Quote of the day, 1 November: St. John of the Cross

O sweet cautery,
O delightful wound!
O gentle hand! O delicate touch
that tastes of eternal life
and pays every debt!
in killing you changed death to life.

Living Flame of Love, Stanza 2

In this union, the soul calls the Holy Spirit a cautery. Since in a cautery the fire is more intense and fierce and produces a more singular effect than it does in other combustibles, the soul calls the act of this union a cautery in comparison with other acts of union, for it is the outcome of a fire so much more aflame than all other fires. Because the soul in this case is entirely transformed by the divine flame, it not only feels a cautery, but has become a cautery of blazing fire.

It is a wonderful thing and worth relating that, since this fire of God is so mighty, it would consume a thousand worlds more easily than the fire of this earth would burn up a straw; it does not consume and destroy the soul in which it so burns. And it does not afflict it; rather, commensurate with the strength of the love, it divinizes and delights it, burning gently within it.

Oh, the great glory of you who have merited this supreme fire! It is certain that, although it does not consume you—for it has infinite force to consume and annihilate you—it does overwhelmingly consume you in glory. Do not wonder that God brings some souls to this high peak. The sun is distinguished by some of its marvelous effects; as the Holy Spirit says, it burns the mountains (that is, the saints) in three ways [Sir 43:4].

Since this cautery is sweet, then, how delighted will be the soul touched by it! The soul desiring to speak of it does not do so, but keeps the esteem in its heart and only expresses exclamation vocally through the use of “O,” saying: “O sweet cautery!”

Saint John of the Cross

Living Flame of Love, Stanza 2, nos. 2, 3, 5

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 Credit: The Holy Trinity, the Virgin and Saints (ca. 1755) by Corrado Giaquinto. Image credit: © Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

#fire #love #Saints #StJohnOfTheCross #transformation

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, 1 December: St. John of the Cross

Have a great love for those who contradict and fail to love you, for in this way love is begotten in a heart that has no love. God so acts with us, for he loves us that we might love by means of the very love he bears toward us.

Saint John of the Cross

Letter 33 to a Discalced Carmelite nun in Segovia
Ubeda, October-November 1591

Note: This is the last letter from St. John of the Cross before his death at midnight on the night of 13–14 December 1591.

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: This is a detail of an oil on canvas painting by 18th c. Mexican artist José Joaquín Magón, The Cure of St. John of the Cross. It depicts St. John of the Cross receiving treatment in Ubeda for his deadly infection, erysipelas. One of the precious art treasures in the Discalced Carmelite Friars’ Church of de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, Puebla, Mexico. Image credit: Project for the Engraved Sources of Spanish Colonial Art (PESSCA), website located at colonialart.org, PESSCA 2417B (Public domain)

#heart #love #nun #spiritualDirection #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, 29 September: St. Edith Stein

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

Saint Edith Stein
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, 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.

Featured image: Vintage Remington Portable typewriter with German text. Original Flickr source no longer available.

#monasticLife #obedience #StEdithStein #StJohnOfTheCross #TheScienceOfTheCross

Quote of the day, 24 September: St. John of the Cross

I am taking flight!

This is like saying: I am taking flight from the body so you may communicate them to me outside it, since they cause me to fly out of the body.

For a better understanding of the nature of this flight, it should be noted that, as we said [cf. Stanza 15, nos. 2, 5], in this visit of the divine Spirit, the spirit of the soul is carried away violently to communicate with him, and it abandons the body and ceases to have its feelings and actions in it, for they are in God. Thus, St. Paul said that in his rapture he did not know if his soul was receiving the communication in the body or out of the body [2 Cor. 12:2].

However, it should not be thought because of this that the soul forsakes the body of its natural life, but rather that the soul’s actions are not in the body. This is why in these raptures and flights the body has no feeling and even though severely painful things are done to it, it does not feel them. This rapture is not like other natural transports and swoons in which one returns to self when pain is inflicted.

These feelings are experienced in such visits by those who have not yet reached the state of perfection but are moving along in the state of proficients [Cf. Ascent 2.23.1; Dark Night 1.14.1; Dark Night 2.1.1–2.]. Those who have reached perfection receive all communications in peace and gentle love. There, these raptures cease, for they are communications that prepare one to receive the total communication.

