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St. Teresa received from God the gift of Faith in so full a measure that she has written in her Life: "The devil never had power to tempt me in any way against the Faith. It even seemed to me that the more impossible, naturally speaking, a truth of Faith was, the more firmly did I believe it, and the more difficult of belief, the more did it inspire me with devotion."
I.
St. Teresa received from God the gift of Faith in so full of measure that she has written in her Life: "The devil never had power to tempt me in any way against the Faith. It even seemed to me that the more impossible, naturally speaking, a truth of Faith was, the more firmly did I believe it, and the more difficult of belief, the more did it inspire me with devotion."
One day she was told she might be denounced to the Holy Office as a heretic. "This made me smile," she writes, "knowing so well that for the things of holy Faith, or for the least of the ceremonies of the Church, I would give my life a thousand times."
This love for the Faith gave her the fortitude, when but seven years of age, to set out from her father's house with her little brother, to go amongst the Moors, in order that she might sacrifice her life for the Faith. Later on in life, such was her conviction of the truth of our Faith, that she felt as if she could convince all the Lutherans and bring them to an acknowledgment of their errors.
In a word, the satisfaction she experienced at seeing herself among the number of the children of the Church was such, that at the hour of her death she could not often enough repeat to herself these words: "After all, I am a child of the Holy Church! After all, I am a child of the Holy Church!"
Let the fruit of this consideration be that of continual thanksgiving, in union with the Saint, to the Lord, for having bestowed upon us the great gift of the Faith, in making us children of the Holy Church, from which so many millions of souls, perhaps less guilty than ourselves, in the sight of Divine justice, remain separated.
My most loving Jesus, Who, although thou didst foresee my ingratitude, hast never ceased to bestow upon me an abundance of graces, above all, the grace of the Faith -- ah, of Thy mercy enkindle such a flame within my heart, that my daily life may be always conformable to my Faith. O Divine, true and only Lover of my soul, when will the day at length arrive on which I shall begin to love Thee with my whole heart? Oh, would to God that today were this day of happiness for me, the day on which I have, in the present Novena, begun to honour Thy dear spouse and my tender advocate, Teresa! Ah! my Redeemer, by the merits of Thy Blood; by the merits of Mary, Thy most holy Mother and by those of Thy beloved Teresa, grant me, I pray Thee, so burning a love for Thee as may make me continually deplore the sins I have committed, and may urge me, henceforth, to study nothing but Thy good pleasure, in order that I may please Thee only, as Thou dost deserve. Amen.
II.
From the wonderful gift of Faith which the Saint possessed arose the great love she bore towards the Most Holy Sacrament, which is preeminently the Mystery of Faith. She used to say that God has conferred upon us a greater grace in giving us the Holy Eucharist than in becoming man; and so, one of the principal virtues the Saint possessed was her special affection towards Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, as she herself revealed after her death. When the Saint heard someone say he wished he lived at the time Jesus was upon earth, she would smile and say: "And what more do we want, having Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament? Surely, if it was enough, while He was upon earth, to touch His raiment, in order to be healed of infirmities, what will He not do for us now when He is within us in Holy Communion?" "Oh, how sweet it is," she wrote, "to see the Shepherd become a Lamb. He is a Shepherd, because He gives food. He is a Lamb, because He is Himself the food. He is a Shepherd, because He nourishes. He is a Lamb, because He is the nourishment. When, therefore, we pray to Him for our daily bread, we are asking that He, the Shepherd, may be our food and sustenance."
The Divine Lover responded to the love with which this cherished spouse of His desired Him, and with which she disposed herself to receive Him under the sacramental species. As darkness disappears before the sun, so at the moment of Communion the obscurities and troubles of the Saint used to vanish. It then seemed to her that her soul lost all its affections and all its desires, being perfectly united with God and absorbed in Him. Although she was usually pale in consequence of her penances and infirmities, her biographer says, that no sooner had she communicated than her countenance became shining as crystal, ruddy, extremely beautiful, and with such an air of majesty about it, that it was easy to recognize what a Divine Guest she had received into her heart. At those times her virginal body seemed ready to quit the earth, raising itself in the air in the presence of the Sisters.
O Seraphic Saint, who by thy purity and ardent love, were upon earth the delight of thy God -- thou whom He loved so much as one day to tell thee that as Magdalen was His beloved one when He was on earth, so thou wert in the same degree His beloved one now that He is in Heaven -- oh thou dear Saint, whom He treated with such tenderness whether He admonished thee as a Father, or conversed with thee as a Spouse communicating Himself to thee so frequently in Holy Communion and with such abundant outpourings of grace-O Teresa, plead with thy God for me who, alas! am not the object of His delights but the cause of His sufferings by my evil life. Pray to Jesus to pardon me and to give me a new heart, a heart pure and full of Divine love like unto thine own. Amen.
Spiritual Reading
TERESA'S LOVE FOR JESUS IN THE EUCHARIST
The holy mother Teresa never ceased to deplore the injurious treatment that Jesus received in the Sacrament of His love at the hands of heretics. She would complain to God: "Now how, O my Creator, can such tender love as Thine endure that what was instituted with such ardent affection by Thy Son, and the more to please Thee, should be so undervalued that at this day these heretics despise the Most Holy Sacrament? For they rob it of its home by demolishing the Churches. Was it not enough, O my Father, that whilst Jesus lived on earth He had no place to lay His head, without now taking from Him the holy places where He deigns to abide, and whereunto He invites His friends, knowing, as He does, their need of such food for their comfort?"
For twenty-three years she communicated every day, and every time with such fervour and desire, that in order to receive Communion, she would, as she said, willingly have made her way against the spears of a whole army.
One Palm Sunday as she was considering that among all those who at Jerusalem had proclaimed Jesus Christ as the Messias, there was not one to receive Him into his house, she invited Him to come and enter her poor heart, and with this pious thought she went to receive Communion. The affectionate invitation of His beloved was so agreeable to the Divine Spouse, that when she received the Sacred Host it seemed to her that her mouth was filled with warm blood, accompanied with a heavenly sweetness. Then she heard the voice of Jesus saying: "My daughter, it is My will that My Blood should be for your profit: I have shed it in great suffering, and you enjoy it, as you see, with great delights."
With regard, therefore, to this greatest of all gifts that Jesus has bequeathed to us in the Sacrament of the Altar, in leaving Himself, whole and entire, to be our Food, our Companion and our Shepherd, let us practise the excellent instruction that the holy mother once revealed from Heaven to a certain soul: "The inhabitants of Heaven and those of earth should be one and the same in purity and in love: we, in a state of joy; you, in that of suffering. And, what we do in Heaven with the Divine Essence, you ought to do on earth with the Most Holy Sacrament. You will mention this to all my children." Treating of the love and tender devotion that are due to Jesus in the Holy Sacrament, she has again left us in her works the following directions: "Let us act so as not to be at a distance from our Shepherd, nor lose sight of him, because the sheep that keep near their shepherd are always more caressed and better taken care of than others, and because he is always giving them some morsels of his own food. If it happens that the shepherd sleeps, the faithful sheep keeps close beside him, until he awakes, or it will arouse him, and then he lavishes upon it his caresses anew."
St. Philip Neri, that other seraph of love, on seeing Jesus entering his room to be his Viaticum, could not refrain from crying out in a holy transport: "Behold my Love! Behold my Love!" So let us, when we see the King and Spouse of our souls coming to meet us in Holy Communion, cry out and say: Behold my Love! Behold my Love! And we know that God wishes us to give Him this appellation. God is love (1 John iv. 16). He does not wish to be merely called a Lover, but to be Love itself, to make us understand that, as there is no love that does not love, so He, the Divine Goodness, is of His own nature so loving, that He cannot live without loving His creatures.
Evening Meditation
CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD*
I. EXCELLENCE OF THIS VIRTUE
Our whole perfection consists in loving God Who is in Himself most lovely: Charity is the bond of perfection (Col. iii. 14). But, then, all perfection in the love of God consists in the union of our own with His most holy will. This, indeed, is the principal effect of love, as St. Dionysius the Areopagite observes, "such a union of the wills of those who love as makes them one and the same will." And, therefore, the more united a person is with the Divine will, so much greater will be his love. It is quite true that mortifications, meditations, Communions, and works of charity towards others are pleasing to God. But when is this the case? When they are done in conformity to God's will; for otherwise, not only does He not approve them, but He abominates and punishes them. Take the case of two servants, one of whom labours hard and incessantly all day long, but does everything after his own fashion; while the other may not work as hard, but acts always in obedience to orders. Is it not certain that it is the latter, and not the former, who pleases his master? In what respect can any works of ours tend to the glory of God, where they are not done according to His good pleasure? It is not sacrifices that the Lord desires, says the Prophet to Saul, but obedience to His will: Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed (1 Kings, xv. 22). To refuse to obey is like the crime of idolatry. He who will act according to his own will, and independently of God's, commits a kind of idolatry; since instead of worshipping the Divine will, he, in a certain sense, worships his own.
II.
The greatest glory, then, that we can give to God is the fulfilment of His holy will in everything. This is what our Redeemer, Whose purpose in coming upon earth was the establishment of the glory of God, principally came to teach by His example. See how Jesus addresses His Eternal Father: Sacrifice and oblation, thou wouldst not; but a body thou hast fitted to me ... then said I: Behold, I come -- that I should do thy will, O God (Heb. x. 5). Thou hast refused to accept the victims which mankind have offered Thee. It is Thy will that I should sacrifice to Thee the body which Thou hast given Me; lo, I am ready to perform Thy will! And hence it is that Jesus so often declares He had come upon earth not to fulfil His own, but His Father's will only: I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me (Jo. vi. 38). And on this account Jesus wished that the world might know the love He bore His Father, from the obedience to His will which He manifested in sacrificing Himself upon the Cross for the salvation of mankind; just as He said Himself in the Garden when going forth to meet His enemies who had come to take Him and lead Him away to death: That the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father hath given me commandment, so do I; Arise, let ye go hence! (Jo. xiv. 31). And for this reason, too, He said He would recognize as His very own brother him who acted according to the Divine will: Whosoever shall do the will of my Father, he is my brother (Matt. xii. 50).
