Reading
Psalm 42:1-2
As the deer longs for the water-brooks,
so longs my soul for you, O God.
My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God;
when shall I come to appear before the presence of God?
Devotion
From the Author |
"The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa," created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, is a renowned Baroque sculpture that captures a moment of divine rapture experienced by Saint Teresa of Ávila. The sculpture is housed in the Cornaro Chapel of the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome, Italy. St. Teresa (1515-1582), a Spanish Carmelite nun and mystic is one of my all-time favorite saints. Today is her feast day.
I have had a handful of such experiences, the last on 26 October, 2024 at 12:50pm, Central time. It was mind-blowing. Perhaps you too, dear reader, have some sort of intense experience of the presence of God? Or perhaps your experiences of God are much more subtle? If you care to, send me a note, about some time you were especially conscious of God. How did you feel? How did your life change as a result? Be ready this week, for as Jesus says in Matthew 7:7,8 (echoing Jeremiah 29:13) "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
Prayer
O God, who by your Holy Spirit moved Teresa of Avila to manifest to your church the way of perfection: Grant us, we pray, to be nourished by her teaching, and enkindle within us a keen and unquenchable longing for true holiness; through Jesus Christ, the joy of loving hearts, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Lesser Feasts and Fasts)