Priest and Doctor of the Church · Feast day December 14
St. John of the Cross
The feast day of St. John of the Cross is December 14, a memorial in the US Catholic calendar. Below: a short life and 5 sourced quotations in their own words.
| Feast day | December 14 |
|---|---|
| In the US calendar | Memorial |
| Title | Priest and Doctor of the Church |
| Died | 1591 |
| In their own words | 5 sourced quotations |
| Next on Bless’s Today screen | None left in the published calendar (through December 31, 2028) |
Life
A Carmelite of Ávila who joined Teresa’s reform and paid for it: his own brethren imprisoned him nine months in a cell scarcely bigger than himself. There, in the dark, he composed some of the greatest poetry in the Spanish language.
His Dark Night of the Soul and Ascent of Mount Carmel chart the soul’s purification with a surgeon’s precision. He is the Mystical Doctor of the Church.
In their own words
Each quotation names the work it comes from. Bless quotes these in the comments beside the verses listed under In Scripture.
In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.
Where there is no love, put love, and you will find love.
To reach satisfaction in all, desire satisfaction in nothing. To come to possess all, desire the possession of nothing.
Where have You hidden, Beloved, and left me moaning? You fled like the stag after wounding me; I went out calling You, and You were gone.
The soul that walks in love neither tires others nor grows tired.
In Scripture
In Bless, St. John of the Cross’s words appear in the comments beside these verses. This page’s labels say how each is linked: “on this verse” means the saint wrote about that very verse; “on this theme” means the quotation shares its theme. Scripture is quoted from the Catholic Public Domain Version.
On this theme
Unto the end. The understanding of the sons of Korah.
As the deer longs for fountains of water, so my soul longs for you, O God.
Psalm 41:1–2 · CPDV Beside their words: “Where have You hidden, Beloved, and left me moaning? You fled like the stag after…”
On this theme
My beloved put his hand through the window, and my inner self was moved by his touch.
Song of Songs 5:6 · CPDV Beside their words: “Where have You hidden, Beloved, and left me moaning? You fled like the stag after…”
On this theme
Then Jesus said to his disciples: “If anyone is willing to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Matthew 16:24 · CPDV Beside their words: “To reach satisfaction in all, desire satisfaction in nothing. To come to possess all…”
On this theme
But when the Son of man will have arrived in his majesty, and all the Angels with him, then he will sit upon the seat of his majesty. And all the nations shall be gathered together before him. And he shall separate them from one another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he shall station the sheep, indeed, on his right, but the goats on his left. Then the King shall say to those who will be on his right: ‘Come, you blessed of my Father. Possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. …
Matthew 25:31–46 · CPDV Beside their words: “In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.”
On this theme
But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.
Luke 6:27 · CPDV Beside their words: “Where there is no love, put love, and you will find love.”
On this theme
Do not allow evil to prevail, instead prevail over evil by means of goodness.
Romans 12:21 · CPDV Beside their words: “Where there is no love, put love, and you will find love.”
On this theme
Charity suffers all, believes all, hopes all, endures all.
1 Corinthians 13:7 · CPDV Beside their words: “The soul that walks in love neither tires others nor grows tired.”
On this theme
But for now, these three continue: faith, hope, and charity. And the greatest of these is charity.
1 Corinthians 13:13 · CPDV Beside their words: “In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.”
2 more verses
On this theme
And so, let us not be deficient in doing good. For in due time, we shall reap without fail.
Galatians 6:9 · CPDV Beside their words: “The soul that walks in love neither tires others nor grows tired.”
On this theme
Yet truly, I consider everything to be a loss, because of the preeminent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of everything, considering it all to be like dung, so that I may gain Christ,
Philippians 3:8 · CPDV Beside their words: “To reach satisfaction in all, desire satisfaction in nothing. To come to possess all…”
In the calendar
The upcoming dates, through December 31, 2028, when Bless’s Today screen shows St. John of the Cross. Where the US calendar keeps another celebration that day, it is named instead and no rank is given.
Readings
No dates are left in Bless’s published calendar, which runs through December 31, 2028. St. John of the Cross keeps December 14 in Bless’s calendar of saints: see the saints of December.
All the saints of December Born on December 14? A saint for every day
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