Sky. Image credit: tanaonte / Adobe Stock, asset no. 429809606.

Quote of the day, 16 August: St. John of the Cross

It is clear in speaking of the privative harm that a person, by mere attachment to a created thing, is less capable of God; and this, in the measure that the appetite has entity in the soul. For two contraries cannot coexist in the same subject, as the philosophers say… Since love of God and attachment to creatures are contraries, they cannot coexist in the same will.

In natural generation, a new form cannot be introduced into a subject without expulsion of the form already there, which is an impediment to the new form because of the existing contrariety. Similarly, insofar as a person is subject to a sensory spirit, an entirely spiritual one cannot enter.

This is why our Lord said through St. Matthew: Non est bonum sumere panem filiorum et mittere canibus (It is unbecoming to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs) [Mt. 15:26]. Also in another part he says through the same evangelist: Nolite sanctum dare canibus (Do not give what is holy to the dogs) [Mt. 7:6].

All those who dispose themselves for the pure reception of God’s Spirit through the denial of their appetites for creatures, our Lord compares to the children of God. And all those who desire to feed their appetites on creatures, he compares to the dogs. It is the privilege of children to eat at table with their father and from his dish, which is to share in his Spirit; but the dogs must eat the crumbs that fall from the table [Mt. 15:26-27].

Our lesson here is that all creatures are like crumbs that have fallen from God’s table. Those who go about feeding on creatures, then, are rightly designated as dogs and are deprived of the children’s bread because they refuse to rise from the crumbs of creatures to the uncreated Spirit of their Father. This is precisely why they wander about hungry as dogs. The crumbs serve more to whet their appetite than to satisfy their hunger. David says of them: Famem patientur ut canes, et circuibunt civitatem. Si vero no fuerint saturati, et murmurabunt (They will suffer hunger like dogs, and wander around the city. And if they are not filled, they will murmur) [Ps. 59:14-15]. This is the characteristic of those with appetites; they are always dissatisfied and bitter, like someone who is hungry.

What, then, has the hunger caused by creatures in common with the fullness caused by the Spirit of God? This uncreated fullness cannot enter a soul until this other hunger caused by the desires is expelled. Since hunger and fullness are contraries, they cannot coexist in the same person.

Saint John of the Cross

Ascent of Mount Carmel, I.6.1–3

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Czech photographer Jaromír Chalabala captured this photo of a curious labrador retriever with his owner in a dog-friendly café. Image credit: chalabala / Adobe Stock

Hello, Jekyll

Jekyll, It’s Hyde
Fuck the hell off.
I’m losing my patience with you.
You lost.

Just rea’ize this isn’t a death,
It is growth.
You’re not go’ng away,
But, see, I’m betrothed.
And you’re making it hard
To keep my damn oath.
And I care about NOTHING more!
(Except feeding the crows.)

Quote of the day, 25 July: St. John of the Cross

Oh, who can explain the extent of the denial our Lord wishes of us! This negation must be similar to a temporal, natural, and spiritual death in all things; that is, with regard to the esteem the will has for them. It is in the will that all negation takes place. Our Savior referred to this when he declared: Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it (Those who want to possess something, or seek it for self, will lose it); and whoever loses his soul for my sake will gain it [Mt. 16:25; Lk. 9:24]. This latter means: Those who renounce for Christ all that their wills can both desire and enjoy by choosing what bears closer resemblance to the cross — which in St. John our Lord terms hating one’s own soul [Jn. 12:25] — these same will gain it.

His Majesty taught this to those two disciples who came to ask him for places at his right and left. Without responding to their request for glory, he offered them the chalice he was about to drink as something safer and more precious on this earth than enjoyment [Mt. 20:22].

This chalice means death to one’s natural self through denudation and annihilation. By this means one is able to walk along the narrow path in the sensitive part of the soul, as we said [cf. Ascent I, 13-14 and II, 6.4] and in the spiritual part (as we will now say), in one’s understanding, joy, and feeling.

Accordingly, a person can attain to dispossession in both parts of the soul. Not only this, but even in the spirit one will be unhindered in one’s journey on the narrow road. For on this road there is room only for self-denial (as our Savior asserts) and the cross. The cross is a supporting staff and greatly lightens and eases the journey.

Saint John of the Cross

The Ascent of Mount Carmel II, ch. 7, nos. 6–7

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Desert during nighttime. Image credit: Walid Ahmad on Pexels.com

Quote of the day, 19 July: St. John of the Cross

The soul must practice the following instructions if it wishes to attain in a short time holy recollection and spiritual silence, nakedness, and poverty of spirit, where one enjoys the peaceful comfort of the Holy Spirit, reaches union with God, is freed of all the obstacles incurred from the creatures of this world, defended against the wiles and deceits of the devil, and liberated from one’s own self.

It should be noted, then, that all the harm the soul receives is born of its enemies, mentioned above: the world, the devil, and the flesh. The world is the enemy least difficult to conquer; the devil is the hardest to understand; but the flesh is the most tenacious, and its attacks continue as long as the old self lasts.

To gain complete mastery over any of these three enemies, one must vanquish all three of them; and in the weakening of one, the other two are weakened also. When all three are overpowered, no further war remains for the soul.

Saint John of the Cross

The Precautions, 1–3

Note: Translator and editor Father Kieran Kavanaugh explains that Saint John of the Cross wrote The Precautions for the Carmelite nuns at Beas in 1578–79, shortly after his escape from prison in Toledo. The nuns copied the work and shared it with other communities; friars also adapted it for their use.

This brief, tightly condensed work offers three precautions against each of the traditional spiritual enemies: the world, the devil, and the flesh. Its austere tone reflects its purpose: helping those ardently seeking poverty of spirit, union with God, and “the peaceful comfort of the Holy Spirit” to remove obstacles to spiritual progress.

Kavanaugh cautions that The Precautions must be read in light of John’s other writings. Union with God does not result merely from observing precautions, but from responding to God through faith, hope, and love.

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Saint John of the Cross, Abel de Jesús (21st c. Spanish), digital illustration with Photoshop, © @abeldejesusyt (All rights reserved, used by permission).

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Quote of the day, 12 July: St. John of the Cross

Who can express how much God exalts the soul that pleases him? It is impossible to do so, nor can this even be imagined, for after all, he does this as God, to show who he is. One can only explain something of it through that characteristic God has of giving more to whoever has more. And his gifts are multiplied in proportion to what the soul possesses, as the Gospel makes clear: To those who have, more will be given until they abound; and from those who have not, even what they have shall be taken from them [Mt. 13:12; Lk. 19:26]. Thus, the money of the servant who did not stand in the lord’s good graces was taken from him and given to the servant who had the most money of all those who pleased the lord [Lk. 19:24].

God gathers together in the one who is his closest friend the best and principal goods of his house, of both the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant. He makes arrangements so that these goods will give more honor and glory to his friend, who becomes like a brilliant light absorbing in itself countless fainter lights. God also declared this, according to the spiritual sense, in the passage of Isaiah, quoted above, when he spoke to Jacob: I am your Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt for your propitiation, Ethiopia and Saba for you, and I will give men for you and people for your soul [Is. 43:3-4].

Saint John of the Cross

Spiritual Canticle, 33.8

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Mountains with crepuscular ray, gentle sunbeams breaking through a cloudy sky over a serene landscape. Image credit: Min An / Pexels (Stock photo).

Quote of the day, 3 July: St. John of the Cross

Spiritual persons ought to deny all apprehensions and the temporal delights of the exterior senses…. They should not want to grasp for sensory communications or weigh themselves down with these, since doing so is what most derogates from faith.

Manifestly, these sensory visions and apprehensions cannot serve as a means for union since they bear no proportion to God. This was one of the reasons for Christ’s not wanting Mary Magdalene or St. Thomas to touch him [Jn. 20:17, 27-29].

The devil is most pleased when he sees that people desire to accept revelations and are inclined toward them. For then he has an excellent opportunity to inject errors and disparage faith as much as possible. As I have declared [cf. Ascent, II.11.7], people desiring these apprehensions become coarse in their faith and even expose themselves to many temptations and follies.

I have treated of these exterior apprehensions somewhat at length to shed more light in preparation for our discussion of the other apprehensions. There is so much to say, however, on this subject that I doubt whether I would ever finish. And I think I was too brief in only explaining that a person should be careful never to accept them—unless in some rare case and with extremely competent advice, and then without any desire for them.

But I think what I said is sufficient.

Saint John of the Cross

The Ascent of Mount Carmel, II.11.11–13

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: The Incredulity of St. Thomas is an oil on canvas painting by Italian artist and priest Bernardo Strozzi  (c. 1581–1644), executed around 1620. This is a detail from Strozzi’s artwork, which was formerly in the Compton Verney Museum. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Quote of the day, 29 June: St. John of the Cross

Resolving a doubt about why in the law of grace it is not permitted to question God through supernatural means as it was in the old law. Proof from St. Paul.

In the last chapter, we affirmed that it was not God’s will that souls desire supernatural communication of distinct knowledge from visions and locutions, and so on. On the other hand, in the testimonies from Scripture, we saw that this kind of communication with God was lawful and made use of in the old law.

Why, then, in the new law of grace is it different than it was previously? In answer to this, the chief reason in the old law that the inquiries made of God were licit, and the prophets and priests appropriately desired visions and revelations from him, was that at that time faith was not yet perfectly grounded, nor was the Gospel law established.

In this era of grace, now that the faith is established through Christ and the Gospel l made manifest, there is no reason for inquiring of him in this way or expecting him to answer as before.

In giving us His Son, His only Word (for He possesses no other), He spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word—and He has no more to say.

This is the meaning of that passage where St. Paul tries to persuade the Hebrews to turn from communion with God through the old ways of the Mosaic law and instead fix their eyes on Christ: Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds (Heb. 1:1-2).

The Apostle indicates that God has become as it were mute, with no more to say, because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All, who is his Son.

Those who now desire to question God or receive some vision or revelation are guilty not only of foolish behavior but also of offending him by not fixing their eyes entirely on Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty.

God could answer as follows:

If I have already told you all things in my Word, my Son, and if I have no other word, what answer or revelation can I now make that would surpass this? Fasten your eyes on him alone because in him I have spoken and revealed all and in him, you will discover even more than you ask for and desire. You are making an appeal for locutions and revelations that are incomplete, but if you turn your eyes to him you will find them complete. For he is my entire locution and response, vision and revelation, which I have already spoken, answered, manifested, and revealed to you by giving him to you as a brother, companion, master, ransom, and reward.

One should not, then, inquire of God in this manner, nor is it necessary for God to speak any more. Since he has finished revealing the faith through Christ, there is no more faith to reveal, nor will there ever be.

Saint John of the Cross

The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book II, Chapter 22

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photographer Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P. captures this image of a stained glass window by Van Linge in Queen’s College, Oxford. The unspeakable Name of God—the Tetragrammaton—is revealed between the apostles, Saints Peter and Paul (Some rights reserved).

Quote of the day, 28 June: St. John of the Cross

Let Christ crucified be enough for you, and with him suffer and take your rest, and hence annihilate yourself in all inward and outward things

Endeavor always that things be not for you, nor you for them, but forgetful of all, abide in recollection with your Bridegroom.

Have great love for trials and think of them as but a small way of pleasing your Bridegroom, who did not hesitate to die for you.

Bear fortitude in your heart against all things that move you to that which is not God, and be a friend of the Passion of Christ.

Be interiorly detached from all things and do not seek pleasure in any temporal thing, and your soul will concentrate on goods you do not know

The soul that walks in love neither tires others nor grows tired.

Saint John of the Cross

Sayings of Light and Love, nos. 92–97

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: This crucifix hangs on the landing outside St Dominic’s cell in Santa Sabina, the Dominican convent in Rome. Image credit: Father Lawrence Lew, OP / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

The Miracle-Gro of Suffering

If anyone had told a younger me that the best way to become a stronger Christian is by going through suffering, I wouldn’t have believed them. It’s the hope of all human beings to live the good life, uninhibited by pain, difficulty, or drama. Suffering isn’t something anyone desires or runs toward.

But truth be told, nothing grows a Christian like suffering does. When you suffer, you don’t choose to follow God because he’s the obvious answer. No, you cry out, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” and then you choose him anyways.

The developed Christian has to rise above their suffering to do the right thing. They don’t choose to forgive others when they’re good to them—they forgive them while they’re be nailed to a cross. They learn to cultivate joy when there’s little to have joy about. They choose to love when hate is knocking on their door. They have to fight the thoughts and visions that plague their mind, inviting them to think of the worst possible outcomes. They have to choose humility when all they want is to fight for themselves.

They have to develop new spiritual disciplines for their faith to survive. They have to pray after they’ve decided that prayer is pointless and that God is not listening. They have to hold dear to the sliver of light that the Spirit has shone them when the whole world seems nothing but darkness. They have to grow or their faith will die, and at the same time, they have to die so that their faith will grow.

We do not serve a God that likes to see us suffer. We do not serve a God that wants to see us suffer. We do not serve a God that who orchestrates the worst moments in our lives.

Rather, all suffering has a chance to become Miracle-Gro for the fruit of the Spirit. When the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control find a way to grow in environments we would have never expected them to grow, then they prove that they can grow anywhere.

We’ve all had friends whose faith was unable to survive the test of suffering. Indeed, the topic of suffering is easily one of the main theological conundrums that people leave the faith over. God is not surprised by this. That’s why Jesus told a whole parable about it. It’s easy to follow a prosperity gospel God—much harder to follow one who disciplines those he loves.

If you are able, receive these words from St. John of the Cross in his classic work, Dark Night of the Soul.

There is another reason why the soul has walked securely in this darkness, and this is because it has been suffering; for the road of suffering is more secure and even more profitable than that of fruition and action: first, because in suffering the strength of God is added to that of man, while in action and fruition the soul is practising its own weaknesses and imperfections; and second, because in suffering the soul continues to practise and acquire the virtues and become purer, wiser and more cautious.

When God Feeds His Children — Silvio José Báez, ocd

Today, with gratitude and wonder, we celebrate the gift of the Risen Christ, present in the bread of the Eucharist to satisfy our hunger for life and love. Today’s first reading, from the book of Deuteronomy, recalls Israel’s experience as they journeyed through the desert toward the promised land. In that barren place, where there could be no harvest and no food, the book of Deuteronomy reminds Israel: “The Lord fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors knew” (Dt 8:3). Forty years without fertile land, without certainties, without a clear path forward. And yet, in that desert, God was present, feeding his people.

