From a homily at St. Andrew's Priory

Teresa of Avila

I guess the connection really got made a long time ago. I told the Priory students I was talking to that she lived about the time that their great (repeated 13 times) grand parents lived - give or take. The ``she'' is Teresa of Avila, and I was giving a talk on her at the weekly chapel at St. Andrew's Priory. I already knew some of the kinship I felt with Teresa, but the really delightful connection I discovered was associated with her death. We were remembering her because she falls on October 15 on our calendar. Usually we observe a Saint on the date of his or her death - the occasion of her joining the communion of the saints. Teresa, though, you see, died either on October 4^th (my birthday) or on October 15^th - depending on which side of midnight she actually left this earthly existence.

Teresa died at the very moment that Catholic Spain (together with 3 other countries in Europe) was making the transition from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. The details of that would bore you - though the nuances of keeping time have fascinated me for years - but in summary the change meant that the days of October 5 - October 14 of that year were not observed. October 4^th, at midnight, turned into October 15. Teresa would have been tickled with that confusion, I am sure.

She was a passionate woman. Passionate in her determination to be a close an intimate friend of God's. Passionate in her tenacity in ensuring that others also could practice an intimacy with God like she had known. ``It is love alone that gives worth to all things,'' she wrote. Like so many before and so many after, love did not come easily or simply. There was opposition a plenty. And she took it in stride. The story is told that ``in 1582, she was invited to found a convent by an Archbishop but when she arrived in the middle of the pouring rain, he ordered her to leave. ``And the weather so delightful too'' was Teresa's comment.''

She didn't reserve her sarcasm for the religious superiors who often opposed her, even to imprisonment. She could level it at herself. The story is related about her dying that ``Though very ill, she was commanded to attend a noblewoman giving birth. By the time they got there, the baby had already arrived so, as Teresa said, `The saint won't be needed after all.''' She didn't take herself over seriously. And so perhaps floated with the angels.

A favourite story about St Teresa illustrates the intimate relationship that the saints have with God. When she was on one of her innumerable journeys across Spain, her horse threw her as she was crossing a river. Soaked to the skin she looked up to heaven and said, “If this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few of them!” We should bring everything to God in our prayers, even our reproaches. For a reproach, in the end, is simply our way of offering up to God our incomprehension of what he is giving us. See the articles in Wikipedia and the Catholic Encyclopaedia.

Getting knocked off her horse – was that God's work? I don't actually think it happened because of God. I think it was just that the horse didn't want to cross the water. But the story wonderfully shows how close Teresa was to God. She told him everything. She was able to tell him her frustration, her disappointment, her feelings of lostness and confusion -- and she told him of her ecstasy, her joy, her unstoppable hope. She was God's friend. She has been a hero of mine for a long time because she had that kind of relationship with God. She was prepared to hear and bear anything God had in mind for her. She trusted God to that extent.

• Obstacles may be put in your path. Don't let that slow you down. Use the opposition to your advantage where possible. Don't let it stop you.
• Don't be afraid to pursue your calling. God called to Teresa to share her friendship with God with others. Whoever would listen.
• Be a friend with God. God has called you to be the very best you can be. So do it.
  

Let nothing trouble you,
let nothing make you afraid.
All things pass away.
God never changes.
Patience obtains everything.
God alone is enough.

(Teresa of Avila)