Saint Teresa of Avila...

Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, 

Virgin and Doctor of the Church

~~~ Romans 3:21-30 ~~~ Psalm 130 ~~~ Luke 11:47-54 ~~~

Within the walls of the cloister,

Saint Teresa of Avila filled the convent with

the beauty of her close relationship with the Lord.

She reformed religious life into something 

more than a mere title one gets for joining an order.

In her day, many probably said "Woe to you, Teresa."

She advocated some major changes for religious.

She was not interested in building meaningless memorials. 

Woe to you, scholars of the law!

You have taken away the key of knowledge.

The key of knowledge for Saint Teresa was her

tremendous love for Jesus.

Her great love relationship gave her equally 

great spiritual insight.

For there is no distinction;

all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.

They are justified freely by his grace

through the redemption in Christ Jesus...

Teresa was ever mindful of being a sinner,

but knew of the saving power of Jesus.

She gave up her shoes to emphasize poverty and penance.

Teresa was one spark 

that ignited change within the church.

She met with resistance, but did not 

let it deter her from her beliefs.

God loved Teresa and he had a very specific job for her.

She was a woman. Who would listen to her?

She was a contemplative. Why would she want 

to give up her worldly comforts?

She was an active reformer. 

How did she overcome those 

men who resisted?

Saint Teresa had everything going for her in the 

secular world yet she answered God's call

 to give up everything and follow him.

Her writings, especially the Way of Perfection

 and The Interior Castle, have helped generations of believers.

In 1970 the Catholic church declared Saint Teresa

 to be a Doctor of the Church.

A rare title bestowed to anyone

 much less a woman.

In closing, beautiful thoughts from Teresa...

“May today there be peace within.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.

May you use those gifts that you have received, 

and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be content knowing that you are a child of God.

Let this presence settle into our bones, and allow your soul 

the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. 

It is there for each and everyone of you.” 

Saint Teresa of Jesus,

pray for us.

May you be Blessed with deeper faith,

greater peace in the acceptance of God's love for you.

~~~Peace~~~

The Inside of the Cup

~~~ Memorial of Saint Teresa of Avila,

Virgin and Doctor of the Church ~~~

 

~~~ Romans 1:16-25 ~~~ Psalm 19 ~~~ Luke 11:37-41 ~~~

 

Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?

 

We are just like the people of Biblical times....

we are often more concerned with our outside appearance than our inner self.

 

Jesus is invited to dinner and either forgot or intentionally

failed to wash his hands before eating.

Maybe his hands were not dirty, he had just been teaching the crowd.

Maybe he set the scene with the intention of addressing

the external rituals of the Pharisees.

What matters today is that the message we can use today.

 

We do tend to put our prayer life after our cleanliness.

I am guilty of often not beginning my day immediately with prayer.

I do eventually get to my morning prayers, but it is not before I wash my face.

 

Perhaps we tends to care more about our external appearance

than our interior disposition.

Our external rituals are visible to many,

but the state of our soul can be obscured.

We can make our outside look all clean and beautiful...

after all this is what others see.

This is how they relate to us...by what they witness.

 

Saint Teresa initially entered the convent for mostly external reasons.

As she grew in holiness she wrote her

well known book the Interior Castle.

Through the writings of Saint Teresa of Avila we find

 much to help us make our inner being

as well manicured as our physical bodies. 

 

 

May these words of Teresa provide food for the nourishment of your soul.

While it is true no human can see our soul...God does;

 he wants us to devote more time polishing and sprucing

 up the inside of the cup.

 

Saint Teresa, pray for us.

 

“May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received,

and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing that you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into our bones,

and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and everyone of you.”  

 

Saint Teresa, pray for us.

 

"Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices." 

 

Saint Teresa, pray for us.

 

“Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which to look out
Christ's compassion to the world
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.”  

 

Saint Teresa, pray for us.

 

 God calls to us in countless little ways all the time.

 

 We cannot excuse or neglect the inside of our cup.

Fill it with thoughts and words worthy of your call to holiness.

The inside of the cup in the end will be our pass into heaven.

God does not care if you are dressed in the finest silk and satin clothing...

he does not care if you are wearing diamond rings and gold chains...

he does not care if you have polished nails and artistically blushed cheeks.

 

God is only concerned with the state and condition of our heart and soul.

He searches and probes our heart to seek more of him.

 

Blessings come pour forth from the inside of the cup...

where your heart fills the space with love.

Give Yourself Completely

The Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila

(1515-1582)

Doctor of the Church

 

~~~ Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1 ~~~ Psalm 113 ~~~ Luke 11: 29-32 ~~~

 

Jesus said to them,
"This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.

Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation."

 

Saint Teresa believed that Christ alone makes all things new.

 

Today Jesus is explaining to the crowd that something greater is coming.

The prophets realized that they were not to be regarded as the one who was coming.

Jonah resisted; he was reluctant to answer the call of God.

 

Each generation births those who are still looking for a sign.

They are still looking for 'the one'.

 

Teresa is inspiring with her devotion to Jesus

and her conversational style of prayer.

Some have said, 'Teresa is contagiously inspirational'.

 

Teresa believed that it is within ourselves that we discover

the meaning of God's words.

Teresa assure us that those who practice prayer faithfully will receive all they ask beyond their greatest expectations an hope.

Teresa wrote. 'My house will be a house of prayer'.

She was not only referring to the physical structure of a house,

but also her interior house where God dwells.

Her writings expand on this concept of a house of prayer.

She speaks of the various levels of prayer as 'mansions'.

 

She wants us all to know that God waits for us in our daily prayer.

It is in our prayer when we should be acutely aware

of giving our self completely

to God...body, mind, and soul.

Gradually throughout her life prayer became her passion.

As Teresa grew in age and in her prayer life,

she began to listen better and surrender to her vocation.

 

 

It is only through developing our prayer life that we can begin

to hear the word of God more clearly.

Jonah had to be swallowed up and spit out before he would

surrender to the will of God.

What will it take for you?

What do you need to do to find more time to pray?

The more we begin to live as God desires for us to live

the more we will discover

the wonderfulness of God.

The more we discover the wonderfulness of God

the more energized we will be to continue to be in prayer with him.

 

There have been more books written on prayer than any other topic of religion.

Prayer is our feeble attempt at connection with our creator.

We want to keep in touch with God through our prayers.

We want to experience his unconditional love.

 

The reality of prayer is that it changes you over time.

Dare you take the risk of being changed?

Try devoting more time to prayer and see what happens.

 

Saint Teresa, teach us to cherish our prayer time as much as you did.

Saint Teresa, pray for us!