Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Juan de Yepes y Álvarez was born on 24 June 1542 in the poor village of Fontiveros, near Ávila in Old Castile, to Gonzalo de Yepes and Catalina Álvarez. His father, of noble Toledan stock, had been disinherited for marrying the humble silk-weaver Catalina; the family lived in extreme poverty. Gonzalo died when Juan was still a small child. The widowed mother, with Juan and his brother Francisco, moved first to Arévalo and then to Medina del Campo. There the boy attended the Colegio de los Doctrinos for poor children, served as an altar boy, worked at humble tasks for the nuns of the Magdalena, and later as a nurse in the Hospital of the Conception. Gifted in studies, he entered the newly founded Jesuit college at Medina, where for three years he studied the humanities, rhetoric, and the classical languages.

At eighteen he discerned a clear call to religious life. In the summer of 1563 he began the Carmelite novitiate in Medina, taking the name John of Saint Matthias. After profession he studied theology and philosophy at the University of Salamanca and was ordained priest in 1567. Drawn for a time toward the solitude of the Carthusians, he met Saint Teresa of Jesus that same year in Medina. Captivated by her plan to restore the primitive Carmelite rule among both nuns and friars, he delayed his Carthusian intention and placed himself at the service of the reform.

In October 1568, together with Fray Antonio de Jesús, he founded the first house of Discalced Carmelite friars in the ruined dwelling at Duruelo, in the province of Ávila. On that day he took the name by which the Church knows him forever: John of the Cross. The little community soon moved to Mancera; further foundations followed at Pastrana and Alcalá. At Teresa's request, toward the end of 1572 he became confessor and vicar of the Monastery of the Incarnation in Ávila, where she was prioress, guiding some one hundred thirty nuns and many lay people.

Opposition to the reform grew fierce. On the night of 2 December 1577 Carmelites hostile to the Discalced seized him in Ávila and imprisoned him in the monastery at Toledo. For months he suffered harsh confinement, unjust accusation, and physical hardship. In those dark months he composed some of his most sublime poetry. With the help of Providence and the prayers of Saint Teresa he made a daring escape. After recovering his strength he resumed a long series of offices in the reformed Order, founding and governing houses, forming friars, and writing the great mystical treatises—The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night, The Spiritual Canticle, and The Living Flame of Love—that map the soul's purification of sense and spirit and its union with God.

While praying in a loft overlooking the sanctuary of the Incarnation he received a vision of the crucified Christ that inspired his well-known drawing of Christ seen from above. His doctrine insists that to possess the All who is God the soul must desire to possess nothing and to be nothing, not out of mere renunciation but out of love for the Beloved. Benedict XVI called him one of the greatest lyric poets of Spanish literature and a sure guide to the holiness to which God calls every person.

Worn by long illness and immense sufferings, he took leave of his brethren while they recited the morning Office in a convent near Jaén. Between 13 and 14 December 1591 his last words were: "Today I am going to sing the Office in heaven." His remains were later translated to Segovia. He was beatified by Pope Clement X in 1675, canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726, and declared Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI in 1926, receiving the title Doctor Mysticus.

May Saint John of the Cross obtain for us the courage to pass through every dark night by loving detachment, that God alone may be the center and end of our lives.

BENEDICT XVI

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Paul VI Audience Hall Wednesday, 16 February 2011

Saint John of the Cross

Dear brothers and sisters,

Two weeks ago I presented the figure of the great Spanish mystic Teresa of Jesus. Today I would like to speak about another important Saint of those lands, a spiritual friend of Saint Teresa, and a reformer, together with her, of the Carmelite religious family: Saint John of the Cross, proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI in 1926, and traditionally nicknamed *Doctor mysticus*, "Mystic Doctor".

John of the Cross was born in 1542 in the small village of Fontiveros, near Ávila, in Old Castile, to Gonzalo de Yepes and Catalina Alvarez. The family was extremely poor, because his father, of noble Toledo origin, had been driven from home and disinherited for having married Catalina, a humble silk weaver. Orphaned of his father at a tender age, John, at the age of nine, moved with his mother and brother Francisco to Medina del Campo, near Valladolid, a commercial and cultural center. Here he attended the *Colegio de los Doctrinos*, while also performing some humble jobs for the nuns of the church-convent of the Magdalene. Subsequently, given his human qualities and academic achievements, he was admitted first as an infirmarian in the Hospital of the Conception, and then to the Jesuit College, newly founded in Medina del Campo: here John entered at eighteen years of age and studied humanities, rhetoric, and classical languages for three years. At the end of his formation, his vocation was entirely clear to him: the religious life, and among the many orders present in Medina, he felt called to Carmel.

In the summer of 1563, he began his novitiate with the Carmelites of the city, taking the religious name of John of St. Matthias. The following year he was assigned to the prestigious University of Salamanca, where he studied arts and philosophy for three years. In 1567 he was ordained a priest and returned to Medina del Campo to celebrate his First Mass surrounded by the affection of his family. It was precisely here that the first meeting between John and Teresa of Jesus took place. The encounter was decisive for both of them: Teresa laid out her plan for the reform of Carmel also in the male branch of the Order and proposed that John join it "for the greater glory of God"; the young priest was so fascinated by Teresa's ideas that he became a great supporter of the project. The two worked together for a few months, sharing ideals and proposals to open the first house of Discalced Carmelites as soon as possible: the opening took place on 28 December 1568 in Duruelo, a solitary place in the province of Ávila. Three other companions formed this first reformed male community with John. In renewing their religious profession according to the Primitive Rule, the four adopted a new name: John was then called "of the Cross", as he would subsequently be universally known. At the end of 1572, at the request of Saint Teresa, he became confessor and vicar of the Monastery of the Incarnation in Ávila, where the Saint was prioress. These were years of close collaboration and spiritual friendship, which enriched them both. The most important Teresian works and John's earliest writings also date back to that period.

