Catholic Reading Wednesday

With many thanks to our awesome curator, Karen Celano, you can delve into a faith-related news article each Wednesday! Karen writes:

On October 13, Pope Francis, following the tradition of his predecessors, consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. During the ceremony, he remarked that, "just as Mary gave flesh to the child Jesus, all Christians today are called to 'give Him our flesh'. . . . 'It means giving him our hands. . . our feet. . . . our minds. . . .and especially to offer our hearts.'"

The Holy Father's words echoed those of yesterday's Saint Teresa of Avila, a 16th-century Carmelite nun and Doctor of the Church, who wrote: "Christ has no body now but yours; no hands, no feet on earth but yours; yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which he blesses all the world."

In his reflection on Mary, Pope Francis emphasized the Blessed Mother's astonishment when God's plan is revealed to her, and the depths of her intimacy with her Son.  Saint Teresa shares these qualities with Mary, as she too was stunned by a revelation from God and dedicated her life to cultivating intimate communion with Jesus. Her writings remind us that we don't have to search far and wide to find God: He dwells within our hearts in intimate friendship. We have only to strip away the layers of sin and self-deception that keep us from finding Him there.

Though Teresa lived a contemplative lifestyle, she understood that prayer must bear fruit in good works. For Teresa, prayer was not meant solely to achieve self-fulfillment or self-actualization; prayer transformed the soul so that the soul could do God's will in the world. In fact, for Teresa, prayer that focused only on oneself was the cheapest kind of prayer. Teresa understood that good works have no firm foundation unless they are built on the friendship we cultivate with God through prayer. In prayer, we open ourselves up to God's astonishing revelation and to establishing an ever-deepening closeness with Him. As this relationship develops, we discover the ability to say "yes" to God and to perform His Will in the world: to be His hands and feet, His eyes and ears, for everyone we meet. In short, it is through prayer that we find the strength to emulate both Saint Teresa and Mary our Mother.

Upon her death, this bookmark was found in Teresa's breviary. The Taize community of prayer has adapted Teresa's prayer into a beautiful meditative song. I hope you find it inspiring in your own prayer lives. If you need some help finding time to pray or motivating yourself to make prayer a regular habit in your life, check out this helpful article from Peter Kreeft.

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