In the deserts of life, when our human securities collapse and we come face to face with our own insufficiency, God remains beside us like a father who lovingly provides for the needs of his children. Let’s think of the personal desert of loneliness and sadness, of discouragement and fear. Let’s think of the desert of our people, subjected for years to an irrational and aging power that deprives them of freedom and a future. Let’s think of the desert of uprooting and exile, which many of us have experienced. And yet, there’s no desert where God leaves us abandoned to our own strength, without sustaining us and feeding us with the power of his love.

But the manna in the desert held an even deeper lesson: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Dt 8:3). The desert taught Israel that material bread isn’t enough. There’s a hunger no abundance can satisfy, a thirst no success can calm, a loneliness no noise can fill. The deepest longings and desires of the heart can be fulfilled only by God, who continually offers us the bread of his presence and love.

Using that same image of bread, Jesus speaks in the synagogue of Capernaum the boldest words ever heard: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:51). Jesus is bread. Bread is simple, but it’s effective: it satisfies the one who eats it, nourishes life, and sustains existence. That’s what Jesus was, and that’s what he remains: bread. He is the bread that came down from heaven, the one who offered his life to bring us into communion with the Father and make us his children. He is bread that strengthens and heals us, forgives us, and gives us life.

Jesus is the bread that can fill our life with meaning and constantly renew it with his love: “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). The bread that gives us life is his life handed over, his merciful love, his words that enlighten and set us free, his tenderness toward the poor, his faithfulness unto death, his glorious life risen from the dead. All of this is Jesus, the bread that came down from heaven, who wants to be the daily bread of our fragile existence. Let’s not forget his words: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn 6:53).

In a world full of broken promises and deceitful words that try to manipulate our conscience, Jesus is the bread that feeds us with light and truth. In the face of authoritarian regimes that subjugate people through fear and repression, Jesus is the bread that nourishes us with strength and hope. Before unhinged rulers who distort history, calling repression peace and slavery a blessing, Jesus is the bread that sustains our dreams of freedom and keeps us from being deceived. To feed on Jesus is to believe in him, to trust in his love, to be nourished by his words, by his way of living and loving, and to let ourselves be transformed by him.

This encounter of faith with Jesus, this feeding on him, reaches its fullest and most concrete expression in the Eucharist. In the broken and shared bread of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus truly comes to us: “My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink” (Jn 6:55). In the simplicity of the eucharistic bread, the real presence of Jesus becomes food that strengthens us and renews our hope. When we receive Jesus in the bread of the Eucharist, our life is born anew again and again. We know ourselves to be freely loved, and we’re impelled to love our brothers and sisters with the same intensity. We can’t receive Christ in the Eucharist and remain indifferent to the suffering of the poor, dismiss those who think differently, foster fruitless divisions, or close our eyes to injustice.

The eucharistic bread is like a fountain of living water that refreshes our withered life and waters our parched heart. As the Pope recalled today at the Corpus Christi Eucharist in Madrid, Saint John of the Cross, in a beautiful poem, imagined the Eucharist as bread from which there flows, in the middle of the night, the living fountain who is God:

“This eternal spring is hidden
in this living bread for our life’s sake,
although it is night.

It is here calling out to creatures;
and they satisfy their thirst,
although in darkness, because it is night.

This living spring that I long for,
I see in this bread of life,
although it is night” (Poetry 8, sts. 9–11).

Saint John of the Cross reminds us that Jesus is present in the eucharistic bread as he is present in the night: he can be recognized and welcomed only through the darkness of loving faith. There is Jesus, “in this living bread for our life’s sake, although it is night” (Poetry 8, st. 9). Jesus is truly present in the simplicity of this bread: humble, silent, and discreet. From this bread, he cries out his love, calls us, and waits for us:

“It is here calling out to creatures;
and they satisfy their thirst,
although in darkness, because it is night” (Poetry 8, st. 10).

Commenting on this poem by Saint John of the Cross, Pope Leo invited us today in Madrid to open ourselves to Jesus, who, by the grace of the Eucharist, “transforms us and makes us protagonists of the transformation of history, a sign of hope.” And he added:

“Let us return to him with sincere love. Let us open ourselves to the encounter with him, let us allow him to quench the thirst of our hearts, so that we may then go forth into the paths of life and history, bringing to the people this stream of fresh water, a stream of love, peace, justice and joy” (Leo XIV, Homily of the Holy Father, June 7, 2026).

Let’s draw near to the table of the Lord with the simple, trusting faith of Israel in the desert, knowing that what we need most isn’t something we make for ourselves, but something given to us by God. Let’s receive Jesus with gratitude. Let’s allow his love, “the fount that flows and runs, although it is night,” to nourish us and transform us into bread, broken and shared for the life of the world.

Bishop Silvio José Báez, o.c.d.

Auxiliary Bishop of Managua
Homily, 7 June 2026

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Leo XIV 2026, ‘Homily of the Holy Father: Holy Mass, Procession and Eucharistic Blessing in the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid, Sunday, 7 June 2026’, The Holy See, 7 June, viewed 7 June 2026, https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/homilies/2026/documents/20260607-spagna-messa-madrid.html.

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Adriaen van Ostade, Father Feeding his Child, 1610–85, etching. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public Domain). Image adapted for 16:9 format with parchment background.

Quote of the day, 4 May: St. John of the Cross

The Virgin, weighed
with the Word of God,
comes down the road:
if only you’ll shelter her.

Saint John of the Cross

Poetry, 13, “Christmas Refrain”

Original Spanish text:

Del Verbo divino
la Virgen preñada
viene de camino:
¡si le dais posada!

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: AI-generated artwork in the style of Gari Melchers, created using Midjourney.

Quote of the day, 26 April: St. John of the Cross

1. A lone young shepherd lived in pain
withdrawn from pleasure and contentment,
his thoughts fixed on a shepherd-girl
his heart an open wound with love.

2. He weeps, but not from the wound of love,
there is no pain in such affliction,
even though the heart is pierced;
he weeps in knowing he’s been forgotten.

3. That one thought: his shining one
has forgotten him, is such great pain
that he bows to brutal handling in a foreign land,
his heart an open wound with love.

4. The shepherd says: I pity the one
who draws herself back from my love,
and does not seek the joy of my presence,
though my heart is an open wound with love for her.

5. After a long time, he climbed a tree,
and spread his shining arms,
and hung by them, and died,
his heart an open wound with love.

Saint John of the Cross

Poem 7, Stanzas applied spiritually to Christ and the soul

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: The Good Shepherd is an oil on canvas painting by American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner, dated 1902. This image comes from the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University. Image credit: Zimmerli Art Museum / Google Art Project (Public domain).

Quote of the day, 20 April: St. John of the Cross

Oh, then, spiritual soul, when you see your appetites darkened, your inclinations dry and constrained, your faculties incapacitated for any interior exercise, do not be afflicted; think of this as a grace, since God is freeing you from yourself and taking from you your own activity. However well your actions may have succeeded, you did not work so completely, perfectly, and securely—because of their impurity and awkwardness—as you do now that God takes you by the hand and guides you in darkness, as though you were blind, along a way and to a place you know not. You would never have succeeded in reaching this place no matter how good your eyes and your feet.

Another reason the soul not only advances securely when it walks in darkness but even gains and profits is that when in a new way it receives some betterment, it usually does so in a manner it least understands, and thus ordinarily thinks it is getting lost. Since it has never possessed this new experience, which makes it go out, blinds it, and leads it astray with respect to its first method of procedure, it thinks it is getting lost rather than advancing successfully and profitably. Indeed, it is getting lost to what it knew and tasted, and going by a way in which it neither tastes nor knows.

To reach a new and unknown land and journey along unknown roads, travelers cannot be guided by their own knowledge; instead, they have doubts about their own knowledge and seek the guidance of others. Obviously, they cannot reach new territory or attain this added knowledge if they do not take these new and unknown roads and abandon those familiar ones. Similarly, people learning new details about their art or trade must work in darkness and not with what they already know. If they refuse to lay aside their former knowledge, they will never make any further progress. The soul, too, when it advances, walks in darkness and unknowing.

Since God, as we said, is the master and guide of the soul, this blind one can truly rejoice now that it has come to understand as it has here, and say: in darkness, and secure.

Saint John of the Cross

The Dark Night, II.16.7

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: A woman walks along a foggy mountain road in the Andean highlands near Cajamarca, Peru. Photo credit: Jordi Tambillo / Unsplash.

Quote of the day, 9 April: St. John of the Cross

Lest his disciples go without merit by having sensible proof of his resurrection, he did many things to further their belief before they saw him.

Mary Magdalene was first shown the empty sepulcher, and afterward, the angels told her about the resurrection so she would, by hearing, believe before seeing. As St. Paul says: Faith comes through hearing (Romans 10:17). And though she beheld him, he seemed only an ordinary man, so by the warmth of his presence, he could finish instructing her in the belief she was lacking (Matthew 28:1–6; Luke 24:4–10; John 20:11–18).

And the women were sent to tell the disciples first; then these disciples set out to see the sepulcher (Matthew 28:7–8).

And journeying incognito to Emmaus with two of his followers, he inflamed their hearts in faith before allowing them to see (Luke 24:15–32).

Finally, he reproved all his disciples for refusing to believe those who had told them of his resurrection (Mark 16:14).

And announcing to St. Thomas that they are blessed who believe without seeing, he reprimanded him for desiring to experience the sight and touch of his wounds (John 20:25, 29).

Thus, God is not inclined to work miracles. When he works them, he does so, as they say, out of necessity.

Saint John of the Cross

The Ascent of Mount Carmel, III.31.8–9

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Op weg naar Emmaüs (Journey to Emmaus) is an ink and chalk drawing on paper by Harmen ter Borch, after Gerard ter Borch the Elder, his father. Harmen Ter Borch executed this drawing in Zwolle, Netherlands on 10 November 1650. Scholars at the Rijksmuseum explain that “despite Gerard the Elder’s inscription that Harmen is author of this drawing, Harmen may still have been inspired by one of his father’s Biblical drawings.” Image credit: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Public domain).

Quote of the day, 6 April: St. John of the Cross

Where signs and testimonies abound, there is less merit in believing.

God never works these marvels except when they are a necessity for believing. Lest his disciples go without merit by having sensible proof of his resurrection, he did many things to further their belief before they saw him.

Mary Magdalene was first shown the empty sepulcher, and afterward the angels told her about the resurrection so she would, by hearing, believe before seeing. As St. Paul says: Faith comes through hearing [Rom. 10:17]. And though she beheld him, he seemed only an ordinary man, so by the warmth of his presence, he could finish instructing her in the belief she was lacking [Mt. 28:1-6; Lk. 24:4-10; Jn. 20:11-18].

And the women were sent to tell the disciples first; then these disciples set out to see the sepulcher [Mt. 28:7-8]. And journeying incognito to Emmaus with two of his followers, he inflamed their hearts in faith before allowing them to see [Lk. 24:15-32].

Finally, he reproved all his disciples for refusing to believe those who had told them of his resurrection [Mk. 16:14]. And announcing to St. Thomas that they are blessed who believe without seeing, he reprimanded him for desiring to experience the sight and touch of his wounds [Jn. 20:25, 29].

Thus, God is not inclined to work miracles. When he works them, he does so, as they say, out of necessity. He consequently reprimanded the Pharisees because they would not give assent without signs: If you do not see signs and wonders, you do not believe [Jn. 4:48]. Those, then, who love to rejoice in these supernatural works suffer a great loss in faith.

Saint John of the Cross

The Ascent of Mount Carmel, III, ch. 31, nos. 8–9

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Ushered in a Tearful Joy, Vasily Polenov (Russian, 1844–1927). Oil on canvas, c. 1900. Polenov captures the moment when Resurrection light breaks into the house of mourning. A woman—probably Mary Magdalene—stands in the doorway, clothed in blue, announcing news that will change everything. Seated in the shadows, one veiled figure turns to listen; another sits with head in hands, still bowed in grief. The painting evokes the Easter Monday Gospel (Matthew 28:8–10), in which the women, “fearful yet overjoyed,” run from the tomb to tell the disciples—and meet the Risen Lord along the way.

Quote of the day, 27 March: José Vicente Rodríguez, ocd

Among the laypeople who followed John of the Cross, one stands out in a particular way: Doña Ana de Mercado y Peñalosa. She left Granada and returned to her native city of Segovia, where she took up residence in small houses purchased and made ready beside the convent of the Discalced Carmelite friars, so as to remain close to her spiritual father, Fray John of the Cross, and to the monastery whose foundation she was helping to support.

This was not the construction of a new house, as some historians have supposed, but the purchase of two small dwellings. Gaspar de Herrera—a priest and administrator of the Mercy Hospital in Segovia—sold, with the permission of the city’s provisor, “to the prior, friars, and convent of the monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel of the Discalced, outside the city walls […] two houses and an enclosed plot with poplars and a well fed by a natural spring, which the said Hospital owned in the parish of Saint Mark.” The agreed price was “180 ducats, amounting to 67,500 maravedís,” to be paid in three installments.

The deed of sale was carried out with particular solemnity, since all the members of the Consulta and four chapter members of the Segovia convent took part in it. All the members of the Consulta signed, including John of the Cross himself. The purchase is dated August 11, 1589. A few days later, Doña Ana de Peñalosa paid the agreed sum. Shortly afterward, the two small houses were joined into a single dwelling where she could live for the rest of her life.

She still retained her palace in the city, however, and John of the Cross would often go there as well. One of the household servants, Leonor de Vitoria—who saw Fray John many times and went to confession to him—recalls how, when he came to the house, he would speak with Doña Ana and her niece, Inés de Mercado y Peñalosa. She saw him “in the presence of all the servants, speaking and conversing about holy and spiritual things, about heaven, and about how they might become saints. His words were always of this kind. At times, while speaking of these things, he would read them certain devout texts; at other times, he would leave them books in which such things were written, so that they might attend to them and serve our Lord.”

It is not clear whether Ana de Jesús was already among Doña Ana’s household servants; in her Testament, Doña Ana refers to her as “my servant… now in my service.”

Leonor also notes that Doña Ana would always invite Fray John “to sit down and not remain seated on the floor; but the saint would not agree, always seeking the humblest place in which to sit.” She adds, speaking of his modesty and bearing, that “simply by seeing him and hearing him, one was recollected and seemed moved to desire to serve our Lord. His words were holy and good, never idle. Everything that could be seen in him, whether in his words or his actions, was entirely holy, and he appeared to be very full of God and of virtues.”

