Daily Collection taken from the Memorial of Teresa of Avila, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
Collect: O God, who through your Spirit raised up Saint Teresa of Jesus to show the Church the way to seek perfection, grant that we may always be nourished by the food of her heavenly teaching and fired with longing for true holiness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son…
” O God, who through your Spirit raised up Saint Teresa of Jesus to show the Church the way to seek perfection”
— Playing on the title of Teresa’s book “The Way of Perfection,” we recognize that all of her wisdom is not really her own, but an inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
“grant that we may always be nourished by the food of her heavenly teaching and fired with longing for true holiness.”
— Building on Christ’s command “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” Teresa’s writings and life are yet another example of the real possibility of attaining holiness. In this prayer, we also express the reality that the search for holiness starts with desire for holiness, which is itself a gift of God.
Advice: Do you actually try to become “perfect” in the Christian sense, or is your interest only to “scrape by” and meet the minimum requirements to not go to Hell? Unlike the Old Testament, the morality of Christianity is not a set of rules but a relationship with God that is made possible by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in baptized Christians. Many saints have said that if we stop making progress, we will begin to slide backwards – there is no such thing as simply “staying put” in the spiritual life.
Take some time today to pray for the gift of desiring real holiness. Make and Act of Faith that God’s call to holiness is real and that his grace makes it actually possible to become holy.
In the long term, it might be helpful to read Teresa’s works or at least some more modern explanations of her works. She is still considered a primary source for spiritual theology.
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| St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us! |