"Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing."
In the words of my brother yesterday on the 100th day of my blog..."I have not done anything for 100 days straight." Writing this blog everyday has given me much joy and brought me closer to the Lord and to so many holy men and women.
Today we will learn about Saint John of the Cross. He was born into poverty on June 24, 1542 in Fontiveros, Spain. He became a Carmelite lay brother in 1563 and he lived more strictly than the Rule required. He was ordained a Carmelite priest in 1567 at age 25. He was friends with Saint Teresa of Avila. He was the master of the novices, spiritual director and confessor of Saint Teresa's convent. Saint Teresa persuaded him to begin the Discalced (barefoot) reform within the Carmelite Order, and he took the name John of the Cross. His reforms did not sit will with some of his brothers and he was ordered to return to Medina de Campo, but he refused and was imprisoned in Toledo,; he escaped nine months later. Eventually his reforms did revitalize the Order. He died on December 14, 1591 in Andalusia, Spain; his relics are in Segovia, Spain. He was canonized on December 27, 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII. He was a great contemplative and spiritual writer and was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI on August 1926.
He is the author of Dark Night of the Soul. He is one of the patron saints of World Youth Day 2011.
"In giving us His Son, His only Word, He spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word -- and He has 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."
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