Every year on October 15th Holy Mother Church commemorates the feast of St. Teresa of Avila, the great reformer of the Carmelite Order. St. Teresa was born in Avila, Spain in the year 1515. She entered the Carmelites and made great progress in the way of perfection.
She wrote such classics as the Interior Castle, and her Autobiography. In her autobiography she talks about living in the Presence of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was at the heart and center of her entire life. She says of the person who has Christ at the center of his life, "... can endure all things." She goes on to say that "Christ helps us and strengthens us and never fails; he is a true friend."
As a result of this close relationship with Christ, she was able to grow and mature in her relationship with God, and to help others to do so. It was through her help that St. John of the Cross to reform the male branch of the Carmelite Order.
It is through love of Christ that gave her the strength to grow deeper in love with Christ and to endure the hardship of reforming the Carmelite Order. Further talking on the love of Christ, she says, "As often as we think of Christ we should recall the love with which he bestowed on so many favors, and the great things God showed in giving us a pledge like this of his love; for love begets love."
It was through these writing of St. Theresa of Avila that St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, the Little Flower, realized that God is the source of all love.
Let us, like St. Teresa of Avila look towards the love of God and be open to that love in our lives, and that we are to bring that love of God to all those in our lives.
Amen!
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