St. John of the Cross, rabbits and slumber

Today is the feast of St. John of the Cross, about whom I have written a great deal over the years. Most people know little about him, and most of what they know is inaccurate. I love the monument, pictured above, which is in La Carolina in Spain, near where John spent several months in the last year of his life. If you look carefully, you will see that a rabbit is sitting at his side. under his left hand. It represents an incident that took place near this spot. A grass fire got out of hand and was burning towards the monastery. A rabbit, flushed out of the brush by the fire, ran into the group of friars who were working to control the fire. John was directing them, and the rabbit ran over and hid in the folds of his habit. Some of the other friars kept shooing the rabbit away, but it kept returning to the safety of John's habit. Sounds like a story about St. Francis, but it is well-documented.

Anyway, that is a story few people know. A quote from the saint that few people know is one of my favorites: "To saints, their very slumber is prayer."

It reminds me on something the Dalai Lama said: Sleep is the best meditation.

In the monastery, we spent an hour each morning before breakfast in meditation. Then we spent another hour in meditation before dinner each afternoon. I assure you, slumber was a big part of my religious practice!