How we should Bless God in all Trouble [I]

[Weedy]

How we should Bless God in all Trouble [I]

THE DISCIPLE.
Blessed be Thy holy Name forever, O Lord.(I Peter 1:3) I know that
it is by Thy will that temptation and trouble come upon me. I cannot
escape it, but must needs come to Thee for help, that it may be turned
to my good. Lord, I am tormented and uneasy in mind, and my present
troubles weigh heavy on me. Most loving Father, what may I say? I am
in dire straits. Save me from this hour. (John 12:27) Yet it is for
Thy glory that I have been brought to this hour, and that I may learn
that Thee alone can deliver me from the depths of my humiliation. Of
Thy goodness, deliver me, O Lord (Ps. 37:40) For what can I do,
helpless as I am; and where can I go without Thine aid? Give me
patience, Lord, even in this trial. Grant me help, and I shall fear
nothing, however hard pressed I may be.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ, Bk 3, Ch 29

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October 15th - St. Teresa of Avila

Teresa Sanchez of Avila, born in 1565, learned to read by reading the
lives of the saints. When she was seven, therefore, she talked her
little brother, Rodrigo, into running off to Africa with her to be
martyred by the Muslims. Fortunately, the runaways encountered their
uncle, who promptly brought them back home.

So Teresa was a saint already at seven? Not at all. Just a good girl
with a lively imagination.

At the age of 20 she ran away again, this time to join the Carmelites
in their nearby monastery. Her aristocratic father had opposed that
idea thus far, but now he consented.

So Teresa was a saint by 20? Not at all, First came three years of
illness. Then, when her body recovered, she began to take care of her
soul. With proper spiritual guidance she reached those heights of
prayer that you and I can never really understand because God has
chosen not to raise us to that level.

Only when she had been 25 years a nun did St. Teresa’s task as a
reformer begin. Having first reformed herself, she was now ready to
help others to become holier.

One of the reasons why the Protestant Reformation had made such
headway was that many members of Catholic religious orders had been
setting bad example rather than good example. So Catholic reformers
now had to jack up, first of all, the ideals and practice of men and
women religious. Teresa began by establishing a stricter life in her
own Carmelite monastery in Avila. After that, she set up, all in all,
about a dozen convents in which poverty was really poverty and prayer
was really prayer. No half-measures. She also established two reformed
monasteries of Carmelite men, and then let the Spanish Carmelite
mystic, St. John of the Cross, take over the men’s reform from there.
This more austere branch of the Carmelites, men and women alike, was
called the “Discalced Carmelites” because the members wore open
sandals rather than shoes.

A brief sketch of St. Teresa of Avila like the above can only hint at
her greatness, for great she was.

She was so great as a spiritual writer that in 1970 Pope Paul VI
proclaimed her a “doctor of the Church” – the first woman ever given
that title.

She was a great reformer. What she did for the Carmelites had much
wider repercussions. It set an example for other religious orders, and
the spiritual revival of all these orders quickly percolated down to
the Catholic faithful whom they served, and to the Church in general.

She was a great person. Do you picture her as a languishing neurotic?
She was anything but! Teresa was plump, pleasant, forthright and had a
delightful common sense of humor. A few stories will illustrate.

One night when Teresa was sleeping in the same room as another nun,
the nun said, “I was just wondering. If I should die now, what would
you do alone with a corpse?” Teresa, though a bit startled, answered,
“I will think about that when it happens, sister. Now, let’s go to
sleep.”

When she was about to found a monastery at Toledo she discovered she
had no cash but five ducats. Somebody asked how she could open a
convent with such small funds. “Teresa and five ducats are nothing”,
she replied; “but God, Teresa and five ducats, that’s everything!”

In accepting candidates for her order, she looked for intelligence
first, piety second, she said; but “God preserve us from stupid nuns!”

These three are true stories. Perhaps the last one is just a legend,
but it is still typical.

One day, they say, Teresa was riding a donkey from one of her convents
to another. When they came to a big mud-puddle, the sassy donkey
balked and threw the saint right into the muck. St. Teresa, always in
touch with God, said, “Lord, why this?” He answered, “That is the way
I treat my friends.” Teresa came back, “Then no wonder You have so
few!”

St. Teresa, help us not to take ourselves too seriously…
–Father Robert


Saint Quotes:
“When we accept
what happens to us
and make the best of it,
we are praising God.”

“However softly we speak,
God is near enough to hear us.”

“Souls who do not practice prayer,
are like people whose limbs are paralysed.”

“Let us live in such a way,
as not to be afraid to die.”
--St Teresa of Jesus of Avila (1515-1582)

Oh, my Lord! How true it is that whoever works for you is paid in troubles! And what a precious price to those who love you if we understand its value.
--Saint Teresa of Avila


Bible Quote
Now when the apostles, who were in Jerusalem, had heard that Samaria
had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John. 15
Who, when they were come, prayed for them, that they might receive the
Holy Ghost. 16 For he was not as yet come upon any of them; but they
were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid
their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost. (Acts
8:14-17) DRB


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When I say,"Hail Mary"

When I say,"Hail Mary"
the heavens bow down,
the angels rejoice,
the earth jubilates,
hell trembles,
and the devils take flight!
by St. Francis of Assisi