Adherence to the Carmelite reform was not easy and cost John severe suffering as well. The most traumatic episode occurred in 1577, when he was kidnapped and imprisoned in the convent of the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance in Toledo, following an unjust accusation. The Saint remained imprisoned for months, subjected to physical and moral deprivations and constraints. Here he composed, along with other poetry, the celebrated Spiritual Canticle. Finally, in the night between August 16 and 17, 1578, he managed to escape in an adventurous manner, taking refuge in the monastery of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of the city. Saint Teresa and his reformed companions celebrated his liberation with immense joy, and after a brief period of recovering his strength, John was assigned to Andalusia, where he spent ten years in various convents, especially in Granada. He assumed increasingly important roles in the Order, eventually becoming Provincial Vicar, and completed the drafting of his spiritual treatises. He then returned to his homeland as a member of the general government of the Teresian religious family, which by then enjoyed full juridical autonomy. He lived in the Carmel of Segovia, holding the office of superior of that community. In 1591 he was relieved of all responsibilities and assigned to the new religious Province of Mexico. While preparing for the long journey with ten other companions, he withdrew to a solitary convent near Jaén, where he fell gravely ill. John faced enormous sufferings with exemplary serenity and patience. He died in the night between December 13 and 14, 1591, while his confreres were reciting the morning Office. He took leave of them saying: \"Today I am going to sing the Office in heaven.\" His mortal remains were translated to Segovia. He was beatified by Clement X in 1675 and canonized by Benedict XIII in 1726.

John is considered one of the most important lyric poets of Spanish literature. His major works are four: Ascent of Mount Carmel, Dark Night, Spiritual Canticle, and Living Flame of Love.

In the Spiritual Canticle, Saint John presents the soul\'s path of purification, namely the progressive, joyful possession of God, until the soul comes to feel that it loves God with the same love with which it is loved by Him. The Living Flame of Love continues in this perspective, describing in more detail the state of transforming union with God. The comparison used by John is always that of fire: just as the more fire burns and consumes wood, the more incandescent it becomes until it turns into a flame, so the Holy Spirit, who during the dark night purifies and \"cleanses\" the soul, over time illuminates and warms it as if it were a flame. The life of the soul is a continuous feast of the Holy Spirit, which allows a glimpse of the glory of union with God in eternity.

The Ascent of Mount Carmel presents the spiritual itinerary from the point of view of the soul\'s progressive purification, necessary to climb the peak of Christian perfection, symbolized by the summit of Mount Carmel. Such purification is proposed as a path that man undertakes, cooperating with divine action, to free the soul from every attachment or affection contrary to the will of God. Purification, which to reach union in love with God must be total, begins with that of the life of the senses and continues with that obtained through the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity, which purify intention, memory, and will. The Dark Night describes the \"passive\" aspect, that is, God\'s intervention in this process of \"purification\" of the soul. Human effort, in fact, is incapable on its own of reaching down to the deep roots of a person\'s bad inclinations and habits: it can only curb them, but not completely eradicate them. To do this, the special action of God is necessary, which radically purifies the spirit and disposes it to union in love with Him. Saint John defines such purification as \"passive\" precisely because, although accepted by the soul, it is accomplished by the mysterious action of the Holy Spirit who, like a flame of fire, consumes every impurity. In this state, the soul is subjected to all kinds of trials, as if it found itself in a dark night.

These indications regarding the Saint's principal works help us to approach the highlights of his vast and profound mystical doctrine, the purpose of which is to describe a safe path to attain holiness, the state of perfection to which God calls all of us. According to John of the Cross, everything that exists, created by God, is good. Through creatures, we can come to discover the One who has left a trace of Himself in them. Faith, however, is the only source given to man to know God as He is in Himself, as the Triune God. Everything that God wanted to communicate to man, He said in Jesus Christ, His Word made flesh. Jesus Christ is the sole and definitive way to the Father (cf. Jn 14:6). Anything created is nothing compared to God and has no value outside of Him; consequently, to attain the perfect love of God, every other love must be conformed in Christ to the divine love. From this derives Saint John of the Cross's insistence on the necessity of purification and interior emptying in order to be transformed in God, who is the sole goal of perfection. This "purification" does not consist in the simple physical lack of things or of their use; rather, what makes the soul pure and free is eliminating every disordered dependence on things. Everything must be placed in God as the center and end of life. The long and arduous process of purification certainly demands personal effort, but the true protagonist is God: all that man can do is "dispose" himself, be open to the divine action and place no obstacles in its way. By living the theological virtues, man elevates himself and gives value to his own commitment. The pace of growth in faith, hope, and charity goes hand in hand with the work of purification and with progressive union with God until being transformed into Him. When this goal is reached, the soul is immersed in the Trinitarian life itself, so that Saint John affirms that it comes to love God with the very same love with which He loves it, because He loves it in the Holy Spirit. This is why the Mystical Doctor maintains that there is no true union of love with God if it does not culminate in the Trinitarian union. In this supreme state the holy soul knows everything in God and no longer has to pass through creatures to arrive at Him. The soul now feels flooded by divine love and rejoices completely in it.

