St.John of the Cross Pilgrtimage

 On this feast day of St.John of the Cross I remember a trip I made to walk in his footsteps!
I think I am right and that this (unlabelled)  photo is the view looking south from the site of his Los Martires Friary looking south towards the Alpujjas. Granada was the last city to be re-conquered from the Muslims. The Alpujjaras the last part of Spain ruled by Muslims!


It is a site just round the corner from Grenada's beautiful, Islamic gardens of the Alhambra and the Generalife. It seems to me that John uses  poetry to reach out to newly converted Muslims by using Song of Songs imagery  which was accessible to Christians and Muslims alike. 

In one of the last stanzas of the Song of the Soul and the Bridegroom. He gives more than a hint of the time and place of its composing 
We shall go at once
To the deep caverns of the rock
Which are all secret,
There we shall enter in
And taste of the new wine of the pomegranate.
  In Spanish the word Pomegranate is Grenada . 



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