DELA CRUZ...DELA LUZ

Memorial of St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Lk 14:25-33

While the Americans have Uncle Sam, Filipinos have Juan dela Cruz. I do not know, however, the story how Juan dela Cruz became the symbol of Filipinos. I do not also know if Filipinos are aware that Juan dela Cruz is the name of a famous saint.

Juan dela Cruz was born in Fontiveros, Spain in 1542. He joined the Carmelites and became a priest in 1567. Persuaded by St. Teresa of Avila, he started the reformation of the Carmelites in 1568. The renewal movement he led among his brother Carmelites brought fresh vigor in the Carmelite Order but also caused him great sufferings. He was persecuted and imprisoned. He went through his own paschal mystery, so to speak, and died in Ubeda, Spain in 1591 at the age of 49 years old.

His work to reform the Carmelite Order brought upon Juan dela Cruz the price of reform: increasing opposition, misunderstanding, persecution, imprisonment. He came to know the cross acutely—to experience the dying of Jesus—as he sat month after month in his dark, damp, narrow cell with only his God! Indeed, as he called it, it was his “dark night of the soul.”

Yet, the paradox is that in this dying of imprisonment Juan dela Cruz came to life, uttering poetry. In the darkness of the dungeon, Juan’s spirit came into the Light, Juan dela Cruz became “Juan dela Luz”.

Among many other mystics and poets, Juan is unique as mystic-poet, expressing in his prison-cross the ecstasy of mystical union with God in his writing entitled, “Spiritual Canticle”. Juan gave us a detailed account of the stages of spiritual growth. The first stage, the “night of the senses” is characterized by total detachment whereby we relinquish all our desires. The second is the “dark night of the soul” which is experiencing God without words, images or concepts. It is called a “dark night” because we are left without maps or familiar landmarks. Silence falls upon not only our mouths and minds, but upon our whole being. This brings us to the highest stage, which is silent communion with God. It is that height of spirituality wherein we let God take over. We are no longer in control; God is!

Juan dela Cruz taught us that the seeming dryness in our spiritual life may nothing be less than a prelude to fullness of life. What seems to be a “dark night of the soul” is actually God’s re-creating us. Spiritual life is therefore more than pious thoughts. As Juan himself said, “We are changed not by our loving God but by letting God love us. The lover is transformed by the Beloved.”

Thus, we see in the life of Juan dela Cruz how, in the light of the paschal mystery of Christ, agony leads to ecstasy. As he named it in his prose masterpiece, Juan called this paschal experience as his “Ascent to Mt. Carmel”. As man-Christian-Carmelite, he experienced in himself this purifying ascent; as spiritual director, he sensed it in others; as psychologist-theologian, he described and analyzed it in his prose writings, stressing the cost of discipleship as the path of ultimate intimacy with our loving God. Uniquely and strongly John underlines the Gospel paradox: The cross leads to resurrection, agony to ecstasy, darkness to light, abandonment to possession, denial to self to union with God. If you want to save your life, you must lose it. Juan is, indeed, “dela Cruz”. John is truly “of the Cross”.

In his lived and written word, Juan dela Cruz has a crucial reminder for us today. Quite often, we are inclined towards that which is comfortable, convenient, soft, and opulent lifestyle. We reject even the mere thought of self-denial, mortification, purification, asceticism, and discipline. We run away from the cross. Juan dela Cruz echoes to us the Gospel truth, loud and clear: Don’t – if you really want to live!

Juan dela Cruz is the symbol of all Filipinos. San Juan dela Cruz should be the example for all Christians. As a People identified with the name of this mystic-poet, Filipinos, whose nation is the only Christian in the Far East, must learn from the example of San Juan dela Cruz as they struggle under the weight of their crosses, as they go through their own paschal mystery as individuals and as a nation. By following Christ through and through, like Juan dela Cruz, you and I should be transformed from dela Cruz to dela Luz.