15
October
St. Teresa of Ávila
(1515 – 1582)
White
She was born in Ávila in Spain and entered the Carmelite convent there at the age of 20. St Teresa is an outstanding example of how the contemplative life can well up and overflow into action. She wrote much on the subject of contemplative prayer and her writings are still standard works today. She was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI in 1970.
Entrance Antiphon: Cf. Ps 41: 2-3
Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God; my soul is thirsting for God, the living God.
Collect
O God, who through your Spirit raised up Saint Teresa of Jesus to show the Church the way to seek perfection, grant that we may always be nourished by the food of her heavenly teaching and fired with longing for true holiness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
First reading : Romans 4:1-8
What shall we say about Abraham, the ancestor from whom we are all descended? If Abraham was justified as a reward for doing something, he would really have had something to boast about, though not in God’s sight because scripture says: Abraham put his faith in God, and this faith was considered as justifying him. If a man has work to show, his wages are not considered as a favour but as his due; but when a man has nothing to show except faith in the one who justifies sinners, then his faith is considered as justifying him. And David says the same: a man is happy if God considers him righteous, irrespective of good deeds: Happy those whose crimes are forgiven, whose sins are blotted out; happy the man whom the Lord considers sinless.
Psalm 31(32):1-2,5,11
R/ You are my refuge, O Lord; you fill me with the joy of salvation.
1. Happy the man whose offence is forgiven, whose sin is remitted. O happy the man to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, in whose spirit is no guile.
2. But now I have acknowledged my sins; my guilt I did not hide. I said: ‘I will confess my offence to the Lord.’ And you, Lord, have forgiven the guilt of my sin.
3. Rejoice, rejoice in the Lord, exult, you just! O come, ring out your joy, all you upright of heart.
Gospel Acclamation : Ps18:9
Alleluia, alleluia! Your words gladden the heart, O Lord, they give light to the eyes. Alleluia!
Gospel : Luke 12:1-7
The people had gathered in their thousands so that they were treading on one another. And Jesus began to speak, first of all to his disciples. ‘Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees – that is, their hypocrisy. Everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. For this reason, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in hidden places will be proclaimed on the housetops. To you my friends I say: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. I will tell you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Can you not buy five sparrows for two pennies? And yet not one is forgotten in God’s sight. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. There is no need to be afraid: you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.’
Prayer over the Offerings
May our offerings, O Lord, be acceptable to your majesty, to whom the devoted service of Saint Teresa was pleasing in such great measure. Through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon: Ps 88: 2
I will sing for ever of your mercies, O Lord through all ages my mouth will proclaim your fidelity.
Prayer after Communion
Grant, O Lord our God, that your obedient family, whom you have fed with the Bread of heaven, may follow the example of Saint Teresa and rejoice to sing of your mercies for all eternity. Through Christ our Lord.
Meditation
Through our faith in God we gain the forgiveness of our sins and are justified like Abraham. However, to attain the true perfection of faith, we must guard against all forms of hypocrisy, envy, backbiting, blackmail, greed, corruption and evil deeds. Jesus invites us to fear him who is able to kill and cast into hell and not men. Thus, no human should be an obstacle to living our true faith in God who holds account of every hair on our head. For in Him we live and have our being.