St John Of The Cross Feast Day Appreciation Thread

[vee]

Tuesday December 14 we celebrate a great saint, mystic, priest, poet, and only Carmelite doctor of the Church who who isnt named Teresa! According to wikipedia he is the patron of mystics, contemplatives and Spanish poets but after seeing this picture I think librarians should be added to the list.
[img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iTcPn6ljlJk/SgGQA7Ug73I/AAAAAAAAAB0/zaJZj2ihKKo/S226/st+john+of+the+cross.jpg[/img]

I was introduced to John, or he introduced himself to me through reading The Living Flame of Love and it is still my fav work of his.


[i]O living flame of love
That tenderly wounds my soul
In its deepest center! Since
Now you are not oppressive,
Now consummate! if it be your will:
Tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!

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.

O lamps of fire!
in whose splendors
The deep caverns of feeling,
Once obscure and blind,
Now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,
Both warmth and light to their Beloved.

How gently and lovingly
You wake in my heart,
Where in secret you dwell alone;
And in your sweet breathing,
Filled with good and glory,
How tenderly You swell my heart with love.[/i]

[krissylou]

[quote name='vee8' timestamp='1292270889' post='2192583']
Tuesday December 14 we celebrate a great saint, mystic, priest, poet, and only Carmelite doctor of the Church who who isnt named Teresa! According to wikipedia he is the patron of mystics, contemplatives and Spanish poets but after seeing this picture I think librarians should be added to the list.
[img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iTcPn6ljlJk/SgGQA7Ug73I/AAAAAAAAAB0/zaJZj2ihKKo/S226/st+john+of+the+cross.jpg[/img]

I was introduced to John, or he introduced himself to me through reading The Living Flame of Love and it is still my fav work of his.


[i]O living flame of love
That tenderly wounds my soul
In its deepest center! Since
Now you are not oppressive,
Now consummate! if it be your will:
Tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!

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.

O lamps of fire!
in whose splendors
The deep caverns of feeling,
Once obscure and blind,
Now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,
Both warmth and light to their Beloved.

How gently and lovingly
You wake in my heart,
Where in secret you dwell alone;
And in your sweet breathing,
Filled with good and glory,
How tenderly You swell my heart with love.[/i]


[/quote]


What, no Novena thread?!?!?!?

Vee you have been falling down on the job!

[TeresaBenedicta]

My favorite work of St. John of the Cross is [i]The Spiritual Canticle[/i]

[OnlySunshine]

[quote name='krissylou' timestamp='1292273691' post='2192593']
What, no Novena thread?!?!?!?

Vee you have been falling down on the job!


[/quote]

[OnlySunshine]

You changed the options in the voting! It was originally "yes" and "no", but you cheated and made it "yes" and "yes."

I voted "yes", but he's not as awesome as the Dominican saints such as Catherine of Siena or Rose of Lima.

[vee]

Im all novena-d out. That and I hadnt really associated Juanito with novenas. Poor guy now he's probably all

I would NEVER skew a poll!

[kafka]

My love, the Pyrenees;
depths in a pathless forest cool with cresses,
rivers that seem like seas,
isles no explorer guesses,
the affectionate air, its whisper and caresses;

night sunk in a profound
rest, with the stir of dawn about the skies,
music without a sound,
a solitude of cries,
a supper of light hearts and lovelit eyes.


live forever Juan de la Cruz, live forever.

[dominicansoul]

He inspired the little game I played with Jesus in teh convent


I love him like a brother!

[MithLuin]

I love St. John of the Cross! He's the first Carmelite saint I fell in love with, and he was a great inspiration to the young Karol Wojtyla, who later decided to become a priest....and become pope!

[vee]

I like what John has to say about living religious life in his counsels, and in particular this part. It has all the subtly of a bucket of cold water
" 3. To practice the second counsel, which concerns mortification, and profit by it, you should engrave this truth on your heart. And it is that you have not come to the monastery for any other reason than to be worked and tried in virtue; you are like the stone that must be chiseled and fashioned before being set in the building. Thus you should understand that those who are in the monastery are craftsmen placed there by God to mortify you by working and chiseling at you. Some will chisel with words, telling you what you would rather not hear; others by deed, doing against you what you would rather not endure; others by their temperament, being in their person and in their actions a bother and annoyance to you; and others by their thoughts, neither esteeming nor feeling love for you. You ought to suffer these mortifications and annoyances with inner patience, being silent for love of God and understanding that you did not enter the religious life for any other reason than for others to work you in this way, and so you become worthy of heaven. If this was not your reason for entering the religious state, you should not have done so, but should have remained in the world to seek your comfort, honor, reputation, and ease."

http://www.karmel.at/ics/john/couns.html

[Chiquitunga]

I have this [url="http://www.heartsawake.org/2/Calligraphy_Notebook_-_Quoteworthy.html"]Quoteworthy[/url] (<--love those!) book from the Carmel of Terre Haute in my room, and boy do his words cut to the heart! Like this one .. which always reminds me to be careful about spending too much time online! :0
[i]
"The soul that is quick to turn to speaking and conversing is slow to turn to God.[/i]"

It is soo true! Thank you St. John!

[kafka]

[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_-GKMR8mFGBs/TQeEOKpbIBI/AAAAAAAABOw/zu3vtv3FRBY/s1600/Christianity_John_of_the_Cross_diagram_maxims_english_smaller+%25281%2529.jpg[/img]

Edited December 14, 2010 by kafka

[kafka]

one more in honor of the feast:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcVaEA0009Q[/media]

[vee]

that song is and I must proudly claim her as Canadian even though I thought she was Irish at first

[kafka]

[ontherock4good]

[img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/clap2.gif[/img]Excellent thread! St. John of the Cross certainly lived what he wrote about. His writings are so beautiful and poetic - you can tell he was caught up in love for God. He's a wonderful saint - isn't it exciting to think about how, (hopefully we will all persevere!) one day we will MEET these great saints face-to-face in the heavenly Kingdom?! [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/clap.gif[/img] How awesome! Who says Heaven will be boring???[img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/like.gif[/img]

[dominicansoul]

"we must live....without living HERE..."