In today’s reading we see our Lord Jesus, judged and questioned by the Pharisees about His au¬thority comes from. Jesus was a carpenter’s son, he did not have any qualifications to preach or teach, he was no one in society. Yet he did mira¬cles, people were amazed at the truth he spoke, lives were set free from bondage and sin. Today the church celebrates the life of another great saint, Saint John of the Cross, Born in 1542. He was a small-made friar who belonged to the Carmelite order. He was also called half a fryer due to his size, a result of childhood malnutrition. His father died when he was still young and his poor mother had to take care of him.

He along with Saint Theresa of Avila, saw great need for change in the Carmelite order of that time, Because he wanted to bring change, he was greatly persecuted in his own order by other friars who did not want see change. He was arrested and locked up in a tiny room in the monastery, which had no light and hardly any room to even move. He was given sparse food to eat, beaten at least once a week for 9 months until he managed to escape. They caught him again and exiled him to a small monastery where he was treated badly to get rid of him, soon the Lord took him up to heaven. In the midst of immense suffering he was able to write most of his great masterpieces like “Dark Night of the soul”, “Ascent to Mount Carmel”, which today have helped millions of Christians to understand suffering and God’s love.

In 1726 he was canonized as a saint, named doctor of the church, and regarded as one of the greatest poets in the history of Spain. Rejected by this world he was accepted by God. Often we admire the rich, celebrities, sports stars and powerful people in society. We believe what they say, and quite often fall in to the same trap as they are in life, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight” 1 Corinthians 3:19. Let us not to judge people by their outward ap¬pearance but humble ourselves to recognise the truth of God in every person, love and respect others, despite our differences and above all to lean on the Holy Bible as the only source of truth.

Prayer: Abba Father grant us grace not to judge others but to always seek the truth from your word and not from this world. Amen