A powerful influence

We are now in the year of St John of the Cross; it began in Segovia (where his tomb is) on 13 December last, the day before his saint’s day.  This year we celebrate the three hundredth anniversary of his canonisation and the centenary of the conferment of his doctorate.  I am hugely grateful to this amazing saint, for I came across The Ascent of Carmel in my twenties and it was definitely one of many signposts pointing me to the Catholic Church a few years later.  It wasn’t that I understood all of it.  Much of it was right above my head, but I realised that I was confronted in John with a person who understood vastly much more about the soul, about the spiritual life, and about the trials and tribulations of this life than myself.  And he was a Catholic!  His example and the example of many other Catholic saints whose lives I was encountering had a very powerful influence on me.       

Intercessions:

Cancer: Brian Davis, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him), Jacqui, Theresa K, Fr Jon Bielowski (Plymouth Diocese), Catherine, Alex (43 with five children)

Illness: Roy Seymour, Katy Keeling

Siena, Elara – sick children

David OCDS – housebound

Sophia – blind infant

Grace – troubling ailments, job difficulties, family (deceased mother and health of father)

Lucia – Overwhelmed by weariness

Mark – brain infection

Defence of the unborn and the elderly

RIP Richard Parker, Joy Smith OCDS, Alan Rodgers