Another witness, Lucas de San José, says that Fray John taught Doña Ana and her niece Doña Inés “the way of perfection,” and that “when the saint would go out to speak with them at the confessional, it was a common saying among the friars: ‘Now Saint Jerome, Saint Paula, and Eustochium are together.’”

Luis de Mercado y Peñalosa, Doña Ana’s nephew, also had much contact with John of the Cross. What he says about the saint’s virtues comes both from his own experience and from what he heard—especially about his humility and modesty—from his wife, Doña Inés de Mercado, “who for many years was in close contact with the holy father Fray John of the Cross, together with her aunt, Doña Ana de Mercado y Peñalosa.” He also recounts in detail the transfer of the saint’s remains from Úbeda and the veneration he received in Segovia.

José Vicente Rodríguez, o.c.d.

San Juan de la Cruz, ch. 27

Rodríguez, J.V. 2015, San Juan de la Cruz: la biografía, 2nd edn, San Pablo, Madrid.

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: This detail from an image of St. John of the Cross was engraved in 1788 by Gilles Antoine Demarteau. The technique used—of which Demarteau was a master—was crayon-manner in red and black, based on a drawing by Taillasson. The Art Institute of Chicago has a marvelous image of the tools used in crayon-manner engraving, with detailed figures of the process. Image credit: Rijksmuseum, Antwerp (Public domain)

Quote of the day, 4 March: St. John of the Cross

These stanzas, Reverend Mother [Anne of Jesus], were obviously composed with a certain burning love of God. The wisdom and charity of God is so vast, as the Book of Wisdom states, that it reaches from end to end, and the soul informed and moved by it bears in some way this very abundance and impulsiveness in her words. As a result, I do not plan to expound these stanzas in all its breadth and fullness that the fruitful spirit of love conveys to them. It would be foolish to think that expressions of love arising from mystical understanding, like these stanzas, are fully explainable.

Since these stanzas, then, were composed in a love flowing from abundant mystical understanding, I cannot explain them adequately, nor is it my intention to do so. I only wish to shed some general light on them, since Your Reverence has desired this of me. I believe such an explanation will be more suitable. It is better to explain the utterances of love in their broadest sense so that each one may derive profit from them according to the mode and capacity of one’s own spirit, rather than narrow them down to a meaning unadaptable to every palate.

As a result, though we give some explanation of these stanzas, there is no reason to be bound to this explanation. For mystical wisdom, which comes through love and is the subject of these stanzas, need not be understood distinctly in order to cause love and affection in the soul, for it is given according to the mode of faith through which we love God without understanding him.

Saint John of the Cross

Prologue to the Spiritual Canticle

Note: Anna Lobera Torres was born at Medina Del Campo (Valladolid, Spain) on 25 November 1545. She was received in 1570 into the first monastery of the Discalced Carmelites at Avila by St. Teresa herself, and later accompanied her to Salamanca and Beas. It was in returning to Granada to found a monastery, that she obtained from St. John of the Cross a commentary on the Spiritual Canticle, which he dedicated to her. After several migrations and misfortunes, in 1604, together with Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew, she founded monasteries in France and Belgium. She died in Brussels after a few years of great interior and physical suffering, on 4 March 1621. She was beatified by Pope Francis on 29 September 2024.

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Detail of a portrait of Anne of Jesus after Hieronymus Wierix. Image credit: Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (Public domain)

Quote of the day, 15 February: St. John of the Cross

The soul at the beginning of this song has grown aware of her obligations and observed that life is short, the path leading to eternal life constricted, the just one scarcely saved, the things of the world vain and deceitful, that all comes to an end and fails like falling water, and that the time is uncertain, the accounting strict, perdition very easy, and salvation very difficult.

She knows on the other hand of her immense indebtedness to God for having created her solely for himself, and that for this she owes him the service of her whole life; and because he redeemed her solely for himself she owes him every response of love.

She knows, too, of the thousand other benefits by which she has been obligated to God from before the time of her birth, and that a good part of her life has vanished, that she must render an account of everything — of the beginning of her life as well as the later part — unto the last penny, when God will search Jerusalem with lighted candles, and that it is already late — and the day far spent — to remedy so much evil and harm.

She feels on the other hand that God is angry and hidden because she desired to forget him so in the midst of creatures. Touched with dread and interior sorrow of heart over so much loss and danger, renouncing all things, leaving aside all business, and not delaying a day or an hour, with desires and sighs pouring from her heart, wounded now with love for God, she begins to call her Beloved and say:

Where have you hidden,
Beloved, and left me moaning?
you fled like the stag
after wounding me;
I went out calling you, but you were gone.

Saint John of the Cross

The Spiritual Canticle: St. 1, no. 1

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Saint John of the Cross (detail), Abel de Jesús (21st c. Spanish), digital illustration with Photoshop. Image credit: © Abel de Jesús (All rights reserved, used by permission).

Quote of the day, 15 January: St. John of the Cross

• Anyone who complains or grumbles is not perfect, nor even a good Christian.
• The humble are those who hide in their own nothingness and know how to abandon themselves to God.
• The meek are those who know how to suffer their neighbor and themselves.
• If you desire to be perfect, sell your will, give it to the poor in spirit, come to Christ in meekness and humility, and follow him to Calvary and the sepulcher.
• Those who trust in themselves are worse than the devil.
• Those who do not love their neighbor abhor God.

Saint John of the Cross

Sayings of Light and Love, nos. 162–167

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Vintage stereograph card depicting a boy and girl kneeling in prayer beside a brass bed with a red and white quilt, captioned “Now I Lay Me. At the End of Day.” Boston Public Library stereograph from the Stereograph Collection, ca. 1850-1920. Image credit: Boston Public Library Arts Department. No known copyright restrictions.

#charity #humility #love #Sayings #StJohnOfTheCross

Quote of the day, 31 December: St. Titus Brandsma

In his Explanation of “The Living Flame of Love”, St. John of the Cross draws the Holy Mother of God as clearly as possible into the circle of his metaphor clarifying the mystical life.

Speaking of the shining of the Lamps of God in us and our intake of the divine Light, which means as much as participating in God’s characteristics and works, he says that this bears still another name, i.e. “to overshadow”.

And in connection to this, he reminds (us) that also the Archangel Gabriel called the exquisite privilege of Mary to conceive God’s Son, an overshadowing of the Holy Spirit [Cf. Lk 1:35]. 

If one wants to understand, the Saint thus follows, what is meant by that spreading of God’s shadow or that overshadowing or that shining, for all these expressions have an equal meaning, then one should remember that every creature evokes a shadow according to its own nature and capacity. A dark opaque object gives an obscure shadow: a bright translucent object a clear and transparent shadow.

Thus, the shadow of something dark will call forth a different darkness, darker to the extent that its cause is also darker, while the shadow of something bright will be light according to the nature of the original light.

Therefore, the shadow brought forth by the lamp of God’s beauty will be a different beauty, the shadow by the lamp of strength a different strength, etc. or better said, all these shadows will be the beauty itself, the strength itself of God, but in shadow, because the soul here on earth cannot perfectly understand or take God into itself.

Over Mary, the Holy Spirit came in all his fullness, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her in the most perfect way [Cf. The Living Flame of Love, III, 12].

Saint Titus Brandsma

Mary’s motherhood of God, leading idea in the mystical life (excerpt), Carmelrozen 20 (May 1931), pp. 11–15

Brandsma, T. 1931, Mary’s motherhood of God, leading idea in the mystical life (excerpt), Carmelrozen, vol. 20, May, pp. 11–15. English translation by the Titus Brandsma Instituut, Nijmegen, available at: https://www.titusbrandsmateksten.nl/marys-motherhood-of-god/

Featured image: The Virgin and Child (detail), after Raphael (1483–1520), oil on canvas. Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery (public domain).

#BlessedVirginMary #MotherOfGod #overshadow #StJohnOfTheCross #StTitusBrandsma

Quote of the day, 17 December: St. John of the Cross

This mystical wisdom occasionally so engulfs souls in its secret abyss that they have the keen awareness of being brought into a place far removed from every creature.

They accordingly feel that they have been led into a remarkably deep and vast wilderness unattainable by any human creature, into an immense, unbounded desert, the more delightful, savorous, and loving, the deeper, vaster, and more solitary it is. They are conscious of being so much more hidden, the more they are elevated above every temporal creature.

Souls are so elevated and exalted by this abyss of wisdom, which leads them into the heart of the science of love, that they realize that all the conditions of creatures in relation to this supreme knowing and divine experience are very base, and they perceive the lowliness, deficiency, and inadequacy of all the terms and words used in this life to deal with divine things.

Saint John of the Cross

The Dark Night: Book II, chap. 17, no. 6

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photo by Walid Ahmad on Pexels.com (Stock photo)

#contemplation #love #mysticalTheology #StJohnOfTheCross #wisdom

Quote of the day, 14 December: St. John of the Cross

Jesus be in your soul, my daughter in Christ.

Thank you for your letter. And I thank God for having desired to use you in this foundation [in Córdoba], since His Majesty has done this in order to bring you greater profit. The more he wants to give, the more he makes us desire — even to the point of leaving us empty in order to fill us with goods. You will be repaid for the goods (the love of your sisters) that you leave behind in Sevilla.

Since the immense blessings of God can only enter and fit into an empty and solitary heart, the Lord wants you to be alone. For he truly loves you with the desire of being himself all your company. And Your Reverence will have to strive carefully to be content only with his companionship, so you might discover in it every happiness.

Even though the soul may be in heaven, it will not be happy if it does not conform its will to this. And we will be unhappy with God, even though he is always present with us, if our heart is not alone, but attached to something else. […]

Best regards to Sister María de la Visitación, and thank Sister Juana de San Gabriel for her greetings. May God give Your Reverence his Spirit.

From Segovia, July 8, 1589
Fray John of the Cross

Saint John of the Cross

Letter 15 to Madre Leonor de San Gabriel

Note: We rejoice with the Discalced Carmelite family as they celebrate the 300th anniversary of Saint John’s canonization and the 100th anniversary of his proclamation as a Doctor of the Church. This Centenary Year will be observed from 13 December 2025 through 26 December 2026.

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

#letters #love #solitude #spiritualDirection #stJohnOfTheCross

14 December: SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS OUR FATHER (Transferred to 15 December 2025)

December 14
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS
OUR FATHER
Priest and Doctor of the Church

Solemnity

Pastoral note: The Solemnity is transferred to
Monday, 15 December 2025

John was born at Fontiveros in Spain about 1542. He entered the Carmelites and with the permission of his superiors began to live a stricter life. Afterward, he was persuaded by Saint Teresa to begin, together with some others, the Discalced reform within the Order; this cost him much hard work and many trials. He died in Ubeda in 1591, outstanding in holiness and wisdom, to which his many spiritual writings give eloquent witness.

Evening Prayer I

Hymn

Soldier of the King eternal,
Valiant warrior, hail to thee!
Column raised to heights supernal
In unshaken majesty.
We revere thy glorious merits
And the tide of homage wells
From the fountain of our spirits,
Heav’nward rising as it swells.

Thou hast felt the strong protection
Of the Virgin Mother’s power,
Saving thee with sweet election
In the dread and dangerous hour.
Since thy youth she never swerveth
In her watchful care of thee,
And forever she preserveth
Him who vowed her slave to be.

Chosen offspring of our Mother,
In her labors thou didst share,
Aiding her, as son and brother,
Carmel’s beauty to repair;
Ruined shrine and temple raising
From the dust of slow decay,
Mary’s honor meetly praising,
In the dawn of fairer day.

Lo, the Cross thy weapon glorious,
As on Calvary’s height of yore,
When our Jesus reigned victorious,
Fallen nature to restore;
So thy burning love retrieveth
Glory of an ancient race,
And by suffering achieveth
Marvels of renewing grace.

Praise unto thy God be given
For the grace, O John, conferred,
When with chalice raised to Heaven,
Thine entreating prayer was heard:
In that first rapt celebration
Of the sacrifice divine,
Pledge of thine assured salvation
He hath deigned in love to sign.

87.87.D.
Regis aeterni generose miles

Psalmody

Ant. 1 He opened his mouth in prayer, and the Lord filled him with the spirit of understanding.

Psalm 113

Praise, O servants of the Lord, *
praise the name of the Lord!
May the name of the Lord be blessed *
both now and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to its setting *
praised be the name of the Lord!

High above all nations is the Lord, *
above the heavens his glory.
Who is like the Lord, our God, *
who has risen on high to his throne
yet stoops from the heights to look down, *
to look down upon heaven and earth?

From the dust he lifts up the lowly, *
from his misery he raises the poor
to set him in the company of princes, *
yes, with the princes of his people.
To the childless wife he gives a home *
and gladdens her heart with children.

Ant. He opened his mouth in prayer, and the Lord filled him with the spirit of understanding.

Ant. 2 The Lord gave him treasures out of the darkness, and riches that had been hidden away.

Psalm 146

My soul, give praise to the Lord; +
I will praise the Lord all my days, *
make music to my God while I live.

Put no trust in princes *
in mortal men in whom there is no help.
Take their breath, they return to clay *
and their plans that day come to nothing.

He is happy who is helped by Jacob’s God, *
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who alone made heaven and earth, *
the seas and all they contain.

It is he who keeps faith forever, *
who is just to those who are oppressed.
It is he who gives bread to the hungry, *
the Lord, who sets prisoners free,

the Lord who gives sight to the blind, *
who raises up those who are bowed down,
the Lord, who protects the stranger *
and upholds the widow and orphan.

It is the Lord who loves the just *
but thwarts the path of the wicked.
The Lord will reign forever, *
Zion’s God, from age to age.

Ant. The Lord gave him treasures out of the darkness, and riches that had been hidden away.

Ant. 3 No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived all that God has prepared for those who love him.

Canticle: Rev 4:11; 5:9, 10, 12

O Lord our God, you are worthy *
to receive glory and honor and power.

For you have created all things; *
by your will they came to be and were made.

Worthy are you, O Lord, *
to receive the scroll and break open its seals.

For you were slain; *
with your blood you purchased for God
men of every race and tongue, *
of every people and nation.

You made of them a kingdom +
and priests to serve our God, *
and they shall reign on the earth.

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, *
to receive power and riches,
wisdom and strength, *
honor and glory and praise.

Ant. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived all that God has prepared for those who love him.

Reading
Ephesians 3:14-19

I, Paul, kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name; and I pray that he will bestow on you gifts in keeping with the riches of his glory. May he strengthen you inwardly through the working of his Spirit. May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, and may charity be the root and foundation of your life. Thus you will be able to grasp fully, with all the holy ones, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love, and experience this love which surpasses all knowledge, so that you may attain to the fullness of God himself.

