Noticings – August 4, 2021

NOTICINGS…

August 4, 2021

This summer we’re hearing the voices of women mystics. I invite you to read each quotation slowly and prayerfully. Do not hurry. Linger. Savour. Pray. 
This week we ponder the words of Teresa of Avila…
Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands, no feet but yours. 
Yours are the eyes with which Christ looks out his compassion to the world. 
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. 
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.
Trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; 
 it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us. 
The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. 
Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything.
True perfection [wholeness, spiritual maturity] consists in the love of God and our neighbour, and the better we keep both these commandments, the more perfect we shall be.
May God protect me from gloomy saints.
Teresa of Avila was a Catholic mystic. Born in 16th century Spain, Teresa spent her childhood studying the lives of the Christian saints and martyrs. Many assume that mystics must be extremely skilled in prayer to spend their lives in contemplation as they do, but for much of Teresa of Avila’s life, prayer was a difficult, and sometimes impossible, task. It was only at the age of 40 that she truly began to engage in the practice, with the help of voices who began to speak to her. From then on, she committed herself not only to spiritual contemplation, but also to reforming and refounding convents throughout her home country of Spain, and beyond. 
 Shalom,
Rev. Larry