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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.
This morning I found a quote in Thomas Merton’s Book of Hours that I hope to remember as the day progresses. It is in his Wednesday reflections at dusk, so I thought that if I kept it in my heart and consciousness all day, maybe I could say the same as life unfolds and I arrive at evening. It’s a new way to pay attention to the events of the day, a “holy expectation” perhaps – at least worth a try. Here is what he says:
Today Christians celebrate the feast of the Ascension, remembering the day when Christ left the earth after commissioning his apostles to “go into the whole world and tell the good news.” The gospels vary in their descriptions of the event and the book following these accounts, the Acts of the Apostles, opens with its own variation of the fact that “he was lifted up” and disappeared from their sight. It’s one of those events that I think “you had to be there” because it seems like something that has to be seen to be believed. Yet, for over 2,000 years, people the world over have heard and believed and followed the instructions that Jesus gave at that time. That is, perhaps, the best testimony to the truth of what Jesus was all about here on earth – the fact that those he commissioned did what he asked so effectively that the message has endured through all this time.
I don’t often think about the biblical Book of Proverbs but this morning I was reacquainted with how pithy and sensible – and sometimes wry or ironic – they are. Here are a couple from chapter 21 that appear this morning and are worth more than a passing glance.
I know it’s long past time for my annual eye exam and lately I wonder if I need stronger lenses in my glasses. Some mornings, however, I think it’s just a question of “wiping the sleep out” of my eyes, a phrase I remember from childhood. I’m one of the lucky ones who didn’t need to wear glasses until far into middle age and now I bless those whose inventions help me to see, especially each time I do have a check up and see pictures of my eyes in their totality. I marvel also at all the eyes can reveal about what’s going on in the rest of the body – conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure – which reminds me to give thanks that I live in such a marvelous “machine” as my body.