“And I saw the river
over which every soul must pass
to reach the kingdom of heaven
and the name of that river was suffering:
and I saw a boat which carries souls across the river
and the name of that boat was
love.”
Saint John of the Cross
When I look into the eyes of my mom and my sister, I see long suffering and intense love. I called my mom on New Year’s day and she said, “2012, Michael I can’t believe that I am still around…86 years of life, what a gift! Michael, please pray in a special way for your sister (50+ years of rheumatoid arthritis in a wheel chair)…she is suffering a lot right now and could use your prayers. I worry so much about her, and I can’t imagine life without her. As you know, she has not lived one day without real pain.” Two beautiful souls, crossing the river of suffering in the boat of love…thanks mom and Deb!
I love this quote attributed to St. John of the Cross, but I could not find it in any of his writting. So I sent an email to the Institute for Carmelite Studies and received the following response from Fr. Kieran Kavanaugh O.C.D.:
Dear Doug, This quote is not from St. John of the Cross. He never wrote such a thing, Nor do I think he ever said it.
God bless you. Fr. Kieran, O.C.D.
I would love to know where this actually came from. I have prayer cards attributing it to St. John of the Cross but am hesitant to give them to anyone. I did an internet search but only found it attributed to St. John of the Cross.