I thought it was odd today in Morning Prayer to read about the betrayal of Jesus when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Then I read the “Commemoration” which is a day on the church calendar when we remember the lives and witnesses of various people ancient and modern. Today, we remember Juan de Ypres y Alvarez who was born in Spain in 1542 during a period when the Protestant Reformation was ramping up in northern Europe and England.

Juan’s father was probably Jewish. His father’s family would have been survivors of the Spanish Inquisition a century or so before. Juan was ordained into the Order of Carmelite Friars at age 25. Soon after, he met Teresa of Avila, who was a Carmelite nun. (she is remembered for the line “all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well”). Teresa’s influence on Juan was profound and both set about reforming their religious communities to a stricter observance or “rule of life.”

For his efforts, Juan was kidnapped and imprisoned in dark solitary confinement for nine months by one of the monasteries that refused to go along with a more disciplined rule of life. This probably exemplifies the adage that “no good deed goes unpunished.” Juan eventually prevailed as did Teresa.

For more on these developments, look up the “Calced and Discalced (unshod) Carmelites.” Juan’s spiritual writings include “Dark Night of the Soul” which is a classic as well as poems such as the “Spiritual Canticle,” a stanza of which is translated and shown below.

And O, ye lamps of fire,
In whose resplendent light
The deepest caverns where the senses meet,
Erst steeped in darkness dire,
Blaze with new glories bright
And to the loved one give both light and heat!

May the lamp of fire grow brightly within you this season.