Saint Teresa later wrote of Saint John of the Cross
"I realized that he was a saint, and had always been a saint." Before her was a figure tiny in physical stature, as the world measures, but a towering giant in the Eyes of the Lord. She recognized the same fire burning in him that raged inside of her.
She was fifty-two; he was twenty-five. She, a nun twice his age! He, a young friar with a dream to become a Carthusian hermit. But, as he looked at her, he knew he would do anything she asked of him. And ask she did! She implored him to wait to join the Carthusians until the Lord had given them a Monastery. She continued, he was, at this time and place, to serve the Lord by working change within his Order, as she had begun amongst the nuns of the Carmelite Order.
What could he do? As he later wrote, his was "a heart of one that had fallen in love." He promised he would help and agreed to wait, to join the Carthusians, if it didn't take too long. (Author's note: It remi0nds me of Brother Joseph who came to help our ministry and never left.)
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