Dear brothers and sisters, the question remains in the end: does this saint with his lofty mysticism, with this arduous path toward the peak of perfection, have something to say also to us, to the ordinary Christian who lives in the circumstances of today's life, or is he an example, a model only for a few elect souls who can truly embark on this path of purification, of mystical ascent? To find the answer we must first of all keep in mind that the life of Saint John of the Cross was not a "flying on mystical clouds," but was a very hard, very practical and concrete life, both as a reformer of the order, where he encountered much opposition, as a provincial superior, and in the prison of his confreres, where he was exposed to incredible insults and physical mistreatment. It was a hard life, but precisely in the months spent in prison he wrote one of his most beautiful works. And thus we can understand that the journey with Christ, going with Christ, "the Way," is not a weight added to the already sufficiently hard burden of our life, is not something that would make it more difficult

I cordially greet the French-speaking pilgrims, especially the young people and formators of the Seminary of Bayonne, accompanied by their Bishop, Monsignor Marc Aillet! Gathering the message of Saint John of the Cross, I invite you to deepen your Christian life and to experience the theological virtues, the source of a true transformation of your lives and a progressive union with God. With my Blessing!

I extend a warm welcome to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, especially those students from Saint Benedict's School, Saint Aloysius College, Saint Patrick's Grammar School, and students and parishioners from the United States. Upon you all, I invoke God's blessings of joy and peace!

I offer a very hearty welcome to all the brothers and sisters of the German tongue, especially the pilgrims from the Diocese of Eisenstadt accompanied by Bishop Ägidius Zsifkovics. Saint John of the Cross invites us to view our entire existence, with all its joys and hardships, in the light of the Lord and to dare with Him the ascent to true life in God. Let us therefore allow ourselves to be formed by the love of Christ, so that He may work in us and through us. Holiness is not the privilege of a few, but the vocation and gift of every Christian. May God's grace guide you on all your ways.

I cordially greet the Spanish-speaking faithful. In particular, the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as well as the pilgrims from Spain, Mexico, and other Latin American countries. Following the teachings of Saint John of the Cross, I exhort you to walk the path toward holiness, to which the Lord has called you with Baptism, opening your heart to the love of God and allowing yourselves to be transformed and purified by His grace. Thank you very much.

Beloved Portuguese-speaking pilgrims: I cordially greet you all and recall, with Saint John of the Cross, that holiness is not the privilege of a few, but a vocation to which every Christian is called. Therefore, I exhort you to enter ever more decisively upon the path of the purification of the heart and life, in order to go forth to meet Christ. In Him alone lies true happiness. Go in peace!

Greeting in the Czech language:

Srdečně vítám skupinu kněží a mladých ministrantů z Prahy a okolí, kteří na své pouti do Říma prosí Pána o nová kněžská povolání. Rád žehnám vám i vašim drahým! Chvála Kristu!

Italian translation:

A cordial welcome to the group of priests and young altar servers from Prague and its surroundings, who have come on a pilgrimage to Rome to pray to the Lord for new priestly vocations! I gladly bless you and your loved ones! Praised be Jesus Christ!

Greeting in the Polish language:

Z serdecznym pozdrowieniem zwracam się do Polaków. Św. Jan od Krzyża uczy, że nasze życie jest drogą ku spotkaniu z Chrystusem. Wszystkie nasze radości i troski, całe nasze istnienie powinniśmy widzieć w Jego świetle, otwierając serce na działanie Jego łaski, abyśmy byli coraz bardziej z Nim zjednoczeni. Świętość nie jest przywilejem nielicznych, ale powołaniem każdego chrześcijanina. Na tej drodze niech Bóg wam błogosławi.

Italian translation:

With a cordial greeting I turn to the Poles. Saint John of the Cross teaches that our whole life is a journey toward the encounter with Christ. We must see all our joys and worries, our entire existence, in His light, opening our hearts to the action of His grace, so that we may be ever more united with Him. Holiness is not the privilege of a few, but is the vocation of every Christian. On this path may God bless you.

I offer a warm welcome to the Italian-speaking pilgrims. In particular, I greet the participants in the General Chapter of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, wishing them to continue with generosity their service to Christ and to the Church, faithfully following the path traced by their venerated Founder. I affectionately greet the Missionaries of Charity and thank them for the joyful Christian witness they give across various continents, in the footsteps of their unforgettable Foundress, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. I greet the regional coordinators of the Apostleship of the Sea, on the occasion of the conference promoted by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, and I encourage them to identify adequate pastoral responses to the problems of seafarers and their families. I greet the representatives of the Banca di Viterbo Credito Cooperativo and express the hope that the centenary of the Institution's founding may inspire an ever-greater commitment to serving authentic social needs.

Finally, my thoughts go to the young people, the sick, and the newlywed couples. You, dear young people, make room for Jesus in your hearts and spread His joy and peace. You, dear sick people, offer your moments of trial to the Lord so that the doors of hearts may be opened to the proclamation of the Gospel. And you, dear newlyweds, always be witnesses of the love of Christ, who has called you to realize a shared life project.

