St. Teresa Margaret Redi of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
If we long to find Jesus, the sure way is that of humility of heart and simplicity of soul, remembering, however, that we shall not obtain them without a struggle. Still, we must have courage, for there shall be wanting to us neither grace nor help of the Heart of Jesus which would have us all saints; let us lose no time...every second has its value!
We know what importance St. Teresa of Jesus placed on the virtue of humility. In fact, she tells her nuns in the Way of Perfection that she wishes to stress three things that they must practice if they are to advance in prayer. The three things they must practice are:
#1 Love for one another- St. Teresa says a great many annoyances that we find in our neighbor can be suffered if we practice fraternal charity.
#2 Detachment-She teaches us to have detachment from all created things. Detachment is at the heart of the teaching of St. John of the Cross in which he tells us not to be attached to even the consolations and sweetness from God.
#3 Humility-St. Teresa tells her nuns that although she places humility third, it is the most important of these three counsels and embraces the other two.
St. Teresa Margaret Redi lived these three counsels which helped her to reach the summit of Christian perfection: perfect love of God and neighbor.
In her quote she tells us, "lose no time..." yes, life is short! Let us strive to be saints now!
St. Teresa Margaret had a great devotion to the Heart of Jesus. The focus of her spirituality was "God is Love." In fraternal charity, let us pray for each other this intention:
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto Thine!
Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS
2 comments:
They sound so easy when just reading them but so difficult to put into practice...and the error would be to believe it doesn't come without struggle. Thank you for the reminder.
Julia,
You are so right, it is easy to forget, especially when we put our Saints on the proverbial holy pedestal beyond our reach.
We must keep in mind that even though the saints made holiness look easy, we can only imagine the suffering they endured to overcome themselves. So, we know they understand us perfectly and desire to help us. May the Holy Family of the Communion of Saints pray for us!
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