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Memorial of Saint John of the Cross

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The Church celebrates St. John of the Cross on December 14; he is one
of only six saints (a list that includes Ss. Andrew, Francis Xavier,
Ambrose, Lucy, and Mary) whose feast day bumps the celebration of
Advent.  John of the Cross is also a Doctor of the Church, an
honor bestowed upon only 35 men and women in all of Church
history.  So, he is in pretty good company with an apostle, the
mother of Christ, and saints Augustine, Jerome, Thomas Aquinas and
Teresa of Avila.
 
Why is John of the Cross (1542-1591) relevant to social ministers of
the Church?  

He did not found orphanages, lobby kings for just social policies in
his 16th century Spain, or march in peace demonstrations against the
Spanish Inquisition.  Instead, he is perhaps best known for his
spiritual writing, in the form of poetry, that he compiled while being
imprisoned by his brother Carmelites.  According to Butler's
Lives of the Saints:

...In his teaching he was a faithful follower of ancient tradition:
human life on earth is ordered to an end which is the perfection
of charity and transformation in God by love; contemplation is not an
end in itself, it does not stop at understanding, but it is for love
and for union with God by love....

This Doctor of the Church is probably best known for his writing Dark
Night of the Soul. Robert Ellsberg summarizes John's message as,
"...the path by which the soul is united in love with God - a journey
that is marked by stripping and desolation as much as by periods of
joy."

It was Dark Night of the Soul that prompted St. John Paul II to write:

...Our age has known times of anguish...Our age speaks of the silence
or absence of God. It has known so many calamities, so much suffering
inflicted by wars, and by the destruction of so many innocent beings.
The term dark night is now used of all of life and not just of a phase
of the spiritual journey. The Saint's doctrine is now invoked in
response to this unfathomable mystery of human suffering.

Social ministry exposes us to a lot of human suffering.  We
cannot all be Mother Teresas, Francis of Assisis, or Dorothy Days, but
our ministry regularly exposes us to those imprisoned or without
permanent shelter or nutritious food or who suffer from mental
illness.  Perhaps the significance of John of the Cross for us is
to find the love and presence of God while companioning those who
humanly suffer AND to advocate to government, Church, and corporate
leaders on behalf of the suffering who are not as able to speak for
themselves.

Steve Herro is a Norbertine brother from De Pere, WI. He is a trained
spiritual director, a church archivist, a member of his diocese's CRS
Chapter, and blogs at stevenherro.wordpress.com. He is a past CCUSA
staffer and enjoys promoting Catholic Charities in the Diocese of
Green Bay.
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