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Memorial Of St John Of The Cross

Memorial Of St John Of The Cross

Today, December 14, we celebrate the memorial of St John of the Cross, a mystical doctor of the Church who through his life and writings strive to live the way of perfection, the way of growth, that is, loving God and neighbors.

For John the spiritual life is a continual process of growth or regression. It is never static. Growth in the spiritual life is an integrated development that implies a firm, unrelenting, and enthusiastic search for union with God. The tool for this growth is mortification
The poem,  Dark Night,  is the basis of two of John’s major works, the Ascent of Mount Carmel and the Dark Night. He suffered severely in the hands of his fellow religious but at the end he was raised to be a doctor of the Church. St. John of the cross often said; In sorrow and suffering, go straight to God with confidence, and you will be strengthened, enlightened and instructed.

Being a mystic, he received knowledge from God. Spiritual knowledge is a source of strength to the Christian. It strengthens his faith. Believers are constantly spoken of in the Scriptures as being persons who are enlightened and taught of the Lord; they are said to “have an unction from the Holy One,”

In today’s gospel, Jesus gives us a story of saying yes but no! The parable of doing the will of the Father. There is a different between lip commitment and a heart commitment unless the lips commitment is rooted in the heart commitment. Do not delay your repentance because procrastination is a thief of time. It is counter-salvific . The knowledge of God that we have should set our minds straight to doing the will of God .

Knowledge opens the door, and then through that door we see our Saviour. Or, to use another similitude, knowledge paints the portrait of Jesus, and when we see that portrait then we love him, we cannot love a Christ whom we do not know, at least, in some degree.

How important, then, is it that we should grow not only in grace, but in the “knowledge” of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Osho

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