Saint of the day for December 14: story of Saint John of the Cross

Saint of the day for December 14nd
(June 24, 1542 - December 14, 1591)

History of St. John of the Cross

John is a saint because his life was a heroic effort to live up to his name: "of the Cross". The madness of the cross was fully realized over time. “Whoever wants to follow me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8: 34b) is the story of John's life. The paschal mystery - through death to life - strongly marks John as a reformer, mystic-poet and theologian-priest.

Ordained a Carmelite priest in 1567 at the age of 25, John met Teresa of Avila and, like her, swore himself to the primitive Rule of the Carmelites. As a partner of Teresa and by right, Giovanni engaged in the work of reform and experienced the price of reform: growing opposition, misunderstanding, persecution, imprisonment. He knew the cross keenly, to experience the death of Jesus, as he sat month after month in his dark, damp and cramped cell with only his God.

Yet, the paradox! In this dying of prison, Giovanni came to life, pronouncing poems. In the darkness of the prison, John's spirit came to the Light. There are many mystics, many poets; John is unique as a mystic-poet, expressing in his prison-cross the ecstasy of mystical union with God in the spiritual song.

But as agony leads to ecstasy, so John had his ascent to the mountain. Carmel, as he called it in his prose masterpiece. As a man-Christian-Carmelite, he experienced this purifying ascent in himself; as spiritual director, he felt it in others; as a psychologist-theologian, he described and analyzed it in his prose writings. His prose works are exceptional in emphasizing the cost of discipleship, the way of union with God: rigorous discipline, abandonment, purification. Univocally and strongly John underlines the evangelical paradox: the cross leads to the resurrection, agony to ecstasy, darkness to light, abandonment to possession, denial of self to union with God. If you want to save your life , you have to lose it. John is truly "of the Cross". He died at 49: a short but full life.

Reflection

In his life and in his writings, John of the Cross has a crucial word for us today. We tend to be rich, soft, comfortable. We also withdraw from words such as self-denial, mortification, purification, asceticism, discipline. We run from the cross. John's message, like the Gospel, is loud and clear: don't do it if you really want to live!

St. John of the Cross is the patron saint of:

Mystic John of the Cross is the Patron Saint of:

Mystics