"After Ecstasy" — Mirabai Starr Reads Poetry by Saint John of the Cross

SAINT OF THE DAY Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor 1542–1591 December 14—Memorial Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of contemplatives, mystics, and Spanish poets A priest’s love of God is purified by the blue flames of contemplation and mistreatment The Protestant Reformation sparked a purifying fire in the Catholic Church. Like a prairie fire scorches the thick grasses, thistle, and weeds, so the heat of the Counter-Reformation moved over the land, scorching the thicket of devotions