Tag: St. Teresa of Avila

Restore all things in Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Memorial of St. Teresa of Avila, Virgin and Doctor of the Church, 15 October 2020
Ephesians 1:1-10     <*(((><<  || + + + ||   >><)))*>     Luke 11:47-54
Photo by Dr. Mai B. Dela Peña at a Carmelite Monastery in Israel, 2016.

You know so well, O God, how we must pray to you that you have taught St. Paul one of the most beautiful prayer – and greetings – we can all recite individually or communally when gathered in your name.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before him.

Ephesians 1:3-4

So beautiful are these words showing to us our blessedness in Jesus Christ! If we could all be aware of our blessedness in you that springs from your infinite love for us poured by Jesus Christ at the Cross, maybe there would be less chaos in the world today.

Forgive us in wasting your blessings, exchanging them for fleeting pleasures of fame and wealth that set us apart from one another. Worst, in misleading others away from you with our sinful ways of life like the enemies of Jesus in today’s gospel.

Help us restore all things in your Son, dear Father, like St. Teresa of Avila who taught us to be mindful always of Jesus Christ’s love for us.

Whenever we think of Christ we should recall the love that led him to bestow on us so many graces and favors, and also the great love God showed in giving us in Christ a pledge of his love; for love call for love in return.

St. Teresa of Avila, Office of Readings, October xv

St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us!

From Pinterest.com.

Befriending Jesus

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul

Tuesday, Memorial of St. Teresa of Avila, 15 October 2019

Romans 1:16-25 ><)))*> ><)))*> ><)))*> Luke 11:37-41

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

“If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandon us. He is a true friend.

Many, many times I have perceived this through experience. The Lord has told it to me. I have definitely seen that we must enter by this gate if we wish his Sovereign Majesty to reveal to us great and hidden mysteries. A person should desire no other path, even if he is at the summit of contemplation… All blessings come to us through our Lord. He will teach us, for in beholding his life we find that he is the best example.

St. Teresa of Avila, from the Breviary

Many times in our lives we have always believed that holiness is just for a few people you have chosen, O God. We feel excluded from holiness, from being a saint.

Because we refuse to try to get near you, doubting you despite our belief in you as God!

“For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them.

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshipped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

Romans 1:19, 25

Sometimes we have tried befriending you through Jesus Christ your Son.

And like the saints, we have indeed experienced your presence, your reality, your blessedness but unfortunately we stopped striving further as St. Teresa tells us.

O dear Jesus, you always come to me, you always make me experience you but I always try explaining everything, letting my mind work more than my heart and soul that I fail to feel and experience you inside me like those Pharisees bent on finding faults in you.

Give me the grace to be silent and still in you, to wait for you as a friend full of love and trust like St. Teresa of Avila. Amen.