APOSTOLIC LETTER MASTER OF THE FAITH OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF JOHN PAUL II

Apostolic Letter of His Holiness John Paul II to the Very Rev. Fr. Felipe Sainz De Baranda, Superior General of the Order of Discalced Brothers of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, on the occasion of the Fourth Centenary of the death of Saint John of the Cross, Doctor of the Church

Introduction

1. Master of the Faith and witness to the living God, Saint John of the Cross makes himself present in the memory of the Church, especially today, in the celebration of the Fourth Centenary of his passing to glory, which took place on December 14, 1591, when from his convent in Úbeda he was called to the Father's house.

It is a joy for the entire Church to witness the abundant fruits of holiness and wisdom that this son of his continues to yield through the example of his life and the light of his writings. Indeed, his figure and his teaching attract the interest of the most diverse religious and cultural circles, which find in him a welcome and an answer to the deepest aspirations of the human person and the believer. Furthermore, I nourish the hope that this jubilee celebration will serve to give greater prominence and dissemination to his central message: the theological life in faith, hope, and love.

This message, addressed to all, is a heritage and an urgent mission for the Teresian Carmel, which rightly considers him a spiritual Father and Master. His example is an ideal of life; his writings are a treasure to be shared with those who seek the face of God today; his doctrine is also a timely word, in a special way for Spain, his homeland, whose letters and name he honors with his universally far-reaching magisterium.

2. I myself have felt specially drawn by the experience and teachings of the Saint of Fontiveros. From the very first years of my priestly formation, I found in him a sure guide along the paths of faith. This aspect of his doctrine appeared to me of vital importance for all Christians, especially in an era that explores new paths, yet is also exposed to risks and temptations in the realm of faith.

While the spiritual climate aroused by the celebration of the Fourth Centenary of the Carmelite Saint's birth (1542-1942) was still alive and Europe was rising from its ashes after experiencing the dark night of war, I prepared my doctoral thesis in Theology in Rome on Faith according to Saint John of the Cross. In it, I analyzed and highlighted the central affirmation of the mystical Doctor: faith is the sole, proximate, and proportionate means for communion with God. Already back then I intuitively grasped that the synthesis of Saint John of the Cross contains not only a solid theological doctrine but, above all, an exposition of Christian life in its most basic aspects, such as communion with God, the contemplative dimension of prayer, the theological force of the apostolic mission, and the tension of Christian hope.

During my visit to Spain in November 1982, I had the joy of celebrating his memory in Segovia, before the evocative backdrop of the Roman aqueduct, and of venerating his relics at his tomb. There I was able to proclaim once again the great message of faith, as the essence of his teaching for the entire Church, for Spain, for Carmel. A living and vigorous faith that seeks and encounters God in His Son Jesus Christ, in the Church, in the beauty of creation, in silent prayer, in the darkness of the night, and in the purifying flame of the Spirit.

3. As we now celebrate the Fourth Centenary of his death, it is fitting, once more, to listen to this master. By a happy coincidence, he makes himself our traveling companion in this period of history, on the threshold of the year 2000, as we mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the close of Vatican Council II, which gave impetus and fostered the renewal of the Church regarding the purity of doctrine and the holiness of life. “The Church,” the Council affirms, “has the task of rendering God the Father and His incarnate Son present and in a way visible, renewing herself and purifying herself above all through the witness of a living and mature faith, that is to say, one properly educated to the ability to look difficulties squarely in the face with lucidity in order to overcome them.”

Presence of God and of Christ, renewing purification under the guidance of the Spirit, the experience of an enlightened and adult faith. Is this not truly the central content of the doctrine of Saint John of the Cross and his message for the Church and the people of today? Renewing and reviving the faith constitutes the indispensable basis for addressing any of the great tasks that present themselves today with greater urgency to the Church: to experience the saving presence of God in Christ, at the very center of life and history, to rediscover the human condition and man's divine filiation, his vocation to communion with God, the supreme reason for his dignity, to carry forward a new evangelization starting from the re-evangelization of believers, opening themselves ever more to the teaching and light of Christ.

4. There are many aspects for which John of the Cross is known in the Church and in the world of culture: as a man of letters and poet of the Castilian language, as an artist and humanist, as a man of profound mystical experiences, a theologian and spiritual exegete, a master of the spirit and director of souls. As a master on the path of faith, his figure and writings illuminate all those who seek the experience of God through contemplation and self-sacrificing service to their brothers and sisters. In his elevated poetic production, in his doctrinal treatises—Ascent of Mount Carmel, Dark Night, Spiritual Canticle, and Living Flame of Love—as well as in his brief and substantial writings—Dichtings and Sayings of Light and Love, Cautions, and Letters—the Saint has left us a synthesis of Christian spirituality and mystical experience. Nevertheless, amidst such a wealth of themes and contents, I wish to focus attention on his central message: living faith, the guide of the Christian, the sole light in the dark nights of trial, a burning flame nourished by the Spirit.

Faith, as the Saint well demonstrates with his life, inspires adoration and praise, and imparts human realism and a flavor of transcendence to all of existence. I wish, then, in the light of the \"Holy Spirit having become the master,\" in tune with the sapiential style of Brother John of the Cross, to comment on some aspects of his doctrine concerning faith, sharing his message with the men and women who live today, in this hour, a history full of challenges and hopes.

I.

