FAITH-FULL

“All depends on faith, everything is grace.” —Romans 4:16

Because all depends on faith, we pray: “Lord, ‘increase our faith’ ” (Lk 17:5). However, Jesus wondered if He would find any faith on the earth when He would return (Lk 18:8). We must either move mountains by faith or be moved and manipulated by the forces of the mass apostasy preceding Jesus’ second coming (2 Thes 2:3). Only those who have faith that Jesus is the Son of God will conquer the world (1 Jn 5:5). All others will not be victors but victims of the evil one. Therefore, we need deeper and deepening faith.

“Faith comes through hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rm 10:17, our transl.). By studying the Scriptures, living God’s Word, and reading this booklet, we improve our communication with the Lord. We hear Him better. This makes it possible for us to have a deeper personal relationship with the Lord. As a result of this relationship, we have “confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see” (Heb 11:1), that is, we have faith. Thus, our whole lives are transformed, for all depends on faith (Rm 4:16). By faith, we accept the grace of salvation (Eph 2:8), please God (Heb 11:6), conquer the world, and go to heaven. Grow in faith.

Prayer: Father, may I live “a life of faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20).
Promise: “The Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment all that should be said.” —Lk 12:12
Praise: St. Teresa overcame her tendency toward frivolous conversation and became renowned for her profound conversations with her Lord.

Feast of the Day

October 15
St. Teresa of Avila
(1515-1582)

Teresa lived in an age of exploration as well as political, social and religious upheaval. It was the 16th century, a time of turmoil and reform. She was born before the Protestant Reformation and died almost 20 years after the closing of the Council of Trent.
The gift of God to Teresa in and through which she became holy and left her mark on the Church and the world is threefold: She was a woman; she was a contemplative; she was an active reformer.

As a woman, Teresa stood on her own two feet, even in the man’s world of her time. She was “her own woman,” entering the Carmelites despite strong opposition from her father. She is a person wrapped not so much in silence as in mystery. Beautiful, talented, outgoing, adaptable, affectionate, courageous, enthusiastic, she was totally human. Like Jesus, she was a mystery of paradoxes: wise, yet practical; intelligent, yet much in tune with her experience; a mystic, yet an energetic reformer. A holy woman, a womanly woman.

Teresa was a woman “for God,” a woman of prayer, discipline and compassion. Her heart belonged to God. Her ongoing conversion was an arduous lifelong struggle, involving ongoing purification and suffering. She was misunderstood, misjudged, opposed in her efforts at reform. Yet she struggled on, courageous and faithful; she struggled with her own mediocrity, her illness, her opposition. And in the midst of all this she clung to God in life and in prayer. Her writings on prayer and contemplation are drawn from her experience: powerful, practical and graceful. A woman of prayer; a woman for God.

Teresa was a woman “for others.” Though a contemplative, she spent much of her time and energy seeking to reform herself and the Carmelites, to lead them back to the full observance of the primitive Rule. She founded over a half-dozen new monasteries. She traveled, wrote, fought—always to renew, to reform. In her self, in her prayer, in her life, in her efforts to reform, in all the people she touched, she was a woman for others, a woman who inspired and gave life.

Her writings, especially the Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle, have helped generations of believers.

In 1970, the Church gave her the title she had long held in the popular mind: doctor of the Church. She and St. Catherine of Siena were the first women so honored.

Comment:

Ours is a time of turmoil, a time of reform and a time of liberation. Modern women have in Teresa a challenging example. Promoters of renewal, promoters of prayer, all have in Teresa a woman to reckon with, one whom they can admire and imitate.

Quote:

Teresa knew well the continued presence and value of suffering (physical illness, opposition to reform, difficulties in prayer), but she grew to be able to embrace suffering, even desire it: “Lord, either to suffer or to die.” Toward the end of her life she exclaimed: “Oh, my Lord! How true it is that whoever works for you is paid in troubles! And what a precious price to those who love you if we understand its value.”

Patron Saint of:

Headaches