Sunday, October 6, 2013

October 15—St. Teresa of Avila, Virgin and Doctor of the Church






Try these quotations on for size:  “May God deliver me from gloomy saints.”  “There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.”  “To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience.” “Our body has this defect that, the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds.”  “Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.”  “Don't let your sins turn into bad habits.”  “Pain is never permanent.”  “We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can - namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us.”


What a wealth of wisdom!  St. Teresa of Avila was a reformer in Spain in the 16th century, helping turn spiritually weak nuns into spiritually strong nuns.  She reformed her religious order of Carmelites.  She is one of four women who have been declared Doctors of the Church along with St. Catherine of Siena and St. Thérèse of Lisieux and, this month, St. Hildegard of Bingen.


Wisdom is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and we really need this gift in these times.  “The beginning of wisdom is fear of the LORD, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Pr. 9:10).  Fear of the Lord refers to knowing our place before God as his creatures.  When we know that, we can start on the path to wisdom.  Further, Jesus told his disciples, and us:  “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves” (Mt. 10:16).  St. Teresa truly was one of the wise virgins:  “Anyone who truly loves God travels securely.”  Let us be wise, love God, and travel through life secure in the Lord.

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