Master in the Faith

5. The historical conditions in which he lived offered Brother John of the Cross a dense panorama of possibilities and incentives for the full development of his faith. During his life (1542–1591), Spain, Europe, and America opened up to an era of intense and creative religiosity; it is the time of evangelical expansion and the Catholic Reformation; but it is also the time of challenges, of fractures in ecclesial communion, and of internal and external conflicts. The Church, in these moments, must give serious answers and urgent commitments: a great Council, that of Trent, doctrinal and reformative; a new continent, America, to be evangelized; an old world, Europe, to be reinvigorated in its Christian roots.

The life of John of the Cross unfolds within this historical framework dense with situations and experiences. He lives his childhood and youth in extreme poverty, making his way through the work of his hands in Fontiveros, Arévalo, and Medina del Campo. He follows the Carmelite vocation and receives higher education in the lecture halls of the University of Salamanca. Immediately after his providential encounter with Saint Teresa of Jesus, he embraces the Carmelite Reform and begins the new form of life in the first convent of Duruelo. As the first Discalced Carmelite, he lives the vicissitudes and difficulties of the nascent religious family, as a master and pedagogue, as well as confessor at the Incarnation in Avila. The prison of Toledo, the solitudes of El Calvario and La Peñuela in Andalusia, his apostolate in the monasteries, and his work as a superior mold his personality, which is reflected in the lyricism of his poetry and in the commentaries of his writings, in simple convent life, and in his itinerant apostolate. Alcalá de Henares, Baeza, Granada, Segovia, and Úbeda are names that evoke a fullness of interior life, priestly ministry, and spiritual magisterium.

With his rich life experience, faced with the ecclesial situation of his time, he adopts an open attitude. At the end of his life, he offers to go to Mexico to proclaim the Gospel; he makes preparations to fulfill his intentions, but illness and death prevent him from doing so.

6. To the grave spiritual urgencies of his time, John of the Cross responds by embracing a contemplative vocation. With this gesture, he does not free himself from his human and Christian responsibilities; on the contrary, in taking this step, he prepares himself to live with full awareness the central core of the faith: seeking the face of God, listening to and fulfilling His word, and dedicating himself to the service of his neighbor.

He shows us how the contemplative life is a form in which the Christian is fully realized. The contemplative is not limited solely to long moments of prayer. The companions and biographers of the Carmelite Saint offer us a dynamic image of him: in his youth, he learned to be a nurse and a mason, to work in the garden, and to adorn the Church. As an adult, he carried out responsibilities in governance and as a formator, always attentive to the spiritual and material needs of his brothers. On foot, he traveled long roads to spiritually assist his sisters, the Discalced Carmelites, convinced of the ecclesial value of their contemplative life. In him, everything can be summarized in a profound conviction: it is God, and He alone, who gives value and flavor to every activity, "for where God is not known, nothing is known."

He therefore rendered the best service to the needs of the Church through his life and writings, within his peculiar vocation as a contemplative Carmelite. Thus Friar John lived in the company of his brothers and sisters in Carmel: in prayer and silence, in service, in sobriety, and in renunciation. All of this was permeated by faith, hope, and love. With Saint Teresa of Jesus, he realized and shared the fullness of the Carmelite charism. Together, they continue to be eminent witnesses of the living God in the Church.

7. Faith nourishes communion and dialogue with brothers and sisters to help them walk the paths that lead to God. Friar John was an authentic formator of believers. He knew how to introduce people to a familiar relationship with God, teaching them to discover His presence and His love in favorable and unfavorable circumstances, in moments of fervor and in periods of apparent abandonment. Outstanding souls such as Teresa of Jesus—whom he guides in the final stages of her mystical experience—approached him, as well as persons of great spirituality, representatives of faith and popular piety, such as Ana de Peñalosa, to whom he dedicated the Living Flame of Love. God endowed him with appropriate qualities for this mission as a spiritual guide and builder of believers.

John of the Cross sought to realize in his time an authentic pedagogy of the faith to liberate it from certain dangers that threatened it. On the one hand, the danger of excessive credulity in those who, without any discernment, trusted more in private visions or subjective movements than in the Gospel and the Church; on the other hand, incredulity as a radical attitude and hardness of heart that render one incapable of opening up to the mystery. Overcoming these obstacles, the Mystical Doctor helps, with his example and doctrine, to strengthen the Christian faith with the fundamental qualities of an adult faith, as requested by the Second Vatican Council: a personal, free, and convinced faith, embraced with one's whole being; an ecclesial faith, confessed and celebrated in communion with the Church; a praying and adoring faith, matured in the experience of communion with God; a solid and committed faith, manifested through a moral coherence of life and in a dimension of service. This is the faith we need and of which the Saint of Fontiveros offers us his personal testimony and his ever-relevant teaching.

II.

The Witness of the Living God

8. John of the Cross was a man in love with God. He conversed with Him familiarly and spoke with Him constantly. He bore Him in his heart and on his lips, because He constituted his true treasure, his most real world. Before proclaiming and singing the mystery of God, he was His witness; for this reason he spoke of Him with passion and with uncommon powers of persuasion: "Those who listened pondered, because he spoke of God and the mysteries of our faith in such a way as if he saw them with his bodily eyes." Thanks to the gift of faith, the contents of the mystery form a living and real world for the believer. The witness proclaims what he has seen and heard, what he has contemplated, in imitation of the prophets and the apostles (cf. 1 Jn 1, 1-2).

Like them, the Saint possessed the gift of effective and penetrating speech; not only for his ability to express and communicate his experience in symbols and poetry rich in beauty and lyricism, but for the sapiential exquisite nature of his "words of light and love," for his inclination to speak "words to the heart, imbued with sweetness and love," "of light for the way and of love along the journey."

