Carmelite wisdom to encourage & inspire
"Love has little use for delay" is the message accompanying a quote from St. John of the Cross's "The Precautions." Written for Discalced Carmelite nuns, John emphasizes obedience and humility, much like Teresa.
Reading time: 4 minutes, 709 words
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St John of the Cross describes the inauguration of the friars' new foundation in Córdoba, Spain: “All the streets were beautifully decorated [....] This took place on the Sunday after Ascension Thursday.”
Reading time: 1 minute, 256 words
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St. John of the Cross writes about the beauty of nature as an aid to prayer, that it is one of the places where "God usually moves the will." Don't go there to focus on creation, though; focus on God the Creator.
Reading time: 1 minute, 250 words
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“To think that God calls us by our vocation to live in this holy light!” writes St. Elizabeth of the Trinity. “I would like to respond to it by living on earth as the Blessed Virgin did.”
Reading time: 1 minute, 282 words
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St. John of the Cross explains that when Jesus says “those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them,” a certain touch of divinity is produced in the soul.
Reading time: 2 minutes, 443 words
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St. Edith Stein explains the teaching of St. John of the Cross, indicating how faith, hope, and love enable us to draw closer to transforming union with God in our intellect, memory, and will.
Reading time: 1 minute, 216 words
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Father Iain Matthew, OCD explores St. John of the Cross' concept of the "living image within, who is Christ crucified." Faith appears as Christ's action, "claiming us from within" as on the road to Emmaus.
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St. John of the Cross points to Mary Magdalene as an example of a soul who is sick with love and longing for God, "having a similar yearning to find Him in all things." He adds that "such souls suffer much..."
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St. John of the Cross echoes the wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas at several points in his writings. In discussing revelation in Book II of the Ascent of Mount Carmel, John adheres closely to Thomistic teaching in the Summa Theologiae.
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The apostolic visitation of Discalced Carmelite religious caused many headaches for St. Teresa of Avila. Today is the anniversary of Pius V’s decision to entrust those visitations to the Dominican friars.
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On the anniversary of St John of the Cross’s canonization, we read a quote from St Edith Stein’s “Science of the Cross,” which recounts an assault on John from an angry lover whose girlfriend John converted.
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With our thanks to all of our readers, friends, and followers, we wish you a beautiful and blessed Christmas!
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St. John of the Cross describes the birth of Christ and the amazement of his “gracious Mother” who “gazed in sheer wonder” to see “in God, man's weeping, and in man, gladness.”
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St. John of the Cross, using only four lines of poetry, fashions the Christmas story to become an appeal to welcome Mary, "the Virgin weighed down with the Word of God."
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St. John of the Cross describes with exquisite beauty the goal of every Christian: “the soul's aim is a love equal to God's. [...] In the strong union of glory,” he adds, “her love will be God's love.”
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In the waning hours of 13 December 1591, St. John of the Cross predicted his death at midnight. Fr. Iain Matthew, O.C.D. and St. Edith Stein provide us with the account of John's holy death.
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“I abandoned and forgot myself, laying my face on my Beloved…” Thank you for joining our St. John of the Cross novena; join us once again for our St. Joseph novena in March 2023.
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Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices. ~ St. Teresa of Avila
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