S. Joannis a Cruce Confessoris et Ecclesiæ DoctorisSt. John of the Cross, Confessor and Doctor of the Church

Lesson I

Lesson from the book of Habacuc

Hab 1:1-4

The burden that Habacuc the prophet saw. How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? shall I cry out to thee suffering violence, and thou wilt not save? Why hast thou shewn me iniquity and grievance, to see rapine and injustice before me? and there is a judgment, but opposition is more powerful. Therefore the law is torn in pieces, and judgment cometh not to the end: because the wicked prevaileth against the just, therefore wrong judgment goeth forth.

Lesson II

Hab 1:5-7

Behold ye among the nations, and see: wonder, and be astonished: for a work is done in your days, which no man will believe when it shall be told. For behold, I will raise up the Chaldeans, a bitter and swift nation, marching upon the breadth of the earth, to possess the dwelling places that are not their own. They are dreadful, and terrible: from themselves shall their judgment, and their burden proceed.

Lesson III

Hab 1:8-10

Their horses are lighter than leopards, and swifter than evening wolves; and their horsemen shall be spread abroad: for their horsemen shall come from afar, they shall fly as an eagle that maketh haste to eat. They shall all come to the prey, their face is like a burning wind: and they shall gather together captives as the sand. And their prince shall triumph over kings, and princes shall be his laughingstock: and he shall laugh at every stronghold, and shall cast up a mount, and shall take it.

Lesson IV

John of the Cross was born of godly parents at Fontibere, (near Avila,) in Spain, (in the year of our Lord 1542.) It began soon to appear that he was foreordained to be an acceptable servant unto the Virgin Mother of God. At five years of age he fell into a well, but the hand of the Mother of God took him up, and saved him from all hurt. So burning was his desire to suffer that when he was nine years old he gave up any softer bed, and used to lie on potsherds. In his youth he devoted himself as a servant in the hospital for the sick poor at Medina del Campo, and embraced with eager charity the meanest offices there, his readiness likewise exciting others to imitate him. (In 1563) he obeyed the call to higher things, and entered the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, wherein, by command of his Superiors, he received Priest's Orders. By their leave and his own strong desire for the sternest discipline and the strictest life, he adopted the primitive Rule. Full of the memory of what our Lord suffered, he declared war against himself as his own worst enemy, and carried it on by depriving himself of sleep and food, by iron chains, by whips, and by every kind of self-torture. And in a little while he had crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts thereof. He was indeed worthy that holy Theresa should say of him that he was one of the purest and holiest souls by whom God was then enlightening His Church.

Lesson V

The strange hardness of his life, and the might of his graces, joined to the unceasing concentration of his mind on God, had the effect of oftentimes subjecting him to daily and extraordinary trances. So burning was his love of God that the fire sometimes could not be kept bound within, and brake forth, so that his face shone. The salvation of his neighbours was one of his dearest longings, and he was unwearied in preaching the Word of God, and in administering the Sacraments. As strong in so many good works, and glowing with zeal to make discipline harder, he was given by God to be an helpmeet to holy Theresa, and he aided her to set up again the primitive observance among the brethren of the Order of Mount Carmel, as she had already done among the sisters. In doing God's work, he and God's handmaid together went through toils that cannot be numbered. No discomforts or dangers held him back from going throughout all Spain to visit all and each of the convents which the care of that holy Virgin had founded, and in them, and in very many others erected by her means for spreading the renewed observance, he strengthened it by his word and example. He is indeed worthy to be reckoned second only to the holy Theresa as a professor and founder of the Order of bare-footed Carmelites.

Lesson VI

He remained throughout all his life a clean maid, and when some shameless women tried to beguile his modesty, he not only foiled them, but gained them for Christ. In the judgment of the Apostolic See he was as much taught of God as was holy Theresa, for explaining God's hidden mysteries, and he wrote books of mystical theology filled with heavenly wisdom. Christ once asked him what reward he would have for so much work; whereto he answered Lord, that I may suffer, and be disesteemed for thy sake. He was very famous for his power over devils, whom he oftentimes scared out of men's bodies, for discerning of spirits, for the gift of prophecy, and for eminent miracles. He was extraordinarily lowly, and oftentimes entreated of the Lord that he might die in some place where he was unknown. In accordance with his prayer, (he was sent) to Ubeda, (where for three months the Prior imprisoned and cruelly ill-used him during his last sickness.) To crown his love of suffering, he bore uncomplainingly five open sores in his leg, running with water. (At last, upon the 14th day of December,) in the year 1591, being the day, and at the hour foretold by himself, after having in godly and holy wise received the Sacraments of the Church, hugging (the image of) that crucified Saviour of Whom his heart and his mouth had been used to be full, he uttered the words: “Into thy hands I commend my spirit”, and fell asleep in the Lord. As his soul passed away it was received into a glorious cloud of fire. His body yielded a right sweet savour, and is still uncorrupt where it lieth, held in great honour, at Segovia. He was famous for very many miracles both before and since his death, and Pope Benedict XIII numbered his name among those of the Saints.

Lesson VII

From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

Matt 5:13-19

At that time: Jesus said unto his disciples: Ye are the salt of the earth: But if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? And so on, and that which followeth.

A Homily by St. Augustine the Bishop

Lib. 1 de Sermóne Dómini in monte, cap. 6

The Lord would have us understand how that men do lose their power of savouring others with righteousness when they are willing to place their eternal welfare in jeopardy for the sake of any témporal advantage, like as attainment of ease or luxury, or escape from suffering or toil. For that which is eternal, unlike things of this world, can neither be bestowed by men, nor by them taken away. Hence, when he asketh: If the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? he would have us understand the question to be: If ye, by whom mankind is preserved from corruption, be willing to lose the kingdom of heaven so as to escape trials or persecutions in this world, who is there to preserve you from corruption, seeing ye are they that God hath chosen to preserve all others from corruption?

Lesson VIII

Those that should be the salt of the earth, but have lost their savour, are thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. But no one that suffereth persecution is truly said to be trodden under foot of men. Rather, that one is truly trodden under foot of men who through fear of persecution hath lost the savour of righteousness. For no one can be trodden upon, unless he be beneath him which treadeth upon him. And certainly no one who hath his heart in heaven, no matter how grievously he doth suffer in his body on earth, is rightly said to be beneath anyone who misuseth him.

Lesson IX

Commemoration of S. Chrysogonus, Martyr

Chrysogonus was imprisoned at Rome in the reign of the Emperor Diocletian. There he lived for the space of two years upon the alms of the holy Anastasia. She was suffering much persecution from her husband Publius for Christ's Name's sake, and was used to write to Chrysogonus to ask for the help of his prayers, and he in return comforted her by his epistles. Presently the Emperor wrote to Rome commanding the rest of the Christians who were in prison there to be put to death, and Chrysogonus “to be sent to himself at Aquileia. When he was brought thither, he said unto him: I have sent for thee, O Chrysogonus, that I may increase thine honours, if only thou wilt bring thy mind to worship the gods.” Thereto Chrysogonus answered: “With my mind and with my prayers I worship Him Who is God indeed, but such gods as are nothing but images of devils, them I hate and curse.” Then was the Emperor kindled to fury at this answer, and commanded Chrysogonus to be beheaded at Aquae Gradatae upon the 24th day of November. His body was cast into the sea, but found a little while afterwards washed up upon the shore, and the Priest Zoilus took it and buried it in his own house.

Te Deum