Responsory

℟ The God who brought light out of darkness * has shone in our hearts. Repeat ℟
℣ To give the light of knowledge of God’s glory that appears in the face of Christ * and has shone in our hearts.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
℟ The God who brought light out of darkness * has shone in our hearts.

Canticle of Mary

Ant. I sought wisdom in my prayer; I found it abundantly within myself, and advanced greatly in it.

Intercessions

Christ our Redeemer inspired our Father Saint John of the Cross to follow him, and raised him to the heights of contemplation. Let us praise our Lord, and say:

℟  Glory to you forever!

Christ our God, you taught your servant John the science of the Cross; — kindle the fire of your love in those to whom you have entrusted the teaching and government of your Church. ℟

Christ, unfailing light, you reveal yourself in the night of faith to the poor in spirit; — let your face shine on all those who seek you in poverty amid the darkness of this world. ℟

Christ, our only teacher, you disclose your highest secrets to those who love and seek you; — grant the consummation of your love to those you have called to serve you in Carmel. ℟

Christ, triumphant in heaven in the midst of all your saints, — grant everlasting rest and peace in your glory to all our departed brothers and sisters. ℟

Our Father…

Prayer

Lord,
you endowed our Father Saint John of the Cross
with a spirit of self-denial and a love of the cross.
By following his example
may we come to the eternal vision of your glory.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Invitatory

Ant. Come, let us worship Christ Jesus, sole Word of the Father.

Invitatory psalm, as in the Ordinary

Office of Readings

Hymn

O John, rejoice this hallowed day
The triumph of the Cross to hail,
Whereon with Christ ‘twas thine to stay,
Transfixed with pang of spear and nail!

Nor insults, scorn, nor cruel scourge,
Bondage, nor hunger can restrain
The love thy panting soul doth urge
To taste the bitter draught of pain.

Thine only joy, thy sole reward,
The boon for which thy spirit sighed,
To mirror here thy suffering Lord,
Like Him in anguish crucified.

While thou dost search the mystic night,
Through darkness gleams a radiant star,
And Carmel’s camp is all alight,
With flame that leads to heights afar.

Let them that dwell in bliss above
Praise Thee, O Christ, with joyful lay,
Let them that run to Thee in love
Pursue, like John, the thorn-strewn way.

L.M.
Diem Ioannes advenit

Psalmody

Ant. 1 God chose us to be conformed to the image of his Son.

Psalm 16

Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you. +
I say to the Lord: “You are my God. *
My happiness lies in you alone.”

He has put into my heart a marvelous love +
for the faithful ones who dwell in his land. *
Those who choose other gods increase their sorrows.
Never will I offer their offerings of blood. *
Never will I take their name upon my lips.

O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup; *
it is you yourself who are my prize.
The lot marked out for me is my delight: *
welcome indeed the heritage that falls to me!

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel, *
who even at night directs my heart.
I keep the Lord ever in my sight: *
since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.

And so my heart rejoices, my soul is glad; *
even my body shall rest in safety.
For you will not leave my soul among the dead, *
nor let your beloved know decay.

You will show me the path of life, +
the fullness of joy in your presence, *
at your right hand happiness forever.

Ant. God chose us to be conformed to the image of his Son.

Ant. 2 Among you I claimed to know nothing save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

Psalm 34: I

I will bless the Lord at all times,
his praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul shall make its boast. *
The humble shall hear and be glad.

Glorify the Lord with me. *
Together let us praise his name.
I sought the Lord and he answered me; *
from all my terrors he set me free.

Look towards him and be radiant; *
let your faces not be abashed.
This poor man called; the Lord heard him *
and rescued him from all his distress.

The angel of the Lord is encamped *
around those who revere him, to rescue them.
Taste and see that the Lord is good. *
He is happy who seeks refuge in him.

Revere the Lord, you his saints. *
They lack nothing, those who revere him.
Strong lions suffer want and go hungry *
but those who seek the Lord lack no blessing.

Ant. Among you I claimed to know nothing save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

Ant. 3 For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.

Psalm 34: II

Come, children, and hear me *
that I may teach you the fear of the Lord.
Who is he who longs for life  *
and many days to enjoy his prosperity?

Then keep your tongue from evil *
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn aside from evil and do good, *
seek and strive after peace.

The Lord turns his face against the wicked *
to destroy their remembrance from the earth.
The Lord turns his eyes to the just *
and his ears to their appeal.

They call and the Lord hears *
and rescues them in all their distress.
The Lord is close to the broken-hearted; *
those whose spirit is crushed he will save.

Many are the trials of the just man *
but from them all the Lord will rescue him.
He will keep guard over all his bones, *
not one of his bones shall be broken.

Evil brings death to the wicked, *
those who hate the good are doomed.
The Lord ransoms the souls of his servants. *
Those who hide in him shall not be condemned.

Ant. For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.

℣ In you, Lord, is the fount of life.
℟ It is your light that enlightens us.

First Reading
Colossians 1:11-29

A reading from the Letter of St Paul to the Colossians

God has transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son

May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

And you, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him, provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ. For this I toil, striving with all the energy which he mightily inspires within me.

Responsory

℟ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; * listen to him.
℣ In many and varied ways God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us in his Son. * Listen to him.

The Second Reading (Alternative 1)
(B, st. 37,36)

A reading from the Spiritual Canticle of St John of the Cross

Knowledge of the mystery hidden in Christ Jesus

However numerous are the mysteries and marvels that holy doctors have discovered and saintly souls understood in this earthly life, all the more is yet to be said and understood. There is much to fathom in Christ, for he is like an abundant mine with many recesses of treasures, so that however deep individuals may go they never reach the end or bottom, but rather in every recess find new veins with new riches everywhere. On this account St. Paul said of Christ: ‘In Christ dwell hidden all treasures and wisdom.’ The soul cannot enter these caverns or reach these treasures if, as we said, she does not first pass over to the divine wisdom through the straits of exterior and interior suffering. For one cannot reach in this life what is attainable of these mysteries of Christ without having suffered much and without having received numerous intellectual and sensible favors from God, and without having undergone much spiritual activity; for all these favors are inferior to the wisdom of the mysteries of Christ in that they serve as preparations for coming to this wisdom.

Oh! If we could but now fully understand how a soul cannot reach the thicket and wisdom of the riches of God, which are of many kinds, without entering the thicket of many kinds of suffering, finding in this her delight and consolation; and how a soul with an authentic desire for divine wisdom wants suffering first in order to enter this wisdom by the thicket of the cross! Accordingly, St. Paul admonished the Ephesians not to grow weak in their tribulations and to be strong and rooted in charity in order to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and height and depth, and to know also the supereminent charity of the knowledge of Christ, in order to be filled with all the fullness of God.

The gate entering into these riches of his wisdom is the cross, which is narrow, and few desire to enter by it, but many desire the delights obtained from entering there.

Responsory

℟ What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, things beyond our imagining—all that God has prepared for those who love him: * these are the very things that God has revealed to us through the Spirit.
℣ The Spirit reaches the depths of everything, even the depths of God: * these are the very things that God has revealed to us through the Spirit.

The Second Reading (Alternative 2)
(B, st. 5)

A reading from the Spiritual Canticle of St John of the Cross

Traces of the divine beauty in creation

Created things in themselves, as Saint Augustine declares, give testimony to God’s grandeur and excellence. For God created all things with remarkable ease and brevity, and in them he left some trace of who he is, not only in giving all things being from nothing, but even by endowing them with innumerable graces and qualities, making them beautiful in a wonderful order and unfailing dependence on one another. All of this he did through his own wisdom, the Word, his only begotten Son by whom he created them.

Saint Paul says: The Son of God is the splendor of his glory and the image of his substance. It should be known that only with this figure, his Son, did God look at all things, that is he communicated to them their natural being and many natural graces and gifts, and made them complete and perfect, as is said in Genesis: God looked at all things that he made, and they were very good. To look and behold that they were very good was to make them very good in the Word, his Son.

Not only by looking at them did he communicate natural being and graces, as we said, but also with this image of his Son alone, he clothed them in beauty by imparting to them supernatural being. This he did when he became man and elevated human nature in the beauty of God and consequently all creatures, since in human nature he was united with them all.

Accordingly, the Son of God proclaimed: If I be lifted up from the earth, I will elevate all things to me. And in this elevation of all things through the incarnation of his Son and through the glory of his resurrection according to the flesh, the Father did not merely beautify creatures partially, but rather we can say, clothed them wholly in beauty and dignity.

Responsory

℟ You will not deprive me, Lord, of what you have given me in Christ. * for in Christ you have given me everything.
℣ The heavens are mine, the earth is mine; mine are the people, mine the just, mine the sinners, the angels are mine and the Virgin Mother is mine, * for in Christ you have given me everything.

Where the Vigil Office is celebrated:

Canticles

Ant. Come, let us climb the mountain of the Lord, where God is pleased to dwell; there dwell his honor and glory alone.

Canticle I
Tobit 13:8-11,13-15

The future glory of Jerusalem

You have come to Mount Sion and the city of the living God (Heb 12:22)

Let all men speak of his majesty, *
and sing his praises in Jerusalem.

O Jerusalem, holy city, +
he scourged you for the works of your hands, *
but will again pity the children of the righteous.

Praise the Lord for his goodness, +
and bless the King of the ages, *
so that his tent may be rebuilt in you with joy.

May he gladden within you all who were captives; +
all who were ravaged may he cherish within you
for all generations to come.

A bright light will shine to all parts of the earth; *
many nations shall come to you from afar,
And the inhabitants of all the limits of the earth, +
drawn to you by the name of the Lord God, *
Bearing in their hands their gifts for the King of heaven.

Every generation shall give joyful praise in you, +
and shall call you the chosen one, *
through all ages forever.

Go, then, rejoice over the children of the righteous, +
who shall all be gathered together *
and shall bless the Lord of the ages.

Happy are those who love you, *
and happy those who rejoice in your prosperity.

Happy are all who shall grieve over you, *
over all your chastisements,

For they shall rejoice in you *
as they behold all your joy forever.

My spirit blesses the Lord, the great King.

Canticle II
Is 2:2-3

All the peoples will come to the house of the Lord

The kings of the earth will bring glory and honor to the holy city of Jerusalem (Rev 21:24)

It shall come to pass in the latter days *
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains +
and shall be raised above the hills, *
and all the nations shall flow to it.

And many people shall come, and say: +
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, *
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways *
and that we may walk in his paths.’

For out of Sion shall go forth the law, *
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Canticle III
Jer 7:2b-7

Amend your ways and I will dwell among you

Go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come and present your offering (Mt 5:24)

Hear the word of the Lord, +
all you men of Judah *
who enter these gates to worship the Lord.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, +
Amend your ways and your deeds, *
and I will let you dwell in this place.

Do not trust these deceptive words: +
‘This is the temple of the Lord, *
The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord,’

For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, *
If you truly execute justice one with another,
If you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow. *
Or shed innocent blood in this place,
In the land that I gave of old *
To your fathers for ever.

Ant. Come, let us climb the mountain of the Lord, where God is pleased to dwell; there dwell his honor and glory alone.

Gospel
Jn 12:35-36a, 44b-50

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Believe in the light and you will become sons of light

Jesus declared publicly:

“The light will be with you only a little longer now.
Walk while you have the light,
or the dark will overtake you;
he who walks in the dark does not know where he is going.
While you still have the light,
believe in the light
and you will become sons of light.”

“Whoever believes in me
believes not in me
but in the one who sent me,
and whoever sees me,
sees the one who sent me.
and whoever sees me,
sees the one who sent me.
I, the light, have come into the world,
so that whoever believes in me
need not stay in the dark anymore.
If anyone hears my words and does not keep them faithfully,
it is not I who shall condemn him,
since I have come not to condemn the world,
but to save the world:
he who rejects me and refuses my words
has his judge already:
the word itself that I have spoken
will be his judge on the last day.
For what I have spoken does not come from myself;
no, what I was to say, what I had to speak,
was commanded by the Father who sent me,
and I know that his commands mean eternal life.
And therefore what the Father has told me
is what I speak.”

Te Deum

You are God: we praise you; *
You are the Lord: we acclaim you;
You are the eternal Father: *
All creation worships you.

To you all angels, all the powers of heaven, *
Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might, *
heaven and earth are full of your glory.

The glorious company of apostles praise you. +
The noble fellowship of prophets praise you. *
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.

Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you: *
Father, of majesty unbounded,
your true and only Son, worthy of all worship, *
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.

You, Christ, are the King of glory, *
the eternal Son of the Father.

When you became man to set us free *
you did not spurn the Virgin’s womb.

You overcame the sting of death, *
and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

You are seated at God’s right hand in glory. *
We believe that you will come, and be our judge.

Come then, Lord, and help your people, *
bought with the price of your own blood,
and bring us with your saints*
to glory everlasting.

Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance.
— Govern and uphold them now and always.

Day by day we bless you.
— We praise your name for ever.

Keep us today, Lord, from all sin.
— Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.

Lord, show us your love and mercy,
— for we have put our trust in you.

In you, Lord, is our hope:
— And we shall never hope in vain.

Prayer

Lord,
you endowed our Father Saint John of the Cross
with a spirit of self-denial and a love of the cross.
By following his example
may we come to the eternal vision of your glory.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Morning Prayer

Hymn

Bearing His Cross, the gentle Lord drew nigh,
Offering the crown by merit richly won.
O Love! to quaff Thy cup and with Thee die,
Low answers John.

To live despised, in suffering and alone,
The one insatiate yearning of his breast;
To die devoid of honor, and unknown,
His heart’s request.

Death yielded triumph of the Cross at last,
While dazzling globes of fire from Heav’n descend,
And o’er his deeds the light of glory cast
To cheer his end.

His dying couch, with light irradiate,
Dims with celestial beam earth’s fitful flame,
Perfumes exhale, breathing of heavenly state
And saintly fame.

Honor supreme be to the Father given,
To Word and Paraclete in praise unite,
Upon whose Triune flame the hosts of Heaven
Feed with delight.

10.10.10.4.
Dum crucem gestat Dominus, Ioanni

OR:

Let us together
Up the high mountain
Go where the weather
Keeps a June glow.
You in your beauty,
I in your beauty,
Earth in your beauty,
All give delight.

Up past the steepest
Cliffs of our striving,
Up from the deepest
Thickets of pain
Where darkness bound you,
Ravaged and slew you,
Till daybreak found you,
Risen again.

Haste then our going
Up the high mountain,
Pure water flowing
Down from the height,
Wind in the spruces,
Light on the aspens,
Fruit of sweet juices
All give delight.

