Welcome to the Little Monastery of John of the Cross!

The title is a name that we, Gabriel and Lauren Jakubisin, came up with together in an attempt to capture our present goal in life. That is: working together as a couple, with and through our children, to grow together in holiness and glorify God in all things. Under the recommendation of our spiritual director, we are trying to grow in an understanding of the spirituality of St. John of the Cross, the great Spanish mystic and spiritual director of St. Teresa of Avila.

Having been educated in the Benedictine tradition, we hope that we bring the Benedictine practice of hospitality to life in our home. We are also moved by an understanding of vocation present in Eastern Catholicism, where members of all vocations (married, single, religious) all strive to imitate the virtues of monasticism as much as possible in their individual states of life. Thus we hope that, just as members of religious communities come together to serve God and grow in holiness, so might our marriage and our growing family grow together as a community serving God.

We just celebrated our first wedding anniversary in June and, later that month on June 26th, were joined by our first child, Johanna Marie Jakubisin, who has already captured our hearts and inspired us by her beauty. The only greater joy than sharing our lives and our love together is the fact that we have cooperated with God to bring a new person, a new soul, into this world. Truly, it is beyond description!

There are four basic elements to the site as it currently stands, which can always be accessed via the sidebar at right. The first is this family blog site, “Our Home Page”. The second is Lauren’s personal blog. The third is Gabriel’s personal blog. Both our personal blogs may also contain information for our students at times. Finally, there is a Scripture blog that Gabriel is managing in an attempt to work on his familiarization with Scripture.