The Waking

    I have written a little about St. John of the Cross before (in https://herethewaking.blogspot.com/2023/10/dark-night-of-soul.html for example). His feast day is celebrated on 14th December and he is a patron saint of mystics and contemplatives. John has another link to Advent as he was imprisoned by fellow Carmelite monks in a monastery in Toledo on the 2nd December 1577 in a cell so small he could barely lie on the floor. He was fed only bread and water, with occasional scraps of salt fish, and was lashed weekly, again by his fellow monks. He was imprisoned because of his efforts (along with St. Teresa of Avila) to reform the Carmelite order and restore the observance of a simple, more austere life.  And yet it was in that small cell that John began to compose the poem for which he is probably best known, ‘The Dark Night of the Soul’ , first by memorising the words and later, thanks to a kind gaoler, by writing them down. Nine months later he escaped, with the manusc...