Let Us Be Mindful of God’s Love
From a work by Saint Teresa of Avila, virgin and Doctor of the Church (1515-1582)
Let us always be mindful of Christ’s love
Narrated by Fr. Frank Dugan
If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandons us. He is a true friend. And I clearly see that if we expect to please him and receive an abundance of his graces, God desires that these graces must come to us from the hands of Christ, through his most sacred humanity, in which God takes delight.
Many, many times I have perceived this through experience. The Lord has told it to me. I have definitely seen that we must enter by this gate if we wish his Sovereign Majesty to reveal to us great and hidden mysteries. A person should desire no other path, even if he is at the summit of contemplation; on this road he walks safely. All blessings come to us through our Lord. He will teach us, for in beholding his life we find that he is the best example.
What more do we desire from such a good friend at our side? Unlike our friends in the world, he will never abandon us when we are troubled or distressed. Blessed is the one who truly loves him and always keeps him near. Let us consider the glorious Saint Paul: it seems that no other name fell from his lips than that of Jesus, because the name of Jesus was fixed and embedded in his heart. Once I had come to understand this truth, I carefully considered the lives of some of the saints, the great contemplatives, and found that they took no other path: Francis, Anthony of Padua, Bernard, Catherine of Siena. A person must walk along this path in freedom, placing himself in God’s hands. If God should desire to raise us to the position of one who is an intimate and shares his secrets, we ought to accept this gladly.
Whenever we think of Christ we should recall the love that led him to bestow on us so many graces and favors, and also the great love God showed in giving us in Christ a pledge of his love; for love calls for love in return. Let us strive to keep this always before our eyes and to rouse ourselves to love him. For if at some time the Lord should grant us the grace of impressing his love on our hearts, all will become easy for us and we shall accomplish great things quickly and without effort.
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
Saint Teresa (1515-1582) was born at Avila, Castile, Spain on March 28, 1515. She was educated byAugustinian nuns but was forced to leave their convent at Avila in 1532 because of ill health. Long attracted to the religious life, she became a Carmelite nun at Avila in 1536 at age 21 . She experienced mystical visions and ecstasies in 1555-1556 which caused her great anguish until her spiritual advisor, St. Peter of Alcantara, assured her that they were authentic. She founded St. Joseph Convent at Avila in 1562 for nuns who wished to live in a cloistered spiritual environment rather than the relaxed style so prevalent in convents of her time. She was given permission to establish other convents based upon the strict rule she followed at St. Joseph’s and she founded sixteen other convents.
While establishing her second convent at Medino del Campo in 1568, , she met a young friar named John Yepes (St. John of the Cross) and with him founded her first monastery for men, turning their operation over to John. Teresa traveled all over Spain in her struggle to reform the Carmelite Order but ran into strong opposition from the calced Carmelites. In 1580, Pope Gregory XIII at the instigation of King Philip II, recognized the Discalced Reform as a separate province. Teresa wrote numerous letters and books considered classics of spiritual literature, among them her Autobiography (1565) The way of Perfection (1573), and Interior Castle (1577).
Teresa was one of the great mystics of all time and blended her highly active life with one of deep spiritual contemplation. She died at Alba de Tormes, Spain on October 4, 1582 at the age of 67. She was canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622 and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI in 1970, the first woman to be so honored.