This would be an apt place to treat of the different kinds of raptures, ecstasies, and other elevations and flights of the soul that are customarily experienced by spiritual persons. But since, as I promised in the prologue [cf. Prologue 4], my intention is only to give a brief explanation of these stanzas, such a discussion will have to be left for someone who knows how to treat the matter better than I.

Then too, the blessed Teresa of Jesus, our Mother, left writings about these spiritual matters that are admirably done and which I hope will soon be printed and brought to light.

What the soul thus says about flight here should be understood in reference to rapture and ecstasy of the spirit in God.

Saint John of the Cross

The Spiritual Canticle Stanza 13, nos. 6–7

Note: Translator and editor Father Kieran Kavanaugh indicates that on September 1, 1586, the Discalced Carmelite Definitory, of which St. John of the Cross was a member, decreed that St. Teresa’s writings be published. She speaks of the matters referred to here, especially in her Life, chap. 20, and in the Interior Castle, VI, chaps. 4–5. John refers to her as “our Mother” because she was the foundress and spiritual teacher of the Discalced Carmelites.

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: Levitación de Santa Teresa y San Juan de la Cruz en la Encarnación de Ávila by José García Hidalgo (1690). The painting depicts the mystical rapture of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross during their conversation about the Trinity at the Monastery of the Incarnation in Avila in 1572. Oil on canvas, Museo de Segovia. Image courtesy of Museos de Castilla y León / Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Alba de Tormes (Public domain).

#ecstasy #rapture #StJohnOfTheCross #StTeresaOfAvila #writing

Quote of the day, 7 September: St. John of the Cross

In the measure that the memory becomes dispossessed of things, in that measure it will have hope, and the more hope it has the greater will be its union with God; for in relation to God, the more a soul hopes the more it attains. And it hopes more when, precisely, it is more dispossessed of things; when it has reached perfect dispossession it will remain with perfect possession of God in divine union.

But there are many who do not want to go without the sweetness and delight of this knowledge in the memory, and therefore they do not reach supreme possession and complete sweetness. For whoever does not renounce all possessions cannot be Christ’s disciple [Lk 14:33].

Saint John of the Cross

Ascent of Mount Carmel, book 3, chap. 7, no. 2

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: Eagle silhouette against sunrise over mountain landscape. Image credit: Stock photography

#discipleship #dispossession #hope #StJohnOfTheCross #unionWithGod

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

I mentioned in the other letter how I desire to remain in this desert of La Peñuela, where I arrived about nine days ago, and which is about six leagues north of Baeza. I like it very much, glory to God, and I am well.

The vastness of the desert is a great help to the soul and body, although the soul fares very poorly. The Lord must be desiring that it have its spiritual desert. Well and good if it be for his service; His Majesty already knows what we are of ourselves.

I don’t know how long this will last, for Father Fray Antonio de Jesús threatens from Baeza that he will not leave me here for long. Be that as it may, for in the meanwhile, I am well off without knowing anything, and the life of the desert is admirable.

This morning, we have already returned from gathering our chickpeas, and so the mornings go by. On another day, we shall thresh them. It is nice to handle these mute creatures, better than being badly handled by living ones. God grant that I may stay here. Pray for this, my daughter. But even though I am so happy here, I would not fail to come should you desire.

Fray John of the Cross

Letter 28 to Doña Ana del Mercado y Peñalosa (excerpt)
From La Peñuela, 19 August 1591

On 10 August 1591, Saint John of the Cross transferred from the friars’ convent in Segovia to the solitude of La Peñuela, where at last he was relieved of all offices in the order; once again he was a humble friar, forgotten, despised, and neglected… as he had always desired.

John wrote this sweet letter to Doña Ana “about nine days” after he arrived from Segovia. Translator and editor Father Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. indicated that John of the Cross wrote The Living Flame of Love for Doña Ana.

His superior was the Provincial, Father Antonio de Jesús, with whom he had begun the reform under the guidance of Saint Teresa many years earlier in their humble abode in Duruelo.

