In Preparation for Novemeber 1st: let us align ourselves with the angels and saints as we journey toward the day of Universal Sanctification!

October 15, St. Teresa of Jesus

St. Teresa of Jesus, also known as St. Teresa of Avila, was well aware of St. Paul's teaching on the Body of Christ. See 1 Cor 12:12-31; Col 1:18; 2:18-20; Eph. 1:22-23; 3:19; 4:13

Prayer of Teresa of Avila

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.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

We each have a role to fulfill in the Body of Christ, and it begins with holiness! When it comes to saints, the Church desires quality over quantity. Bishop Giaquinta was not concerned with the number of members, but with each member's interior life. He considered Teresa of Avila's example in The Spirituality of the Pro Sanctity Movement:

"St. Teresa affirms that, 'the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, benefits more from the presence of one saint than the presence of a thousand people who try just to be saved.' This is because the life of the Church depends not so much on the quantity, but on the quality, and the intensity of love and the fervor of charity. These are two very important elements that need to be considered. In the Church, when a person becomes a saint, love grows in intensity and spreads in quantity according to the fervor with which it is received and responded to. Consequently, the greater the holiness of a saint, the more the grace merited for our brothers and sisters."

Thus, we help each other grow in holiness by our example, prayers, and by being God's instruments. There are no excuses that can be made for not responding to the call of holiness. In fact, Bishop Giaquinta cites Teresa of Avila again in Program of Spiritual Life:

"Let us meditate on what St. Teresa of Avila wrote in Interior Castle, and let us keep in mind that we will never be able to find the perfect environment for our sanctification. It is in the environment where we live here and now that we must become holy. But we will be able to do this only if we keep in mind the following three principles: we must sanctify ourselves within the shortcomings of the environment - without dreaming of an ideal world like the one that may be found only in Heaven. We must sanctify ourselves in spite of the shortcomings of the environment - without letting them overcome and drown us. We must sanctify ourselves through the defects of the environment - which must give us an incentive to strive more firmly for holiness."

Let us strive to sanctify our environment, beginning with ourselves. Are we praying for the sanctity of our brothers and sisters, especially those who "rub us the wrong way"? How are we helping each other to Heaven?

In Preparation for Novemeber 1st: let us align ourselves with the angels and saints as we journey toward the day of Universal Sanctification!