*This is a golden treatise that seems rather to have been inspired from Heaven than to have emanated from the human mind. The holy author himself, St. Alphonsus, used often to read it. He constantly practised the wise maxims it contains and always endeavoured to inculcate its practice on others. He was accustomed to say: "The Saints became Saints because they always remained united to the will of God." When the Saint's eyesight began to fail, him, he took care to have this little treatise read to him. -- ED.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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The mercies of the Lord are in proportion to the confidence a soul places in Him; so that when the Lord wishes to enrich a soul with graces, He first enriches it with confidence. So great was Teresa's confidence in God that she accomplished all she undertook for the glory of her Spouse, and was commonly styled the Omnipotent Teresa.
I.
The mercies of the Lord are in proportion to the confidence a soul places in Him: so that when the Lord wishes to enrich a soul with graces, He first enriches it with confidence.
So great was the confidence with which the holy mother Teresa was gifted by God, that by it she gained the accomplishment of all that she undertook for the glory of her Spouse, so that she was commonly styled the Omnipotent Teresa.
Ever bearing in mind that God is faithful, as the Apostle says, and that He cannot fall short of His word, she drew from this reflection the great courage that fortified her in every storm. "Oh, my Lord," she used to exclaim, "who shall sufficiently declare how faithful Thou are to Thy friends? May everything fail me provided Thou dost not abandon me; me, who have found by experience how great is the gain of those who trust only in Thee."
With this strong anchor to support her she undertook the great work of reforming the Religious of both sexes in the Carmelite Order, and of founding a vast number of Religious houses, in spite of innumerable obstacles raised by men and devils, without aid, without money, having nothing to support her except her confidence in God. She was accustomed to say, that in order to found a monastery, nothing more was requisite than to hire a house and set up a bell.
Whenever the strength of the opposition increased, her courage would increase also, and she would say that this was a sign that the seed sown would produce the more abundant fruit; and so all turned out successfully. She writes: "The true way of escaping a fall is to attach oneself to the Cross, and to confide in Him Who has been suspended thereon. I find Him alone a true friend; so overpowered am I with a sense of this, that it seems to me that, with the grace of God, I could withstand the whole universe contending against me." Hence her great dislike in having to deal with persons who relied on human judgments and resources.
My holy advocate, Teresa, thou givest me to understand that thy Spouse has promised thee to grant everything thou askest of Him, and that a great number of souls have received help through thy prayers. Make me, too, one of the number. Recommend me to Jesus, and change me entirely as thou hast changed so many others through thy prayers.
II.
One day when Teresa was pleading for a special grace from God and feared His refusal on account of her unworthiness, Jesus appeared to her. Showing the Wound in His left hand, "He told me," she says, "that I ought not to doubt that He Who had suffered so much for me would most willingly grant me all that I would ask of Him; that He had promised to grant me all I would ask of Him; that I ought to remember that even at the time when I served Him not, I had never asked Him for anything without receiving it, and more than I had known how to ask for, and that with much greater reason now when He knew my love for Him, would He hear me, and finally that I ought not to doubt His word."
She then goes on to assure us that, by virtue of His promise, she had ever obtained from God more than she could have asked of Him in a lifetime. For the consolation of those devoted to her, she has left upon record the following words: "I should be wearisome to myself and to my readers if I were to recount all the graces God has conferred upon me; if I were to say how many souls have been extricated from sin by my prayers, and how many others have been advanced to higher degrees of perfection." One night, while the saint was returning thanks to God for a grace she had received, He lovingly made her this answer: "And what can you ask of me, my daughter, that I would not grant you?" Another day he said to her: "You are aware of the espousals contracted between you and Me: it is for this reason that I make over to you all the sufferings I have undergone. You can offer these sufferings to My Father as your own, and ask in exchange all that you desire."
The Saint has written for our instruction: "Oh! how small is the confidence that we repose in Thee, O Lord God! And yet what greater riches, what more beautiful treasures couldst Thou have handed over to us? Thou hast given us three-and-thirty years of Thy Son's hard toil, and then His most painful death. Knowing beforehand how ungrateful we would be, Thou hast even confided to us the priceless treasure of that same Son in the Most Holy Sacrament, that there might be nothing in Thee of which we might not, through Him, gain possession, O merciful Father! O ye souls of the Blessed, who have so well known how, at this price, to purchase to yourselves so precious and so permanent an inheritance, declare to us how it was that you made use of so infinite a good? Succour us now that you are standing so near its source, and draw water thence for us who are here dying of thirst."
Spiritual Reading
"THE LORD IS CAREFUL FOR ME."
When the holy mother was at Toledo, a priest told her that the accomplishment of the Reform was a hopeless undertaking; but Teresa with dauntless courage, consoled every one, and confiding in God, replied, that in spite of opposition, all would prosper for the best. When, on her journeys, she came to any dangerous part of the road, she would be the first to pass over it, encouraging the rest by her example. Full of confidence in her Lord, she was not afraid even of hell itself; she used to say, she no more feared the demons than the flies. She was never known to grieve or to rejoice at any occurrence, whether favourable or unfavourable, but was ever calm and equable, in the midst of a profound peace; ever constant in her sweet hope, persuaded that God cannot fail one that serves Him, and puts his confidence in Him. It was, then, upon this hope that Teresa rested all the prayers she addressed to God. And as she did not know how to ask Him for anything but what might contribute to the good pleasure of her Lord, the prayers of this His holy spouse were so acceptable to God, that He even went so far as to promise to grant her everything she would ask of Him.
Learn, O devout soul, how God listens to the prayer that is offered with confidence. Ask, then, with confidence and you shall receive whatever you desire. Heaven and earth may fail you, but the Word of God Who has said: Everyone that asketh, receiveth (Matt. vii. 8), cannot fail. He that asks, obtains, even when he does not at all deserve to obtain what he asks, as St. Thomas says. On the other hand, he who does not ask, does not obtain. Behold then, on what our victory, in time of temptation, depends: Praising I will call upon the Lord and I shall be saved from my enemies (Ps. xvii. 4). Let us have recourse to God and we shall be conquerors. Behold, on what all our good depends: Ask, and you shall receive (Jo. xvi. 24). Let us ask, and it will be given us. Our Saint used to say: "For gaining Divine graces, prayer is the only gate: shut this, and I know not how God shall bestow them. Let us observe that our Father and God not only takes care of us, but that He is ever full of anxiety for our good, as He gives us to understand in the Holy Scriptures." Let us pray, then, with confidence; let us pray to God in the Name of Jesus Christ, His Son, Who has made us this promise: If you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you (Jo. xvi. 23). God always takes care of us. The Lord is careful for me (Ps. xxxix. 18). And the Prophet says it is easier for a mother to forget her child than for God to forget us. It will be enough to show God our miseries and say to Him with the leper in the Gospel: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean (Matt. viii. 2); or with the Sister of Lazarus: He whom thou lovest is sick (Jo. xi. 3); but we ought always to pray and not to faint (Luke xviii. 1). The day we leave off prayer, we shall fall.
Evening Meditation
CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD
II. EXCELLENCE OF THE VIRTUE
I.
All the Saints have ever kept steadfastly in view the fulfilment of the Divine will, thoroughly understanding that herein consists the entire perfection of a soul. The Blessed Henry Suso used to say: "God does not desire that we should abound in knowledge, but that in all things we should submit ourselves to His will." And St. Teresa: "All that one who devotes himself to prayer has need to acquire, is conformity of his own will to the Divine will; and he may rest assured that herein consists the highest perfection. Whoever practises this best will receive from God, the greatest gifts, and will make most progress in the interior life." The Dominican nun the Blessed Stephana of Soncino, being carried one day in vision into Heaven, saw certain persons with whom she had been acquainted in life, placed amongst the Seraphim; and it was told her that they had been raised to so high a place in glory through the perfect conformity to God's will which they had practised when on earth. And the Blessed Suso already mentioned used to say, when speaking of himself: "I would much rather be the vilest worm of earth through God's will than a Seraph through my own."
While we are in this world, we should learn from the Blessed in Heaven the way we have to love God. The pure and perfect love which the Blessed in Heaven entertain for God lies in their own perfect union with the Divine will. Should the Seraphim understand it to be His will that they must employ themselves for all eternity in gathering into a heap the sands of the seashore, or in plucking up the grass from the fields, they would willingly do it with all possible pleasure. Nay, more: if God were to give them to understand that they should go to burn in the flames of hell, they would immediately precipitate themselves into that abyss, in order to accomplish the Divine will. And it is for this that Jesus Christ taught us to pray -- namely, that we perform the Divine will on earth as the Saints perform it in Heaven: Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven (Matt. vi. 10). The Lord calls David a man after His own heart, because David accomplished all His desires: I have found a man according to my own heart, who shall do all my wills (Acts xiii. 22). David was ever prepared to embrace the Divine will, as he frequently declared: My heart is ready, O God; my heart is ready (Ps. lvi. 8, and cvii. 1). And, on the other hand, the only prayer which he made to the Lord was that He would teach him to do His Will: Teach me to do thy will (Ps. cxlii. 10).
II.