Although John was able to pray gloriously in the solitude of rocks and forest, difficulties lay ahead; within weeks he would develop erysipelas, a skin infection on his foot that would lead to septicemia. By December, consumed by penances, trials, and his disease, Saint John of the Cross would die and go to “sing Matins in heaven.”

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: This dehesa, a type of pastureland or meadow typical of the Iberian peninsula, is located near the road that leads from La Carolina to Centenillo in the province of Jaén. It was in this region where the convent of la Peñuela was located at the time of St. John of the Cross. Image credit: Rufus Gefangenen / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

#desert #garbanzos #LaPeñuela #spiritualDirection #StJohnOfTheCross

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

Faith is the proximate and proportionate means to the intellect for the attainment of the divine union of love.

We can gather from what has been said that to be prepared for this divine union the intellect must be cleansed and emptied of everything relating to sense, divested and liberated of everything clearly intelligible, inwardly pacified and silenced, and supported by faith alone, which is the only proximate and proportionate means to union with God.

For the likeness between faith and God is so close that no other difference exists than that between believing in God and seeing him. Just as God is infinite, faith proposes him to us as infinite. Just as there are three Persons in one God, it presents him to us in this way. And just as God is darkness to our intellect, so faith dazzles and blinds us.

Only by means of faith, in divine light exceeding all understanding, does God manifest himself to the soul. The greater one’s faith the closer is one’s union with God.

St. Paul indicated this in the passage cited above: The one who would be united with God must believe [Heb 11:6]. This means that people must walk by faith in their journey to God.

The intellect must be blind and dark and abide in faith alone, because it is joined with God under this cloud. And as David proclaims, God is hidden under the cloud: He set darkness under his feet. And he rose above the cherubim and flew on the wings of the wind. He made darkness and the dark water his hiding place [Ps 18:10–11].

Saint John of the Cross

The Ascent of Mount Carmel, bk. 2, chap. 9, no. 1

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: Photo by Rahul on Pexels.com

#faith #infinite #spiritualDirection #StJohnOfTheCross #unionWithGod

St. Edith Stein Novena 2025, Day 2: The Darkest Path

SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm 88:1–3

Lord God, you are my Savior.
    I have been praying to you day and night.
Please pay attention to my prayers.
    Listen to my prayers for mercy.
My soul has had enough of this pain!
    I am ready to die.

MEDITATION
The Science of the Cross, Chapter 22

The Doctrine of the Darkest Path

The darkest path is the most secure. This doctrine from The Dark Night is stressed with great emphasis in spiritual direction:

“Since your soul finds herself in this darkness and void of spiritual poverty, you believe you are lacking everything, and that everyone has abandoned you. Of course, that is no wonder since you even think God has forsaken you. However, nothing is missing. . . . Whoever seeks God and nothing else is not wandering in darkness no matter how dark and poor you think you are. Whoever does not walk in presumption and does not follow her own tastes whether in what concerns God or creatures, and does not insist on her own will, whether internally or externally, will not stumble now. . . .  Let us live on earth like pilgrims and the poor, like the banished and orphans, in dryness, without a way, and without anything else, but always in hope” (Cf. Letter 19 from St. John of the Cross to Doña Juana de Pedraza).

PRAYER

Saint Edith Stein,
faith in the holy angels gives me confidence—
confidence to believe, in the midst of all suffering,
in the divine life-force we all share,
which flows through all creation
as the sap flows from the vine into its branches.

We do not stand alone
in this fierce struggle between life and death.
“When my enemies press in on me…” (Ps 56:2),
“…then God fights for me.” (Josh 23:10)

In this valley of tears,
I lift my eyes in trust to you,
you holy angels and saints:
your task is to pass on that Love
whose “beginning and end is the triune God.”
(Edith Stein, Complete Works)

We are held and drawn into this radiant stream
of light and love, of life and truth.
The more we are united with you
through surrender to the divine will,
the more your love becomes our love,
your light our light.

If we believe in this communion,
we already walk in the light.

Intercede for us,
that we may take part in the restoration of all creation.

Here mention your intentions

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

℣. Saint Edith Stein,
℟. Pray for us.

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.

