Holy Mass, IV Centenary of the Death of Saint Teresa of Jesus (1 November 1982)

On Monday, 1 November 1982, the Solemnity of All Saints, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass for the IV Centenary of the Death of Saint Teresa of Jesus. In his homily, the Pope recalled the teaching of Saint Teresa on Prayer. “Getting closer to the mystery of God, of Jesus, having Jesus Christ present constitutes your entire prayer. This consists of a personal encounter with the One who is the only way to lead us to the Father.”

Venerable brothers in the Episcopate,
dear brothers and sisters.

1. “For this I prayed and prudence was granted to me; / I begged and the spirit of wisdom came to me. / . . . I loved her more than health and beauty, / . . . Together with it all the goods came to me; / in her hands is incalculable wealth. / I enjoyed all these goods, because wisdom guides them” ( Wis 7, 7.10-12).

I have come to Avila today to adore the Wisdom of God. I do so as this IV Centenary of the death of Saint Teresa of Jesus, who was a singularly favorite daughter of divine Wisdom, concludes. I want to adore the Wisdom of God, together with the Pastor of this diocese, with all the Bishops of Spain, with the Authorities of Avila and Alba de Tormes presided over by their Majesties and the members of the Government, with many sons and daughters of the Saint and with all the People of God gathered here, on this feast of All Saints.

Teresa of Jesus and the stream that leads to the source, is the splendor that leads to the light. And her light is Christ, the "Master of Wisdom" (cf. St. Teresa, Path to Perfection , 21, 4), the "living book" in which she learned the truths (cf. St. Teresa, Life , 26 , 5); it is that "light from heaven", the Spirit of Wisdom, which she invoked so that she could speak in her place and guide her pen (cf. S. Teresa, Interior Castle , IV, 1, 1; V, 1, 1 y 4, 11). Let us join our voices to his eternal song of divine mercies (cf. Ps 88 [89], 2; cf. S. Teresa, Vita , 14, 10-12), to thank that God who is "Wisdom itself" (S Teresa, Path to Perfection , 22, 6).

2. And it gives me joy to be able to do it in this Avila of Saint Teresa, who saw her birth and which preserves the most touching memories of the virgin of Castile. A city famous for its walls and its towers, for its churches and its monasteries. Which, in its architectural complex, plastically evokes the interior and luminous castle that is the soul of the just, in whose center God has his dwelling place (cf. S. Teresa, Interior Castle , I, 1, 1.3). An image of the city of God, with its gates and its walls, illuminated by the light of the Lamb (cf. Rev 21, 11-14.23).

Everything in this city preserves the memory of his favorite daughter. “La Santa”, the place of her birth and her ancestral home; the parish where she was baptized; the Cathedral, with the image of the Virgin of Charity, which welcomed her early consecration (cf. S. Teresa, Vita , 1, 7); her Incarnation, who welcomed her religious vocation in which she reached the culmination of her mystical experience; St. Joseph, the first Theresian dovecote, from which Teresa set out as a "wanderer of God", to spread her foundations throughout Spain.

Furthermore, here I wish to further strengthen my bonds of devotion with the Saints of Carmel who were born in this land, Teresa of Jesus and John of the Cross. In them I not only admire and venerate the spiritual masters of my interior life, but also two luminous beacons of the Church in Spain, who with their spiritual doctrine have illuminated the paths of my homeland, Poland, since, at the beginning of the 17th century, the first children of the Teresian Carmel arrived in Krakow.

The providential circumstance, offered to me by the conclusion of the IV Centenary of the death of Saint Teresa, allowed me to make this journey, as I had desired for a long time.

3. I wish to repeat on this occasion the words I wrote at the beginning of this centenary year: "Saint Teresa of Jesus is alive, her voice still resonates in the Church today" (John Paul II, Virtutis Exemplum , 2, 14 Oct. 1981: Teachings of John Paul II , IV, 2 [1981] 428). The celebrations of the Jubilee Year, here in Spain and throughout the world, have confirmed my predictions.

Teresa of Jesus, the first woman to become a Doctor of the universal Church, became a living word regarding God, invited friendship with Christ, opened new paths of fidelity and service to Holy Mother Church. I know that she has reached the hearts of Bishops and priests, to renew in them desires for wisdom and holiness, to be "the light of her Church" (cf. S. Teresa, Interior Castle , V, 1, 7). She urged men and women religious to "observe the evangelical counsels with every possible perfection" (cf. St. Teresa, The Way , 1,2), to be "servants of love" (St. Teresa, Life , 11, 1).

He illuminated the experience of lay Christians with his doctrine on prayer and charity, the universal path to holiness; because prayer, like the Christian life, does not consist "in thinking a lot, but in loving a lot", and "all souls are capable of loving" (cf. S. Teresa, Castello Interiore , IV, 1, 7 et Fondazioni , 5, 2).

His voice resonated beyond the borders of the Catholic Church, arousing sympathies at an ecumenical level, and establishing bridges of dialogue with the spiritual treasures of other religious cultures. It gives me joy, above all, to know that the words of Saint Teresa were welcomed with enthusiasm by young people. They have made this suggestive Teresian delivery their own, which I want to offer as a message to Spanish youth: "in these times strong friends of God are needed" (S. Teresa, Vita , 15, 5).