A single act of perfect conformity to the Divine will is sufficient to make one a Saint. Look at Saul whom Jesus Christ illuminates and converts, while he is persecuting the Church. What does Saul do? What does he say? He simply makes an offering of himself to do the Divine will: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? (Acts, ix. 6). And, behold, the Lord declares him to be a vessel of election and Apostle of the Gentiles: This man is to me a vessel of election to carry my name before the Gentiles (Acts, ix. 15). Yes, for he who gives his will to God gives Him everything. He who gives God his goods in alms, his blood by disciplines, his food by fasting, gives to God a part of what he possesses; but he who gives God his will gives Him the whole; so that he can say to Him: Lord, I am poor, but I give Thee all that is in my power; in giving Thee my will, there remains nothing for me to give Thee. But this is precisely all that our God claims from us: My son, give me thy heart (Prov. xxiii. 26). That is to say, thy will. "There is no offering," says St. Augustine, "more acceptable to God than to say to him: Take possession of us!" O Lord, we give our whole will to Thee; make us understand what Thou desirest of us, and we will perform it.
If then we would give full satisfaction to the heart of God, we must in everything bring our own will into conformity with His; and not only into conformity but into uniformity, too, as regards all that God ordains. Conformity signifies the conjoining of our own will to the will of God; but uniformity signifies, moreover, our making of the Divine will and our own will one will only, so that we desire nothing but what God desires, and His sole will becomes ours. This is the sum and substance of that perfection to which we ought to be ever aspiring. This must be the aim of all our works, and of all our desires, meditations and prayers. For this we must invoke the assistance of our Patron saints and of our Guardian Angels, and, above all, of our Divine Mother Mary, who was the most perfect of all the Saints, for the reason that she ever embraced most perfectly the Divine will.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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The heart of this seraph was so on fire with the love of God that all her thoughts and all her sighs were of Divine love and the good pleasure of God. "Behold what I am always saying," she writes in her Life, "and it seems to me I say it with all my heart: 'O Lord, I do not think of self: I wish for nothing but for Thee alone!' "
I.
The heart of this seraph was so on fire with the love of God, that all her thoughts and all her sighs were nothing but love, and had reference only to the good pleasure of God. Her confessor used to say that when speaking to her, he seemed to have before him a seraph of love. The sacred flame of the love of God burned within her soul ever since the moment when, only seven years of age, she had the courage to leave her native country, her father and mother, in order to go amongst the infidels, that she might sacrifice her life for Jesus Christ, as it is stated in the Bull of her canonization.
Her love increased as she advanced in age, and although it grew somewhat cool for some years, yet when God, by a fresh illumination, called her to a love of greater perfection, her correspondence to His grace was such as to merit to hear from the very lips of her Spouse, that if He had not already created Paradise, He would have created it expressly and entirely for her. And on another occasion, He even told her that He was all hers, because she was all his: "Now I am all thine, and thou art all Mine" (Bull of Canon).
In short, so completely was she given up to God, that, inebriated with the Divine love, she knew not how to speak of anything save of her Beloved. She knew not how to think of anything save of her Beloved. She could not even hold converse with any one save of her Beloved. For, accustomed as she was to hold sweet converse with her God, she could not lend herself to hold intercourse with creatures, excepting with those who were wounded, as she expressed herself, with the same love.
So strongly was she drawn to God by love, that she declared herself to be incompetent for the management of worldly affairs. So that, one day, she said: "If the Lord keeps me in my present state, I shall render but a bad account of the affairs that He has entrusted to my charge; for it seems that I am continually being drawn towards God, as if by chains." Everything that tended to interrupt her continual union with God was a burden to her, even the taking of her meals: "It is often a very great punishment on me," she writes, "to be obliged to eat. It makes me weep, and give utterance to complaints, almost without being aware of what I say."
But let us listen to the beautiful sentiments that she has recorded for us in reference to her love for God, and let us warm our hearts with the blessed flame that burned in the heart of our seraphic Saint.
She writes: "Behold what I am always saying, and, as it seems to me, with all my heart: O Lord, I do not think of myself, I wish for nothing but for Thee alone!"
II.
Although she was exceedingly humble, she does not shrink from saying: "I am nothing but imperfection, excepting in desire and in love; I think that I do love my Lord well, but my works make me sad."
So ardently did she desire to advance, as far as she possibly could, in the love of God, that she expresses herself elsewhere in the following terms "If I were to have my choice of undergoing all the sufferings of the world even to the end of time, and of obtaining afterwards a small additional degree of glory, or without afflictions of any kind, to settle down in a degree of glory less exalted, I would willingly prefer to bear all the sufferings for the smallest possible additional knowledge of the greatness of God; because I see that they who know God best love Him most." On seeing that she loved God so much, and that she was so much beloved by Him, she wrote in holy transport: "Oh! what a beautiful exchange it is to give our love to God, and to receive from Him His own."
We are also aware what consolations she found in the loving petition she was so frequently addressing to God: Lord, either to suffer or to die! It seemed to her that the desire of suffering for God was so sweet to her loving heart, that she could gain no merit by it. And she goes on to say, that the only reason why we should love the present life is for the opportunity it affords us of suffering for God. "Since the desire of sufferings brings me no merit, and life seems to me to be worthless without sufferings, I pray to God for them most fervently. I say, then, to Him with all my heart: Lord, either to suffer or to die: I ask Thee for nothing more."
It was by this that she merited to be united to Jesus Christ, Who, on presenting her with a nail, declared her to be His spouse of love and of the cross. The Lord, stretching His right hand towards her, as we read in the appendix to her Life, proceeded to say to her: "Behold this nail: it is a token that henceforth you shall be my spouse; you have not merited this until now. For the future you shall not look upon My honour merely as that of your Creator, of your King, and of your God, but since you are now My true spouse, My honour is yours, and your honour is Mine."
She said, one day, in a transport of love, that it would give her real joy to see others in Paradise rejoicing in a higher degree of glory than her own; but that she did not know whether she could rejoice at seeing a soul have a greater love for God than she had.
In conclusion, her whole employment consisted in whatever could procure glory for God; but her great love for Him caused her to regard all that she did as nothing. "O Lord!" she said, "I fear that I am not serving Thee; I cannot discover anything that can be sufficient to pay Thee the smallest part of what I owe Thee." The only thing that contented her in this life, and the prayer that she continually offered up to God, was this: "Ah, my Lord, enable us all to become worthy of loving Thee; since live we must, let us live for Thee, ever leaving our own selfish interests out of sight. What greater gain can we have than that which consists in being pleasing in Thy sight. O my Joy, my God, what can I do to please Thee?"
O seraphic Teresa, beloved spouse of Jesus crucified, thou who wast all on fire while upon earth with so burning a love for thy God and mine, who art now burning with a still purer and brighter flame in Heaven, obtain for me, I entreat thee, one spark of this heavenly flame, which may enable me to forget the world, its creatures, and even myself, in order to devote all my thoughts, all my desires, and all my affections to the accomplishment, whether in joy or pain, of the will of this Sovereign Good Who deserves to be obeyed and loved. Do this, O my dear Saint, for thou art able to do it. Make me burn wholly and entirely, like thyself, with Divine love.
Spiritual Reading
"MERIT CONSISTS IN SUFFERING AND IN LOVING."
The whole life of Teresa was one continual exercise of the love of God, and a constant study of what might best please her Beloved. Her very life was terminated through the violence of her love, consumed as indeed her heart was in a furnace of Divine Charity. But we are to remember what our Lord said one day to our Saint, in order to give her to understand that true love of God in this life does not consist in any sensible sweetnesses, but in the accomplishment of the will of God, and in the undergoing of sufferings with calmness: "Thinkest thou, My daughter," He said to her, "that such gratifications constitute merit? No; merit consists in doing, in suffering, and in loving. Consider My life, altogether filled up, as it was, with sufferings: when thou lookest at My Mother holding Me in her arms, do not suppose that she enjoys this satisfaction without suffering the cruel torment that St. Simeon had predicted to her, when he said to her: 'A sword shall pierce thine own soul'; My Father having from that time enlightened her in order that she might understand all that I was to suffer."
"Believe me, My daughter," He added, "that he who is most beloved of My Father is also he on whom He lays the heaviest crosses, and that love on the one side corresponds to the sufferings on the other. How could I testify this love, save in desiring for thee what I have desired for Myself? Behold these Wounds! No pains of thine will ever be so great. Thou wilt thus participate in My lamentations for the loss that men of the world sustain, whose desires are bent on the acquisition of precisely the contrary. To suppose that My Father admits any one to His friendship without sufferings, is folly; for those for whom He entertains a great love He leads on by the way of sufferings, and the sufferings He sends are the greater in proportion to the greatness of His love."
If, then, it is our wish to love our dearest Lord with a genuine love, and to study how to give satisfaction to His Heart rather than to gratify our own, we must put in practice the excellent instruction that our Saint used to give to others and to observe herself: "Ever march forward with the desire of suffering everything, on every occasion, for the love of Jesus." Everyone should at least seek to conform himself perfectly to the will of God in all adversities. This is what St. Teresa one day came down from Heaven to say to a devout soul: "Endeavour to have the fervent desire for the accomplishment of the Divine will that I had for death as long as I lived." To practise, therefore, what the Saint suggests, one should offer oneself wholly to God fifty times every day, with great fervour and the desire of Him. By acting in this manner, we shall be very pleasing in the sight of God, and shall not feel the crosses He sends us, for, as the Saint used to say, "the weight of the Cross is felt by him who drags it along, but not by him who embraces it." Just as a miser, instead of being fatigued, feels joy as he carries his load of gold, and rejoices the more in proportion to the greatness of its weight; so does a loving soul rejoice the more she has to suffer for God, because she perceives that in offering up her sufferings to her Beloved, she becomes exceedingly dear to Him.
Evening Meditation
CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD
III. CONFORMITY IN ALL THINGS
I.
