TERESA: A PRAYER CENTERED REFORMER (Part 9)
CONCLUSION
Finally, I would like to treat the often quoted sentence from Saint Teresa, “Let nothing disturb you,” in the context of the whole poem:
Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you;
All things are passing,
God alone never changes;
Patient endurance attains all things,
Who possesses God,
In nothing is lacking,
God alone suffices.
Lest we experience the words, “Let nothing disturb you,” as a mockery today in the face of the sufferings-spiritual and physical of untold millions of innocent victims of illness, disrupted familial relations, ethnic and religious conflicts, and finally the wars in so many parts of our world, we must enter into Saint Teresa’s own transformative experience of her personal sharing in the life, sufferings, death, and glorious risen life of Jesus, God’s Son. Teresa certainly knew sorrow, anxiety, disappointment, frustration, disillusionment, and so many of the emotions we would describe as “disturbing.”
However, she was graced with a profound awareness of the Divine Presence within her-Father, Son, and Spirit. Her faith in this Divine Presence and in her personal union with Jesus in the whole Christ, the Church, convinced her that “Patient endurance attains all things / Who possesses God / in nothing is lacking, / God alone suffices.” This faith did not remove for Teresa, as it will not for us, the mysteries enshrouded in life’s shadows. However, this faith is the source of the hope that empowers us to repeat with Saint Teresa, “Who possesses God / possesses all things / God alone suffices.”
In closing, I would like to share this prayer with you:
O God, in Teresa you have given us a model-a woman who was faithful to prayer, to her sisters and friends, and to the work she was called to do. Help us to be so committed to you that our daily work fosters our life of prayer and our life of prayer enables us to live fully in the world around us, aware of its needs and concerns. Bless all who follow the charism of Teresa and grant that they may be true to her spirit and faithful to a life of prayer. We ask this through Jesus who was ever her friend. Amen.
Mary Eileen McNamara, OCD, has been a member of the Carmelite Monastery in Baltimore, Maryland, since 1941. In the context of the radical changes that have spanned her sixty-nine years as a Carmelite, she has lived a prayer-centered life, nourished by the charism of prayer that is the legacy of Saint Teresa of Avila. She has shared her insights on the importance of prayer with many of the laity.
Article by Mary Eileen McNamara, OCD , titled “Saint Teresa of Avila: Prayer-Centered Reformer”, Published in Spiritual Life, Summer 2010.
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