The Feast of St John of the Cross | Wednesday 14 December 2022

Today is Wednesday the 14th of December, the feast of Saint John of the Cross.

The Portsmouth Grammar School Chamber Choir sing 'Lux Aurumque' by Eric Whitacre.

Lux,
Calida gravisque pura velut aurum
Et canunt angeli molliter
modo natum.


Light,
Warm and heavy as pure gold
And the angels sing softly
to the new born babe

Today’s reading is from the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 45:6-8,18-19

So that they may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is no one besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness,
I make weal and create woe;
I the LORD do all these things.
Shower, O heavens, from above,
and let the skies rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation may spring up,
and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also;
I the LORD have created it.
For thus says the LORD,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it a chaos,
he formed it to be inhabited!):
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I did not speak in secret,
in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
‘Seek me in chaos.’
I the LORD speak the truth,
I declare what is right.

One of the things that we have to be absolutely clear about is that there is one and only one God (and we are often dreadfully tempted to put other gods in place of the one God). That is what this reading seems to be saying. “I am the Lord, and there is no other”. What other “gods” might there be, do you think? How might these creep into your own life?


“Let the heavens rain down righteousness”. Can you imagine this in your mind? What would it look like?


The prophet says, “[God] did not create [the earth] a chaos”. Does that speak at all to the world you are living in? Does it say anything at all about your life?

Now listen as the passage is read for you once more. What is the one thing that really strikes you?

Finally, at the end of this session, is there something that you would really like to say to God?

O Wisdom
Lord and Ruler
Root of Jesse
Key of David
Rising Sun
King of the Nations
Emmanuel
Come, Lord Jesus