The important thing is to embrace the will of God in all things which befall us, not only when they are favourable, but when they are contrary to our desires. When things go on well even sinners find no difficulty in being conformed to the Divine will; but the Saints are in conformity even under circumstances which run counter, and are mortifying, to self-love. It is herein that the perfection of our love for God is shown. The Blessed Father John of Avila used to say: "A single Blessed be God! when things go wrong, is of more value than a thousand acts of thanksgiving when things are to our liking."
Moreover, we must bring ourselves into conformity to the Divine will, not only as regards those adverse circumstances which come to us directly from God -- such, for instance, as infirmities, desolation of spirit, poverty, the death of relatives, and other things of a similar nature -- but also as regards those which come to us through the instrumentality of men, such as contempt, reproaches, acts of injustice, thefts, and persecutions of every kind. On this point, we must understand that when we suffer injury from any one in our reputation, our honour, or our property, although the Lord does not will the sin which such a one commits, He nevertheless does will the humiliation, the poverty, or the mortification that comes to us. It is certain and of faith, that nothing comes to pass in the world but by the Divine will: I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil (Is. xlv. 7). From God come all things that are good and all things that are evil; that is to say, all things that are contrary to our liking, and that we falsely call evil, for, in truth, they are good, when we receive them as from His hands: Shall there be an evil in the city which the Lord hath not done? said the Prophet Amos (iii. 6). As the Wise Man had already said: Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches, are from God (Ecclus. xi. 14). It is true, as I observed above, that whenever any one unjustly treats you, God does not will the sin such a person commits, nor concur in the malice of his intentions; but He does indeed concur by a general concurrence in regards to the material action by which such a one wounds, plunders, or injures you; so that what you have to suffer is certainly willed by God, and comes to you from His hands. Hence it was that the Lord told David that He was the Author of the injuries which Absalom would inflict upon him, and that in punishment for his sins: Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thy own house (2 Kings, xii. 11). Hence, too, He told the Jews that it would be as a punishment for their wickedness that He would command the Assyrians to spoil and destroy them. The Assyrian, he is the rod of my fury ... I will give him a charge to take away the spoils, and to lay hold on the prey (Is. x. 5), which St. Augustine explains: "The wickedness of these men is made, as it were, the sword of God." God uses the iniquity of the Assyrians, like a sword, to chastise the Jews. And Jesus Himself said to St. Peter that His Passion and Death did not come to Him so much from men, as from His Father: The chalice which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? (Jo. xviii. 11.)
II.
When the messenger (who is thought to have been Satan) came to tell Job that the Sabeans had taken away all his goods and had put his sons to death, what is the holy man's reply? The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away (i. 21). He did not say: the Lord hath given me sons and property, and the Sabeans have taken them away; but, the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; because he perfectly understood that his loss was willed by God; and therefore he added: As it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done; blessed be the name of the Lord. We must not, then, look upon the troubles that befall us as happening by chance or merely through the fault of others; we should rest assured that everything that happens to us comes to pass through the Divine will. "You should know," says St. Augustine, "that whatever happens in this world contrary to our will does not happen but by the will of God." Epictetus and Atho, two blessed Martyrs of Jesus Christ, when subjected to the torture by the tyrant, torn with hooks of iron and burnt with blazing torches, only said: "Lord, let Thy will be accomplished in us"; and on arriving at the place of their suffering, they exclaimed, in a loud voice: "Blessed be Thou, O eternal God, because Thy will has been fully accomplished in us!"
Cesarius relates that a certain Religious, although there was in no respect any external difference between himself and the others, had nevertheless arrived at such a degree of sanctity as to heal the sick by the mere touch of his garments. His Superior, in astonishment at this, one day asked him how he could ever perform such miracles, while his life was not more exemplary than that of others. In reply, he said that it was a matter of astonishment to himself also, and that he did not know how to account for it. "But what devotions do you practise?" asked the Abbot. The good Religious replied that he did but little or nothing in this respect, except that he had ever taken great care to will only what God willed, and that the Lord had granted him the grace to keep his own will thoroughly conformed to that of God. "Prosperity," he said, "does not elate me, nor does adversity cast me down, because I receive everything from the hands of God; and to this end I direct all my prayers -- namely, that God's will may be perfectly accomplished in me." "And with respect to that loss," rejoined the Superior, "which our enemy caused us the other day, by depriving us of our means of subsistence, setting fire to our farm-buildings where our corn and cattle were housed, did you not feel some resentment in consequence?" "No, my Father," was his reply; "but, on the contrary, I returned thanks to God for it, as is my custom in similar cases, knowing that God does, or permits, all for His own glory and for our greater good; and with this conviction, I am always content whatever may come to pass." Understanding all this, and seeing in that soul so great a conformity to the Divine will, the Abbot was no longer surprised at his performing such great miracles.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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An ardent desire for sanctity is a great means for becoming a saint. God does not bestow the abundance of His graces except on those souls who hunger for them. Our Saint says we must not set bounds to our desires, but must hope by God's grace to reach the heights the Saints have reached.
I.
An ardent desire for sanctity is a great means towards becoming a saint; for, on the one hand, God does not bestow the abundance of His graces except on those souls that hunger for them, as the most Holy Mary says, in her sublime canticle: He has filled the hungry with good things (Luke, i. 53). And, on the other hand, this desire is necessary as regards ourselves, to the end that we may have the power of persevering under the hardships that we must endure if we would gain the great treasure of perfection. For, that which is but little desired, men make but little exertion to obtain; whereas, on the contrary, to compass the acquisition of what is much desired, there is no toil, however arduous, that they do not find easy and sweet. On this account it is that God gives the appellation of "blessed" to those that have not the desire merely, but a hunger, that is, an ardent desire for sanctity: Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice (Matt. v. 6).
Teresa, whom we may compare to an eagle of heaven, and to whom the desire of fulfilling the perfect will of God gave wings wherewith to fly rapidly forward to perfection, has left us on record the following words: "Let us entertain great thoughts, for from them proceeds our good." And she says elsewhere: "We must not limit our desires, but we must hope that in relying on God we shall be able, through the efforts we make, gradually to reach the heights that many of the Saints by His grace have reached." She used to say that the Divine Majesty loves generous souls, provided only that they put no trust in themselves; and she testified, speaking from experience, that she had never known a fainthearted soul to make as much progress even in several years as generous souls make within the space of a few days: "For," said she, "the Lord is as pleased with desires as with their effects."
Oh! how great, in truth, was her desire of pleasing her Lord! She does not shrink from the avowal, that, full of imperfections as she was, her desires were, nevertheless, great and perfect. She writes: "The desire of serving God comes to me attended with transports I am unable to express. It seems to me that no suffering, not even death, or Martyrdom itself, would be difficult for me to endure." Indeed, there was nothing, however difficult, she did not undertake and carry to a successful termination, when once she knew that it was pleasing to God. And she testified this of herself: "There is nothing, however painful, that I am not ready to bear as soon as it comes." Thus the saint, having learned by her own experience, used to say: "I am astonished at what can be done by encouraging oneself to undertake great things, though we may not have the strength for them at once. The soul takes a flight upwards and ascends very high." And here she adds a lesson of much importance -- namely, that there is no humility in not wishing to become a saint. Humility is necessary, she says; but we must understand that the devil strives to make us think it is pride to have great desires, and a wish to imitate the Saints.
II.
In order to acquire perfection, it is not enough merely to desire it; we must also have the firm resolution of attaining it; for the desire without the resolution will be of no avail. This is what happens to such a number of souls who are always desiring, and perpetually multiplying their desires, but never come to a determination of setting themselves to the work in good earnest, and so remain ever in their tepidity, without making any progress. Our Saint writes: "I would rather have a short prayer producing great results, than a prayer lasting several years, during which the soul never resolves on performing anything of any real value for God."
St. Bernard says that many fail to become saints because they lack the courage. And it was the subject of our Saint's lamentation when she said: "Many remain down at the foot of the mountain who could scale its summit." On the other hand, she gives the assurance, that when a soul, in order to please God, undertakes anything with resolution, she easily accomplishes her purpose. "It is quite true, O Lord," she writes: "as is said by Thy Prophet, Thou dost feign there is labour in the observance of Thy law; yet I can perceive none; and I know not why the way that leads to Thee should be called narrow. I have experienced in a variety of circumstances," she adds, "that when any one from the outset resolves courageously on the accomplishment of anything whatever may be its difficulties, if he does it in order to please God, he has nothing to fear. The devil, has great fear of resolute souls, seeing that every plot he contrives for their hurt turns to their profit."
O glorious Saint, I rejoice with thee, now that I behold thee in Heaven, where thou art loving thy God with a love that fully contents that heart of thine, which on earth so much desired to love Him. But since, in Heaven thy love for God has increased, assist O holy mother, this miserable soul of mine that desires to burn, like thyself, with holy love for this Infinite God, Who deserves the love of an infinity of hearts. Say for me to Jesus what thou once didst say to Him in this life for one of His servants: "Lord, let us take him to be our friend." Ask Jesus to inspire me with the resolution of consecrating my whole will, once for all, to Him, and of studying in everything that alone which is most pleasing in His sight and which may best promote His glory.
Spiritual Reading
RESOLUTION TO GIVE ONESELF WHOLLY TO GOD
St. Teresa herself practised earnestly what she taught to others. When she was called to give herself wholly to God, she gave herself to Him without reserve, and with so strong a resolution, that to oblige herself to search out whatever might give the most pleasure to her Beloved, she went so far as to bind herself by that sublime vow, at which the Saints have been filled with astonishment, and which is styled by the sacred tribunal of the Rota, "a very difficult vow," always to do what she understood to be the most perfect. Herein Teresa exhibits to us the courage and the resolution with which she aimed at the highest perfection to which a soul upon earth can attain, in order that she might please God to the utmost of her power.
