Teresa of Avila, October 15

Teresa of Avila 15 October 1582

Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada (later known as Teresa de Jesus) was born in Avila, Spain, 28 March 1515, one of ten children whose mother died when she was fifteen. Her family was of partly Jewish ancestry. Teresa, having read the letters of Jerome, decided to become a nun, and when she was 20, she entered the Carmelite convent in Avila. There she fell seriously ill, was in a coma for a while, and partially paralyzed for three years. In her early years as a nun, she was, by her account, assiduous in prayer while sick but lax and lukewarm in her prayers and devotions when the sickness had passed. However, her prayer life eventually deepened, she began to have visions and a vivid sense of the presence of God, and was converted to a life of extreme devotion. 

In 1560 she resolved to reform the monastery that had, she thought, departed from the order's original intention and become insufficiently austere. Her proposed reforms included strict enclosure (the nuns were not to go to parties and social gatherings in town, or to have social visitors at the convent, but to stay in the convent and pray and study most of their waking hours) and discalcing (literally, taking off one's shoes, a symbol of poverty, humility, and the simple life, uncluttered by luxuries and other distractions). In 1562 she opened a new monastery in Avila, over much opposition in the town and from the older monastery. At length Teresa was given permission to proceed with her reforms, and she travelled throughout Spain establishing seventeen houses of Carmelites of the Strict (or Reformed) Observance (the others are called Carmelites of the Ancient Observance). The reformed houses were small, poor, disciplined, and strictly enclosed. Teresa died 4 October 1582. (She is commemorated on the 15th--why not the 14th, I wonder--because the Pope changed the calendar from the Julian to the Gregorian system, a difference of 10 days, on the day after her death.) 

Teresa is reported to have been very attractive in person, witty, candid, and affectionate. She is remembered both for her practical achievements and organizing skill and for her life of contemplative prayer. Her books are read as aids to the spiritual life by many Christians of all denominations. Her Lifeis her autobiography to 1562; The Way of Perfection is a treatise on the Christian walk, written primarily for her sisters but of help to others as well; The Book of Foundations deals with establishing, organizing and overseeing the daily functioning of religious communities; The Interior Castle (or The Castle of The Soul) deals with the life of Christ in the heart of the believer. Most of these are available in paperback. 31 of her poems and 458 of her letters survive. Her feast day in the Roman Catholic Church is 15 October. The Lutheran Church (ELCA) commemorates her on December 14 together with St. John of the Cross. 

Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks
compassion on this world
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.


Prayer

O God, who by your Holy Spirit moved Teresa of Avila to manifest to your Church the way of perfection: Grant us, we pray, to be nourished by her excellent teaching, and enkindle within us a keen and unquenchable longing for true holiness; through Jesus Christ, the joy of loving hearts, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

written by James Kiefer at Mission St. Clare

Both sides of the mystery

Dying is not extraneous to life; it is a part of the mystery. And you do not understand life until you stand under death. Yet both sides of the mystery must be experienced and trusted. The Eastern religions speak of the yin and yang of things; nature religions simply speak of darkness and light; the Jewish people speak of slavery and deliverance; we Christians speak of death and resurrection. But we are all pointing to God’s universal pattern of falling/failing and transformation. This is rightly described as being “reborn,” but has less to do with an emotional Church experience than a realigning life experience.

Yes, God is dying in all things, but God is risen in all things too. And both at the same time! Only wisdom can hold both together. Part of the great mystery of life is that it’s just as hard to see the ecstasy and beauty of things as it is to accept the crucifixion of things. Both together are the paschal mystery—Christ is dying; Christ is rising—all the time, everywhere—no exceptions.

~Richard Rohr

Adapted from Hope Against Darkness:
The Transforming Vision of Saint Francis in an Age of Anxiety, pp. 57-58

It's a big world! Amazing video from "Planet Earth"

Hat tip to Another Best Day blog

The glories of Fall!

As a child, I was no real fan of Fall.  Though I grew up in Vermont, and while I did love the colors, Fall was the beginning of the cold, when activity was limited, when things really felt pretty bitter.  The "bleak mid-winter" was just around the corner, and I was one who loved Spring and Summer, and even, at times, Winter, but Fall was just a reminder of the loss of the growth of Spring and the warmth of Summer.  Perhaps it is because I now live several hundred miles to the South, but now I love Fall, the colors, the cooler weather, the change in view across the land.  I love Fall.  Perhaps also it is because I am a bit older, and recognize that our lives are punctuated with endings, our lives have "necessary losses," and this is not altogether a bad thing, but the reality of our lives.  We move from Spring, into Summer, and into a long Fall, and then Winter - and this happens again and again, and this also happens in our lives as our lives move from growth to death, and along the way, we have glimpses of stark beauty, even in the midst of decline.

It is a glorious Fall, and I relish in its glory!

~The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Let us sing

Come let us sing to the Lord; *
let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving *
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God, *
and a great King above all gods.

In his hand are the caverns of the earth, *
and the heights of the hills are his also.

The sea is his, for he made it, *
and his hands have molded the dry land.

Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, *
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.

For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. *
Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!