Nov 24 – S John of the Cross
1Description
It’s the Feast of St John of the Cross, Comm. St. Chrysogonus, 3rd Class, with the color of White. In this episode: the meditation: “Abusing God's Mercy”, today’s news from the Church: “Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith: Pope Francis’s Heavy Legacy”, a preview of the Sermon: “Making Reparation for Mater Populi Fidelis”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop.
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Sources Used Today:
- “Abusing God's Mercy” – Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell: Meditations on the Four Last Things by St. Alphonsus de Liguori
- “Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith: Pope Francis’s Heavy Legacy” (FSSPX.news)
- “Making Reparation for Mater Populi Fidelis” (SSPX Sermons)
- The Spiritual Life – Archbishop Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
Saint John of the Cross is one of the most luminous and demanding voices in Christian spirituality. Born Juan de Yepes in 1542 in a small Castilian town, he grew up amid poverty and hardship. His father died when he was young, leaving the family to struggle for daily bread. Yet from childhood he carried an inner steadiness, a quiet sense that God dwelt close even in suffering. That sense of nearness shaped his whole life. He entered the Carmelite Order as a young man, attracted by its ancient spirit of contemplation, and soon showed a brilliance in studies that surprised his teachers. Still, his deepest desire was not scholarship but silence, prayer, and the love of God.
Everything changed when he met Saint Teresa of Ávila in 1567. She was in the midst of reforming the Carmelite Order, calling it back to its roots of simplicity and contemplative life. Teresa saw in John a soul who could help restore the men’s branch of the order to the same renewal. John agreed, even though it would bring misunderstanding and danger. The reform was controversial. Many in the existing houses resisted it fiercely, and tensions soon erupted into open conflict.
In 1577, John was seized by his Carmelite opponents and imprisoned in a tiny cell in Toledo. The room was dark, airless, and barely large enough to stand in. He was given little food and subjected to harsh treatment. Yet it was there, in that unbearable confinement, that John entered the deepest clarity of his life. In the darkness he discovered God’s light. In abandonment he discovered God’s embrace. And from that interior union emerged some of the greatest mystical poetry ever written in the Christian tradition. The Spiritual Canticle and the Dark Night were not abstractions for him. They were the fruit of real suffering, transformed by grace.
After nine months he escaped miraculously and resumed his work of reform, always marked by gentleness. Those who knew him described him as quiet, humorous, and deeply compassionate. His teaching insists that God leads the soul by stripping away attachments so that love can burn freely, and that the darkest moments often hide the most tender work of God. He spent his final years guiding communities, writing treatises, and helping souls navigate the path of prayer with balance and humility. He died in 1591, whispering that he was going to sing the mercies of the Lord forever.
His feast on Nov 21 honors a man who shows that true union with God grows in trust, surrender, and love that does not flee the night.
Saint John of the Cross, pray for us!
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The SSPX Podcast is produced by Angelus Press, which has as its mission the fortification of traditional Catholics so that they can defend the Faith, and reaching out to those who have not yet found Tradition.
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The main goal of the Society of Saint Pius X is to preserve the Catholic Faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues, especially through the Roman Catholic priesthood.
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