Let our resolution, then, be to aim with sincere desire at the highest sanctity, as our Saint did, and to resolve to give ourselves wholly to God, studying to advance every day farther and farther towards perfection.
A great servant of God, Father Hyppolito Durazzo, of the Society of Jesus, used with good reason to say, as we read in his Life, that men of the world never think that they have enough of the good things of this world, and are always endeavouring to possess more; but with respect to the next they say: "The smallest corner of Paradise will do." Whereas, on the contrary, he who truly loves God and not the world, will be contented with the least corner of the earth; but for the good things of Heaven he will always to be striving more and more without ever resting. This good Father used also to say that "to become a saint one needs nothing but what is to be obtained through the sole desire of pleasing God."
After the desire is formed, one must then most firmly resolve to give oneself to God without reserve. God has already given us this desire. This desire is His voice distinctly speaking to us and calling us to His love. He has already called us very many times, and why are we hesitating? Do we wish to wait until He ceases to call us, and He abandons us? Now is the time for putting an end, once for all, to our hesitations, and for renouncing everything that is not for God. It is not a time for prolonging our resistance to the love of that Lord Who alone deserves to be loved. We must, then, break every earthly attachment that hinders us from belonging entirely to God. Resolution! resolution! God! God alone! And nothing else!
And Thou, O my Lord, tell me what it is that Thou dost look for from me in bestowing upon me so many graces! Ah! I understand Thee -- I understand Thee, my Treasure, my All, my true Lover! Since Thou lovest me greatly, Thou dost wish me to love Thee greatly, and to become all Thine. Thou dost wish that my heart may be no longer divided, but that its whole attention may be devoted to loving Thee alone. Yes, Thee alone. But, in truth, if Thou art the only one that deserves to be loved, it is no more than just that Thou only be loved by me and by all mankind. Since, then, O my Beloved, Thou dost inspire me with this desire of loving Thee, so overrule me that I may put it in practice, and may love Thee as much as Thou desirest. If Thou wilt have my heart, behold, here it is. I take it from the love of creatures to give it wholly to Thee. If Thou dost wish me to desire and to ask for Thy love, yea, my God, I ask it of Thee, and I desire to love Thee more than even the Seraphim do. Hearken to my prayer. I ask this of Thee, not in order to become distinguished amongst the Saints, nor to gain a high degree of glory in Paradise, but only in order to be pleasing in Thy sight. Provided that I may love Thee the more, I even offer myself to suffer pain of every description, and for all eternity, if such be Thy good pleasure. Hearken to me my Lord, for the love of Jesus Christ, and for the love of St. Teresa.
O blessed and holy Virgin Mary, thou art my hope; I hope for all good things through thee.
Evening Meditation
CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD
IV. HAPPINESS THAT COMES FROM PERFECT CONFORMITY
I.
He who acts in perfect conformity to God's will not only becomes a saint but he enjoys, even in this world, a perpetual peace. Alphonsus the Great, King of Arragon, and a most wise prince, on being one day asked whom he considered to be the happiest man in the world, replied that it was he who abandons himself to the will of God, and receives all things, prosperous or adverse, as from His hands.
To those who love God, all things work together unto good (Rom. viii. 28). Those who love God are ever content because their whole pleasure lies in the accomplishment of the Divine will, even in things that run counter to their own desires. Hence even afflictions bring them contentment, by the thought that in the acceptance of them they are giving pleasure to their Lord Whom they love: Whatsoever shall befall the just man it shall not make him sad (Prov. xii. 21). And, in truth, what greater contentment can a man ever experience than in seeing the accomplishment of all he desires? Now, whenever any one wills only what God wills or permits, then everything such a one wills does consequently come to pass. There is a story in the Lives of the Fathers of a certain countryman whose land was more productive than that of others, and who, on being asked how it happened replied that no one should be surprised at it, because he always had the weather he desired. "And how so?" he was asked. "Because," replied he, "I desire no weather but that which God desires; and as I desire what God desires, so does He give me the fruits of the earth as I desire them."
II.
Souls that are truly resigned, says Salvian, if they are in a state of humiliation, desire humiliation; if they suffer poverty, they desire to be poor; in short, whatever happens to them, they desire it all, and therefore they are, in this life, happy. When cold or heat, rain or wind, prevails, he who is in a state of union with the Divine will says: I wish it to be cold, I wish it to be hot; I wish the wind to blow, the rains to fall, because God wishes it so. Does poverty, persecution, sickness, death come, I also wish to be poor, persecuted, sick; I wish even to die, because God wishes it so.
This is the blessed liberty the sons of God enjoy, worth more than all the lands and kingdoms of this world. This is that great peace the Saints experience, which surpasseth all understanding (Phil. iv. 7), and with which all the pleasures of sense; all gayeties, festivities, distinctions, and all other worldly satisfactions, cannot be compared; for these being unsubstantial and transitory, although, while they last, fascinating to the senses, do not bring peace, but affliction, to the spirit that desires true contentment. Hence it was Solomon, after having enjoyed worldly pleasures to the full, cried out in his affliction: But this also is vanity and vexation of spirit (Eccles. iv. 16).
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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Humble hearts are the targets at which the arrows of Divine love are aimed. It was because God found the heart of Teresa most humble that it pleased Him to bestow upon her such a multitude of graces.
I.
Humble hearts are the targets at which the arrows of Divine love are aimed; and so, as St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi used to say, the practice suitable for us, in order to obtain Divine love, is that of self-humiliation. It was because God found the heart of Teresa most humble that it pleased Him to bestow upon her such a multitude of graces. The Saint, in speaking of herself, declares that the most precious graces with which the Lord enriched her were those that she received at the very time when she was humbling herself most before Him.
Our Saint was in reality so humble that, although the Lord treated her as His beloved spouse, as we have already observed, she nevertheless treated with her Lord only in the character of an ungrateful and faithless one. For this reason it was that however many might be the favours heaped upon her by Jesus Christ, and how great soever the commendations she received from men, she could never be persuaded to think well of herself. Although God Himself had conveyed to her an assurance that her visions were not illusions, but gifts of His love, so that in receiving them it was impossible for her to doubt that they came from God, nevertheless the opinion that she entertained of herself was so mean that she was perpetually fearing lest she might be mistaken, being unable to believe that God would grant such favours to a soul so unworthy as she believed herself to be.
One day, as the Saint was on her way to Burgos to found a convent, a Religious mentioned to her the reputation for sanctity she enjoyed. In reply, she said: "Three things have been said of me: that when I was a little child I had a good disposition; that I was discreet; and now there are some persons who say of me that I am a saint. In times gone by I believed the two former of these, and I have accused myself in Confession of having yielded to this vanity; but I have never practised upon myself so great a deception as to give credence to the third."
In the account of her life that she addressed to her confessor she says, when speaking of the graces the Lord bestowed upon her: "Formerly it seemed to me I felt confusion that they were known, but it now seems to me that so far from being better I am much worse on their account; for with so many graces I do so little. For this reason it seems to me that from every point of view there is not in the whole world a creature worse than myself." Elsewhere she says: "I do nothing but receive graces without profiting by them, as if I were the most useless thing in the world. All others bear fruit; it is I only that am good for nothing."
A certain person, on seeing how many favours she received from God, and how great her reputation for sanctity was in the world, said to her: "My mother, be on your guard against vainglory." Teresa, all astonishment, replied: "Vainglory? On what account I know not. Seeing what I am, I shall have much to do to keep myself from falling into despair."
II.
The light God gave Teresa to see the greatness of His Majesty and the love He bore her made her regard as grave faults the little defects into which she used to fall -- defects that others like ourselves would not consider defects at all. In consequence, she used continually to exclaim, full of confusion: "Lord, consider what Thou art doing! How is it that Thou hast so quickly forgotten my ingratitude?"
In writing the account of her life for her confessor, she prays him in one place to publish her sins everywhere, "in order that," she said, "I may no longer impose upon people who think that there is some good in me." And when those to whom she made a manifestation of her bad life would not share the opinion that she entertained of herself she betook herself to her Spouse and laid her complaint before Him, saying: "Lord, why is it that these people do not believe me? Do Thou look to it. For my part, I know not what more I can do."
On the other hand, when she thought that others might have a knowledge of the graces that God bestowed upon her, this thought alone caused her so much affliction that as she says in her Life, she would have wished to be buried alive, so as not to be seen any longer in the world. Wherefore it was that the Lord, in order to tranquillize her in this affliction, one day said to her: "Teresa, of what art thou afraid? If men were to know the graces I bestow upon thee, one of two things would happen: they would either give glory to Me, or speak ill of thee." The Saint tells us that these words restored tranquillity to her.
O my holy Advocate, Teresa, who didst wound the Heart of thy God by thy beautiful humility, I beg thee by the love thou bearest towards thy dear Mother Mary, and thy beloved Spouse Jesus, to obtain for me holy humility, in order that being transformed like thee into the likeness of my Jesus in His state of humiliation upon earth, I may one day be able to see and to love Him with thee in Paradise.
Spiritual Reading
ALL WISH TO BE "HUMBLE," BUT FEW TO BE "HUMBLED."
The humility of St. Teresa was not the sort that some possess, who, although entertaining, in some instances, a lowly opinion of themselves, and expressing it also before others, yet cannot bear that others should publish their defects and subject them to contempt. No. The Saint, like all souls that are really humble, regarded herself, and wished to be regarded and treated by others as a vile creature. She even went so far as to say that there was no music more pleasing to her ears than the reproaches addressed to her in regard to her defects. She was frequently the object of contempt and of opprobrious treatment; and on such occasions her soul, truly humble as it was, took greater delight in seeing herself despised than if she had been praised and honoured. How often, in establishing those monasteries, whereby she procured so much glory to God, how often were insults heaped upon her as a hypocrite, a liar, a proud woman, and one filled with illusions! And this, too, as it once happened, from the pulpit, and in her own presence. The Pope's Nuncio, in a fit of anger, went so far as to enjoin upon her to retire into a monastery, and not to go out of it any more, telling her that she was a restless and vagabond woman. She shut herself up, as she was bidden, without making any defence, satisfied in having met with contempt and confusion.
