A Musical Birthday Card to (and from) St Teresa: No Worries

I am disturbed. I am affrighted. And I suspect I’m not alone. In the world, the apocalyptic horsemen ride hard. In the Church, folks are either toppling statues (and statutes) or busy sending out Save the Schism Date postcards, at least as far as anyone can tell from the garbled barque-to-shore transmissions and the excited utterances they provoke. Here in my house (in your house, too, maybe) the everyday demons of worry and sorrow are never far away.

So here, without further comment, is the most beautiful gift we can share with St Teresa of Avila on this feast day in the runup to her 500th jubilee year—to be in the deep peace of her faith as sung and prayed for us by a world of sisters in her Carmelite tradition.

The words, found written on a bookmark in Teresa’s breviary after her death, are translated:

Let nothing disturb you; let nothing frighten you.
All things are passing. God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Nothing is wanting to him who possesses God.
God alone suffices.

Amen.