December 14: Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor—Memorial

Read entire reflection online >>>December 14: Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor—Memorialc. 1542–1591Patron Saint of contemplatives, mystical theology, and Spanish poetsCanonized by Pope Benedict XIII on December 27, 1726Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI in 1926Commonly referred to as the “Mystical Doctor”Liturgical Color: WhiteQuote: In order to expound and describe this dark night, through which the soul passes in order to attain to the Divine light of the perfect union of the love of God, as far as is possible in this life, it would be necessary to have illumination of knowledge and experience other and far greater than mine; for this darkness and these trials, both spiritual and temporal, through which happy souls are wont to pass in order to be able to attain to this high estate of perfection, are so numerous and so profound that neither does human knowledge suffice for the understanding of them, nor experience for the description of them; for only he that passes this way can understand it, and even he cannot describe it. ~Prologue of Ascent to Mount Carmel, Saint John of the CrossPrayer:Saint John of the Cross, through the sufferings you endured in your youth and as a friar, God purified you and called you deeper. You responded, and through you the Carmelites were reformed, and from you came a wealth of spiritual treasures in your teachings. Please pray for me, that I will never shy away from the sufferings of the Cross but will see those sufferings as the means of my deeper union with our loving God. Saint John of the Cross, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: mycatholic.lifeCopyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.Museo Nacional de Arte, Public domain, via Wikimedia