On another occasion an accusation was brought before the Inquisition against her as a sorceress and a witch. Having also heard a certain Religious laying many evils to her charge, she answered: "If this Father had known me, he might have said much more against me." On her entrance into Seville, she was at first an object of contempt and displeasure, whereupon she said: "Blessed be God! Here they know me to be what I am." Elsewhere she writes: "So far am I from wishing ill to any of those that spoke evil of me, it seems to me as if I entertained for them even a greater love than I did before."
While the Saint was arranging about the foundation at Burgos, she was one day passing along a narrow footpath, on which there happened to be a certain woman. She asked her permission to pass by; but this woman, seeing her clad in raiment that bespoke the greatest poverty, said to her, "Go along, you hypocrite"; and then, with a rough push, caused her to fall into the muddy channel. The Saint's companions wished to rebuke the woman, but she took her part, saying: "My daughters, hold your peace. Do you not perceive that this woman has acted very rightly?" On another occasion she was in a church, and certain persons wishing to pass by, she did not take heed to rise sufficiently soon from the place where she was kneeling, whereupon they kicked against her, and so made her move to another part of the church. Another woman who had lost one of her shoes, fancying that Teresa had stolen it from her, had the impudence to strike her on the face with the other shoe. All this the Saint tranquilly received, better contented with these insults than a man of the world would be at receiving the greatest honours. The tribunal of the Rota has even attested that the greater the offences she received from others, the more they drew her love upon themselves. So much so, indeed, was this the case that it was a common saying that, in order to be loved by Teresa, it was necessary to treat her in a humiliating and injurious manner.
All wish to be humble, but there are few who wish to be humbled. St. Ignatius of Loyola was sent from heaven by the Most Holy Virgin, to give the following counsel to St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi: "Humility is the joy that we feel at everything that leads us to despise ourselves." This is what is meant by being humble of heart, as Jesus Christ teaches us to be -- namely, to regard ourselves as what we really are, and to wish that others may look upon us and treat us in the same way.
Behold, then, for the practice of humility, the following most important maxims, which are borrowed from the Saint herself:
1. To avoid every occupation and every conversation that can in any way have to do with self-love, unless some notable utility oblige us to enter upon it. The Saint enjoins, nevertheless, that we should never put ourselves forward, excepting under obedience, or from motives of charity.
2. Never to manifest our interior devotion, unless through some great necessity; and never to affect outwardly a devotion that is not in the heart.
3. To rejoice on beholding ourselves the object of complaints, of insults and of mockeries, without seeking to justify ourselves, unless this be necessary for some greater good; "and when we are reproved," says the Saint, "let us receive the reproof with interior as well as exterior humility, offering up a prayer to God for him by whom we are reprimanded."
4. To ask unceasingly of God what St. John of the Cross prayed for -- to be despised for His love.
5. Finally, not to expect that the senses and the inferior part of the soul should find satisfaction in this; but to act according to reason, contenting ourselves with pleasing God; and for this it is especially useful to exercise ourselves during prayer in preparing ourselves for contempt of every description; and to pray earnestly to Jesus and Mary to grant us the fulfilment of our good resolutions on the occasions that may present themselves.
Evening Meditation
CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD
V. HAPPINESS THAT COMES FROM PERFECT CONFORMITY
I.
A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun, but a fool is changed as the moon (Ecclus. xxvii. 12). The fool -- that is to say the sinner -- is ever changing, changing like the moon. Today you will see him laughing, tomorrow weeping; today quiet, tomorrow furious like the tiger. And why so? Because his peace depends on the prosperity or the adversity that comes to him; and, therefore, he varies as circumstances vary. Whereas the just man is like the sun, ever uniform in his serenity however circumstances may vary; because his contentment lies in his conformity to the Divine will, and therefore he enjoys a peace that nothing can disturb: And on earth peace to men of good will (Luke, ii. 14), said the Angel to the Shepherds. And who can these men of good will be but those whose wills are at all times in union with the will of God, which is supremely good and perfect? The will of God is good, delightful, and perfect (Rom. xii. 2). Yes, because God wills only that which is best and most perfect.
The Saints, through their conformity to the Divine will, enjoyed in this world a paradise in anticipation. St. Dorotheus tells us that it was thus that the ancient Fathers kept themselves in profound peace, receiving all things from the hands of God. When St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi heard only mention of the will of God, she used to experience so intense consolation that she fell into an ecstasy of love. And although the blow of adverse circumstances will not fail to make itself felt, yet it will touch only our lower nature; for in our higher nature, in the soul, there will reign peace and tranquillity for the will remains in union with that of God. Your joy, said the Redeemer to the Apostles, no man shall take from you ... That your joy may be full (John, xvi. 22-24). He who is ever in conformity with the Divine will possesses a full and perpetual joy -- full, because he has all that he wishes for; perpetual, because it is a joy of which no one can deprive him, for he wills what God wills, and no one can prevent that which God wills from coming to pass.
II.
Father John Tauler relates of himself that after having for many years prayed the Lord to send some one to instruct him in the spiritual life, he one day heard a voice saying to him: "Go to such a church, and you will find what you ask for." On reaching the church, he found at the gate a beggar, barefooted and with scarcely a rag to cover him. He saluted him: "Good day, my friend." The poor man replied: "Sir, I do not remember ever to have had a bad day." The Father rejoined: "God grant you a happy life!" To this he answered: "But I have never been unhappy." And then he goes on to say: "Listen, my Father; it is not without reason that I have told you that I have never had a bad day; because, when I suffer hunger, I praise God; when it snows or rains, I bless God; if I am treated with contempt or repulsed, or experience misfortunes of any other kind, I always give glory to my God for it. I said, besides, that I have never been unhappy, and this also is true; because it is my habit to desire, without reservation, all that God desires; therefore, in all that happens to me, whether it be pleasant or painful, I receive it from God's hands with joy, as being what is best for me; and herein lies my happiness." "And if it should ever happen," says Tauler, that God willed you to be damned, what would you do then?" "If God were to will this," replied the beggar, "I would, with all humility and love, lock myself so fast in my Lord's embrace, and hold Him so tight, that if it were to be His will to cast me down into hell, He would be obliged to come with me; and thus, with Him, it would then be sweeter to me to be in hell than, without Him, to possess all the enjoyments of Heaven." "Where was it that you found God?" said the Father. "I found Him where I took leave of creatures," was the reply. "Who are you?" The poor man answered: "I am a king." "And where is your kingdom?" "It is within my soul, where I keep everything in due order; the passions are subjected to the reason, and the reason to God." In conclusion, Tauler asked him what it was that had led him on to so high a degree of perfection? "It was silence," he said, "observing silence with man, in order to hold converse with God; and also the union with my God which I have always maintained, and in which I have found, and still do find, all my peace." Such, in short, had this poor man become through his union with the Divine will; and certainly he was, in all his poverty, more wealthy than all the monarchs of the earth, and in his sufferings more happy than all the men of the world in the midst of their earthly pleasures.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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Ever since the time Jesus lovingly declared Teresa to be His Spouse, she remained so wrapt up in her Beloved that she could think of nothing but of pleasing Him. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my Beloved, that you tell him that I languish with love (Cant. v. 8).
I.
Ever since the time Jesus lovingly declared Teresa to be His Spouse, she remained so wrapt up in her Beloved, that she could think of nothing but of pleasing Him. Perceiving herself to be so highly favoured by her Divine Lover, and at the same time so destitute of the means of corresponding to so many graces, she cried out in the tenderness of her soul, with the spouse in the Canticles: Stay me up with flowers; compass me about with fruits, for I languish with love (Cant. ii. 5). She animated herself then, sometimes by the desire of suffering that she might please God the more, and at other times by ardently longing for death that she might love Him more perfectly: such were her flowers. But besides this, she made it her study to fortify her languishing heart with the fruits of love, such as good works, penances, humiliations, and, more particularly, the labours she undertook in the great work of the reform of her Order. She founded thirty-two convents, although she was poor, destitute of all human aid, and opposed even by the great ones of this world, as the Church commemorates in the Lessons for her Office.
All this, however, was too small to satisfy her fervent desires of pleasing her heavenly Spouse, and she protested to her Beloved that she could not endure to see herself so much enriched by the gifts she received, and so niggardly in the return she made. Consequently, enveloped as she was in the holy flames of Divine love, and altogether detached from herself, she was frequently all on fire and languishing in the tenderness of her soul. Oh! what a beautiful sight for the blessed spirits that assisted her was this generous spouse of the Crucified, who in her languishings cried out: I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my Beloved, that you tell him that I languish with love (Cant. v. 8). The effect of this holy languishing, as explained by the Doctors of the Church, is that the soul forgets itself and all its concerns, so as to have no love for anything but for its Beloved, and to have no thoughts but how to please Him. Such is the love of a spouse, as is observed by St. Bernard in the following words, in which he represents a soul raised to this happiness, as thus speaking: "The servant fears; the son honours; the mercenary hopes; and I, because I am a spouse, I love to love, I love to be beloved, and I love love itself." Precisely such was our seraphic Saint: languishing in her happiness; forgetting everything that had not a reference to Divine love; loving and being beloved, she made God's pleasure her only study; the only recompense that she desired was to add to her love for Him.
II.
