This is the feast day of one of our most illustrious saints; Saint Theresa of Avila, or, Theresa of the Child Jesus.

''It is said of Edith Stein that when she finished reading Saint Theresa's autobiography she closed the book and exclaimed with conviction: ''This is the truth.'' --From The Fire Within, by Thomas Dubay, S.M.

-- eugene c. chavez (loschavez@pacbell.net), October 15, 2003

Answers

St. Theresa of Avila pray for us.

-- - (David@excite.com), October 15, 2003.

The fascinating writings of Saint Theresa of Avila

-- (emerald1@cox.net), October 15, 2003.

Gene, tonight I came across this, and it was good luck because I wasn't even looking for anything or expecting it, but thought you might find it interesting, from St. Faustina's Diary, Notebook I, 150:

"I want to write down a dream that I had about Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. I was still a novice at the time and was going through some difficulies which I did not know how to overcome. They were interior difficulties connected with exterior ones. I made novenas to various saints, but the situation grew more and more difficult. The sufferings it caused me were so great that I did not know how to go on living, but suddenly the thought occured to me that I should pray to Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. I started a novena to this Saint because before entering the convent I had had a great devotion to her. Lately I had somewhat neglected this devotion, but in my need I began again to pray with great fervor.

On the fifth day of the novena, I dreamed of Saint Therese, but it was as if she were still living on earth. She hid from me the fact that she was a saint and began to comfort me, saying that I should not be worried about the matter, but should trust more in God. She said, "I suffered greatly, too," but I did not quite believe her and said, "It seems to me that you have not suffered at all." But Saint Therese answered me in a convincing manner that she had suffered very much indeed and said to me, "Sister, know that in three days that the difficulty will come to a happy conclusion." When I was not very willing to believe her, she revealed to me that she was a saint. At the moment, a great joy filled my soul, and I said to her, "You are a saint?" "Yes," she answered, "I am a saint. Trust that this matter will be resolved in three days." And I said "Dear sweet Therese, tell me, shall I go to heaven?" And she answered, "Yes, you will go to heaven, Sister." "And I will be a Saint?" To which she replied, "Yes, you will be a saint." "But, little Therese, shall I be a saint as you are, raised to the altar?" And she answered, "Yes, you will be a saint just as I am, but you trust in the Lord Jesus." I then asked her if my mother and father would go to heaven, will [unfinished sentence]. And she replied that they would. I further asked, "And will my brothers and sisters go to heaven?" She told me to pray hard for them, but gave me no definite answer. I understood that they were in need of much prayer.

This was a dream. And as the proverb goes, dreams are phantoms; God is faith. Nevertheless, three days later the difficulty was solved very easily, just and she had said. And everything in this affair turned out exactly as she said it would. It was a dream, but it had significance."

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), October 15, 2003.

Whoa, Nelly! Confusion alarm, confusion alarm, confusion alarm!

Today is feast of St. Teresa of Jesus, also known as St. Teresa of Avila. There is no "h" in her name. She is not known as Theresa of the Child Jesus. She is not known as St. Therese (or St. Therese of the Child Jesus).

Today's saint is Spanish and of the 17th century. She was the reformer of the Discalced (Shoeless/Barefoot) Carmelites and foundress of many monasteries. She is sometimes called "Big Teresa." She lived to an old age and wrote much, including an autobiography.

At the beginning of this month, we had the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, also known as "Little Therese" and the "Little Flower" and "St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face". She was French and of the 19th century. She founded no monasteries. She was named after Big Teresa. She lived less than 25 years and wrote little, including an autobiography.

-- (Whoa@Nelly.com), October 16, 2003.

(I meant yesterday, not today! My turn for confusion)

-- (Whoa@Nelly.com), October 16, 2003.

I was wondering about that too; my wife was insisting that it was a different one like you say, and I checked it over again, and got confused. I think you're probably right.

But it's still good reading, huh?

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), October 16, 2003.

I love the prayer of Saint Theresa (Big Theresa). The prayer is this:

Let nothing trouble you / Let nothing frighten you Everything passes / God never changes Patience / Obtains all Whoever has God / Wants for nothing God alone is enough

I shared this with my eldest son, Thomas, last month. Right now, his mind is fertile ground for great thoughts. He loved it.

-- Pat Delaney (pat@patdelaney.net), October 17, 2003.

I heard an amusing tidbit about dear St. Theresa of Avila.

She was moving her order from one place to another. During the move she and her Sisters had to cross a river, stepping on one rock at a time. Everyone crossed without incident. St. Theresa, however, lost her footing and fell into the river. Frustrated, she asked Our Lord out loud, "Why me?!" Our Lord responded, "This is the way I treat all my friends." To this the Saint responded, "It's no wonder you have so few."

-- Regina (Regina712REMOVE@lycos.com), October 17, 2003.