All scripture references are from The Jerusalem Bible Reader’s Edition, copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday & Company, Inc. as accessed from The Internet Archive 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

#Carmel #darkness #novena #prayer #StEdithStein #StJohnOfTheCross

Quote of the day, 21 July: St. John of the Cross

This definitory meeting is being greatly delayed, and I am sorry on account of my desire that Doña Catalina enter, for I want to give….

Saint John of the Cross
Letter 5 to Madre Ana de San Alberto
Seville, June 1586

Note: The following account of the Discalced friars’ 1586 provincial definitory meeting comes from biographer José Vicente Rodríguez Rodríguez, OCD, who details how St. John of the Cross traveled from Andalusia to Madrid, accompanying Blessed Anne of Jesus and other nuns for a new foundation there. After falling ill and recovering in Toledo, John arrived late to the Madrid definitory meeting that had begun on August 13th.

Father Rodríguez reveals that the definitory formally approved two requests to Pope Sixtus V: confirmation of the bull of separation from the Carmelite Order (which Gregory XIII had previously granted) and permission to have a procurator in Rome. However, Provincial Nicolás Doria had already been working behind the scenes on both matters, even securing King Philip II’s support before the definitory convened.

The disagreements during the meeting centered on liturgical practices, with John of the Cross, Ambrosio Mariano, and Juan Bautista preferring to maintain the traditional rite of the Holy Sepulcher, while Doria and Gregorio Nacianceno favored adopting the Roman rite—an additional level of separation between Calced and Discalced Carmelites.

While at the definitory meeting, on August 14th Nicolás Doria and the four definitors, among them John of the Cross, sent a letter to the general of the Order, Juan Bautista Caffardo, informing him that they were sending to Rome their own procurator in the person of Father Juan de Jesús (Roca), who would explain in person the need that the province had to have its own procurator, since they did not wish to burden the procurator general of the entire Order.

Once the definitory meeting was finished, Philip II again addressed the pope, asking him for confirmation of the brief [of separation from the Order], the change from the Order’s rite to the Roman rite, and the right to have their own procurator. As could be seen, this third point was now added to the petition: the change of liturgical rite.

When dealing with this matter at the definitory meeting, it seemed there were disagreements. Nicolás Doria and Gregorio Nacianceno favored the change to the Roman rite. The other three—John of the Cross, Ambrosio Mariano, and Juan Bautista—preferred to continue with the traditional rite of the Holy Sepulcher, proper to the Order of Carmel. In the end they yielded and accepted what the provincial proposed.

José Vicente Rodríguez Rodríguez, OCD

San Juan de la Cruz: La biografía, chap. 24

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.

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: Mass of Saint John of the Cross by José Joaquín Magón (1750–1763), oil on canvas, Templo de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, Puebla, Mexico. Image credit: © Alejandro Andrade Campos (Project for the Engraved Sources of Spanish Colonial Art, Item 2413B).

#CarmeliteRite #definitory #Madrid #RomanRite #StJohnOfTheCross

Quote of the day, 8 July: St. John of the Cross

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.

Saint John of the Cross

Letter 15 to Madre Leonor de San Gabriel
8 July 1589

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: Prottoy Hassan via Unsplash

#GodAlone #love #solitude #spiritualDirection #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

Quote of the day, 10 June: St. John of the Cross

Jesus be in your soul.

The Lord gives us so much to do these days that we can hardly keep up with it all. The foundation for the friars in Córdoba was completed with greater applause and solemnity throughout the entire city than was ever given there to any other religious order. All the clergy and confraternities of Córdoba gathered, and the Most Blessed Sacrament was brought with great solemnity from the Cathedral. The people acted as though it were the feast of Corpus Christi.

I am now in Sevilla for the transference of our nuns, who have bought some very fine houses. Although the houses cost around 14,000 ducats, they are worth more than 20,000. … I intend to leave another monastery of friars here before departing, so there will then be two monasteries of friars here in Sevilla.

As for the matter with the Fathers of the Society: take careful note of what I say. Without mentioning anything to them or to anyone, discuss with Señor Gonzalo Muñoz the purchase of the other house in that other locale, and sign the deed. … It matters little if afterward it be known that we bought only with the intention of being freed from our annoyance. Thus they will agree without so much breaking of heads, and we will even oblige them to agree to whatever we desire. … Sometimes you cannot surmount one ruse without using another.