As the hunter, to obtain possession of his prey, endeavours to make sure of it by inflicting upon it numerous wounds, so does the Divine Archer seem to have acted in like manner towards Teresa, sending to her on several occasions a Seraph to wound that heart of hers which He willed to be wholly His. Let us listen to the Saint herself in the description that she gives us of this grace: "Our Lord was pleased I should have at times a vision of this kind -- I saw an Angel close by me on my left side in bodily form. He was not large, but small of stature, and most beautiful -- his face burning, as if he were one of the highest Angels, who seem to be all of fire ... I saw in his hand a long golden spear, the point of which seemed to be tipped with fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart and to pierce my very vitals, a part of which he drew forth, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great that it caused me to utter plaintive cries, and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is then satisfied with nothing less than God ... It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His Goodness to make him experience it who may think I do not speak the truth."
O lovely wound! must we, then, exclaim, O sweet pain! O desirable fire! Wound that makes Him loved by Whom it is inflicted; Sweet art thou, because thy sweetness excels all the pleasures of the world! O fire, more to be desired than all the kingdoms of the earth! Thou art the most precious gift the Divine Lover can bestow upon His faithful and beloved spouses, a gift directly proceeding from the loving Heart of God; a gift whose effect, as the Saint said, is to make the soul dissatisfied with everything short of God.
He whose heart is greatly wounded cannot be prevented from thinking of Him by Whom the wound was made; and if he wished to forget Him, the pain he experienced would recall Him to his remembrance. The soul that is wounded with the love of Jesus cannot exist without loving Jesus, and without thinking of Him. Should it happen that the world or creatures have attracted her attention, the wound in her heart sweetly constrains her to return and to languish in love for Him Who has wounded her.
But, O my God, who is there that would not accept this pain, if that can be called pain which is occasioned by this delicious fire of love, the very fire of love which constitutes the happiness of the Saints in Heaven, and which will fill them with joy for all eternity! To prepare the heart, however, for the reception of this fire and of these wounds, it is necessary to resolve, once for all, to banish far away everything that is not God, and generously to say farewell to all creatures, addressing them thus:
World, honours, riches, creatures, what would you have of me? I utterly renounce you! I take my leave of you! Farewell! My God has set me on fire with love; He has wounded me; by His love He has, at last, gained my whole heart; He has made me know He will not be content unless He has entire possession of it. Depart, then, far from me, ye creatures. You cannot satisfy me, and I no longer desire such gratification as you bestow. Go and content him that seeks you, for I no longer wish for you. I wish for God alone! With God I rest content. God alone! Yes, God alone is enough for me. Too long, alas, have I loved Creatures. The time I have still to spend upon earth, whatever its duration may be, I wish to employ wholly and solely in loving that God, Who was first to love me, and Who deserves and demands of me all my love.
O my seraphic virgin, St. Teresa of Jesus, thou in whom thy Spouse so affectionately enkindled His fire, and wounded with His love, pray, pray for me, that, wounded by my God, and henceforth burning for Him, Who alone deserves to be loved, I may so forget all creatures as to love my Creator alone.
Spiritual Reading
"DETACH YOUR HEART FROM ALL THINGS; SEEK GOD AND YOU WILL FIND HIM."
We are apt to complain that, seeking God, we do not find Him. "Detach your heart from all things," St. Teresa used to say, "Seek God, and you will find him." Otherwise, the things we love will be continually drawing us off, and will prevent us from finding God. The Lord one day said to our Saint: "Oh! how much would I willingly say to a great number of souls! But the world makes a great noise around their hearts, and in their ears so that My voice cannot be heard! Oh! if they would but separate themselves a little from the world!"
There are many souls given to prayer, in whom Divine love finds little, if any, place, because they go to prayer with a heart filled with earthly affections. For this reason it is that St. Ignatius of Loyola says that a soul that is detached will profit more in a quarter of an hour's prayer than a soul that is not detached will in several hours. No sooner has the bird escaped from the net, than it flies away; so, in like manner, no sooner is the soul set free from earthly affections, than it flies quickly to God. The masters of the spiritual life teach that defects do not prevent us from advancing to perfection, provided the soul endeavours to rise with humility and peace, as soon as it has fallen; but the smallest attachment, were it only a fine thread, does prevent us.
The Roman Senate, as St. Augustine relates, sanctioned the payment of Divine honours to thirty thousand deities, that is, to all that were recognized as such in the world; but it refused to decree Divine worship to the God of the Christians, Whom it styled a jealous God, since He desired to be adored exclusively. And the Roman Senate had good reason for what they thus alleged; not because God is proud, but because He is the true God. The thief is satisfied if he obtains a share, but the owner is not satisfied without the whole. God desires then, to be the sole possessor of our heart; and, therefore, He enjoins upon each of us this command: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart (Matt. xxii. 37). "Let us act in such a way," said St. Teresa to a certain Superior, "as to detach souls from everything created, in order that they may become the spouses of a King, Who is so jealous that He would have them forget everything, and even themselves." Let us, then, set to work to detach our heart from riches by the love of holy poverty; from pleasures, by mortification; from honours, by humility; from relatives, by detachment; and, lastly, from self-will by obedience to superiors; frequently offering up to God that excellent prayer: Create a clean heart in me, O God! (Ps. 50. 12). Give me, O God, a heart that is empty and detached, that it may be filled with Thy holy love.
Evening Meditation
"GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON."
I.
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son (Jo. iii. 16). God, says Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, loved the world to such a degree that He gave His very Own and only Son that the world might be saved by Him. Let us consider -- Who is the Giver; and what is the Gift that is given; and how great the love is with which it is given. We all know that the more exalted the donor is, the more to be prized is the gift. One who receives a flower from a monarch will set a higher value on that flower than on a large amount of money. How much ought we not, then, to prize this gift, coming to us, as it does, from the hands of One Who is God! And what is it that He has given us? His own Son. The love of this God did not content itself with having given us so many good things on this earth, until it had reached the point of giving us its whole self in the Person of the Incarnate Word: "He gave us not a servant, not an Angel, but His own Son," says St. John Chrysostom. Wherefore Holy Church exultingly exclaims: "O wondrous condescension of Thy mercy in our regard! O inestimable love of charity! That Thou mightest redeem a slave, Thou didst deliver up Thy Son."
O infinite God, how couldst Thou condescend to exercise towards us so wondrous a compassion! Who shall ever be able to understand an excess so great, that in order to ransom the slave, Thou wast willing to give us Thine only Son? Ah, my kindest Lord, since Thou hast given me the best that Thou hast, it is but just that I should give Thee the best I can. Thou desirest my love: I desire nothing else, but only Thy love. Behold this miserable heart of mine; I consecrate it wholly to Thy love. Depart from my heart, all ye creatures; give place to my God, Who deserves and desires to possess it wholly, and without companions. I love Thee, O God of love; I love Thee above everything: and I desire to love Thee alone, my Creator, my Treasure, my All.
II.
God has given us His Son, and why? For love! Yes, for love alone! For fear of men Pilate gave Jesus up to the Jews: He delivered him up to their will (Luke, xxiii. 25). But the Eternal Father gave His Son to us for the love He bore us: He delivered him up for us all. (Rom. viii. 32). St. Thomas says that "love has the nature of a first gift." When a present is made us, the first gift we receive is that of the love which the donor offers us in the thing that he gives: because, observes the Angelic Doctor, the one and only reason of every voluntary gift is love; otherwise, when a gift is made for some other end than that of simple affection, the gift can no longer rightly be called a true gift. The gift which the Eternal Father made us of His Son was a true gift, perfectly voluntary, and without any merit of ours; and therefore it is said that the Incarnation of the Word was effected through the operation of the Holy Spirit: that is, through love alone; as the same holy Doctor says: "Through God's supreme love it was brought to pass, that the Son of God assumed to Himself flesh."
But not only was it out of pure love that God gave us His Son, He also gave Him to us with an immense love. This is precisely what Jesus wished to signify when He said: God so loved the world (Jo. iii. 16). The word "so," says St. John Chrysostom, signifies the greatness of the love wherewith God made us this great gift: "The word 'so' signifies the vehemence of the love." And what greater love could One Who was God have been able to give us than was shown by His condemning to death His innocent Son in order to save us miserable sinners? Who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all (Rom. viii. 32). Had the Eternal Father been capable of suffering pain, what pain would He not have then experienced, when He saw Himself compelled by His justice to condemn that Son, Whom He loved with the same love wherewith He loved Himself, to die by so cruel a death in the midst of so many ignominies? And the Lord willed to bruise him in infirmity (Is. liii. 10). He willed to make Him die consumed by torments and sufferings.
Imagine, then, to yourself that you behold the Eternal Father, with Jesus dead in His arms, and saying to us: This, O men, is My beloved Son, in Whom I have found all My delights: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased (Matt. iii. 17). Behold how I have willed to see Him ill-treated on account of your iniquities: For the wickedness of my people have I struck him (Is. liii. 8). Behold how I have condemned Him to die upon this Cross, afflicted, and abandoned even by Myself, Who love Him so much. This have I done in order that you may love Me.
O infinite goodness! O infinite mercy! O infinite love! O God of my soul, since Thou didst will that the object most dear to Thy Heart should die for me. I offer to Thee in my own behalf that great sacrifice of Himself which this Thy Son made Thee; and for the sake of His merits I pray Thee to give me the pardon of my sins, Thy love, and Thy paradise. Great as are these graces which I ask of Thee, the offering which I present unto Thee is greater still. For the love of Jesus Christ, O my Father, pardon me and save me. If I have offended Thee in time past, I repent of it above every evil. I now prize Thee, and love Thee, above every good.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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It was given to St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi to behold Divine love under the form of a sweet liquid in a precious vessel, being dispensed by the hands of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As all graces come to men through Mary, it is also through her that the gift of gifts Divine love, is bestowed on the faithful. From Mary let us seek it.
