Holy Doctor

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bless, Carmelite, compassion, Doctor of the Church, endurance, eyes, God, good, John Michael Talbot, love of God, ministries, mysticism, patience, religious education, Roman Catholic Church, spiritual practice, St. Teresa of Avila, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today is the feast of Teresa of Avila. Because it is Sunday, always a “first class feast,” we don’t hear about Teresa this year. I find it difficult to let it go by, however, without some mention of this woman who is one of only four women thus far in the history of the Roman Catholic Church to achieve the title of “Doctor of the Church.” Sister Teresa was a mystic, but also very active, tireless in her work of reforming the Carmelite order of nuns in the 1500’s in the most rigorous – some thought too extreme – way. Her writings were extensive and her spiritual practice was constant, although for many years she suffered many physical illnesses and a deprivation of any spiritual consolation. She never despaired, even in the face of investigation by the Inquisition, and her writings are considered one of the great treasures of Christian mysticism.

My personal experience of the gift of Teresa’s influence is twofold. When I was 16 years old and considering entering the convent, I received a “holy card” inscribed with a piece of advice written by Teresa. For over 50 years I have held it close and shared it with people I thought would benefit from hearing it. I say it gratefully again today in the translation in which I received it:

Let nothing disturb you, nothing frighten you. All things are passing; God never changes. Patient endurance attains all things. The one who possesses God lacks nothing. God alone suffices.

Many years later, I heard a song by John Michael Talbot whose lyrics are attributed to Teresa, but not found in her writings. I offer it often when speaking to people who work in religious education or other ministries – and lately use it in any situation where I want to emphasize to people how important we are in bringing the love of God to others. Please take a moment to consider it as a word to you today.

Christ has no body now but yours; no hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which He looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which He blesses all the world.  Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes. You are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

John of the Cross

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asceticism, being of light, Carmelite, light, Mark, mystic, mysticism, paschal mystery, poet, reformer, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, theologian, Thomas Merton

The biography of St. John of the Cross reads with more twists and turns than a complex novel. It would be foolish of me to try to capsulize it here. Suffice it for me to say that the play of light and darkness was the constant of his years as I yield to other sources for comment.

Americancatholic.org summarizes his life in the following way: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me” (MK 8:34b) is the story of John’s life. The Paschal Mystery – through death to life – strongly marks John as reformer, mystic-poet, and theologian priest. Thomas Merton said of John: “Just as we can never separate asceticism from mysticism, so in St. John of the Cross we find darkness and light, suffering and joy, sacrifice and love united together so closely that they seem at times to be identified.” As John himself expressed it: “Never was a fount so clear, undimmed and bright; from it alone I know proceeds all light although ’tis night.”

Only one note would I add to these intimations of the seamlessness of seeming opposites in his life, that being the value of feminine influence, most visibly of St. Teresa of Avila, for his spiritual development and understanding of the unity of all things in God. The contribution to the mystical stream and religious life of Christianity by these two saints is vast, something to celebrate with all Carmelite monks and nuns in the world on this feast of John of the Cross.