San Juan de la Cruz

The flames of Republican bonfires in Toledo were deprived of touching the precious documents that were saved by an Englishman to whom the Carmelite monks entrusted their care. Joseph Pearce’s piece, The Man Who Saved the Papers of St. John of the Cross from The Imaginative Conservative tells the fascinating story of this British poet who was living with his family in Toledo at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War and how he did so much more than simply preserve the original letters of San Juan de la Cruz.

The world’s erroneous views and confused attitude toward death can make it difficult for children to understand when it begins to have an effect in their own lives. Finer Femininity posts an article, November, Death and the Holy Souls, which demonstrates the Church’s view on death in simple and childlike terms. “But there is comfort for the living in what we do know: how the Church prepares us for death; how she prays for us after death, and the real possibility that we may ‘go right to Heaven’ if we try very hard.”

With the feast of one of the great Doctors of the Church, Saint John of the Cross, coming this Thursday the 24th, enjoy this piece by Father Francis Xavier Weninger on Catholic Harbor of Faith and Morals. Father relates the story of St. John’s life and offers two important lessons to be learned by his example. “…pray to God frequently and fervently to bestow spiritual gifts and graces upon you, and to avert from you spiritual and eternal evils. Pray to Him for the grace to avoid sin; to be freed from temptations, or to be upheld in battling against them, for strength to correct evil habits, to overcome sinful inclinations or to practice virtues; to die a happy death, and to escape eternal destruction.”

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