Deep caverns holding
Secrets of heaven,
Summits unfolding
Myst’ries divine,
Nightingale singing,
Grove lit with beauty
Each new day bringing
Taste of new wine.

Sweet the ascending
Up the high mountain,
Sweeter the ending
Love spread abroad.
Everyone sharing
Grace of your image.
Everyone bearing
The beauty of God.

54.54.D
Sr. Miriam of the Holy Spirit, O.C.D.

Psalmody

Ant. 1 Truly you are a hidden God, O God of Israel, our Savior.

Psalms and canticle from Sunday, Week I

Ant. 2 All things are yours, for you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Ant. 3 Give thanks to the Lord in your hearts, sing him spiritual canticles.

Reading

2 Corinthians 3:17-18

The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. All of us, gazing on the Lord’s glory with unveiled faces, are being transformed from glory to glory into his very image by the Lord who is the Spirit.

Responsory

℟ Your light will shine in the darkness * and the darkness will be as noon. Repeat ℟
℣ The Lord will fill your soul with his splendor, * and the darkness will be as noon.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
℟ Your light will shine in the darkness * and the darkness will be as noon.

Canticle of Zechariah

Ant. While you have the light, believe in the light, and you will be children of the light.

Or: The Lord has come to give light to those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet in the way of peace.

Intercessions

Jesus Christ, the head and bridegroom of his Church makes us joyful today on this feast of John of the Cross, his servant. Let us say to him:

℟  You, Christ, are the King of Glory.

Only Word of the Father, uttered eternally in the eternal silence, and in the fullness of time received in the Virgin’s womb; — may we hear your words today in the depths of our hearts, and put them into practice.

Wisdom of the Father, you showed your great love for us by emptying yourself in the Incarnation and on the Cross; — may we, who have been redeemed by your blood, always live in close communion with you. ℟

Perfect Image of the Godhead, in whom all the mysteries of eternal love are revealed and poured out, — may we go forward in the strength of your Spirit, toward your inaccessible light. ℟

Supreme Delight of the Father, in whom God looks mercifully on all men; — may we become perfect in compassion as our heavenly Father is perfect. ℟

First-born of all creation, through you the Father in his goodness created and re-created all things, — may our thoughts be turned today from the visible world to your invisible beauty. ℟

Our Father…

Prayer

Lord,
you endowed our Father Saint John of the Cross
with a spirit of self-denial and a love of the cross.
By following his example
may we come to the eternal vision of your glory.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Daytime Prayer

Complementary psalmody

Midmorning

Ant. Those who wish to come after me must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.

Reading

Ephesians 4:22-24

Acquire a fresh, spiritual way of thinking. You must put on that new man created in God’s image, whose justice and holiness are born of truth.

℣ A pure heart create for me, O God.
℟ Put a steadfast spirit within me.

Midday

Ant. Whoever would draw near to God must believe; the righteous live by faith.

Reading

Romans 5:1-2

Now that we have been justified by faith, we are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have gained access by faith to the grace in which we now stand, and we boast of our hope for the glory of God.

℣ I live by faith in the Son of God.
℟ Who loved me and gave himself for me.

Midafternoon

Ant. Your strength will lie in silence and hope.

Reading

Romans 8:24-25

In hope we were saved. But hope is not hope if its object is seen; how is it possible for one to hope for what he sees? And hoping for what we cannot see means awaiting it with patient endurance.

℣ The Lord is good to those who trust in him.
℟ To the soul who seeks him.

Prayer

Lord,
you endowed our Father Saint John of the Cross
with a spirit of self-denial and a love of the cross.
By following his example
may we come to the eternal vision of your glory.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Evening Prayer II

Hymn

Saint of the eagle eye,
Gazing enrapt on high
Mid dread abysses of Divinity;
Martyr by heart’s intent,
Virgin yet penitent,
Prophet and guide in realms of mystery.

Oft in thy life, ’tis told
Sweet converse thou didst hold
With the pure Virgin and her Son divine;
Thence came the wondrous light
Flooding with glory bright
Thy mystic page, for wisdom there did shine.

Clearly thou dost reveal
Secrets the clouds conceal
For thou hast seeped thy soul in rays above,
Pondering the mountain height,
Darkness of faith’s long night
And the reviving flame of mystic love.

When by God’s holy will
Thou dost His word instill,
Wondrous the marvels by the soul divined,
Like Him evoking light
From chaos deep as night,
Cheering with healthful beams the darkened mind.

O John, thy praise intone
Prostrate before the throne!
Thee hath the Father signed with light most true,
Gifts of the Spirit shine
And the meek Lamb divine
Openeth the book of life to thy pure view.

6.6.10.D.
O satis felix! Speculator alti

Ant. 1 God loved us so much that he brought us to life with Christ.

Psalm 15

Lord, who shall be admitted to your tent *
and dwell on your holy mountain?

He who walks without fault; *
he who acts with justice
and speaks the truth from his heart; *
he who does not slander with his tongue;

he who does no wrong to his brother, *
who casts no slur on his neighbor,
who holds the godless in disdain, *
but honors those who fear the Lord;

he who keeps his pledge, come what may; *
who takes no interest on a loan
and accepts no bribes against the innocent. *
Such a man will stand firm forever.

Ant. God loved us so much that he brought us to life with Christ.

Ant. 2 We know and believe in the love God has for us.

Psalm 112

Happy the man who fears the Lord, *
who takes delight in all his commands.
His sons will be powerful on earth; *
the children of the upright are blessed.

Riches and wealth are in his house; *
his justice stands firm forever.
He is a light in the darkness for the upright: *
he is generous, merciful and just.

The good man takes pity and lends, *
he conducts his affairs with honor.
The just man will never waver: *
he will be remembered forever.

He has no fear of evil news; *
with a firm heart he trusts in the Lord.
With a steadfast heart he will not fear, *
he will see the downfall of his foes.

Open-handed, he gives to the poor; +
his justice stands firm forever. *
His head will be raised in glory.

The wicked man sees and is angry, +
grinds his teeth and fades away; *
the desire of the wicked leads to doom.

Ant. We know and believe in the love God has for us.

Ant. 3 The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given us.

Canticle: Ephesians 1:3-10

Praised be the God and Father *
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who has bestowed on us in Christ *
every spiritual blessing in the heavens.

God chose us in him *
before the world began,
to be holy *
and blameless in his sight.

He predestined us +
to be his adopted sons through Jesus Christ, *
such was his will and pleasure,
that all might praise the glorious favor *
he has bestowed on us in his beloved.

In him and through his blood we have been redeemed, *
and our sins forgiven,
so immeasurably generous *
is God’s favor to us.

God has given us the wisdom *
to understand fully the mystery,
the plan he was pleased *
to decree in Christ.

A plan to be carried out *
in Christ, in the fullness of time,
to bring all things into one in him, *
in the heavens and on the earth.

Ant. The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given us.

Reading
1 Corinthians 13:8-10, 12-13, 14:1a

Love is eternal. There are inspired messages, but they are temporary; there are gifts of speaking in strange tongues, but they will cease; there is knowledge, but it will pass. For our gifts of knowledge and of inspired messages are only partial; but when what is perfect comes, then what is partial will disappear. What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete—as complete as God’s knowledge of me. Meanwhile these three remain: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love. It is love, then, that you should strive for.

Responsory

℟ Love is as strong as death: * it flashes forth like flames of fire. Repeat ℟
℣ Who can separate us from the love of Christ? * It flashes forth like flames of fire.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
℟ Love is as strong as death: * it flashes forth like flames of fire.

Canticle of Mary

Ant. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and that I may be in them.

Intercessions

God the Father has given us his Spirit through Jesus Christ his beloved Son, so that we may be partakers in the divine nature and witnesses to his love in the Church. Let us praise him and say:

℟  Through the intercession of Saint John, hear us, O Lord.

Give your Church the living faith that will lead all men and women to seek you; — and bring them to the closest union with you. ℟

Give the hope of heaven to all who are faithful in seeking you; — may they obtain all that they hope for. ℟

Pour out your love upon us; — that where there is no love we may put love and so draw love out. ℟

May all Carmelites be imitators of the Virgin Mary, Mother of our Order; — may we follow every inspiration of the Holy Spirit. ℟

Grant final purification to our departed brothers and sisters, — so that they may come without delay to sing canticles of love with all your saints. ℟

Our Father…

Prayer

Lord,
you endowed our Father Saint John of the Cross
with a spirit of self-denial and a love of the cross.
By following his example
may we come to the eternal vision of your glory.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever.

Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.

Featured image: Saint John of the Cross (detail), Abel de Jesús (21st c. Spanish), digital illustration with Photoshop. Image credit: © Abel de Jesús (All rights reserved, used by permission)

#DiscalcedCarmelite #DoctorOfTheChurch #LiturgyOfTheHours #priest #Solemnity #StJohnOfTheCross

Quote of the day, 13 December: St. John of the Cross

Now, in 1591, death did intervene. While his body was succumbing to erysipelas, his heart and reputation were still being battered.

The prior of the community of Ubeda, where he had gone for treatmen,t had a grudge against him and made his dying quite difficult. Medicines were regarded as a financial drain, putrid bandages were not to be washed, visits were curtailed . . .

John’s nurse, Bernardo, captures it with a modern phrase: “It was just incredible what was taking place!”

Finally, Bernardo himself was forbidden to nurse John. Whatever about the sick man’s patience, Bernardo had had enough: he wrote in complaint, higher authorities intervened, and matters improved in time for John to die in a community at peace.

Through all this—the sidelining, the libel, the dying—John seems to have been drawing on a different source of energy. A letter written from Ubeda puts it this way:

Love greatly those who speak against you and do not love you, because in this way love will come to birth in a heart that has none. That is what God does with us: he loves us, that we might love him, through the love he has for us.

Letter 33 to a Carmelite nun
Late 1591

That is the God to whom John bears witness: a God loving first, with a love which creates good in us; a God pressing in to release new capacities in us.

Iain Matthew, O.C.D.

Chapter 12, Healing Darkness (excerpt)

Note: Saint Edith Stein gives an account of the dying hours of Saint John of the Cross on 13 December 1591. He predicted, “at midnight I shall stand before God to recite Matins.” When at last he heard the bells in the tower strike twelve midnight, he said, with the crucifix in his hand “In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum” [Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit]. Edith concludes her account: “A parting glance at all those present, a final kiss for the Crucified One—then he stood before the throne of God to pray Matins with the heavenly choirs.”

Matthew, I 1995, The Impact of God: Soundings from St. John of the Cross, Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd, London.

Stein, E 2002, The Science of the Cross, The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Book 6, translated from the German by Koeppel, J, ICS Publications, Washington D.C.

Featured image: Featured image: Escultura de San Juan de la Cruz en Segovia is a photograph by Javier Cuadrado. It appears in this post as part of a composite image created in Adobe Express. Source: Adobe Stock, Asset ID# 70762898.

#deathAndDying #history #love #stEdithStein #stJohnOfTheCross

Quote of the day, 6 December: Iain Matthew, OCD

On a cold night in early December, [Saint John of the Cross’s] chaplaincy in Avila was raided. The young man was taken away for interrogation and chastisement. Then he disappeared.

On hearing of this arrest by friars opposing her reform, Teresa feared the worst. She wrote to King Philip: ‘I would be happier if [he] had fallen into the hands of Moors – they might show [him] more pity.’

But for once, her personality failed to produce results.

Unknown to his friends, John was being taken across the freezing Sierra Guadarrama to the city of Toledo. There he was incarcerated first in a jail, then in a tiny closet, with little or no light, and left.

Toledo can be very cold in winter, asphyxiating in summer. For John, solitary confinement was to mean malnutrition, regular flogging (causing wounds, which stayed with him for years), putrid clothing, and lice.

With this went a kind of psychological torture. His captors apparently feigned conversation at the door of his cell, leaving their phrases to foment in his mind. They hinted that he would get out in a coffin. They said the reform—his life’s work—had fallen apart.

All this does seem to have affected John’s mind. As he ate his scant ration, he had to cope with the fear that it was poisoned. He had to cope, too, with the constant insinuation (the walls of his dungeon told him this if nobody else did) that he was a rebel—he, whose religious culture was built on obedience. And he confessed that what pained him deeply was the worry that Teresa and the others would think he had deserted them.

It was all happening together: physical and emotional abuse; a whirl of anxiety in his mind; and, in his relationship with God, darkness. At the time when, if ever, he needed to feel the divine presence, his God seemed distant, even alien, and John felt himself a stranger. His later writings will bear out what contemporary witnesses suspected: ‘During the time they had him in prison, he suffered great inner dryness and affliction’; ‘at times [the Lord] withdrew and left him in inner darkness along with the darkness’ of his cell.’

Father Iain Matthew, O.C.D.

The Impact of God, chapter 2

Matthew, I 1995, The Impact of God: Soundings from St. John of the Cross, Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd, London.

Featured image: Toledo con nieve is a photograph from Spain by Javi. It comes from Adobe Stock (Asset ID 407750521).

#iainMatthew #prison #stJohnOfTheCross #stTeresaOfAvila #torture

St. John of the Cross Novena Compendium

“What profit is there in anything that is not the love of God, and what value has it in God’s sight?”

St. John of the Cross
Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book III, Chapter 30

Seven Years With Saint John of the Cross (2018–2024)

This compendium brings together seven novenas to Saint John of the Cross, prayed over the years with varying themes, voices, and approaches, yet all rooted in the same desire to draw closer to God through the wisdom of the Mystical Doctor. Some novenas follow John’s classic texts in steady sequence; others explore particular dimensions of his teaching—humility, the dark night, the spousal love of the Bridegroom, or the daily work of conversion. Whether presented with simple questions, pastoral reflections, or the insights of guest authors, each novena offers a different doorway into John’s vision of the soul’s ascent to God. Taken together, they form a rich and varied path of prayer, inviting readers to encounter St. John anew and to walk with him toward the transforming union for which every heart is made.

2018 Novena: From Detachment to Peace

This 2018 novena brings together nine short texts from Saint John of the Cross—taken from the Ascent, the Sayings of Light and Love, his letters, the Spiritual Canticle, and the Living Flame. Presented with brief Scripture passages and a traditional novena prayer, these selections trace a simple but steady movement through John’s major themes: the call to walk the path of Christ, to live in peace, to embrace virtue and detachment, to receive instruction in the dark night, and to be drawn toward union with God.

