Today, December 14, is the memorial of St. John of the Cross (1542-1591).  He was proclaimed a doctor of the Church by Pius XI in 1926.  Teresa of Avila persuaded John to help her reform the Carmelite order and in so doing, he suffered much at the hands of his bretheren.  When Christ asked John what reward he would ask for his labors, John answered: "To suffer and to be despised for Thee."  What would I have said?  I don't want to suffer.  I don't want to be despised.  What is the lesson here?

John had an unusually intimate relationship with Christ and his Passion.  He had to in order to want to be despised.  The paradox, the thing that we do not clearly see at first blush is that there is power in the weakness that comes from suffering and being hated.  We are told to "be in the world but not of it," but what does that really mean and how hard is it to truly live that way?  We seek the affirmation of others and the rewards of this world -- money, power and status.  John showed us what it really means to live for Christ.  God grant me the grace to follow, even in a small way, that example.