By William Selvaraj csc –
Readings: Rom 4: 1-8; Lk 12: 1-7
Today, Our Mother Church celebrates the Feast of St Teresa of Avila. She was a prominent Spanish mystic and Carmelite nun. At the age of seven, she ran away from home in the hope of being martyred by Moors hoping, she said, that ‘she could come to see God’. At the age of eighteen she joined the Carmelite Order and chose Christ as her heavenly Spouse. She reformed Carmelite Order. She preached the highest degree of prayer and through prayer obtained such knowledge of divine things that in 1970 Pope Paul VI named her the first woman Doctor of the Church.
Through the Gospel of the day, Jesus reminds us that we are a precious gift of God and enables us to face persecution without any fear by giving us the instructions not to be fearful of those who kill the body. But fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.
As followers of Christ, we are bound to come across persecutions, tortures, mockery, struggles, troubles, anxieties, disappointments, depressions, and difficulties. But we should never be frightened of anything because nothing is hidden from the eyes of God. Our Lord Jesus has sacrificed his life to redeem us with the promise saying ‘even the hairs of your head are all counted, and we are more valuable than many sparrows.’
God has taken into account every single detail of our lives, even what seems to us as unimportant and insignificant. This thought must give us more comfort and courage to stand in times of persecution. Christ Jesus has a demand that, we his disciples must be open and sincere in our loyalty to proclaim the word of God.
We can fulfil his demand only when we have a single-hearted intimate relationship with Jesus without any fear of persecution. So, let us pray to God to grant us the courage and competence to proclaim his word and steadfast love to remain always united in him as St Teresa of Avila did in all the moments of her life.