Link to 2018 Day 1

2019 Novena: Humility and Inner Conversion

This 2019 novena on Humility and Inner Conversion invites the soul to stand in truth before God, following Saint John of the Cross along the path of self-emptying, contrition, and trust. Drawing especially from the Sayings of Light and Love, each day confronts the illusions of self-reliance and pride, calling the heart to descend into the “wholly loving trust” that alone opens us to God’s mercy. Through Scripture, John’s terse and luminous counsels, and the daily novena prayer, readers are led into a deeper formation of conscience and a more earnest desire for the transforming grace that restores humility and shapes a life of authentic discipleship.

Link to 2019 Day 1

2020 Novena: Journey to Union

This 2020 novena revisits the same readings from Saint John of the Cross that appeared in the 2018 series. Instead of introducing new material, it re-presents those earlier selections—drawn from the Ascent, the Sayings of Light and Love, his letters, the Spiritual Canticle, and the Living Flame of Love—with revised titles and a fresh presentation. This repetition was intentional: the same words of John can speak differently from year to year, offering another opportunity to pray more deeply with his teaching.

Link to 2020 Day 1

2021 Novena: Examining the Heart

The 2021 novena also draws on the familiar nine readings from Saint John of the Cross but approaches them in a new way. This time the familiar texts are framed by simple, searching questions—What do you want? What must I do? How can I understand?—inviting a more personal examen in light of John’s teaching. With the daily Scripture passage, John’s brief selection, and the novena prayer from Carmel in Nigeria, the focus is less on introducing new material and more on letting the saint’s words probe the heart again, offering fresh grace through repeated prayer and reflection.

Link to 2021 Introduction

2022 Novena: The Night That Gives Sight (with Fr. Quang D. Tran, S.J.)

In this 2022 novena, Father Quang D. Tran, S.J., reflects on Saint John of the Cross’s teaching on the “dark night,” the purifying work by which God strips away the artificial lights in our lives so that we may see the true Light more clearly. Drawing on John’s own suffering and the wisdom of other spiritual masters, he shows how faith—stripped of lesser consolations—guides us more surely toward God. In the spirit of Advent, with its call to watchfulness and discernment, this novena helps us distinguish between the lights that blind and the Light that strengthens faith, hope, and love even in our darkest moments.

Link to 2022 Introduction

2023 Novena: Our Bridegroom and Friend

In this 2023 novena, guest author Laura Ercolino reflects on Saint John of the Cross’s teaching on the soul’s spousal relationship with Christ, drawing deeply from the Song of Songs and John’s own Spiritual Canticle. She reminds us that John understood the Canticle as the scriptural key to the soul’s journey toward transforming union—the divine marriage for which every heart is made. As the novena pairs John’s writings with verses from the Song of Songs, Laura invites readers to notice how the Divine Bridegroom is already wooing and drawing them into intimacy, offering foretastes of union even as we continue our ascent toward the eternal wedding feast.

Link to 2023 Introduction

2024 Novena: Walking the Path of Love

The 2024 novena, Walking the Path of Love, presented the nine classic readings from Saint John of the Cross with added depth through daily “Thoughts to Ponder” and a podcast introduction. Each day unfolded one of John’s central themes—rejoicing in God alone, responding to divine love, cultivating peace, embracing suffering with Christ, detachment, guidance in the dark night, spiritual marriage, and union—while inviting readers to reflect personally on how these teachings speak to their own journey. With the traditional novena prayer from the Carmelite nuns of Little Rock, this year’s novena offered a more catechetical and reflective approach, encouraging a sincere engagement with John’s wisdom and a renewed openness to the transforming work of divine love.

Link to 2024 Introduction

How to Use This Collection

Each novena follows the same structure: a brief introduction followed by nine days of prayer and reflection. You can pray them:

• Around St. John of the Cross’s solemnity (14 December)
• During times of personal need for his intercession
• As part of your spiritual reading throughout the year
• With family or prayer groups seeking his guidance

If you’re new to Saint John of the Cross, the 2019 novena is an excellent place to begin. Drawing from the Sayings of Light and Love, it introduces John’s spirituality in short, accessible steps and provides a helpful foundation for the deeper themes explored in the other novenas.

Novena Prayer

O seraphic St. John of the Cross,
the ardent love which burned always in your heart
led you to see all things only in God
and to seek only His glory.
It was to increase this love
and thus unite yourself more closely to God
that you led such a penitential life.

Mention your request

I beg you, inflame my heart with a love like yours,
so that I may have the courage to mortify myself
and give myself generously to the practice of virtue.
Thus may I truly love God
with all the fervor of which I am capable.
Amen.

Our Father…

Hail Mary…

Glory be…

Saint John of the Cross, pray for us!

John of the Cross, St 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, rev. edn, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

All scripture references in this novena are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America as accessed from the Bible Gateway website.

Don’t become discouraged and give up prayer, says St. John of the Cross. We offer varying novenas to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, as well as novenas to St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and St. Joseph.

Let us unite in prayer

Featured image: The bronze figure of Saint John of the Cross is part of the public artwork Homenaje al primer encuentro de Santa Teresa de Jesús y San Juan de la Cruz en Medina del Campo en 1567. Photograph by Ángel Cantero, October 2015. Image source: Iglesia en Valladolid on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0). Collage for the Novena Compendium created by Carmelite Quotes in Adobe Express.

#faith #love #novena #StJohnOfTheCross #unionWithGod

Quote of the day, 19 October: St. John of the Cross

Regarding other ceremonies in vocal prayers and other devotions, one should not become attached to any ceremonies or modes of prayer other than those Christ taught us.

When his disciples asked him to teach them to pray, Christ obviously, as one who knew so well his Father’s will, would have told them all that was necessary in order to obtain an answer from the Eternal Father. And, in fact, he taught them only those seven petitions of the Pater Noster, which include all our spiritual and temporal needs, and he did not teach numerous other kinds of prayers and ceremonies [Lk. 11:1-4].

Instead, at another time he told them that in praying they should not desire much speaking because our heavenly Father clearly knows our needs [Mt. 6:7-8]. He only charged us with great insistence to persevere in prayer—that is, in the Pater Noster—teaching in another place that one should pray and never cease [Lk. 18:1].

He did not teach us a quantity of petitions but that these seven be repeated often, and with fervor and care. In these, as I say, are embodied everything that is God’s will and all that is fitting for us.

Accordingly, when His Majesty had recourse three times to the Eternal Father, all three times he prayed with the same petition of the Pater Noster, as the Evangelists recount: Father, if it cannot be but that I drink this chalice, may your will be done [Mt. 26:39; Mk. 14:36; Lk. 22:42].

And the ceremonies he taught us for use in our prayers are either of two. Our prayer should be made either in the concealment of our inner room (where without noise and without telling anyone we can pray with a more perfect and pure heart, as he said: When you pray enter your inner room, and having closed the door, pray [Mt. 6:6]); or, if not in one’s room, it should be made in the solitary wilderness, and at the best and most quiet time of night, as he did [Lk. 6:12].

No reason exists, hence, for designating fixed times or set days, or for choosing some days more than others for our devotions; neither is there reason for using other kinds of prayer, or phrases having a play on words, but only those prayers that the Church uses, and as she uses them, for all are reducible to the Pater Noster.

Saint John of the Cross

The Ascent of Mount Carmel: Book Three, Chapter 44, no. 4

John of the Cross, St. 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Revised Edition, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K and Rodriguez, O with revisions and introductions by Kavanaugh, K, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Outer cloister walkway at the Carmel du Pater Noster, Jerusalem. The walls of the monastery church are covered with panels carrying the Lord’s Prayer in different languages. The Swedish and Georgian versions are seen in the foreground. The Carmel is built on the spot where Jerusalem tradition says Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer to his disciples. Image credit: Alex-David Baldi / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

#OurFather #perseverance #prayer #simplicity #StJohnOfTheCross

Quote of the day, 5 October: St. John of the Cross

Shepherds, you who go
up through the sheepfolds to the hill,
if by chance you see
him I love most,
tell him I am sick, I suffer, and I die.

The Spiritual Canticle, Stanza 2

If by chance you see

This means: If by my good luck you so reach his presence that he sees and hears you.

It is noteworthy that even though God has knowledge and understanding of all, and even sees the very thoughts of the soul, as Moses asserts (Dt 31:21), it is said when he provides a remedy for us in our needs that he sees them, and when he answers our prayers that he hears them.

Not all needs and petitions reach the point at which God, in hearing, grants them. They must wait until in his eyes they arrive at the suitable time, season, and number, and then it is said that he sees and hears them.

This is evident in Exodus. After the 400 years in which the children of Israel had been afflicted by their slavery in Egypt, God declared to Moses: I have seen the affliction of my people and have come down to free them [Ex 3:7-8], even though he had always seen it.

And St. Gabriel, too, told Zechariah not to fear, because God had heard his prayer and given him the son for whom he had prayed those many years, even though God had always heard that prayer [Lk 1:13].

Every soul should know that even though God does not answer its prayer immediately, he will not on that account fail to answer it at the opportune time if it does not become discouraged and give up its prayer. He is, as David remarks, a helper in opportune times and tribulations [Ps 9:9].

Saint John of the Cross

The Spiritual Canticle, stanza 2, no. 4

John of the Cross, St. 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Revised Edition, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K and Rodriguez, O with revisions and introductions by Kavanaugh, K, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photographer Christof Timmermann captures this image in absolute black and white photography, titled “Silent Moments.” You can view more of his street photography on Flickr. Image credit: © christof_tim / Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

#God #listening #perseverance #prayer #StJohnOfTheCross

Quote of the day, 20 June: St. John of the Cross

Jesus be in your soul, my daughter in Christ.

The reason for my not having written during all this time is due more to my having been in such an out-of-the-way place, as is Segovia, than because of a lack of desire. My will to write remains ever the same, and I hope in God this will continue to be so. I have been sorry about your troubles.

I would desire that you not be so solicitous for the temporal things of the house because God will gradually forget you and you will come to a state of great spiritual and temporal need; for it is our anxiety that creates our needs.

Cast your care on the Lord, daughter, and he will sustain you [Ps. 55:22], for he who gives, and wants to give, the highest cannot fail to give the least. Be careful that you do not lack the desire to be poor and in want; for if you do, at that very hour devotion will fail you and you will gradually weaken in the practice of virtue.

If previously you desired poverty, now that you are superior, you ought to desire and love it much more. You ought to govern and provide the house with virtues and ardent desires for heaven rather than with worries and plans about temporal and earthly things. The Lord tells us not to be thinking about food or clothing or tomorrow [Mt. 6:31-34].

Saint John of the Cross

Letter 21 to Madre María de Jesús (excerpts)
Discalced Carmelite prioress of Córdoba
Madrid, 20 June 1590

John of the Cross, St. 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Revised Edition, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K and Rodriguez, O with revisions and introductions by Kavanaugh, K, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Study of a Woman’s Head was painted in oil on wood, ca. 1780 by Jean-Baptiste Greuze (French, 1725–1805). Image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Public domain).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How has God shown you His care and sustained you through His Divine Providence?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#DivineProvidence #monasticLife #poverty #spiritualDirection #StJohnOfTheCross #trust

Discover St. John of the Cross's spiritual wisdom! Our practical reading guide offers steps to engage his profound writings. Start now! #StJohnoftheCross

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/14/s2ep39juan/

Mary, the star of the dark night, tenderly guides souls through the purifying trials of the spirit. Blessed Marie-Eugène explains her maternal role in our darkest moments. #StJohnoftheCross #darknight

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/12/eugene-mary24/

Discover the prayers for the Solemnity of St. John of the Cross, the Doctor of Mystical Theology. Celebrate his life and legacy with us! #StJohnoftheCross #liturgy

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/12/juanlit24/

Day 9 of our novena to St. John of the Cross reflects on forgetting all for peace: “When all things are forgotten, nothing disturbs the peace.” #Novena #StJohnoftheCross

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/11/juannov2024-9/

Day 8 of our novena to St. John of the Cross reflects on union with the Bridegroom: “An awakening of God in the soul.” #Novena #StJohnoftheCross

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/10/juannov2024-8/

Day 7 of our novena to St. John of the Cross reflects on spiritual marriage: “It is a total transformation in the Beloved.” #Novena #StJohnoftheCross

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/09/juannov2024-7/

Day 6 of our novena to St. John of the Cross reflects on the guidance we need to navigate spiritual darkness. #Novena #StJohnoftheCross

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/08/juannov2024-6/

Day 5 of our novena to St. John of the Cross: “Compared to the infinite goodness of God, all the goodness of creatures can be called wickedness.” #Novena #StJohnoftheCross

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/07/juannov2024-5/

Day 4 of our novena to St. John of the Cross: “Desire to resemble somewhat in suffering this great God of ours, humbled and crucified.” #Novena #StJohnoftheCross

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/06/juannov2024-4/

Day 3 of our novena to St. John of the Cross: “Strive to preserve your heart in peace; let no event of this world disturb it.” #Novena #StJohnoftheCross

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/05/juannov2024-3/

Day 2 of our novena to St. John of the Cross: “I pity the one who draws herself back from my love… my heart is an open wound.” #Novena #StJohnoftheCross

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/04/juannov2024-2/

True joy comes from walking the path of love and charity. Begin Day 1 of the novena to St. John of the Cross. #Novena #StJohnoftheCross

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/04/juannov2024-1/

Discover our 2024 novena to St. John of the Cross: “Walking the Path of Love.” Subscribe to receive daily reflections by email! #Novena #StJohnoftheCross

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/03/juannov2024-0/

Have you ever wondered what Christ’s prayer was like? Upon explanation, we realize that his prayer consisted essentially in the penetration of his very being by God.

Consider the experience of Saint John of the Cross. His life was brief because his great love prepared him for an early death. Near the end of his life, he tells us how at Beas, he could not hear the name of God uttered without entering into ecstasy. His body lost its weight and rose toward heaven. It was as if he were caught up and carried off by the movement of his soul in its eagerness to head off to God. The Lord truly dwelled within him.

I vividly remember a priest in Le Havre. Whenever I would go very early in the morning to offer Mass at his church, he was already there, deep in prayer. I was struck by the fact that, when I approached him, he seemed to take a break from his conversation with God. It was as if he were saying: “please, excuse me, Lord. I have to help someone. I’ll be back as soon as possible.” That priest gave the impression of being fully absorbed in the presence of God. Our prayer should reach that level of intensity and development.

Prayer should be our steady supernatural method of breathing, day and night, in the silence of our souls. Our prayer should grow more intense at certain times and those times should increase in both frequency and duration. Eventually, even daily duties… will be subsumed into prayer and nothing will be able to disrupt its focus.