Saint John of the Cross

Letter 5 to Madre Ana de San Alberto (excerpts)
Sevilla, June 1586

Note: Biographer Fr. José Vicente Rodríguez, OCD explains that “St. John of the Cross did not write an autobiography, but he left a number of very precise details about his life in his letters, which—though few in number—are one of the best ways, if not the best, to come to know closely the human and divine measure of John of the Cross. One can begin with the June 1586 letter to Ana de San Alberto: a triumphalist letter full of autobiographical and historical details.”

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.

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: Photographer e55evu captures a scenic view of the Jewish Quarter in Córdoba, Spain, with the bell tower of the Mosque–Cathedral rising above the rooftops. It was near this historic heart of the city that St. John of the Cross established a celebrated foundation of Discalced Carmelites in 1586. Image credit: e55evu / Adobe Stock. File ID# 291560880

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
What surprised you about St. John of the Cross in this letter? Did it change how you see him?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#Córdoba #foundation #Jesuits #realEstate #Sevilla #StJohnOfTheCross

Quote of the day, 21 May: St. John of the Cross

Speak little and do not meddle in matters about which you are not asked.

Strive always to keep God present and to preserve within yourself the purity he teaches you.

Do not excuse yourself or refuse to be corrected by all; listen to every reproof with a serene countenance; think that God utters it.

Live as though only God and yourself were in this world, so that your heart may not be detained by anything human.

Saint John of the Cross

Sayings of Light and Love, 141–144

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 Sergey Chayko captures a young woman in a gesture of silence, set against a black background. Image credit: Sergey Chayko / Adobe Stock.

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How might silence become a deeper act of love and humility in my daily life?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#focus #GodAlone #heart #inspiration #silence #solitude #spiritualDirection #spirituality #StJohnOfTheCross

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

You have seen, daughter, how good it is not to have money, which only troubles us and is stolen from us, and for the treasures of the soul to be hidden and at peace so we cannot even know of or see them ourselves, for there is no worse thief than the one inside the house.

God deliver us from ourselves. May he give us what pleases him and never show it to us until he wishes to do so. And, after all, the one who stores up treasures out of love, stores them up for another. It is good that God guards and enjoys them, since they are all for him; and that we neither see them nor enjoy them so as not to deprive God of the joy he finds in the humility and the nakedness of our heart and in our contempt of worldly things for love of him.

It is a very manifest treasure, and it gives great joy to see that the soul continues to please God openly, paying no attention to the foolish ones of the world who know not how to keep anything for the next life.

The Masses will be said, and I shall go willingly unless they notify me to the contrary. May God keep you.

Fray John of the Cross

Saint John of the Cross

Letter 23, To a person under his direction

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: This sculpture depicting St. John of the Cross (we provide a detailed view) was included in an exposition in Medina del Campo, Spain entitled, “Santa Teresa de Jesús y San Juan de la Cruz: El encuentro” (St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross: The Encounter). Image credit: Ángel Cantero, Iglesia en Valladolid / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
Can I entrust both my desires and my timeline to God, believing his will is always best?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#God #joy #money #spiritualDirection #StJohnOfTheCross #treasures

Marie du jour, 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, A Christmas Refrain

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

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How might I prepare a place within for Mary and the Word she carries into my life?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#Bethlehem #homelessness #laPosadas #shelter #StJohnOfTheCross #StJoseph #VirginMary #WordOfGod

Quote of the day, 26 April: Pope Francis & Blessed Anne of Jesus

These stanzas, Reverend Mother, were obviously composed with a certain burning love of God.

Saint John of the Cross to Blessed Anne of Jesus
Prologue to the Spiritual Canticle

The history of the Belgian Church is rich in examples of holiness. Let us consider Saint Gudula, the patron saint of this country (650–712 ca.), Saint Guy of Anderlecht, the pilgrim and friend of the poor (+1012), Saint Damien de Veuster, better known as Damien of Molokai, the apostle to the lepers (1840-1889), and the many Belgian missionaries who have proclaimed the Gospel in various parts of the world over the centuries, sometimes to the point of sacrificing their lives.

