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October 08

President's Desk

October, 2008
St. Teresa of Avila and St. Therese of Lisieux

As I was praying about what to share for this month I keep coming up with the fact that it is the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila (October 15) as well as the fact that it is also my anniversary in the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites and my name (Gayle of Teresa of Avila). It is also the Feast of St. Therese of Lissieux (October 3) and we were able to visit there in April this year.

As a Doctor of the Church, St. Teresa guides us in the Way of Perfection through the Interior Castles to a very deep spiritual life if we listen to her and allow her guidance. I find her very easy to read as she is so simple and personal in her writings. She wrote this “Aspirations Toward Eternal Life” which I would like to share:

Aspirations

I live without living in myself,
And in such a way I hope,
I die because I do not die.

Since I die of love,
Living apart from love,
I live now in the Lord,
Who has desired me for Himself.
He inscribed on my heart
When I gave it to Him:
I die because I do not die.

Within this divine prison
Of love in which I live,
My God my captive is.
My heart is free
To behold my prisoner-God,
Passion welling in my heart,
I die because I do not die.

Ah, how weary this life!
These exiles so hard!
This jail and these shackles
By which the soul is fettered!
Longing only to go forth
Brings such terrible sorrow,
I die because I do not die.

We have a small group of ladies that meet every Saturday morning for spiritual growth and we have been focusing on a series To Live in Christ as well as learning about the “Happiness of Heaven” which explains what it will be like in the Beatific Vision. As I was preparing for the meeting I came across an article written on the teachings of St. Theresa of Lisieux on avoiding purgatory which fit into these classes as well as the writing of St. Teresa of Avila.

This interested me very much because as a convert to Catholicism I was not raised with the knowledge of indulgences, saints, martyrs, or purgatory. I thought it was great that there was a place to go if we need time to get to heaven until I realized how hot it was. I began to reflect on how it would be possible to avoid purgatory. I remember once going to confession just before mass and being asked to bring up the gifts. The Priest said "Thank you, Saint Gayle; thank you St. Judy". This shocked me but as I reflected I realized if I had died at that instant right after confession I would most likely have avoided purgatory. Wow! Then of course a martyr is straight to heaven as well as Divine Mercy Sunday after fulfilling all the obligations. Later came the knowledge of the Divine Will which also is one breath here and one in heaven.

Being President of this ministry makes me always look for confirmations in all we do. When I read the article on the teachings of St. Therese I was thrilled. Here are a few excerpts from that article:

The common teaching within the Church is that Purgatory can hardly be avoided. While still only a novice, the Saint commented about this to one of the sisters who believed in the near impossibility of going to heaven without passing through purgatory:

You do not have enough trust. You have too much fear before the good God. I can assure you that He is grieved over this. You should not fear Purgatory because of the suffering there, but should instead ask that you not deserve to go there in order to please God, Who so reluctantly imposes this punishment. As soon as you try to please Him in everything and have an unshakable trust He purifies you every moment in His LOVE and he lets no sin remain. And then you can be sure that you will not have to go to Purgatory.

She also said that we would offend God if we didn’t trust enough that we would get to heaven right after dying. She was very grieved when she found out that her novices did not believe this and corrected them saying: “Oh! How you grieve me! You do a great injury to God in believing you’re going to Purgatory. When we LOVE, we can’t go there. It is true that God will judge us at one point, but He is always and first our FATHER Who…suffers when He has to punish His child and sees its suffering. The child should do His will just out of love, and not to avoid punishment. And this really means that God does not want Purgatory! He allows that His children suffer, but only as if He had to look away.

As St. Therese points out and with her being a Doctor of the Church we know her teachings to be true then one does not need to be in Purgatory because God Himself does not want this and would LOVE to help us, the thought that Purgatory can be avoided is suddenly not so far-fetched anymore. We do still have to be mindful that even St. Therese of Avila, St. John of the Cross and St. John Vianney did not have this opinion reflecting that only a few souls achieve perfect love which is necessary to go straight to heaven. We also have to take into consideration that even practicing Christians are convinced that the good and faithful and those consecrated to God will have to go to Purgatory for a period of time.

St. Therese very specifically says that God is Father, rather than Judge. She also states that Purgatory became a rule rather than the exception. Everyone receives enough graces in order to go straight to God after passing the trials on earth. However, Purgatory is an emergency entrance into Heaven for those who have wasted their time. As I shared this with Father Bernard, he said to be sure never to stop praying for the souls in Purgatory because not many are aware of this concept of LOVE to avoid it. I have to do my part in not wanting to go there and be sincere about it.

I believe we need a more positive image of God and I know from my point of view that going to daily Mass and Communion every day will surely help me to avoid Purgatory and it certainly will you as well. Remember LOVE banishes FEAR and all our desire can be to be with him in the Beatific Vision at the moment of our death as long as that is our desire and we TRUST IN HIM as we state in the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. We also have to rely on our Blessed Mother that she will obtain "the grace of making an act of perfect love" should we have “some trace of human weakness” if we give everything to her every day as in the consecration to Her the St. Louis de Montfort way.

In this month of October we can reflect with St. Therese on God’s Merciful LOVE and our desire to avoid Purgatory as we approach All Saints and All Souls Day next month.

God Bless You.

Gayle