Good Morning Folks,
I hope you have already found something to bring you joy today.
You may or may not know, but I do a radio show on Sunday evenings. Pure Gold 94.1fm, but more easily accessed via www.puregold.fm
It last from 6-8pm Spanish time, and at around 7pm I have a ‘Churchy slot’ which we initiated when lockdown began, and people couldn’t get to worship. This week I focussed on two saints we had recently celebrated, St Teresa of Avilla, and St Luke the Evangelist.
St Teresa was a 16th Century Spanish Carmelite nun, who was a mystic, reformer, teacher of the faith, and had a very wide sense of spirituality, so much so that the Papel Legate described her as a ‘Restless wanderer, disobedient stubborn femina, and under the title of devotion invented bad doctrine. Often moving outside the cloister, and teaching – which is against St Paul’s doctrine that women shall not teach!’
Well, when I read this, I absolutely fell in love with St Teresa. Pushing the boundaries, and being true to her conviction, and not being bamboozled by those in authority. And I loved her mysticism and sense of spirituality, and the more I studies, the more joy I found.
Teresa says ‘May God protect me from gloomy saints.’
Amen to that.
So, I thought hard and long about how to introduce her to the listeners, and decided to play ‘What do we do about the problem of Maria?’ from the Sound of Music. Maria was a nun who didn’t seem to fit in. (I thought it was a great link anyway)
I then spoke about St Teresa, and some of her life and writings, and her great piece on fear.
‘Let nothing trouble you,
Let nothing frighten you.
Whoever has God lacks nothing.
God alone is enough’
Later on I was going to play Climb every mountain, and talk about the inspiration we all need to keep going, to take on challenges, to push ourselves beyond our comfort zones and to trust in God, and that All shall be well. But before I got to it I played Elton John singing ‘I’m still standing, and that rang bells for so many people, and before I knew it I had run out of time. So, I want you to imagine the Climb Every Mountain song, and sing it to yourself as we continue our journey through this tough year.
But I also spoke about St Luke, and how he was such a great storyteller, and his writings have had such a huge influence on the world. Probably his words have been read more than almost any other!
I wanted to talk about our own stories, and the incredible things that happen to us during our lives, that we take for granted, but are in reality encouraging, uplifting and indeed inspiring. It takes a great deal of effort to get through life, and the things we encounter on the way, the people we meet, the challenges we face, the decisions that we take all go to form us into the awesome creatures that we are. We all have a story within us, and as we are called to ‘Live our lives to the full’ that story is worth living as best we can.
How about taking a little time to reflect on your own story, and give thanks for all the times you have experienced the presence and love of God, and the joy and comfort of friends and family. When we do that, deep inside we know that St Teresa was right. Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you. Whoever has God lacks nothing. God alone is enough.
Bless you, Bless you, Bless you.
As ever,
Fr Marcus