The British poet, Roy Campbell, kept the original papers of St John of the Cross safe during the anti-clerical activities in Toledo at the outset of the Spanish Civil war. Earlier in 1936 the Carmelites had already sought refuge with the Campbells. As the republican forces advanced on Toledo, they took a trunk to the Campbells with the priceless papers of their saint.During a search of his house, Campbell made a promise to St John of the Cross that he would translate the saint's poems into English if he and his wife and family were spared. He fulfilled this promise and produced a highly acclaimed translation which he insisted was aided by Saint John of the Cross himself.
I found this story (via the excellent New Advent feed) at Crisis Magazine - go to the article there to read more: The Man Who Saved the Original Papers of San Juan de la Cruz.
In one respect, I think that this story is amusing. St John of the Cross taught that we should be detached from all material things and never seek extraordinary phenomena. He has much to teach some groups today that are influenced by what Mgr Ronald Knox called Enthusiasm. The idea of promising a saint one favour in return for another does rather seem to conflict with the ascetical and mystical teaching of St John of the Cross.
The fact that the saint appears to have granted the favour might suggest that St John of the Cross, while severe on those vowed in religion, was understanding in the case of a family man caught up in the responsibilities of looking after a family and living in the world.
Still, in today's climate of reform and renewal in the one subject Church, St John of the Cross should be a reminder to us not to seek the extraordinary but to progress in the spiritual life by the normal and ordinary means of faith, hope and charity, prayer, penance and almsgiving. There would probably be an excusing cause if the security services are actually searching your house, but the teaching of St John of the Cross would provide the most perfect way.
4 comments:
When praying I often ask the Saints to pray with me, for me for God's will to be done, nothing more. I ask no special favors generally, for The Spirit intercedes in our prayer!
The Virgin Mother is special, as she has a way with her son as in the first published miracle at Cana. I often ask her to speak for my cause, but I only do it because of her example & Church teachings. God is no respecter of persons, meaning to me all who ask from all their heart will be heard.
Actually, I recall that he treasured the letters of St Teresa very much and was certainly attached to them and would reread them, one day a friar cited St John's own rules of detachment, so without hesitation he burned all St Teresa's letters to him.
He. Burned. St. Teresa's. Letters. We have zero letters of St Teresa to St John of the Cross.
We don't have many of St John of the Cross' letters surving, they were kept extremely treasured by the recipients, but when they were gathered together after his death there were justifiable fears that the inquisition types would get ahold of them and find something, anything in the letters to condemn St John's doctrine, character etc. So the nuns burned all the precious letters they had of St John of the Cross, precisely because he was so dear to them.
When it comes to prayer, it's a bit dangerous to recommend one thing or another. The one guy I knew who thought it was immoral to make petitionary prayers ended up as first a pagan worshipping his own goddess, and now is an atheist. Origen had the same scruple, and he seems to have turned out all right... but he was Origen.
Meanwhile, Jesus said to ask for anything you need or want, and even encouraged people to be bothersome to God about it.
Basically, it's probably best not to make presumptions about other people's prayer lives, unless you're their spiritual director. Making a straightforward Spanish vow to a Spanish saint while living in Spain seems logical to me.
It actually sounds likely that God, pleased by the Campbells' generosity, protected the poet's family and inspired his promise, in order to reward Campbell with the joy of the translation and of the saint's collaboration in it.
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