Homily
for the Parish Celebration of the Solemnity of Saint Teresa of Jesus
13 October 2013
My brothers and sisters, this weekend
our parish family celebrates with great joy and solemnity the feast of our
patron, Saint Teresa of Avila.
The life of Saint Teresa is filled with
the ups and downs of life that we all experience. Yet in the midst of it all,
she continues to be for each one of us a great example of faith. Teresa did not
always have the greatest amount of faith, but, like Naaman in our First Reading
and the leper who returned in the Gospel, she recognized and taught that it is
through our faith that we give the best of ourselves to God in giving Him
thanks.
The life of Saint Teresa of Jesus marks
out to us three points regarding faith that are wonderfully exampled in this
week’s readings: Faith heals; faith perseveres; and faith glorifies.
As we consider how faith heals, we know
that it is not just a physical healing that comes about through faith, but,
rather, a holistic healing that encompasses our body, mind, and soul. We see
the faith of the lepers in our readings this weekend, and come to recognize how
faith in God allows us to be healed of all that afflicts us. This is the
reasoning of the necessity of the Sacraments, why the Church holds as her
precepts that all Catholics attend Mass every Sunday and receive the Sacrament
of Reconciliation at least once a year: there is a manifestation of the healing
power of God when we engage our faith.
Teresa was inflicted with terrible headaches
throughout her life, which is the reason she is the patron saint of those who
suffer with chronic headaches. She came to know the healing that comes from
holding on to faith in God. But it just wasn’t in times of her physical
suffering that she came to know how faith heals, but through moments of fear,
frustration, discernment and doubt, Teresa was able to rely on her faith to
trust in the Lord to heal her and console her.
So must faith be for us. We need to be able
to recognize those areas in our lives that need healing, whether it be
physically, emotionally, psychologically or spiritually, and, through our faith
in God, reach out to Him to heal us from all that afflicts us. (Again, this is
why our spiritual life, especially through the frequent attendance at Mass and
frequent reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, is so important.)
The healing aspect of faith is so important
because it leads us to our next consideration, that faith perseveres.
This perseverance is brought to life through
our Second Reading, as we hear Paul continuing to teach Timothy. The Apostle
reminds the young bishop of the necessity of perseverance in the faith so that
we may attain the ultimate glory of God, and share in that glory in the life to
come. If we have not allowed ourselves to be healed by our faith in God, then
we will not be able to persevere, because that faith will have nowhere to lead
us to.
The life of our beloved patron, Teresa, is
also a model in how faith perseveres. Throughout her life, Teresa struggled:
with her faith, with her mission, with her health. Yet through all of these
struggles, the saint of Avila was able to persevere, for she knew that through
that perseverance, the will of God was being brought forth. With this faithful
perseverance, Teresa was able to accomplish so much in her life: the writing of
many books, the founding of many Carmelite monasteries, and the reform of the
Carmelite order, just to name a few. Her struggles never left her, yet through
her faith in God, she was able to do great things – most after the age of
forty!
For us, in 2013, perseverance is a difficult
virtue at times. Our modern society focuses on what we want and making sure
that we can get it in the shortest time possible. Even suffering through
headaches is something that we can get rid of relatively fast through the
taking of an aspirin.
Now, I’m not saying that certain advances in
medicine or technology are bad. Not at all! However, the “fast paced” and “gotta
have it now” mentality of our culture does not always allow us to persevere in
faith, believing that God is working his purpose out. Even in our prayer life,
our spiritual life, if we ask God for something, and He supposedly doesn’t give
it to us, we get angry and annoyed. If we ask for the gift of patience, do we
get frustrated when we don’t seem to get it in certain situations, or do we
persevere in the moment to allow God to work in and through us so that we may
be strengthened by His presence?
The more we allow our faith in God to heal
us, the better our faith will be to allow us to persevere. And that
perseverance leads us to that final consideration – that, ultimately, faith
glorifies.
This is a wonderful image that we see in both
our First Reading and Gospel today. Naaman and the cured Samaritan leper
rejoice in what God had done for them. In their new-found, cured state, these
men gave glory to God for how their faith not only healed them, but also saved
them. These men teach us that a faith that heals and helps us to persevere is, at
the end of the day, a faith that glorifies God for all that He does in our
lives.
And Saint Teresa of Avila knew this well.
Yes, she suffered. Yes, she had difficulties
in her life. Yes, she wrestled with sin. But in the end, Teresa was able to use
her faith in God to order her life so that it may give Him the glory. All of
the work that she did to reform her order, to train younger sisters on what it
is to be a bride of Christ, to lead others by her writings and teachings was to
give God the glory and praise that is due Him.
In her book, The Way of Perfection, this Doctor of the Church teaches us: “And since He doesn’t force our will, He
takes what we give Him; but He doesn’t give Himself completely until we give
ourselves completely.”
And that’s what a faith that glorifies looks
like: the complete abandonment of the self to God in the same way He abandoned
Himself on the Cross for us. For that glorification of God allows us to enter
into the Mystery of Faith so that we may be healed of what ails us, and through
that healing, are able to persevere in this life as we journey to the next.
My friends, this gift and mystery of faith
that we now celebrate is that which has inspired women and men throughout the
ages. As we remember Saint Teresa of Jesus this weekend, we ask the Lord that
we, through her intercession, be made more secure in our faith . . . for it is,
as Teresa teaches us, a faith that heals, perseveres, and glorifies.
Saint Teresa of Avila, pray for us!
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Enjoy the journey . . .
