Saint of the Day December 14, 2002
Saint John of the Cross
Born in Spain in 1542, John learned the importance of
self-sacrificing love from his parents. His father
gave up wealth, status, and comfort when he married a
weaver's daughter and was disowned by his noble
family. After his father died, his mother kept the
destitute family together as they wandered homeless in
search of work. These were the examples of sacrifice
that John followed with his own great love -- God.
When the family finally found work, John still went
hungry in the middle of the wealthiest city in Spain.
At fourteen, John took a job caring for hospital
patients who suffered from incurable diseases and
madness. It was out of this poverty and suffering,
that John learned to search for beauty and happiness
not in the world, but in God.
After John joined the Carmelite order, Saint Teresa of
Avila asked him to help her reform movement. John
supported her belief that the order should return to
its life of prayer. But many Carmelites felt
threatened by this reform, and some members of John's
own order kidnapped him. He was locked in a cell six
feet by ten feet and beaten three times a week by the
monks. There was only one tiny window high up near the
ceiling. Yet in that unbearable dark, cold, and
desolation, his love and faith were like fire and
light. He had nothing left but God -- and God brought
John his greatest joys in that tiny cell.
After nine months, John escaped by unscrewing the lock
on his door and creeping past the guard. Taking only
the mystical poetry he had written in his cell, he
climbed out a window using a rope made of stirps of
blankets. With no idea where he was, he followed a dog
to civilization. He hid from pursuers in a convent
infirmary where he read his poetry to the nuns. From
then on his life was devoted to sharing and explaining
his experience of God's love.
His life of poverty and persecution could have
produced a bitter cynic. Instead it gave birth to a
compassionate mystic, who lived by the beliefs that
"Who has ever seen people persuaded to love God by
harshness?" and "Where there is no love, put love --
and you will find love."
John left us many books of practical advice on
spiritual growth and prayer that are just as relevant
today as they were then. These books include:
Ascent of Mount Carmel
Dark Night of the Soul
and A Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the
Bridegroom Christ
Since joy comes only from God, John believed that
someone who seeks happiness in the world is like "a
famished person who opens his mouth to satisfy himself
with air." He taught that only by breaking the rope of
our desires could we fly up to God. Above all, he was
concerned for those who suffered dryness or depression
in their spiritual life and offered encouragement that
God loved them and was leading them deeper into faith.
"What more do you want, o soul! And what else do you
search for outside, when within yourself you possess
your riches, delights, satisfaction and kingdom --
your beloved whom you desire and seek? Desire him
there, adore him there. Do not go in pursuit of him
outside yourself. You will only become distracted and
you won't find him, or enjoy him more than by seeking
him within you." -- Saint John of the Cross
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love n prayers,
Jose Joseph (Josachayan)/ Jeddah
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