Feast of st. Teresa

(OCTOBER 15)

What makes the holy Mother, Teresa, an object of our admiration is the steadfastness of soul with which she strove to accomplish whatever she knew was acceptable to God. She taught her children that "Divine love is to be acquired by a determination to work and suffer for God."

I. Let us consider the burning love which this seraphic Saint entertained for God.

To her it seemed impossible that there could be in the world a single person who did not love God; and she would say; "My God, art not Thou exceedingly lovable on account of Thine infinite perfections, and of the infinite love Thou bearest towards us? How, then, can there be any one that does not love Thee?" Most humble though she was, yet in speaking of love she did not shrink from saying: "I am all imperfection, excepting in desires and in love." The Saint has left us on record the following excellent instruction: "Detach your heart from everything: seek God and you will find Him." On the other hand, she used to say, that it is easy for those who love God to detach themselves from the earth: "Ah! my God, we only need to love Thee truly, for Thee to make everything easy to us." Again, she writes: "Since live we must, let us live for Thee, so that our selfish interests may at last disappear. What greater advantage can any one gain than that which is to be found in pleasing Thee! O my delight and my God, what shall I do in order to please Thee?" She even went so far as to say that she would not be made sorry at seeing others in Heaven more happy than herself; but that she could not make up her mind to see any one love God more than she should love Him.

What makes this Saint an object of our admiration, is the steadfastness of soul with which she strove to accomplish everything she knew to be acceptable to God. She used to say: "There is nothing, however painful, that I am not prepared courageously to undertake, if it were set before me to do." Hence she gave it as her instruction, that "Divine love is to be acquired by a determination to act and to suffer for God." "For," said she in another place, "the devil has no fear of irresolute souls." To please God, she even went so far, as is well known, as to make a vow of performing whatever was the most perfect. And since sufferings endured for God are the strongest proofs of love, she desired to live for nothing but to suffer. Therefore she wrote: "It seems to me that there is no reason to live, except it be to suffer; and this it is for which I most fervently pray to God. To Him I say with my whole heart: Lord, either to suffer or to die! I ask of Thee for this, and nothing more." Her love became so ardent, that Jesus Christ one day appeared to her and said: "Teresa, you are all Mine, and I am all yours."

II. So dear did Teresa become to her Spouse Jesus, that He sent one of the Seraphim to wound her heart with a dart of fire. At length she died as she had lived, all inflamed with love. When the end of her life was drawing near, all her sighs were for death, that she might go to unite herself to her God: "O death!" she said, "I know not who can dread thee, for in thee is life. Serve thy God, O my soul, and hope that He will bring thee a remedy for thy pains." For this reason she composed the affectionate Canticle of love that opens with the following words:

"I live, but from myself am far away:\

And hope to reach a life so high,\

That I'm forever dying because I cannot die."

When the Holy Viaticum was brought to her, she exclaimed: "O my Saviour, the longed-for moment is at last come! Now begins the time when we shall see each other face to face." Then she died of love, as she herself revealed after her death.

O my seraphic Saint, thou art now rejoicing in thy God, Whom thou didst love so much during thy lifetime, when in constant danger of losing Him. Obtain for us, by thy prayers, the grace that we may go to love our God in Paradise with thee for evermore. Amen.

ACT OF CONSECRATION TO ST. TERESA

O seraphic virgin, well-beloved spouse of the Divine Word, St. Teresa of Jesus I, (N.N.) though very unworthy to be thy servant, yet encouraged by thy great goodness and by the desire I have to serve thee, in the presence of the Most Holy Trinity, of my Guardian Angel, and of the whole heavenly court, choose thee today, after Mary, for my mother, my mistress, and my special patroness, and I take the firm resolution always to serve thee, and to do all I possibly can that others may serve thee. Therefore, O my seraphic Saint, I supplicate thee, by the Blood thy Divine Spouse shed for me, to receive me among the number of thy devoted servants. Assist me in my necessities, and obtain for me the grace to imitate thy virtues by walking in the true road of Christian perfection. Aid me particularly in prayer, and ask God to give me this glorious gift that thou didst receive in so eminent a degree, in order that, contemplating and loving the sovereign Good, I may avoid, in my thoughts, words, and deeds, all that might offend, or be even in the least displeasing to thee and to my God. Accept this little offering as a mark of my engagement to thy service, and assist me during my life, and above all at the hour of my death. Amen.