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A priest’s love of God is purified by the blue flames of contemplation and mistreatment

The Protestant Reformation sparked a purifying fire in the Catholic Church. Like a prairie fire scorches the thick grasses, thistle, and weeds, so the heat of the Counter-Reformation moved over the land, scorching the thicket of devotions, pious customs, and theological miscellania that had snagged and obscured the Church’s purest growth. Besides the universal reforms of the Council of Trent, men and women such as Saint John of the Cross were integral regional players in the Catholic Counter-Reformation. This movement stripped even mighty dioceses and religious orders of all padding, of all unnecessary raiment, and then built up a lean and muscular Body of Christ that moved with purpose and vigor for the next four centuries. But for many purifiers, including Saint John of the Cross, the price of such reform was steep and personal. Needed changes to his beloved Carmelites would mean the disruption of comfortable patterns of life. John’s ideas had enemies, and for his efforts he suffered exile, hunger, public lashings, imprisonment, and defamation from the hands of his own fellow Carmelites!

Saint John was born into poverty and so was no stranger to need. He was raised by his mother and the Church after his father died at a young age. These two mothers imparted to his mind a solid formation in Catholic doctrine and to his soul an ardent love for the Lord Jesus. John was ordained a priest for the Carmelites in 1567. He loved solitude and contemplation and so...

Attributions

By Luidger - Self-photographed, CC BY-SA 3.0, [ Ссылка ]; By Jl FilpoC - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, [ Ссылка ]; By Jl FilpoC - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, [ Ссылка ]; By Pierre Poschadel - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, [ Ссылка ]; By Zarateman - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, [ Ссылка ]; By Enfo - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, [ Ссылка ]; By Egaida - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, [ Ссылка ]; By Mdeazpeitia - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, [ Ссылка ]; By Mdeazpeitia - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, [ Ссылка ]; By Alvesgaspar - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, [ Ссылка ];

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