9. The vividness and realism of the Mystic Doctor's faith are based on his relationship with the central mysteries of Christianity. A contemporary of the Saint states: "Among the mysteries that he seemed to love greatly was that of the Most Holy Trinity and also that of the Incarnate Son of God." His preferred source for the contemplation of these mysteries was the Eucharist, as he frequently attests; in particular, chapter 17 of the Gospel of Saint John, whose words he echoes: "This is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and that you have sent Jesus Christ" (Jn 17, 3).

As a theologian and a mystic, he made the Trinitarian mystery and the mysteries of the Incarnate Word the axis of his spiritual life and the canticle of his poetry. He discovered God in the works of creation and in the events of history, because he sought Him and welcomed Him with faith in the deepest recesses of his being: "The Word, the Son of God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, essentially and presently remains hidden within the interior of the soul . . . Rejoice and be glad with Him also in your interior recollection, since you have Him so close! Desire Him here, adore Him."

10. How did the Spanish mystic manage to draw all this wealth of content and life from the Christian faith? Simply by letting evangelical faith unfold all its capacities for conversion, love, trust, and dedication. The secret of his richness and effectiveness lay in the fact that faith is the source of the theological life: faith, charity, and hope. "These three theological virtues progress together."

One of the most valuable contributions of St. John of the Cross to Christian spirituality is his doctrine concerning the development of the theological life. In his written and oral teaching, he focused his attention on the trilogy of faith, hope, and love, which constitute the original attitudes of Christian existence. At all stages of the spiritual journey, the theological virtues are always the basis for God's communication with man and man's response to God.

Faith, united with charity and hope, produces that intimate and savory knowledge that we call experience or sense of God, life of faith, and Christian contemplation. It is something that goes far beyond theological and philosophical reflection. And it is received from God, through the Spirit, by many simple and yielding souls. In dedicating the Spiritual Canticle to Anne of Jesus, the Author noted: "Although Your Reverence lacks the practice of scholastic theology, by means of which divine truths are understood, you do not lack that of mysticism, which is known through love, in which things are not only known, but at the same time tasted." Christ revealed Himself to him as the beloved, moreover, as the One who loves with precedence, as he sang in the poem of "El Pastorcico."

III.

The Ways of the Life of Faith

11. \u201cThe just man shall live by faith\u201d (Rom 1:17, Hab 2:4). He lives by God\'s fidelity to His gifts and promises, by a trusting surrender to His service. Faith is the beginning and fullness of life. For this reason, the Christian is called a faithful one, a faithful one of Christ (“Christifidelis”). The God of revelation penetrates his entire existence. The entire life of the believer is sustained, as a definitive criterion, upon the principles of faith. The mystical Doctor warns of this: \u201cTo this end it is fitting to presuppose a foundation which will be like a staff upon which they must always lean. This must be well understood, for it is the light through which we must walk and by means of which it is necessary not only that we understand this doctrine, but that in all these goods we direct our joy to God: and it is that the will must not rejoice except in that which is for the honor and glory of God; the greatest honor then that we can render Him is that of serving Him according to evangelical perfection; whatever therefore strays from this is of no value and profit for man.\u201d

Among the aspects that the Saint highlights in the education of faith, I wish to emphasize two that have particular importance today in the life of Christians: the relation between natural reason and faith, and the experience of faith through interior prayer.

12. It might seem surprising that the Doctor of faith and of the dark night should praise the value of human reason with such warmth. His is the famous axiom: \u201cA single thought of man is worth more than the entire world; therefore, God alone is worthy of it.\u201d The superiority of rational man over the rest of worldly reality must not lead to pretensions of earthly domination, but must be directed toward its most proper end: union with God, to whom man is similar in dignity. Therefore, one cannot understand the contempt for natural reason in the field of faith, nor the opposition between human rationality and the divine message. On the contrary, they operate in intimate collaboration: \u201cWe have natural reason and the law and the evangelical doctrine with which we can sufficiently regulate ourselves.\u201d Faith is incarnate and realized in man, a rational being, with his lights and shadows; the theologian and the believer cannot renounce their rationality, but must open it to the horizons of mystery.\u201d

13. The experience of faith through interior prayer is another aspect that Saint John of the Cross particularly highlights in his writings. In this regard, a constant concern of the Church in the education of faith is the cultural and theological promotion of the faithful, so that they may deepen their interior life and be capable of giving an account of their faith. But this intellectual promotion must pass through a development of the contemplative dimension of the Christian faith, the fruit of the encounter with the mystery of God. It is precisely here that the great pastoral concerns of the Spanish mystic are focused.

John of the Cross has educated generations of faithful in contemplative prayer, as \u201cknowledge or loving attention\u201d to God and to the mysteries He has revealed to us. The pages that the Saint has dedicated to this type of prayer are well known (17). He invites us to live with the gaze of faith and contemplative love the liturgical celebration, the adoration of the Eucharist - the eternal hidden source in the divine bread - the contemplation of the Trinity and of the mysteries of Christ, the loving listening to the divine Word, the prayerful communion through the...

14. Today the Mystical Doctor draws the attention of many believers and non-believers for his description of the dark night as a typically human and Christian experience. Our era has lived through dramatic moments in which the silence or absence of God, the experience of calamities and sufferings, such as wars or the very holocaust of so many innocent beings, have made this expression better understood, furthermore giving it the character of a collective experience, applied to the very reality of life and not only to a phase of the spiritual journey. The Saint's doctrine is invoked today in the face of this unfathomable mystery of human pain.

I refer to this specific world of suffering of which I spoke in the Apostolic Exhortation Salvifici doloris. Physical, moral, or spiritual sufferings, such as illness, the scourge of hunger, war, injustice, loneliness, the lack of meaning in life, the very fragility of human existence, the painful awareness of sin, the apparent absence of God, are for the believer a purifying experience that could be called a dark night.

To this experience John of the Cross gave the symbolic and evocative name of dark night, with explicit reference to the light and darkness of the mystery of faith. Without pretending to give a speculative answer to the distressing problem of suffering, in the light of Scripture and experience, he discovers and singles out something of the marvellous transformation that God brings to completion in the darkness, because He "knows wisely and beautifully how to bring good out of evil." It is a matter, ultimately, of living the mystery of death and resurrection in Christ with complete truth.

15. The silence or absence of God, as an accusation or as a simple lament, is such a spontaneous feeling when pain and injustice are experienced. The very ones who do not attribute the cause of joys to God often hold Him responsible for human pain. In a different way, but perhaps with greater depth, the Christian lives the torment of the loss of God or of His withdrawal from him; he can even feel himself cast into the darkness of the abyss.

The Doctor of the dark night brings into this experience a loving pedagogy of God. He is silent and at times hides because He has already spoken and manifested Himself with sufficient clarity. Even in the experience of His absence, He can communicate faith, love, and hope to whoever opens himself to Him with humility and meekness. The Saint writes: "The soul was wearing the white garment of faith as it emerged from this dark night, when walking . . . in the midst of darkness and interior anguish . . . it suffered with perseverance, passing through those hardships without tiring and failing the Beloved, who in hardships and tribulations tests the faith of His spouse, so that she may truly say the words of David: 'By the words of Your lips I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer' (Ps 17:4).

God's pedagogy acts in this case as an expression of His love and mercy. It restores to man the sense of gratitude, making Himself a freely accepted gift for him. At other times He makes him feel the full extent of sin, which is an offense to Him, death and the emptiness of man. He also educates him to discern the divine presence or absence: man must not let himself be guided by feelings of pleasure or displeasure, but by faith and love. God is equally a loving Father, in the hours of joy and in the moments of sorrow.

16. Only Jesus Christ, the definitive Word of the Father, can reveal to men the mystery of pain and illuminate with the rays of His glorious cross the darkest nights of the Christian. John of the Cross, consistent with his assertions concerning Christ, tells us that God, after the revelation of His Son, "remained almost as if mute, having nothing more to say"; the silence of God has its most eloquent revealing word of love in the crucified Christ.

The Saint of Fontiveros invites us to contemplate the mystery of Christ's Cross, as he habitually did, in the poetry of "El Pastorcico" or in his famous drawing of the Crucifix, known as the Christ of Saint John of the Cross. On the mystery of Christ's abandonment on the cross, he certainly wrote one of the most sublime pages of Christian literature. Christ experienced suffering in all its rigor unto death on a cross. In His final moments, the harshest forms of physical, psychological, and spiritual pain converged upon Him: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Mt 27:46). This atrocious suffering, caused by hatred and falsehood, has a profound redemptive value. It was ordained so that He might "simply pay the debt and unite man to God." Through His loving surrender to the Father, at the moment of greatest abandonment and greatest love, "He accomplished the most marvelous work of any He had performed in heaven and on earth during His earthly existence rich in miracles and prodigies, a work consisting in having reconciled and united mankind to God by grace." The mystery of Christ's Cross thus reveals the gravity of sin and the immensity of the love of the Redeemer of man.

In the life of faith, the mystery of Christ's Cross is a habitual reference point and the norm of Christian life: "When any suffering and displeasure presents itself to you, remember Christ crucified and remain silent. Live in faith and in hope, even if you are amidst darkness, for in it God helps the soul." Faith becomes a flame of charity, stronger than death, the seed and fruit of resurrection: "and where there is no love, put love and you will draw forth love." Because, ultimately: "At evening you will be examined on love."

IV.

A Message with Universal Projection

17. It is a cause for joy to observe, in commemorating the 4th Centenary of the death of Saint John of the Cross, the multitude of people who, from the most varied perspectives, approach his writings: mystics and poets, philosophers and psychologists, representatives of other religions, men of culture and simple folk.

There are those who approach him drawn by the human values he represents, such as language, philosophy, psychology. To all he speaks of the truth of God and man's transcendent vocation. For this reason, many who read his writings solely for the depth of his experience or the beauty of his poetry consciously or inadvertently assimilate his teachings. On the other hand, mystics, like our Saint, are the great witnesses to the truth of God and the masters through whom the Gospel of Christ and the Catholic Church sometimes find a welcome among followers of other religions.

However, he is also a guide for those who seek greater intimacy with God within the bosom of the Holy Church. His magisterium is dense with doctrine and life. From him can learn both the theologian "called to intensify his life of faith and to always unite scientific research and prayer," and directors of souls, to whom he dedicated pages of great spiritual clairvoyance.

18. I am pleased to address, in a special way on this occasion, the Church in Spain, which celebrates the 4th Centenary of the Saint's death as an ecclesial event that must project itself into individuals, families, and society.

