Carmel in the Holy Land— Saints of Carmel

St John of the Cross

 

 

 

Pouring out a thousand graces,
he passed these groves in haste;
and having looked at them,
with his image alone,
clothed them in beauty.

(Spiritual Canticle 5)

Where could these verses of John of the Cross be better understood than in smiling Galilee?

In this regard, here everything speaks of Christ who "went about doing good" (Acts 10:38) and from whom all beauty seems to have been placed in this little corner of the earth. For if the land of Israel has the reputation of being arid, even desert, this is only true for that part which extends from Jerusalem along the Judean desert towards the south. When you turn your gaze from Bethlehem towards the Herodion, you can verify with your own eyes the model for St John's celebrated sketch of Mount Carmel: "And on the mountain, nothing - nothing - nothing…"

But it is true that in this town where God made himself so tiny out of love for us, you can easily evoke another memory of John, even two, which took place elsewhere, but immediately remind you of Bethlehem.

Both happened at Granada, in the Carmelite monastery.

One Christmas day in the monastery, John took the statue of the sleeping Child into his arms and started to sing:

Señor, si amor han de matar,
Agora tienen lugar !

(Lord, if love can kill,
now is the moment!)

We even know the date of the other: Christmas 1585, when he began to dance embracing the statue of the Child Jesus.

These events bring to mind his words so full of wonderful tenderness:

(.....) But God there in the manger, cried and moaned;
and these tears were jewels the bride brought to the wedding.
The Mother gazed in sheer wonder on such an exchange:
in God, man's weeping, and in man, gladness,
to the one and the other things usually so strange.

(Romance on the Nativity)

 

But it is to Nazareth you should go to let yourself be touched with John by this "mystery hidden since the foundation of the world", which he understood in a vast Trinitarian movement, this Trinity of which he says with humour "which in his opinion, was the greatest saint in heaven" :

"My Son, I wish to give you a bride who will love you.
Because of you she will deserve to share our company,
and eat at our table, the same bread I eat,
that she may know the good I have in such a Son;
and rejoice with me in your grace and fullness."

"I am very grateful," the Son answered;
"I will show my brightness to the bride you give me,
so that by it she may see how great my Father is,
and how I have received my being from your being.
I will hold her in my arms and she will burn with your love,
and with eternal delight she will exalt your goodness"

(Romance on the Creation).

 

Again:

I will go seek my bride and take upon myself
her weariness and labors in which she suffers so;
(....)
and though Three work this, it is wrought in the One;
and the Word lived incarnate in the womb of Mary.
And he who had only a Father now had a Mother too,
but she was not like others who conceive by man.
From her own flesh he received his flesh,
so he is called Son of God and of man.

(Romance on the Incarnation).

 

We spoke before of The Ascent of Carmel. Paradoxically, on Mt Carmel, with its generous and even luxuriant vegetation, you would not spontaneously think of this harsh climb: "and on the mountain, nothing…"

On the contrary, in contemplating sunset with its such splendid colours, the following verses come to mind:

O lamps of fire!
in whose splendors
the deep caverns of feeling,
once obscure and blind,
now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,
both warmth and light to their Beloved.

(Living Flame of Love Stanza 3)

How the chanter of the pure and infinite beauty of God would love this nature where everything calls out in praise of the Creator!

Even so...

Not for all of beauty
will I ever lose myself,
(…)
I will never lose myself
for that which the senses
can take in here,
nor for all the mind can hold,
no matter how lofty,
nor for grace or beauty,
but only for I-don't-know-what
which is so gladly found

(A gloss with spiritual meaning).

But this "I-dont-know-what", where then can you find it, this passionate lover of the Cross, except in this town where the Cross is eternally present, eternally heavy, this town where, according to the psalmist "all mankind is born" ?

There where "the young Shepherd, his heart an open wound with love", "spread his shining arms"

The town where the source springs up initially from hands already offered by the young Shepherd; before the river-like flow from his opened heart, this spring which was to become for us the Bread:

I know well the stream that flows from this spring
is mighty in compass and power,
although it is night.

I know the stream proceeding from these Three,
that neither of them in fact precedes it,
although it is night.

This eternal spring is hidden
in this living bread for our life's sake,
although it is night

(Song of the soul that rejoices in knowing God through faith 7,8,9).

 

There, finally, where the Risen One speaks in all truth to those who accept to surrender their life to him:

Beneath the apple tree:
there I took you for my own,
there I offered you my hand,
and restored you,
where your mother was corrupted.

(Spiritual Canticle 23).

 

Jerusalem
A town both harsh and gentle
A town full of contradictions
A town where every desire flourishes:

 

By the rivers of Babylon
I sat down weeping, there on the ground.
And remembering you, O Zion, whom I loved,
in that sweet memory I wept even more.
(…)
I hung on the green willows all the joy I had in song,
putting it aside for that which I hoped for in you.
There love wounded me and took away my heart.

(A romance on the psalm 137 "By the waters of Babylon" )

To God alone is due true glory.

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