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 S...