In the era in which John of the Cross lived, Spain was a radiating fire of Catholic faith and missionary projection. Stimulated and, at times, helped by that environment, the Saint of Fontiveros knew how to elaborate a harmonious synthesis of faith and culture, experience and doctrine, built with the most solid values of his homeland's theological and spiritual tradition and with the beauty of his language and poetry. In him Spaniards have one of their most universally known representatives.

Today the Spanish Church faces serious and unavoidable commitments in the field of faith and public life, as its Bishops have successfully highlighted in some of their most recent documents. Its efforts must then be directed toward the revitalization of Christian life, ensuring that the Catholic faith, convinced and free, is expressed personally and communally in an open profession, in a coherent life, and in a testimony of service. In a pluralistic society like the present one, the personal option of faith of Christians demands a new attitude of coherence with baptismal grace, and a conscious and loving adherence to the Church, if one is not to face the risk of anonymity and the temptation of unbelief.

The Church in Spain is also called to render a service to society by fostering an adequate harmony between the Christian message and cultural values. This involves awakening an open and living faith that brings the new sap of the Gospel to the various spheres of public life. This synthesis must ultimately also be brought by Christian laypeople engaged in the various sectors of culture. For this profound interior, communitarian, and cultural renewal, John of the Cross offers the example of his life and the richness of his writings.

19. The growing interest that St. John of the Cross arouses in our contemporaries is a source of legitimate satisfaction above all for the sons and daughters of Teresian Carmel, of whom he is father, master, and guide. It is also a sign that the charism of life and service that God has entrusted to you in the Church continues to have full vigor and validity.

Yet the charism is not a material possession or a legacy secured once and for all. It is a grace of the Spirit that demands from you fidelity and creativity, in communion with the Church, showing yourselves always attentive to her needs. To all of you who are sons and brothers, disciples and followers of St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross, I recall that your vocation is a motive for grave responsibility, rather than for glory.

It is certainly a valuable service to the Church to show solicitude and care in how you present his writings and spread the message of your Father and Doctor of the Church. So too is the effort to facilitate the understanding of his doctrine through appropriate studies and the pedagogy necessary to initiate readers into its study and concrete application. The response of Teresian Carmel, nonetheless, must go even further. You must respond with the fruitful testimony of a rich experience of personal and communitarian life. Every Discalced Carmelite, every community, the entire Order, is called to embody the traits that shine forth in the life and writings of him who is like "the living image of the Discalced Carmelite": austerity, intimacy with God, intense prayer, evangelical fraternity, the promotion of prayer and Christian perfection through teaching and spiritual direction, as your specific apostolate in the Church.

What a blessing it would be to encounter the word and life of the Carmelite Saint incarnate and personified in every son and daughter of Carmel! This is what so many of your sisters and brothers have done who, over the span of four centuries, have known how to live intimacy with God, mortification, fidelity to prayer, fraternal spiritual help, including even the dark nights of faith. Of them, John of the Cross was master and model through his life and writings.

20. On this occasion I cannot fail to direct a word of gratitude and exhortation to all Discalced Carmelite Nuns. The Saint made them the object of his predilection, dedicating to them the best of his apostolate and his teachings. He knew how to form them individually and in community, instructing and guiding them with his presence and the ministry of confession. Mother Teresa of Jesus had presented him to her daughters with the best credentials as a spiritual director: "a heavenly and divine man," "very spiritual and of great experience and doctrine," to whom they could open their souls to progress in perfection, "since our Lord has given him a special grace for this."

Countless Discalced Carmelite nuns have attained great heights in the interior life by lovingly meditating upon the writings of the Holy Doctor. Some of them are universally known as his daughters and disciples. Suffice it to recall the names of Teresa Margaret of the Heart of Jesus, Mary of Jesus Crucified, Thérèse of Lisieux, Elizabeth of the Trinity, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), and Teresa of Los Andes. Continue, therefore, with dedication, my dearest Discalced Carmelite nuns scattered throughout the entire world, to seek this pure love of intimacy with God, which makes your life in the Church so fruitful.

Conclusion

21. The evocation of Saint John of the Cross, on the occasion of the Fourth Centenary of his death, has allowed me to share some reflections regarding one of the central messages of his magisterium: the dimension of evangelical faith. It is a message that he, in the historical conditions of his time, incarnated in his heart and in his life, and which continues to be fruitful in the Church.

In concluding this Letter, I make myself a pilgrim toward his birthplace of Fontiveros, where at baptism he received the first fruits of the faith, as far as the Andalusian convent of Ubeda, where he passed into glory, and finally to his tomb in Segovia. These places, which evoke his earthly life, are also for the entire People of God shrines for the veneration of the Saint, a permanent chair from which his message of a life lived in the theological virtues continues to be proclaimed.

In presenting him today in a solemn manner to the Church and to the world, I wish to invite the sons and daughters of Carmel, the Christians of his homeland, Spain, as well as all those who seek God along the paths of beauty, theology, and contemplation, to listen to his testimony of faith and evangelical life, so that they may feel themselves drawn, like him, by the beauty of God and the love of Christ, the Beloved.

To our Redeemer and to His Most Holy Mother I entrust the activities that during this jubilee year will take place to commemorate the passage to glory of Saint John of the Cross, while from my heart I impart my Apostolic Blessing.

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on the 14th day of December, the Feast of Saint John of the Cross, Doctor of the Church, in the year 1990, the thirteenth of my Pontificate.