Human effort and divine intervention, John of the Cross

“Human effort is not enough to eradicate bad habits, it can only limit them”, instead “God’s decisive action is needed to purify human beings”, from our “disordered dependence on things”, Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday as dedicated his general audience to the figure of 16^th Spanish saint, John of the Cross.

Continuing his series of lessons on the doctors of the church, the Pope asked whether "this great saint and mystic, has something to say to us, to every normal Christian” today “or is he just a model for a few chosen souls". To "find an answer - he continued - we must first understand that John’s life was a very hard, practical and concrete one”, to the point of prison, where "he suffered incredible insult and physical abuse” but where he also wrote “one of his finest works". In short, holiness is not only for a privileged few, but a path to which we all are called.

Born in Fontiveros in 1542 into a" poor family ", the death of his father drove the family to Medina del Campo, where the young John was admitted to Immaculate Conception hospital as a nurse and at 18 years to the Jesuit college. By the end of his formation his vocation to religious life was clear and in 1563 he joined the Carmelites. Sent to Salmanca University, he was ordained priest in 1567 and returned to Medina del Campo for his first mass. Here his first meeting with St. Teresa of Avila took place, which was "decisive for both”. The two worked together and inaugurated the first home of the Discalced Carmelites on December 28, 1568.

Pope Benedict went on to note that John “became confessor at Teresa’s monastery, and together they developed a rich articulation of the workings of the Lord upon the soul in the spiritual life. Despite persecution and misunderstanding from within his own Order, John produced some of the most illuminating and insightful treatises in all of Western spirituality. His four major writings are The Ascent of Mount Carmel, The Dark Night of the Soul, The Spiritual Canticle, and The Living Flame of Love”.

“One of the themes much developed by John” – noted Pope Benedict – “was that of the purification of the soul: by means of created things, we can discover traces of the living God in this world. Faith, however, is the unique means by which we can come to know God as he is in himself. The demanding process of purification, at times active and at others passive, requires our determined effort, but it is God who is the real centre; all man can do is dispose himself and humble himself before the loving work of God in the soul. In this sense, John is for us a model of humble dedication and of faithful perseverance on the road to spiritual maturity”. Listen to the full report: