Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Teresa of Jesus, also known as St. Teresa of Avila. Once, St. Teresa of Avila complained that her original handwriting was so messy and illegible that it required someone else to translate and clean it up. But then she says to her sisters, “It is your fault, sisters, for I am doing this at your command. Read it as best you can, for I am writing it as best I can, and, if it is too bad, burn it.” But right after blaming them, she admits she is breaking her own rules. She notes that making excuses is bad for the soul, adding humorously that while she teaches her sisters not to make excuses, God has never successfully given her that grace. She says, “Now what I have just been doing—namely, excusing myself—is very bad for me, and I beg you not to copy it, for to suffer without making excuses is a habit of great perfection, and very edifying and meritorious” (The Way of Perfection, Chapter 15). St. Teresa wanted her sisters to take responsibility for their actions instead of blaming others for their shortcomings. She felt that it is important to practice this virtue habitually and to obtain the grace of Jesus by imitating Him. After all, Jesus does not blame others for the persecution and false accusations against Him. For St. Teresa, if we wish to imitate Our Lord, there is no better way than taking responsibility for our actions.
In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul writes that through Jesus, especially through his sacrificial death, we have received the grace of redemption, the forgiveness of our trespasses. Because of Jesus’s death on the cross, we were transferred from the slavery of sin to freedom in Christ. Christ is the agent in giving the gifts we have received. Therefore, we have to set our hope in Christ, God’s agent, and live for the praise of God’s glory. Hope in Christ basically means our hope in eternal life. Hope in eternal life is something manifested in the life of St. Teresa. She frequently expresses a desire for death because she longs so ardently for union with God. In her beautiful poem, “Vivo Sin Vivir En Mi” (Aspirations toward Eternal Life), St. Theresa says:
Because in dying
My hope in living is assured.
Death, bringing life,
Do not tarry, I await you,
I die because I do not die.