Servant of God Père Jacques de Jésus

Retreat to the Carmel of Pontoise
Conference 4, Christ at Prayer (excerpt)
7 September 1943

Jacques, P 2005, Listen to the silence: A retreat with Père Jacques, translated from the French and edited by Murphy F, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Christ is seen praying alone on the mountaintop at night in this image generated by Adobe Firefly 3 in Adobe Express. Image credit: Carmelite Quotes (AI artwork)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/09/06/jacques-7sep43prayer/

#inspiration #LucienBunel #PèreJacquesDeJésus #prayer #silence #spiritualDirection #spirituality #StJohnOfTheCross

The Lord wanted me while in this state to see sometimes the following vision: I saw close to me toward my left side an angel in bodily form. I don’t usually see angels in bodily form except on rare occasions; although many times angels appear to me, but without my seeing them, as in the intellectual vision I spoke about before [cf. Life, 27:2, 28:4]

This time, though, the Lord desired that I see the vision in the following way: the angel was not large but small; he was very beautiful, and his face was so aflame that he seemed to be one of those very sublime angels that appear to be all afire. They must belong to those they call the cherubim, for they didn’t tell me their names.

But I see clearly that in heaven there is so much difference between some angels and others and between these latter and still others that I wouldn’t know how to explain it.

I saw in his hands a large golden dart and at the end of the iron tip there appeared to be a little fire. It seemed to me this angel plunged the dart several times into my heart and that it reached deep within me. When he drew it out, I thought he was carrying off with him the deepest part of me; and he left me all on fire with great love of God.

The pain was so great that it made me moan, and the sweetness this greatest pain caused me was so superabundant that there is no desire capable of taking it away; nor is the soul content with less than God.

The pain is not bodily but spiritual, although the body doesn’t fail to share in some of it, and even a great deal. The loving exchange that takes place between the soul and God is so sweet that I beg Him in goodness to give a taste of this love to anyone who thinks I am lying.

On the days this lasted, I went about as though stupefied. I desired neither to see nor to speak, but to clasp my suffering close to me, for to me it was greater glory than all creation.

Another type of prayer quite frequent is a kind of wound in which it seems as though an arrow is thrust into the heart, or into the soul itself. Thus the wound causes a severe pain which makes the soul moan; yet, the pain is so delightful the soul would never want it to go away. This pain is not in the senses, nor is the sore a physical one, but the pain lies in the interior depths of the soul without resemblance to bodily pain.

Yet, since the experience cannot be explained save through comparisons, these rough comparisons are used (I mean rough when compared to what the experience is); but I don’t know how to describe it any other way. For this reason, these are not things to be written about or spoken of, because it’s impossible to understand them unless one has experienced them. I mention the interior depths this pain reaches because spiritual sufferings are extremely different from physical ones. From this fact, I deduce how much greater the sufferings of souls in hell and purgatory are than what can be understood of them from bodily sufferings here on earth.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Book of Her Life, 29:13–14
Spiritual Testimonies, 59:17

Among Teresa’s mystical favors, the grace of the arrow merits special attention for two reasons:

1. For the precision and repetition with which she describes it, and
2. For the impact that it has produced in students, theologians, and psychologists, especially among those resistant to its supernatural origin.

Let us specify:

• Teresa describes these phenomena at least three times in The Book of Her Life, 29:13–14; in Spiritual Testimonies, 59:17; The Interior Castle, VI, 2:4; there are other numerous allusions in her poems and letters. (It is indispensable to read the first two passages).
• This grace lasted or was repeated according to her, for various years, probably at the beginning of 1560 (cf. The Interior Castle, V, 11:1 and 29:14) when Teresa had reached age 45.
• As she herself admits, it was not a bodily phenomenon (“The pain is not bodily but spiritual, although the body doesn’t fail to share some of it, and even a great deal”, The Book of Her Life 29:13), yet in describing it, in the “depths” or in the “heart” she localizes it (metaphorically in both cases): “this pain is not in the sensory part, nor is the sore a physical one, but the pain lies in the interior depths of the soul without resemblance to bodily pain”… (Spiritual Testimonies, 59:17).
• She staged it through the mediation of an angel located outside herself; she herself contextualizes it within an affective process…“increasing the love of God in me to such a degree that I didn’t know where it came from” (for it was very supernatural, The Book of Her Life, 29:8); and, she categorized it as a wound of love… of supernatural origin.
• She never alludes, not even indirectly, to possible traces of this grace in her physical heart pains.

Interpretations and appraisals:

The first to appraise the mystical episode after Teresa is Fray John of the Cross, for he interprets it theologically as a charismatic grace given to Teresa in her function as founder. Then after his interpretation follow the versions of the artists and sculptors, especially among these latter the work in marble done by Bernini. Later they confer on her liturgical honors. And, finally, with the advent of the psychological sciences come naturalist interpretations.

Let us mark three of these:

1. Pathological: Doctor R. Novera Santos is sure that we are dealing with a pleasing heart attack;
2. Psychoanalytic: among whom are disciples of Freud, H. Leuba is sure that we are dealing simply with erotic phenomena and that when Teresa speaks of the “depths”, one should read “womb, that’s all!”, although Teresa says that it happens in “the interior of the soul”;
3. Still in our days, a century later, the hypothesis is formulated of a feminine episode of orgasm (M. Izquierdo), obviously localized in the genital organs, despite the fact that Teresa never alludes to them and that she expressly excludes them in familiar confidences.

They amount to three interpretations lacking an objective foundation: they are contrary to the autobiographical data supplied by Teresa herself.

The supernatural interpretation given coherently by Teresa still stands. as also does the theological appraisal of St. John of the Cross who knows personally and directly what was experienced by Teresa, a good psychologist and, above all, great mystical analyst:

“It will happen that while the soul is inflamed with the love of God,… it will feel that a seraph is assailing it by means of an arrow or dart that is all afire with love… as though it were a sharp point in the substance of the spirit, in the heart of the pierced soul.”

Graces like this are “granted to those whose virtue and spirit were to be dffused among their children” (Living Flame of Love, 2:9, 12). An anonymous allusion to the Teresian episode.

Tomás Alvarez, O.C.D.

Chapter X, no. 96, The Mystery Phenomena

Alvarez T & Kavanaugh K 2011, St. Teresa of Avila: 100 themes on her life and work, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: This detail of a photographic artwork created by Elías Rodríguez Picón comes to us thanks to the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Alba de Tormes. The artist’s sister is the model for this scene, which is intended to show the beginning moment of the Transverberation. You can see and read more about his photographic technique in this article from La Hornacina (in Spanish). Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/25/alvarez-arrow/

#angel #fire #goldenDart #mysticalExperience #pain #StJohnOfTheCross #StTeresaOfAvila #TomásAlvarez #transverberation #wound

A bird caught in birdlime has a twofold task: It must free itself and cleanse itself. And by satisfying their appetites, people suffer in a twofold way: They must detach themselves and, after being detached, clean themselves of what has clung to them.

Those who do not allow their appetites to carry them away will soar in their spirit as swiftly as the bird that lacks no feathers.

Sayings of Light and Love, nos. 22–23

Here we have the reason for stating that two wills become one. And this one will is God’s will, which also becomes the soul’s. If a person were to desire an imperfection unwanted by God, this one will of God would be undone because of the desire for what God does not will.

Clearly, for a soul to reach union with God through its will and love, it must first be freed from every appetite, however slight. That is, one must not give consent of the will advertently and knowingly to an imperfection, and one must have the power and freedom to be able, upon advertence, to refuse this consent.

Some examples of these habitual imperfections are: the common habit of being very talkative; a small attachment one never really desires to conquer, for example, to a person, to clothing, to a book or a cell, or to the way food is prepared, and to other trifling conversations and little satisfactions in tasting, knowing, and hearing things, and so on.

Any of these habitual imperfections to which there is attachment is as harmful to progress in virtue as the daily commission of many other imperfections and sporadic venial sins that do not result from a bad habit. These latter will not hinder a person as much as will the attachment to something. As long as this attachment remains, it is impossible to make progress in perfection, even though the imperfection may be very small.

It makes little difference whether a bird is tied by a thin thread or by a cord. Even if it is tied by thread, the bird will be held bound just as surely as if it were tied by cord; that is, it will be impeded from flying as long as it does not break the thread. Admittedly the thread is easier to break, but no matter how easily this may be done, the bird will not fly away without first doing so.

This is the lot of those who are attached to something: No matter how much virtue they have they will not reach the freedom of the divine union.

An individual’s appetite and attachment resemble the remora, which, if successful in clinging to a ship, will hold it back and prevent it from reaching port, or even from sailing, even though this fish is exceptionally small.

It is regrettable, then, to behold some souls, laden as rich vessels with wealth, deeds, spiritual exercises, virtues, and favors from God, who never advance because they lack the courage to make a complete break with some little satisfaction, attachment, or affection (which are all about the same) and thereby never reach the port of perfection.

This requires no more than a sudden flap of one’s wings in order to tear the thread of attachment, or to get rid of the clinging remora.

Saint John of the Cross

The Ascent of Mount Carmel, I, chap. 11, nos. 3–4

John of the Cross, St. 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Revised Edition, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K and Rodriguez, O with revisions and introductions by Kavanaugh, K, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photographer Djalma Paiva Armelin captured this image of a glittering-throated emerald hummingbird (Chionomesa fimbriata) feeding in Brazil in 2017. Image credit: Djalma Paiva Armelin / pexels.com (Stock photo)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/22/juan-birdlime/

#attachment #bird #freedom #love #perfection #power #sin #StJohnOfTheCross #unionWithGod #willOfGod

Song of the soul that rejoices to know God by faith.
 
How well I know the fount that freely flows 
Although ’tis night!

1. The eternal fount its source has never show’d, 
   But well I know wherein is its abode, 
   Although ’tis night.
2. Its origin I know not—it has none: 
   All other origins are here begun, 
   Although ’tis night.
3. I know that naught beside can be so fair, 
   That heav’ns and earth drink deep refreshment there, 
   Although ’tis night.
4. Well know I that its depths can no man plumb 
   Nor, fording it, across it hope to come, 
   Although ’tis night.
5. Never was fount so clear, undimm’d and bright: 
   From it alone, I know, proceeds all light, 
   Although ’tis night.
6. Rich are its streams and full—this know I well; 
   They water nations, heav’ns and depths of hell, 
   Although ’tis night.
7. Yea, more I know: the stream that hence proceeds, 
   Omnipotent, suffices for all needs, 
   Although ’tis night.
8. From fount and stream another stream forth flows, 
   And this, I know, in nothing yields to those, 
   Although ’tis night.
9. The eternal fount is hidden in living bread, 
   That we with life eternal may be fed, 
   Although ’tis night.
10. Call’d to this living fount, we creatures still 
    Darkly may, feed hereon and take our fill, 
    Although ’tis night.
11. This living fount which is so dear to me 
    Is in the bread of life, which now I see, 
    Although ’tis night.

Saint John of the Cross

Poetry, VIII

John of the Cross, St; de Santa Teresa, S; Peers, E 1934–1935, The complete works of Saint John of the Cross, doctor of the Church, translated from the Spanish by Peers, E, Burns Oates & Washbourne, London.

Featured image: Moonlight on the Everglades is an oil on linen painting executed in 1890 by American artist and illustrator Paul Frenzeny (1840–1902). It comes from the Florida Art Collection of the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/17/juan-poetry8/

#breadOfLife #fountain #livingWater #night #poetry #StJohnOfTheCross

… I tell you that ever-present to me is what they did with Fray John of the Cross, for I don’t know how God bears with things like that; even you don’t know everything about it.

For all these nine months he was held in a little prison cell where small as he is, he could hardly fit. In all that time he was given no change of tunic, even though he had come close to the point of death. Only three days before his escape the subprior gave him one of his shirts. He underwent harsh scourges, and no one was allowed to see him.

I experience the greatest envy. Surely our Lord found in him the resources for such a martyrdom. And it is good that this be known so that everyone will be all the more on guard against these people. May God forgive them, amen.

An investigation should be conducted to show the nuncio what those friars did to this saint, Fray John, without any fault on his part, for it is a pitiful thing. Tell this to Fray Germán; he will do it because he’s quite mad about this …

Saint Teresa of Avila

Letter 260 to Father Jerónimo Gracián, Madrid
Avila, 21–22 August 1578

Saint John of the Cross escaped from his prison cell in Toledo during the night of 17-18 August 1578. #StJohnOfTheCross

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Discalced Carmelite scholar, translator, and editor of the collected works of Saints John and Teresa, Father Kieran Kavanaugh offers his analysis of Saint Teresa’s letter to Father Gracián:

“These are two fragments from one letter. They reflect Teresa’s first impressions on learning of St. John of the Cross’s escape from his prison cell in Toledo and of what he suffered there.”

The nuncio at the time was the Italian Archbishop Filippo (Felipe) Sega. Father Kavanaugh’s editorial note is too tantalizing to excerpt, so we present it in its entirety.

Born in Bologna, he became Bishop of Ripa and nuncio to Flanders before being appointed nuncio to Spain in 1577 as successor to Ormaneto. He entered Spain with a bias against Teresa and her reform, the source of which was Cardinal Buoncompagni, a relative of his and nephew of the pope.

But the entire conflict that had developed in Spain among the Carmelites was so complex that he had little inkling of what he was getting into. He supported Tostado who was seeking to put into effect the decisions of the chapter of Piacenza. It was he [Sega] who called Teresa “a restless, gadabout woman.”

Sega considered the discalced friars who took part in the chapter of Almodóvar in 1578 delinquents and rebels, never listened to their defense, and imprisoned their leaders in different monasteries of the observant Carmelites.

Through the intervention of the king, an investigating committee was set up, and the friars as a result were placed under the care of Angel de Salazar, a former provincial of the observant Carmelites in Castile. Salazar dealt with the matter gently and promoted greater peace between the two groups of friars.

Sega then mellowed somewhat and acquiesced when the discalced formed a separate province. After leaving Spain, he served in Portugal, Germany, and France. He was made a cardinal in 1591 and died in Rome.

Finally, we share Father Kavanaugh’s note concerning Fray Germán:

“Fray Germán de San Matías was a confessor for the nuns at the Incarnation along with John of the Cross. He was taken prisoner at the same time as John, but very soon afterward broke free from his captors.”

