The Catholic Calendar for Monday, October 15, 2001
Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Romans 8:22-28
Psalm 18
John 15:1-8
Full text: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/index.htm
A Reflection on Today's Scripture:
Today is the feastday of St. Teresa of Jesus (popularly known as
Teresa of Avila) and the Church has carefully chosen the readings to
celebrate her day. If ever there was a person who lived the words of
this gospel passage it was St. Teresa. She not only lived them but
taught them as her singular contribution to the life of prayer.
Holy Teresa taught that we are all to strive for union in prayer
because union cannot come otherwise. Union with God is the ultimate
goal of all creation, as the letter to the Romans tells us. All
creation groans because of its separation from the creator, and we
all groan inwardly awaiting our reunification.
What Teresa learned and subsequently taught is that with God's grace
we can achieve a taste of that union here on Earth. Sometimes that
union came with sweet consolations, sometimes with an arid dryness
that tried the soul. Nevertheless, union - to be completely within
the vine and bearing the fruit that God wishes us to bear - is the
goal.
St. Teresa of Jesus struggled a long time with herself and with
learning prayer, but eventually she achieved the prayer of union and
described it beautifully in several long works. But one of the most
beautiful, and shortest, descriptions of the union she achieved and
the peace that comes with it, is in a prayer known as her "Bookmark":
Let nothing disturb you,
nothing affright you,
all things are passing
God never changes.
Patient endurance attains to all things.
Whoever possesses God is wanting in nothing.
God alone suffices.
For teachings such as these in addition to a life of heroic sanctity
marked by the arduous reformation of the Carmelite Order, Teresa of
Jesus was made a saint. She is one of three women Doctors of the
Church. Truly her remarkable spiritual insights justify her exalted
position among the great teachers of the Church.
Take just one thing away--God alone suffices in every necessity. The
best solution to any problem or barrier is loving God more.
- JuandelaCruz, TOC ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
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