Sunday, November 21 : Saint Teresa of Avila

Thou, my God, are a King without end (…); When the Creed says: “Whose Kingdom will have no end” the phrase nearly always makes me feel particularly happy. I praise you, Lord, and bless you for ever, for your Kingdom will endure for ever. Never allow it to be thought right, Lord, for those who come to speak with you to do so with their lips alone (…). For we cannot approach a prince and address him in the same careless way we should adopt in speaking to a peasant or to some poor woman like ourselves, whom we may address however we like. The reason we sometimes do so is to be found in the humility of this King, who, unskilled though I am in speaking with him, does not refuse to hear me or forbid me to approach him, or command his guards to throw me out. For the angels in his presence know well that their King is such that he prefers the unskilled language of a humble peasant boy, knowing that he would say more if he had more to say, to the speech of the wisest and most learned men, however elegant may be their arguments, if these are not accompanied by humility. But we must not be unmannerly because he is good. If only to show our gratitude to him for enduring our foul odor and allowing such a one as myself to come near him. It is well that we should try to realize his purity and his nature. It is true that we recognize this at once when we approach him (…). When you approach God, then, my daughters, try to think and realize whom you are about to address and continue to do so while you are addressing him. If we had a thousand lives, we should never fully understand how this Lord merits that we behave toward him, before whom even the angels tremble. He orders all things and he can do all things: with him to will is to perform. It will be right, then, daughters, for us to endeavour to rejoice in these wondrous qualities of our Spouse and to know whom we have wedded and what the holiness of our lives should be.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team