The witness of a Carmelite nun has also blossomed in this fertile land: Anne of Jesus, Anna de Lobera, whose Beatification we celebrate today. In the Church of her time, this woman was among the protagonists of a great reform movement. She followed in the footsteps of a “giant of the spirit”, Teresa of Avila, and helped spread her ideals throughout Spain, France, here, in Brussels, and in what was then called the Spanish Netherlands.

In a time marked by painful scandals, within and outside of the Christian community, she and her companions brought many people back to the faith through their simple lives of poverty, prayer, work, and charity. Some have called their foundation in this city a “spiritual magnet”.

She intentionally left no writings to posterity. Instead, she committed herself to putting into practice what she had learned (cf. 1 Cor 15:3), and by her way of life she helped lift up the Church at a time of great difficulty.

Let us then gratefully welcome the example she has given us of “feminine styles of holiness” (cf. Gaudete et Exsultate, 12), gentle but strong. Her testimony, together with those of so many brothers and sisters who have gone before us, our friends and fellow pilgrims, is not far from us: it is near us, indeed it is entrusted to us so that we may also make it our own, renewing our commitment to walk together in the footsteps of the Lord.

Pope Francis

Homily, Mass of Beatification of Anne of Jesus
Brussels, 29 September 2024

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: Pope Francis passing through a jubilant crowd in St. Peter’s Square minutes before his Inaugural Mass, 19 March 2013 [Inizio Del Ministero Petrino Del Vescovo Di Roma]. Photo by Jeffrey Bruno (Some rights reserved).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
Is my life quietly bearing witness—or am I waiting to say something before I live it?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#beatification #BlessedAnneOfJesus #Brussels #founder #homily #PopeFrancis #StJohnOfTheCross

Quote of the day, 22 April: Blessed Marie-Eugène

Mary, Mother of the Risen One

Yesterday, we contemplated the Risen Jesus, and in a sense, we were carried away by His light and by the joy of the apostles, who recovered all their hope as they beheld their risen Master.

Today, it is good for us to pause with Mary, the Mother of the Risen One. She is our mother, and we want to understand what was happening in her soul.

We are drawn to seek her in her solitude—to contemplate her there. She does not step into the foreground; she remains hidden, always in the background. We have to make an effort to find her, to draw close to her, but we feel this need.

Let us linger with Mary for a few moments on the day of the Resurrection.

It seems certain that the Lord revealed Himself to her. Her risen Son surely wanted her to share in His joy and in His triumph.

We last saw her on the evening of Good Friday and throughout Holy Saturday, immersed in a sorrow we can hardly imagine. Yes, she remained noble and serene, magnified by suffering, above all by the living word her Son had spoken. On Calvary, He had consecrated her motherhood: a divine motherhood that had become a motherhood of grace for the Mystical Body of Christ and for all humanity made new.

She was great, yet profoundly sorrowful. We have tried to grasp this. In her suffering—in that sea of grief that threatened to bury her in its bitter waves—there burned a flame: the small flame of hope. But it was strong and immense—a hope that sustained the Virgin and, through her, sustained the Mystical Body of Christ.

Beside the cross, beside the body of her dead and buried Son, Mary remained the one true hope—a living hope, rooted in the fruitfulness of a Mother who never ceased to give life.

And now, Jesus is risen. He reveals Himself to her. What joy must have flooded her soul!

At the Visitation, she sang: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” [Lk 1:46–47]. How much greater her exultation must have been on this morning! Her soul rejoiced. Her hope took hold of its object. Her whole being exulted.

Yes, the angel’s words at the Annunciation were true. The Son she bore was truly the Son of God, truly the Messiah. He had been put to death—for it was necessary that He pass through suffering and death—and now He was alive again, risen.

He was the promised King, the God-Man of incomparable human stature, radiant now in the full glory of His divine majesty.

Mary rejoiced—not only in her soul, but in her body. Her whole being responded with joy at the sight, the touch, the embrace—if we may put it that way—of the risen body of her Son.

This was her joy, her exultation—a movement of the Holy Spirit through her entire being. And all of it unfolded in an outward serenity, a purity, a beauty that already belonged to heaven.

