Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.

This one prayer of St. Teresa of Jesus, also know as St. Teresa of Avila, for me sums up the profound faith and knowledge of God she attained in her lifetime. God’s fidelity!
Teresa was a Spanish nun, of the Carmelite Order and proclaimed Doctor of the Church. She is known as a theologian, and leader within her community and the Church. Grounded in her profound mysticism, and prophetic in her own way, she took on reforms within the Carmelite Order. Teresa was eventually joined by St. John of the Cross within that movement of reform that led to a split in the Order establishing the Discalced Carmelites. There is much to be said about Teresa that only time to read her biography would do her justice! Let’s reflect on her name.

Teresa OF JESUS! Such a woman she was who experienced a deep intimacy and union with Christ that she describes through her visions. The Ecstasy of St. Teresa is magnificently depicted in Bernini’s sculpture at Santa Maria della Vittoria, in Rome which I was able to see and spend time in prayer. Bernini was able to portray powerful emotion in his works.  Teresa’s own writing, particularly the Interior Castle describes for us the stages of spiritual growth that leads to complete union with Christ. This she experienced and was one with JESUS. She experienced unity with the Holy Name she carried.

St. Teresa speaks to her soul. “Be joyful, my soul… Don’t let any earthly thing be enough to separate you from your delight, and rejoice in the grandeur of God; in how He deserves to be loved and praised; that He helps you to play some small role in the blessing of His name; and that you can truthfully say; My soul magnifies and praises the Lord!

How profound or deep might our desired union with Christ be? Do I speak to my soul?

St. Paul in this Letter to the Ephesians expresses “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens”! It is his own Magnificat of experiencing profoundly his gratitude of the knowledge and union with Christ that was his to proclaim. In love through Christ, Paul tells us, we are adopted by God through Christ!  All praise and glory! Take a moment to take that in!

Jesus, to whom we give praise and glory, a prophet in his own time has grown bolder as we find him in conversation with the Pharisee’s and Scribes. “Woe to you…” He has definitely gotten under their skins challenging the hypocrisy of their religious leadership from a historical context.  Perhaps this is where St. Teresa, upon praying with Scripture, got her courage to speak out during the Reformation and Counter Reformation of her time! Not the best time in history with the Spanish Inquisition in full force!

“Woe to you, scholars of the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge.” Wow! Where might we find the foundation for our courage to speak out to both civil and religious authority.  These times when there is clearly a need to point out hypocrisy, and to restore balance, harmony, justice, Peace, the foundation of a country, or the Gospel truth may be something to consider.  “The Lord has made His Salvation known.”  It is ours to live up to it! Or will it be WOE TO US?

Let us pray again these words of St. Teresa with confidence to obtain courage and peace of soul, that our God, in Christ Jesus, together with the Holy Spirit, is with us.

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.