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: View of Toledo is an oil on canvas painting executed ca. 1599–1600 by Domenikos Theotokopoulos, better known as El Greco (Greek, 1541–1614). This artwork is found in Gallery 619 of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue in New York. The Met’s gallery label provides the following details:

Writing to the sculptor Auguste Rodin after having been astonished by this painting in Paris in 1908, the poet Rainer Maria Rilke described how “splintered light tills the ground, turning it over, tearing into it and bringing up here and there pale green meadows behind the trees standing like insomniacs.” Regarded as El Greco’s greatest landscape, it portrays Toledo, the city where he lived and worked for most of his life. But it is an emotive rather than a documentary vision that not only imaginatively revises the skyline—most notably, the cathedral has been moved—but also distorts architecture and landscape such that they are fully in service of the kind of drama Rilke and other modernists appreciated in his work.

Image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public domain)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir-J6a635UM

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/16/stj-ltr260-2/

#Carmelites #escape #FilippoSega #FrKieranKavanaughOCD #FrayJerónimoGracián #friars #nuncio #prison #StJohnOfTheCross #StTeresaOfAvila #StJohnOfTheCross #Toledo

“Nescivi” (Cant 6:11, Vulgata). “I no longer knew anything.” This is what the “bride of the Canticles” sings after having been brought into the “inner cellar” (Spiritual Canticle, 26:14).

It seems to me that this must also be the refrain of a praise of glory on this first day of retreat in which the Master makes her penetrate the depths of the bottomless abyss so that He may teach her to fulfill the work which will be hers for eternity and which she must already perform in time, which is eternity begun and still in progress (cf. Heaven in Faith, 1).

“Nescivi”! I no longer know anything, I do not want to know anything except “to know Him, to share in His sufferings, to become like Him in His death” (Phil 3:10).

“Those whom God has foreknown He has also predestined to become confirmed to the image of His divine Son”(Rom 8:29) the One crucified by love. When I am wholly identified with this divine Exemplar (cf. Ruysbroeck), when I have wholly passed into Him and He into me, then I will fulfill my eternal vocation: the one for which God has “chosen me in Him”, “in principio” (Eph 1:4), the one I will continue “in aeternum” when, immersed in the bosom of my Trinity, I will be the unceasing praise of His glory, Laudem gloriae ejus (Eph 1:12).

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Last Retreat, First Day, no. 1
16 August 1906

Note: Saint John of the Cross’ commentary on the Spiritual Canticle (stanza 26, no. 14) is as follows:

On the other hand, the elevation and immersion of the mind in God in which the soul is as though carried away and absorbed in love, entirely transformed in God, does not allow attention to any worldly thing. The soul is not only annihilated with respect to all things and estranged from them, but undergoes the same even with respect to herself, as if she had vanished and been dissolved in love; all of which consists in passing out of self to the Beloved. Thus the bride, in the Song of Songs, after having treated of the transformation of her love in the Beloved, refers to this unknowing, in which she was left, by the word, nescivi (I did not know) [Cant 6:11, Vulgata].

In a way, the soul in this state resembles Adam in the state of innocence, who did not know evil. For she is so innocent that she does not understand evil, nor does she judge anything in a bad light. And she will hear very evil things and see them with her own eyes and be unable to understand that they are so, since she does not have within herself the habit of evil by which to judge them; for God, by means of the perfect habit of true wisdom, has destroyed her habitual imperfections and ignorances that include the evil of sin.

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2014, I Have Found God, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity Volume 1: Major spiritual writings, translated from the French by Kane, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

John of the Cross, St. 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Revised Edition, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K and Rodriguez, O with revisions and introductions by Kavanaugh, K, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Adobe Stock (stock photo, also available on Freepik)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/15/sabeth-last1/

#abyss #eternity #HolyTrinity #LaudemGloriae #prayer #retreat #SpiritualCanticle #StElizabethOfTheTrinity #StJohnOfTheCross #StPaul #transformation

Shepherds, you who go
up through the sheepfolds to the hill,
if by chance you see
him I love most,
tell him I am sick, I suffer, and I die.

The Spiritual Canticle, Stanza 2

If by chance you see

This means: If by my good luck you so reach his presence that he sees and hears you.

It is noteworthy that even though God has knowledge and understanding of all, and even sees the very thoughts of the soul, as Moses asserts (Dt. 31:21), it is said when he provides a remedy for us in our needs that he sees them, and when he answers our prayers that he hears them.

Not all needs and petitions reach the point at which God, in hearing, grants them. They must wait until in his eyes they arrive at the suitable time, season, and number, and then it is said that he sees and hears them.

This is evident in Exodus. After the 400 years in which the children of Israel had been afflicted by their slavery in Egypt, God declared to Moses: I have seen the affliction of my people and have come down to free them [Ex. 3:7-8], even though he had always seen it.

And St. Gabriel, too, told Zechariah not to fear, because God had heard his prayer and given him the son for whom he had prayed those many years, even though God had always heard that prayer [Lk. 1:13].

Every soul should know that even though God does not answer its prayer immediately, he will not on that account fail to answer it at the opportune time if it does not become discouraged and give up its prayer. He is, as David remarks, a helper in opportune times and tribulations [Ps. 9:9].

Saint John of the Cross

The Spiritual Canticle, Stanza 2, no. 4

John of the Cross, St. 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Revised Edition, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K and Rodriguez, O with revisions and introductions by Kavanaugh, K, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photographer and blogger Road Trip With Raj captured this photo of model Linus Wang in Beijing in 2018. Image credit: @roadtripwithraj / Unsplash

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/12/juan-ifbychance/

#apparition #archangelGabriel #Exodus #God #listening #Moses #patience #perseverance #prayer #StJohnOfTheCross #Zechariah

Since September 29 we’ve had a new Mother who would like me to write something again.

Echt, 5 November 1940

Just now I am gathering material for a new work since our Reverend Mother wishes me to do some scholarly work again, as far as this will be possible in our living situation and under the present circumstances. I am very grateful to be allowed once more to do something before my brain rusts completely.

Echt, 17 November 1940

I am going about my new task like a little child making its first attempts at walking.

Echt, 16 May 1941

Please, will Your Reverence also pray a little to the Holy Spirit and to our Holy Father John for what I am now planning to write. It is to be something for our Holy Father’s 400th birthday (24 June 1942)…

Echt, 8 October 1941

Because of the work I am doing I live almost constantly immersed in thoughts about our Holy Father John. That is a great grace. May I ask Your Reverence once more for prayers that I can produce something appropriate for his Jubilee?

Echt, 18 November 1941

Dear Mother,

… I am satisfied with everything. A scientia crucis [science of the cross] can be gained only when one comes to feel the Cross radically. I have been convinced of that from the first moment and have said, from my heart: Ave, Crux, spes unica!

Echt, December 1941

Dear Sister Maria,

… while working on this task it often happened when I was greatly exhausted that I had the feeling I could not penetrate to what I wished to say and to grasp. I already thought that it would always remain so. But now I feel I have renewed vigor for creative effort. Holy Father John gave me renewed impetus for some remarks concerning symbols. When I finish this manuscript I would like to send a German copy to Father Heribert [Discalced Carmelite provincial in Germany] to have it duplicated for the monasteries.

The only reason I write so little is that I need all the time for Father John.

Echt, 9 April 1942

My dear ones,

A [Red Cross] nurse from [Amsterdam] intends to speak today with the Consul. Here, every petition [on behalf] of fully Jewish Catholics has been forbidden since yesterday. Outside [the camp] an attempt can still be made, but with extremely little prospect. According to plans, a transport will leave on Friday. Could you possibly write to Mère Claire in Venlo, Kaldenkerkeweg 185 [the Ursuline Convent] to ask for [my] manuscript if they have not already sent it. We count on your prayers. There are so many persons here who need some consolation and they expect it from the Sisters.

In Corde Jesu, your grateful

B.

Westerbork transit camp, Wednesday 5 August 1942

Mother Antonia Ambrosia Engelmann, O.C.D. was elected prioress of the Carmel of Echt on 29 September 1940.  It is to her that we owe a debt of gratitude for Saint Edith Stein’s ultimate volume, The Science of the Cross. Gelber and Leuven (1993) note that although it was her final work, the manuscript was published as Vol. I in Edith Steins Werke. When Edith and Rosa were arrested in August of 1942, the completed portions of her manuscript had already been sent to a typist. Unaware of the fate that awaited her, Edith asks to retrieve that manuscript as if to continue working on it while in prison.

Stein, E. 1993, Self-Portrait in Letters, 1916-1942, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Discalced Carmelite, translated from the German by Koeppel, J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Stein, E 2002, The Science of the Cross, The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Book 6, translated from the German by Koeppel, J, ICS Publications, Washington D.C.

Featured image: The Continental Silenta typewriter was made in the 1930s in Germany. It was produced throughout the war until 1942 and was the most advanced and complicated machine of that time. The Boatworks blog, which devotes many posts to classic typewriters, indicates that the Continental Silenta now has a cult status as a super-silent typewriter. Image credit: Skitterphoto / Pexels (Stock photo)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/04/edith-5aug42science/

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People, indeed, are ignorant who think it is possible to reach this high state of union with God without first emptying their appetite of all the natural and supernatural things that can be a hindrance to them, as we will explain further on. For there is an extreme distance between such appetites and that which is given in this state, which is nothing less than transformation in God.

Instructing us about this way, our Lord stated according to St. Luke: Qui non renuntiat omnibus quae possidet, non potest meus esse discipulus (Whoever does not renounce all that the will possesses cannot be my disciple) [Lk 14:33].

This statement is clear, for the doctrine the Son of Man came to teach is contempt for all things so we may receive the gift of God’s Spirit. As long as people fail to rid themselves of these possessions, they are incapable of receiving God’s Spirit in pure transformation.

We have a figure of this in Exodus [Exodus 16] where we read that God did not give the children of Israel the heavenly manna until they exhausted the flour brought from Egypt.

The meaning here is that first a total renunciation is needed, for this bread of angels is disagreeable to the palate of anyone who wants to taste human food. Persons feeding on other strange tastes not only become incapable of the divine Spirit, but even greatly anger the divine Majesty because in their aspirations for spiritual food, they are not satisfied with God alone, but mix with these aspirations a desire and affection for other things.

This is likewise apparent in the same book of Sacred Scripture [Ex 16:8–13] where it states that the people, discontented with that simple food, requested and craved meat, and seriously angered our Lord because of their desire to commingle a food so base and coarse with one so high and simple that, even though simple, contained the savor and substance of all foods [Wis 16:20–21].

Consequently, while morsels of manna were yet in their mouths, the wrath of God descended on them (as David also says: Ira Dei descendit super eos [Ps 78:31]), spouting fire from heaven and reducing thousands of them to ashes [Num 11:1]. For God thought it shameful for them to crave other food while he was giving them heavenly food.

Oh, if spiritual persons knew how much spiritual good and abundance they lose by not attempting to raise their appetites above childish things, and if they knew to what extent, by not desiring the taste of these trifles, they would discover in this simple spiritual food the savor of all things!

The Israelites did not perceive the taste of every other food that was contained in the manna, because their appetite was not centered on this manna alone. They were unsuccessful in deriving from the manna all the taste and strength they were looking for, not because the manna didn’t have these but because of their craving for other foods.

Similarly, those who love something together with God undoubtedly make little of God, for they weigh in the balance with God an object far distant from God, as we have said.

Saint John of the Cross

The Ascent of Mount Carmel, I, chap. 5, nos. 2–4

John of the Cross, St. 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Revised Edition, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K and Rodriguez, O with revisions and introductions by Kavanaugh, K, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Father Lawrence Lew, O.P. captures this stunning image of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in Blackfriars Oxford on 15 May 2010, during the Latin Mass Society’s masterclass for servers and masters of ceremonies. Image credit: Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/03/juan-ascent1ch5/

#appetites #breadOfHeaven #Egypt #Eucharist #food #God #manna #SpiritOfGod #StJohnOfTheCross #transformation

My Spiritual Journey with St. John of the Cross and Jesus Christ

Hey everyone! I’ve been on a fascinating journey lately, exploring some deep spiritual stuff that’s really been blowing my mind. And, let me tell you—it’s been eye-opening!

Recently, I stumbled upon this book called “The Dark Night of the Soul” by St. John of the Cross. Sounds intense, right? It totally is! St. John talks about this journey where the soul goes through tough times to find a deeper connection with God. It’s like he’s describing these dark times we all go through, but how they can actually lead to something amazing and spiritual.

One thing that’s really stuck with me is how he talks about longing for God’s presence. It’s like that feeling when you really miss someone, but instead of a person, it’s this deep spiritual connection you’re longing for. I’ve started to see how even tough times can be part of this journey towards finding peace and purpose.

And then there’s Jesus. Man, his teachings are mind-blowing. He talks about love, forgiveness, and seeing the Kingdom of God in everything around us. It’s not just about believing; it’s about really living those teachings every day. That’s been a challenge for me, but also super rewarding when I see how it changes how I treat people and handle tough situations.

And let’s not forget the miracles! Whether it’s Jesus healing someone or just those little everyday miracles, they remind me that there’s something bigger than us out there. It’s like a reminder to keep faith and stay open to the wonder of life.

So yeah, this journey into spirituality has been a rollercoaster, but in the best way possible. It’s helped me see life in a whole new light and given me tools to navigate the ups and downs. I’m still learning and growing, but isn’t that what life’s all about?

What about you? Have you ever had moments where you felt a deep spiritual connection or experienced something that made you question everything? I’d love to hear your thoughts and stories too! Let’s keep this conversation going.

Until next time, stay curious and keep exploring!

https://richardsilverman108.wordpress.com/2024/07/27/exploring-spiritual-journeys-my-dive-into-st-john-of-the-cross-and-the-teachings-of-jesus/

#ChristianMysticism #DeepConnection #DivineLove #faith #forgiveness #GenZ #gratitude #HighSchoolStudent #InnerPeace #Inspirational #JesusChrist #JourneyOfFaith #lifeLessons #Millennials #mindfulness #Miracles #PersonalJourney #reflection #SpiritualAwakening #SpiritualExploration #spiritualGrowth #SpiritualInsights #spirituality #StJohnOfTheCross #YoungAdults #YouthPerspective

"I have already told you all things in my Word, my Son […] if you turn your eyes to him you will find them complete [...] a brother, companion, master…"

- St. John of the Cross
The Ascent of Mount Carmel, II, 22:5

#stjohnofthecross #look #gaze #contemplate #Jesus #sonofgod #Catholic #Carmelite #quoteoftheday #quote

"The Father spoke one Word, which was his Son, and this Word he speaks always in eternal silence, and in silence must it be heard by the soul."

St. John of the Cross
Sayings of Light and Love, 100

#catholic #Carmelite #stjohnofthecross #silence