I.
It was given to St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi to behold Divine love under the form of a sweet liquid in a precious vessel, being dispensed by the hands of the most Holy Mary. As all God's graces come to men through the hands of Mary, it is also through her that the gift of gifts, Divine love, is bestowed on the faithful.
Our Saint well knew that she had received all her graces, and above all, the gift of love, which made her beautiful soul so rich, through the hands of this most sweet Mother. And so, in order to testify her thankfulness to her most holy Mother, she thought she could never do enough for her love and honour. From her early childhood, while still an inmate of her parental home, she would go in quest of secluded spots to honour Mary by saying the Rosary and other pious prayers. On the death of her mother, she hastened to offer herself to her heavenly Queen with confidence and love to be her daughter, and protesting that from that moment she should be her only and her dearest Mother. In truth, in all her tribulations and in all her needs, the Saint ever had recourse to Mary, as to her most loving Mother. It was with the special object of seeing her honoured everywhere that she undertook the work of reforming the Carmelite Order, whose glory it is to fight under the banner and the especial protection of the Queen of Heaven.
Mary, on her part, who cannot do otherwise than love those that love her, or rather in the words of St. Ignatius the Martyr, "is always more loving towards them than they towards her, not wishing to be outdone by her children in this combat of love," this august Queen well knew how to return and to exceed the love that her dearest daughter bore towards her, by obtaining for her a great abundance of graces. On the day on which she condescended to come down so lovingly from Heaven, and with her own hands to decorate our Saint with a precious mystical necklace, she made her clearly understand how much satisfaction she felt at seeing her become, through her mediation, the most cherished spouse her Jesus had. It appears still more evident from the circumstances attending her death, how greatly she was loved by this affectionate Mother, for Mary then appeared standing beside her beloved daughter, to fortify her for her departure, and to receive into her arms her blessed soul.
O my Saint, address thyself to that Divine Mother whose power is universal: and because it is her glory to be the refuge of sinners, tell her that I am a sinner and the most wretched of them all. Entreat her henceforth to look with compassion upon me, commended to her as I am by thee, to succour me in my temptations, and to come to my assistance at the hour of my death. Tell her that I hope for eternal salvation through her hands. Tell her this, my Saint, and she will certainly listen to what thou sayest; for, loving thee so tenderly while thou wast upon earth, how much greater is her love for thee now in Heaven where thou dost honour and love her more than ever. As Mary is my advocate with Jesus mayest thou, O Teresa, be my advocate with Mary.
II.
Our Saint had also a great devotion to the glorious spouse of Mary, St. Joseph. It may even be said, that the glory of kindling in the world devotion towards that great Saint was hers. She had felt, from her early childhood, an extreme affection for St. Joseph. She never took any affair in hand without commending it to St. Joseph, her father and her lord -- styling him thus on account of the affection and reverence she bore him. All the convents she founded she consecrated under his invocation; and when she herself came to be honoured by the Church as a Saint, and some of her Religious substituted the title of St. Teresa for that of St. Joseph at Avila, she appeared to Sister Isabella of St. Dominic and enjoined upon her to restore the title of St. Joseph, as speedily as possible, bearing her testimony from Heaven itself that the glory of her beloved Saint was an object of greater concern to her than her own.
"How glad should I be if I could prevail upon all men," she says in her Life, "to cultivate a devotion towards this glorious Saint, by the results of my own experience of the great favours that he obtains from God. I have never known any persons that had this devotion who did not make uninterrupted progress in virtue. I only ask, for the love of God, that he that does not give credence to what I say would be at the pains of giving it a trial."
I rejoice, O Teresa, at thy being in Heaven in company with thy holy father St. Joseph, who loved thee so tenderly and conferred so many favours on thee upon earth. Now that thou art returning him thanks and enjoying the contemplation of that great glory wherewith Jesus has enriched him, commend me to the care of this powerful intercessor. Pray to him to take me also, miserable as I am, under his protection.
Spiritual Reading
THE PROTECTION OF HOLY MARY AND ST. JOSEPH
St. Francis de Sales used to say that next after the merits of Jesus Christ, the protection of the Blessed Virgin is so powerful and so beneficial to the soul that he looked upon it as the firmest support we can have with God. Father Suarez asserts that according to the received opinion of the Church, the protection of Mary is profitable and necessary, because God has determined to bestow all graces through her. Let us, then, love Mary, and ever have recourse to her protection if we wish to save and sanctify our souls. Let us with St. Bernard address her as the "whole foundation of our hope"; with St. Bonaventure, as "the salvation of him who calls upon her"; with St. Germanus, as "the life of Christians"; with St. Augustine, as "the only refuge of sinners"; and let us crown all by saluting her with the whole Church militant as "our life, our sweetness and our hope."
St. Teresa used, moreover, to say she could not understand how it was possible to have devotion to the Queen of Angels without having, at the same time, an especial affection for her spouse St. Joseph, who was so assiduous on earth in the service of holy Mary and her dear Son, Jesus.
In spite of Teresa's humility, and her great reserve in regard to any manifestation of the graces she received from Heaven, she did not hesitate to make known the extraordinary favours she had obtained through St. Joseph as their channel -- and all for the purpose of glorifying her beloved Saint. In the history of her life she writes as follows: "I took for my patron and lord the glorious St. Joseph and recommended myself earnestly to him ... and he has rendered me greater services than I knew how to ask for. I cannot call to mind that I have ever asked him at any time for anything which he has not granted; and I am filled with amazement when I consider the great favours God has given me through this blessed Saint -- the dangers from which he has delivered me, both of body and of soul. To other Saints, Our Lord seems to have given grace to succour men in some special necessity; but to this glorious Saint, I know by experience, God gives the power to help us in all. Our Lord would have us understand that, as He was Himself subject to Joseph on earth ... so now in Heaven He grants all his requests. I have asked others to recommend themselves to St Joseph and they, too, know this by experience ... Would that I could persuade all men to be devout to this glorious Saint, for I know by long experience what blessings he can obtain for us from God. I have never known anyone who was really devout to him, and who honoured him by particular services, who did not visibly grow more and more in virtue ... I only ask, for the love of God, that he who does not believe me will make the trial for himself -- when he will see by experience the great advantages that will come to him from commending himself to this glorious Patriarch, and being devout to him. He who cannot find anyone to teach him how to pray, let him take this glorious Saint for his Master" (Life, ch. vi). Let us go, then, to our Saint herself the great Teresa, and ask her to obtain for us devotion to most holy Mary and St. Joseph.
Evening Meditation
"O GRACIOUS ADVOCATE"
MARY AN ADVOCATE WHO IS ABLE TO SAVE ALL
I.
So great is the authority that mothers possess over their sons, that even if they are monarchs, and have absolute dominion over every person in their kingdom, yet never can mothers become the subjects of their sons. It is true that Jesus now in Heaven sits at the right hand of the Father, that is, as St. Thomas explains it, even as Man, on account of the hypostatic union with the Person of the Divine Word. He has supreme dominion over all, and also over Mary; it will nevertheless be always true that for a time, when He was living in this world, He was pleased to humble Himself and to be subject to Mary, as we are told by St. Luke: And he was subject to them. (Luke, ii. 51). And still more, says St. Ambrose, Jesus Christ having deigned to make Mary His Mother, inasmuch as He was her Son, He was truly obliged to obey her. And for this reason, says Richard of St. Laurence, while "of other Saints we say that they are with God; but of Mary alone can it be said that she was so far favoured as to be not only herself submissive to the will of God, but even that God was subject to her will." And whereas of all other virgins, remarks the same author, we must say that they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth (Apoc. xiv. 4), of the Blessed Virgin Mary we can say that the Lamb follows her, having become subject to her.
And here we say, that although Mary, now in Heaven, can no longer command her Son, nevertheless her prayers are always the prayers of a Mother, and consequently most powerful to obtain whatever she asks. "Mary," says St. Bonaventure, "has this great privilege, that with her Son she above all the Saints is most powerful to obtain whatever she wills." And why? Precisely for this reason -- they are the prayers of His Mother.
II.
St. Peter Damian says the Blessed Virgin can do whatever she pleases both in Heaven and on earth. She is able to raise even those who are in despair to confidence; and he addresses her in these words: "All power is given to thee in Heaven and on earth, and nothing is impossible to thee who canst raise those who are in despair to the hope of salvation." And then he adds that "when the Mother goes to seek a favour for us from Jesus Christ," Whom the Saint calls the Golden Altar of Mercy, at which sinners obtain pardon, "her Son esteems her prayers so greatly, and is so desirous to satisfy her, that when she prays it seems as if she rather commanded than prayed, and was rather a queen than a handmaid." Jesus is pleased thus to honour His beloved Mother who honoured Him so much during her life by immediately granting all that she asks or desires. This is beautifully confirmed by St. Germanus, who, addressing our Blessed Lady, says: "Thou art the Mother of God, and all-powerful to save sinners, and with God thou needest no other recommendation; for thou art the Mother of true Life."
"At the command of Mary, all obey, even God." St. Bernardine fears not to utter this sentence; meaning, indeed, to say that God grants the prayers of Mary as if they were commands. And hence St. Anselm addressing Mary says: "Our Lord, O most holy Virgin, has exalted thee to such a degree that by His favour all things that are possible to Him should be possible to thee." "For thy protection is omnipotent, O Mary," says Cosmas of Jerusalem. "Yes, Mary is omnipotent," repeats Richard of St. Laurence; "for the queen by every law enjoys the same privileges as the king. And as," he adds, "the power of the son and that of the mother is the same, a mother is made omnipotent by an omnipotent Son." "And thus," says St. Antoninus, "God has placed the whole Church, not only under the patronage, but even under the dominion of Mary."
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre
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