Today in the Carmelite Tradition the Carmelite monks are celebrating the great feast of their holy father, St. John of the Cross. St. John of the Cross is rightly known for his profound insights into the spiritual life and his clear teaching on the way to obtain mystical union with God. Many ask why St. John of the Cross, a friar and father of the Discalced Reform is known as the spiritual father of our Wyoming Carmelites as well. It is a little known fact that St. John of the Cross, this holy man of God, actually sought to leave the Carmelite Order to enter the solitude of the Carthusian Charterhouse, but was reassured by St. Teresa of Jesus that the same contemplative, cloistered, monastic life was the very reason for the reform she had begun. Under her persuasion, St. John of the Cross remained in Carmel, but as Divine Providence would have it never saw the contemplative, cloistered life realized for the Carmelite men...that is until today. This is exactly the reason for this Foundation's work, to build a monastic edifice that will protect the holy life led by our Carmelites and allow the original vision and desires of this great saint to be lived for the ages to come as a source of holiness and the building up of the whole Church.