From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   He is the chief Physician.   
      
      "'Now Simon's mother-in-law was kept in her bed sick with a fever.'   
   May Christ come to our house and enter in and by his command cure the   
   fever of our sins. Each one of us is sick with a fever. Whenever I   
   give way to anger, I have a fever. There are as many fevers as there   
   are faults and vices. Let us beg the apostles to intercede for us with   
   Jesus, that he may come to us and touch our hand. If he does so, at   
   once our fever is gone. He is an excellent physician and truly the   
   chief Physician. Moses is a physician. Isaiah is a physician. All the   
   saints are physicians, but he is the chief Physician."   
    by Jerome (excerpt from HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK 75.1)   
      
      
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   December 14th - Saint John of the Cross   
      
   Saint John exemplifies the Christian philosophy of self-sacrificing   
   love, penance, and the finding of joy in suffering alongside the   
   crucified Christ.   
      
   Juan de Yepes was born in the village of Fontiveros in Castile, about   
   30 miles from Avila, Spain. His family struggled financially, as his   
   father had been disowned after he married a woman they considered   
   beneath their class. A marriage of true love, Juan’s parents were   
   deeply influential in his understanding of suffering and love. Juan’s   
   father became ill, and died when Juan was only 7 years old, leading to   
   a series of family moves and struggles.   
      
   One story is frequently told regarding John’s childhood. As he was   
   playing near a pond one day, he fell into the deep water. As he rose   
   to the surface, a tall and incredibly beautiful Lady came to offer her   
   hand to assist him to land. “No,” said John, the child, “You are too   
   beautiful; my hand will dirty Yours.” After voicing his concern, an   
   elderly gentleman appeared on the shore and extended his staff to the   
   child to bring him to shore. These figures, looking out for the child,   
   were the Mary, Our Blessed Mother, and Saint Joseph. Similarly, at   
   another point in his childhood, John fell into a well, and his family   
   grieved, certain that he would be found dead upon retrieving him.   
   However, they found him at the bottom of the well, seated,   
   comfortable, and waiting peacefully for rescue. He stated, “A   
   beautiful lady took me into Her cloak and sheltered me.” From this,   
   his mother grew certain that her son was destined for great things.   
      
   John’s mother moved the family frequently, and as an adolescent in   
   Medina, John was put into school, as he demonstrated no aptitude for   
   learning a trade. Academically, he was found to excel, however. Quick   
   to learn, John soon found a patron who adopted him at 14, sending him   
   to a Jesuit school where he flourished under the influence of one of   
   the masters. At 17 he began to work in the hospital where his patron   
   was warden, bringing him into close contact with those who were   
   suffering and near death. This work, along with that of his childhood,   
   nurtured and developed his sensitivity and compassion--traits which   
   characterized his life and works.   
      
   John felt called to religious life. One evening, as he was praying to   
   the Lord, hoping that his vocation would be made known to him, an   
   interior voice said to him: “You will enter a religious Order, whose   
   primitive fervor you will restore.” Soon thereafter, John entered the   
   Carmelite Order, at age 21. Out of humility, John attempted to conceal   
   his mind and works, but was quickly professed the following year and   
   was sent to the University of Salamanca, one of the 4 leading   
   universities of Europe at that time. It was there he studied theology   
   and arts, and was ordained a priest.   
      
   As a priest, John desired nothing less than perfection, and his means   
   for attaining it were sacrifice, penance, mortification, and humility.   
   He dwelt in an obscure corner whose window opened upon the chapel,   
   opposite the Most Blessed Sacrament. Each day, he wore around his   
   waist an iron chain full of sharp points, and over it a tight vestment   
   made of reeds joined by large knots. These practices led to constant   
   blood loss and pain. Drawn to solitude, his plans were interrupted   
   when he met Saint Teresa of Avila, who made him the confidant of her   
   projects for the reform of Carmel and asked him to be her auxiliary.   
      
   John, accompanied by two friars, retired to a poor and inadequate   
   dwelling and began a new kind of life, conformed with the primitive   
   Rules of the Order of Carmel. The three lived together in quiet   
   solitude and contemplation, practicing their apostolic works,   
   traveling throughout the region preaching and hearing confessions. The   
   reform, however, was not accepted by many of the Carmelite brethren.   
   He was persecuted, insulted, and made to suffer by those members of   
   the Order resistant to reform. Despite this persecution and   
   difficulty, Saint John continued to pray to the Lord, stating his wish   
   as only “To suffer and to be scorned for You.” The General of the   
   Order approved the reform, but it was rejected by the older friars,   
   who condemned the Saint as a fugitive and an apostate and cast him   
   into prison. There, in a tiny cell that measured only 6 ft by 10 ft,   
   and had little light, John was confined for 9 months. Beaten 3 times a   
   week, and left to suffer, the brothers expected John to give up. Yet   
   in that unbearable dark, cold, and desolation, his love and faith were   
   like fire and light. He had nothing left but God--and God brought John   
   his greatest joys in that tiny cell. From his cell, Saint John wrote   
   many books of practical advice on spiritual growth and prayer that   
   still speak to the faithful today, including: “Ascent of Mount   
   Carmel,” “Dark Night of the Soul,” and “A Spiritual Canticle of the   
   Soul and the Bridegroom Christ.”   
      
   After 9 months, John managed to escape from his torturous imprisonment   
   by picking the lock of his cell, creeping past the guards at great   
   personal risk, and climbing from a window to freedom. Having no idea   
   of where he was, John followed a dog for several days, eventually   
   finding refuge at the infirmary of some Carmelite nuns. Having brought   
   his spiritual poetry with him (which he wrote in the darkness of his   
   cell), he spent his days reading to the sisters of the convent, and   
   explaining the extraordinary grace his imprisonment had been. In   
   prison, John had experienced the profound love of the Lord.   
      
   John’s suffering did not end there. Twice more, before his death, he   
   was shamefully persecuted by his brethren, and publicly disgraced.   
   Asked by his beloved Master what reward he would like for all he had   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)