❤️🔥Born in Ávila, Spain, Saint Teresa (1515-1582) was a central figure in the Counter-Reformation, reforming the Carmelite Order with a return to prayer and evangelical poverty. Her writings, such as "The Interior Castle" and "The Way of Perfection," made her a master of the spiritual life and one of the great mystics of the Church, earning her the title of Doctor. Her life was a testimony of intimate union with God amidst intense labors, guided by the motto that summarized her heavenly longing: "Either to suffer or to die."
📜Epistle (II Cor 10:17-18; 11:1-2)
Brethren: He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he who commendeth himself, is approved, but he, whom God commendeth. Would to God you could bear with some little of my folly: but do bear with me. For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God. For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
📖Gospel (Mt 13:44-52)
At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to his disciples: The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls. Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it. Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a net cast into the sea, and gathering together of all kind of fishes. Which, when it was filled, they drew out, and sitting by the shore, they chose out the good into vessels, but the bad they cast forth. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have ye understood all these things? They say to him: Yes. He said unto them: Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven, is like to a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old.
🤔Reflections
💎The hidden treasure and the pearl of great price represent the sweetness of the interior life, which, once discovered, makes all earthly things lose their luster. Saint Teresa of Ávila embodied this truth by abandoning everything to acquire this one good. Thus teaches Saint Gregory the Great, that the man sells all he has not for a price, but for an exchange of affection: the heart, inflamed by heavenly love, divests itself of earthly desires to possess solely that which it has found to be eternal. (Saint Gregory the Great, Homily 11 on the Gospels).
💍The zeal of God, mentioned by the Apostle, is the holy jealousy that seeks to preserve the soul in purity for its one Spouse, Christ. Saint Teresa, as a spiritual mother, showed this same zeal when she reformed Carmel, desiring to present her daughters as pure virgins to Christ, free from any disordered affection. Saint John Chrysostom explains that this is the glory of the apostle and the shepherd: not to attract the faithful to oneself, but to lead them to the nuptial union with the Lord, where the only valid recommendation is that which comes from God, through a life of holiness. (Saint John Chrysostom, Homily 23 on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians).
✝️The perennial doctrine of the Church, expressed in the Roman Catechism, teaches that the pursuit of Christian perfection, illustrated in the parables of the treasure and the pearl, finds its royal road in the evangelical counsels. The religious life, embraced by Saint Teresa, is the radical response to this call: to sell everything, renouncing goods, pleasures, and one's own will, to be united exclusively with Christ, the Spouse. Thus, the soul becomes the "pure virgin" whom the Apostle wishes to present to the Lord, not by its own merit, but by the grace of God who recommended and chose it for such a sublime vocation. (Catechism of the Council of Trent, Part III).
🇬🇧See English version of the critical articles here.
