Kathryn Lopez
1. A primer from New Advent on her feast day.
2. On the 500th anniversary of the year of her birth, be like Teresa: pray.
3.
"If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things" St Theresa of Avila pic.twitter.com/gOc4icLEEF
— Fr Richard Umbers (@FrRichardUmbers) October 14, 2015
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"We always find that those who walked closest to #Christ were those who has to bear the greatest trials." -St. Theresa of Avila
— Fr. James Bromwich (@whyhumansmatter) May 14, 2015
6. A teacher of prayer for today.
7. A small gift for purchase via Christopher West.
8. B16, 2011:
Dear brothers and sisters, St Teresa of Jesus is a true teacher of Christian life for the faithful of every time. In our society, which all too often lacks spiritual values, St Teresa teaches us to be unflagging witnesses of God, of his presence and of his action. She teaches us truly to feel this thirst for God that exists in the depths of our hearts, this desire to see God, to seek God, to be in conversation with him and to be his friends.
This is the friendship we all need that we must seek anew, day after day. May the example of this Saint, profoundly contemplative and effectively active, spur us too every day to dedicate the right time to prayer, to this openness to God, to this journey, in order to seek God, to see him, to discover his friendship and so to find true life; indeed many of us should truly say: “I am not alive, I am not truly alive because I do not live the essence of my life”.
Therefore time devoted to prayer is not time wasted, it is time in which the path of life unfolds, the path unfolds to learning from God an ardent love for him, for his Church, and practical charity for our brothers and sisters.
9. A (audio) reflection from Msgr. John Essef
10. From Saint Teresa of Avila in today’s Liturgy of the Hours:
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.
11.
"The important thing is not to think much but to love much; and so do that which best stirs you to love" (St Teresa of Ávila).
— Fr James Bradley (@FrJamesBradley) October 15, 2015
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May God, in His Mercy, deliver us from the sin of not doing what we should be doing. (St. Teresa of Avila)
— Cardinal Napier (@CardinalNapier) October 12, 2015
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Where there is true humility, even if God never grants the soul favours, He will give it peace & resignation to His will. St Teresa of Avila
— Cardinal Napier (@CardinalNapier) October 14, 2015
14. Pope Francis: “She was convinced of the value of continuous prayer, even if it was not always perfect.”
15.
Statue of today's Saint, Teresa of Ávila, Doctor of the Church, from the Carmelite church in Salamanca http://t.co/ePMWlkra
— Fr Lawrence Lew OP (@LawrenceOP) October 15, 2012
[This has been amended since posting.]
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