St. John of the Cross speaks of the awakenings of the Word in the soul (cf. The Living Flame Of Love, stanza 4). Here was one of those awakenings—the Word, seemingly at rest, stirring again in the soul under the flame and breath of the Holy Spirit. He sings within it, exults within it, and causes not only the soul and grace to rejoice, but even the body itself.

So it is when the source of joy is spiritual: it reaches the furthest edges of one’s being and person.

Here, it was more than just a radiance in Mary’s body or flesh—her very flesh exulted at the sight and the embrace of the risen body of the God-Man, her Son.

Blessed Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus

Homily for Easter Monday, 15 April 1963

Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus 1986, Jésus, Contemplation du Mystère Pascal, Editions du Carmel, Toulouse.

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

Featured image: In Ushered in a Tearful Joy (c. 1890), Russian painter Vasily Polenov (1844–1927) captures the moment when Resurrection light breaks into the house of mourning. A woman—possibly 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 (Mt 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. Image credit: WikiArt (Public domain)

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How might I linger with Mary today, allowing her hidden joy to deepen my faith in the risen Christ?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#BlessedMarieEugeneOfTheChildJesus #BlessedVirginMary #embrace #hope #MotherOfChrist #MotherOfTheLiving #resurrectionOfChrist #solitude #sorrow #StJohnOfTheCross

Quote of the day, 8 April: Cardinal Anders Arborelius, OCD

We begin with a poem of St. John of the Cross:

Mine are the heavens, and mine is the earth; mine are the people; the righteous are mine, and mine are the sinners; the angels are mine, and the Mother of God, and all things are mine, and God Himself is mine and for me, for Christ is mine and all for me. What, then, do you ask for and seek, my soul? Thine is all this, and it is all for thee (Sayings of Light and Love, 27).

Maybe we find this poem of St. John of the Cross somewhat bold and even presumptuous, but faith is bold.

We are immensely rich in Christ. Everything belongs to us, including God Himself. We are His heirs—as St. Paul says, co-heirs—with Christ. This certainty is the doctrinal basis of this poem. We may rejoice and be exultant about all the treasures that belong to us, thanks to Christ.

But at the same time, as St. John speaks about our richness in Christ, he, as all the saints, speaks also about our poverty in Christ.

Jesus Christ came as a poor man among the poor. When God became man, He preferred poverty during His life here on earth. Here we are again—one of these paradoxes of the Faith. God, Who is rich, becomes poor to make us, who are poor, rich.

This fundamental paradox helps us to adore the glory of God, where all the contrasts of ours are reconciled. Poverty and richness are united in God, reconciled in Him Who is everything but owns nothing. He is the Source of everything existing but gives it all away immediately after having created it.

Creation is generosity, prodigality, lavishness. God does not want to be the owner of it. The Creator does not keep what He has created for Himself. God just is what He is.

All through the Old and the New Testament, we hear the same thing — the “I AM” of Adonai , the Ego Sum of Jesus, but never, never do we hear, “I have this; I own this.”

Poverty is always an ideal in Christian life. Spiritual life is to be poor as Jesus, Who relied completely on His Father. Poverty teaches us to have confidence in God’s love and care for us.

Jesus tried to teach His disciples this art of spiritual poverty or, rather, poverty in the Holy Spirit, which also implies material poverty.

But poverty is not at all the same as misery. Only the poor in spirit can adore God as He wants to be adored. True adoration of God, as He is in Himself, is born from our own poverty.

All glory and honor belong to God triune. We rejoice in His glory and in our own poverty. We fall down in adoration of His infinite majesty and accept willingly that we are only poor and frail little beings. Then we become rich in Him.

Jesus became one of us to allow us to participate in His relationship with the Father, and, of course, there is no greater richness than that. Still, we can only receive this gift if we are poor. When we adore God, we grow in spiritual poverty.

Cardinal Anders Arborelius, O.C.D.

Chapter 13, To Adore and Glorify God

Arborelius OCD, A. 2020, Carmelite Spirituality: The Way of Carmelite Prayer and Contemplation, EWTN Publishing, Irondale, Alabama.

Featured image: Nativity scene by BlackMac for Adobe Stock (Stock photo, edited in Adobe Express)

#CardinalAndersArborelius #creation #gloryToGod #JesusChrist #poverty #StJohnOfTheCross #wealth