I write this column on the feast day of a saint (October 15) who keeps me calm despite her own fiery nature at the time, St. Teresa of Avila (also known as St. Teresa of Jesus). She wrote these lines in her breviary (her book for the Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours) that I quote at some point in the course of each day: “Let nothing disturb you, nothing frighten you, all things are passing, God never changes. Patient endurance obtains all things. Who God possesses, in nothing is lacking, alone God suffices.”
In my prayer, I focus often on the words, “alone God suffices.” This simple phrase can be prayed in many ways. For instance, above all else, God will take care of things, or when I am alone God will be there for me, or when I can’t, God can, or in Jesus’ words, “give us this day our daily bread.” These were also real words to St. Teresa who, in her 67 years of life in the 1500s, had her own headaches. In fact, she is considered the patron of headache sufferers.
Some of these headaches came from decisions she had to make in her life, including between marriage and religious life; or as a religious, she had to deal with her own human weaknesses pertaining to some of her friendships and the vanity, flattery and gossip they involved — to the point she thought she was too much of a sinner for God to really hear her prayer. In the end, her struggle centered around making God the center of her life.
I don’t know about you, dear reader, but it all seems very real to me. Yet, if I stop here, I am not telling the whole story because Teresa, with the help of her priest confessor and the Sacrament of Penance, brought her earthly attachments to God, and He gave her the grace to refocus. Refocus to the point that in 1622, she was declared a saint of the Catholic Church, and in 1970, Pope St. Paul VI made her the first woman doctor of the church — signifying her teaching, especially on prayer, was truly a remedy for one’s spiritual life — one’s life with God.
I am sure, that if like St. Teresa, we take time to look in the mirror and make an honest assessment of our lives, we would come to an awareness of those things we have done and left undone that affect our spiritual lives. The wounds of both original sin and personal sin are present in us and in the society in which we live. Like Teresa, feeling the challenge of the call to follow Jesus and yet seeing the personal obstacles, it may seem easier to acknowledge defeat and suppose that holiness and church are things we might need to forego.
There is a name for this frame of mind and it is called “despair.” These days I think our society is on the brink of despair and we wonder how things could ever change. Many of us worry about the upcoming national elections and the consequences arising from them. Just turning on the TV or trying to keep up with social media can give a person a headache. We wonder, how could I possibly make a difference in such a quagmire?
Well, I believe St. Teresa offers us two remedies. The first one is our own spiritual renewal — our own response to the call of Jesus to follow Him, to put God first in our life. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, Christ instituted the Sacrament of Penance for all of us because we sin. The regular confession of our sins helps us to form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, and let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of His Spirit. The Ten Commandments, the Two Great Commandments and the Beatitudes form the basis for an examination of conscience to discover the presence and types of sin that haunt our lives.
Yet, even more basic is God’s vision for man and woman when God created us in the Divine Image and declared our goodness in God’s eyes. More than ever these days, we must ask ourselves if the face we present to our neighbor is the face of God? It has become far too easy to demonize those among us with differing opinions instead of working toward synodality and truly seeking the good of the other. This is what God did in the garden after Adam and Eve sinned. God asked where they were. It wasn’t because he was out to get them! Rather, he wanted them to reveal themselves so that he could aid them in their nakedness, in their weakened state. One of the consequences of original sin is that we live in an imperfect world, but God has shown that He is there to accompany us on the way to the place He has prepared for us.
This is where St. Teresa offers us a second remedy. In another prayer, she wrote: “Christ has no body but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which He looks compassion on this world, yours are the feet with which He walks to do good, yours are the hands with which He blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are His body.”
In these day as we approach the ballot box, I invite us not to be filled with despair, but to turn to the God alone who suffices and promised to be with us all our days. I invite our diocesan family to use the following Novena Prayer from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from October 26 through November 4:
Lord God, as the election approaches,
we seek to better understand the issues and concerns that confront our
State and country,
and how the Gospel compels us to respond as faithful citizens in our community.
We ask for eyes that are free from blindness
so that we might see each other as brothers and sisters,
one and equal in dignity,
especially those who are victims of abuse and violence, deceit and poverty.
We ask for ears that will hear the cries of children unborn and those abandoned,
men and women oppressed because of race or creed, religion or gender.
We ask for minds and hearts that are open to hearing the voice of leaders who will bring us closer to your Kingdom.
We pray for discernment so that we may choose leaders who hear your Word,
live your love, and keep in the ways of your truth,
as they follow the steps of Jesus and his Apostles and guide us to your Kingdom of justice and peace.
We ask this in the name of your Son Jesus Christ and through the power of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
