St. John of the Cross
"St. John of the Cross wants to bring people closer to the great goal to which he is called: union with God, not only as a reward at the end of life but beginning at baptism and unfolding throughout our entire lives. St. John encourages us to continue on the path. He says, 'People seek God - but God seeks people much more!' St. John is convinced that someone who wants to experience God does not have to be especially ascetic or take on extraordinary practices. He knows that our God is not a distant, foreign, aloof God, but one who comes to us, who seeks us like a shepherd seeks a lost sheep. In Jesus God approaches us and in us in everything became alike. St. John of the Cross is respected universally as 'the teacher of the dark night', but he is much more 'the singer of love' between God and man." Sr. M. Bernadette Steiner