Trinitarian

 

I wrote the following for my Lay Carmelite Community.

In the month of October, we have two very special Carmelite saints to commemorate. We start the month off with the Little Flower: Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus. Then on October 15^th, we commemorate Saint Teresa of Jesus (of Avila). Both are, because of their writings, considered Doctors of the Church.

St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, while reading the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians when Paul spoke of love being the root of all vocations in the Church, realized that her vocation was that of “love.” She is quoted as saying, “Yes, I have found my place in the Church and it is you, O my God, who have given me this place: in the heart of the Church, my mother, I shall be love.” She realized that doing all things withing the church without love of God or love of neighbor was meaningless.

With St. Teresa of Jesus, she realized that we need to always live in the presence of God. “Whoever lives in the presence of so good a friend and excellent a teacher as is Jesus Christ, can endure all things. Christ helps us and strengthens us and never fails; he is a true friend.” So, as e live out our Carmelite vocation within the Catholic Church, let us always remember to live in the presence of Jesus. No matter what problems we are facing, if we remember that Jesus is present to us, he’ll help us through our difficulties.

Further, in all that we do, as St. Theresa of Jesus reminds us, we need to have love as the foundation in all we do, whether in our worship of God, or in our dealings with others. Our vocation is to love God with our whole mind, heart, and soul, and love our neighbors as ourselves.

St. Theresa of the Child Jesus and St. Teresa of Jesu, pray for us.