Homily for the Memorial of
St. Teresa of Avila
Thursday, Week 28 of Ordinary Time
Oct. 15, 2026
Collect
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.
Based on Benedict XVI, Holy Men and Women of the Middle Ages and Beyond: General Audiences (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2012), pp. 185-192.
“O
God, thru your Spirit you raised up St. Teresa of Jesus to show the Church the
way to seek perfection…” (Collect).
In
the 1st reading, Paul teaches that God chose us before the world was created
“to be holy and without blemish before him” (Eph 1:4). Teresa of Avila came to that realization
early in life, even before she entered the Carmelite convent in Avila. She tells us in her autobiography that she
recognized 2 fundamentals: “All things
of this world will pass away,” and God alone is forever.
As
she matured, Teresa nurtured her spiritual life on the Scriptures, the Fathers,
and reflection on her own experience of God’s mercies and of Christ’s
friendship. But her busy, reforming life
rested also on the evangelical counsels and such human virtues as affability,
truthfulness, modesty, courtesy, cheerfulness, and culture.
We
may say that Teresa’s pursuit of perfection and her teaching about that path rests
on 2 foundations: a close, intimate friendship with our Lord Jesus, nurtured
by intense, personal prayer.
Jesus is close to us, dwells with us, and loves each of us uniquely and
passionately. Prayer leads us to this
friend and keeps us close in moments of both calm and difficulty. “Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone
suffices.”
When
Paul VI named both Teresa and Catherine of Siena doctors of the Church, and Benedict XVI added Hildegard of Bingen and John Paul II added Therese of Lisieux to that brief female
roster, it demonstrated that even without ordination women have, and merit, a
powerful place in the Church and in Christian life.
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