For all this I want to express my gratitude to the Spanish Episcopate, who promoted this ecclesial event of renewal. I am also grateful for the commitment made by the National Centenary Council and the diocesan delegations. To all those who collaborated in achieving the objectives of the Centenary, the Pope's gratitude goes, which is thanks on behalf of the Church.

4. The words of the Responsorial Psalm recall the great foundational undertaking of Saint Teresa: “Blessed is he who lives in your house: / always sing your praises! / . . . For me a day in your halls / is more than a thousand elsewhere /. . . the Lord grants grace and glory, / he does not reject good /. . . blessed is the man who trusts in you” ( Ps 83 [84], 5, 11-13).

Here in Avila, with the foundation of the monastery of Saint Joseph, which was followed by his other 16 foundations, God's plan for the life of the Church was fulfilled. Teresa of Jesus was the providential instrument, the custodian of a new charism of contemplative life, which would produce many fruits.

Every monastery of Discalced Carmelite nuns must be "a small corner of God", "home" of his glory and "paradise of his delights" (cf. St. Teresa, Vita , 32, 11; 35, 12). It must be an oasis of contemplative life, a "dovecote of our Virgin Lady" (cf. St. Teresa, Foundations , 4, 5). The mystery of the Church, which is the bride of Christ, must be lived in its fullness, with the austere and joyful tone characteristic of the Teresian legacy. There the apostolic service in favor of the Mystical Body, according to the wishes and indications of the Mother Foundress, must always be able to materialize in an experience of immolation and unity: "all together they offer themselves to God in sacrifice" (S. Teresa, Vita , 39.10). Through fidelity to the needs of the contemplative life, recently recalled in my letter to the Discalced Carmelite nuns (cf. John Paul II, Epistula Sanctimonialibus Carmelitis Discalceatis, IV expleto saeculo ab obitu Sanctae Theresiae a Iesu , die 31 maii 1982: Teachings of John Paul II , V, 2 [1982] 2361 ff), will always be the honor of the Bride of Christ, in the universal Church and in the particular Churches in which they are present as sanctuaries of prayer.

And the same goes for the children of Saint Teresa, the Discalced Carmelites, heirs of her contemplative and apostolic spirit, guardians of the missionary yearnings of the Mother Foundress. May the Centenary celebrations instill in you also resolutions of fidelity in the path of prayer, and of fruitful apostolate in the Church, so that the message of Saint Teresa of Jesus and Saint John of the Cross may always be kept alive.

5. The words of Saint Paul, heard in the second reading of this Eucharist, guide us to the profound source of Christian prayer, from which the experience of God and the ecclesial message of Saint Teresa flow. We have received “a spirit of adopted sons through which we cry “Abba, Father!” . . . And if we are children, we are also heirs: heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ, if we truly share in his sufferings in order to share also in his glory” ( Rom 8, 15.17).

The doctrine of Teresa of Jesus is in perfect harmony with this theology of prayer proposed by Saint Paul, the apostle with whom she identified so deeply. Following the Master of Prayer in perfect harmony with the Fathers of the Church, she wanted to teach the secrets of prayer, commenting on the prayer of the "Our Father".

In the first word, "Father", the Saint discovers the fullness that Jesus Christ, master and model of prayer, entrusts to us (cf. St. Teresa, The Way , 26, 10; 27, 1.2). In the Christian's filial prayer there is the possibility of establishing a dialogue with the Trinity that dwells in the soul of those who live in grace, as the Saint experienced many times (cf. Jn 14, 23; cf. S. Teresa, Interior Castle , VII, 1, 6); “you will always find, between the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit. He will inflame your will and . . . let him chain her to you with his most lively love. (St. Teresa, The Way , 27, 7). This is the filial dignity of Christians: being able to invoke God as Father, allowing themselves to be led by the Spirit, to be fully children of God.

6. Through prayer, Teresa sought and found Christ. She sought it in the words of the Gospel, which since her youth "struck her heart deeply" (St. Teresa, Vita , 3, 5); she found it "keeping it present within herself" (cf. Ibid . 4, 7); she learned to look at him with love in the images of the Lord to whom she was so devoted (cf. Ibid . 7, 2; 22, 4); with the Bible of the poor - the images - and the Bible of the heart - the meditation of the word - she was able to internally relive the scenes of the Gospel and approach the Lord in great intimacy.
How many times did Saint Teresa meditate on the passages of the Gospel that report the words of Jesus to some woman! How much joyful interior freedom was given to her, in a time of accentuated anti-feminism, by Jesus' condescending attitude towards Magdalene, Martha and Mary of Bethany, the Canaanite woman and the Samaritan woman, the female figures that the Saint so often recalls in her writings. her! There is no doubt that from this evangelical perspective it was possible for Teresa to defend the dignity of women and her possibility of appropriate service in the Church: "Lord, when you were on this earth, far from having women in contempt, you indeed he tried to favor them with great benevolence” (S. Teresa, Vita , autograph by El Escorial, 3, 7).

Jesus' meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar, which we recalled in the Gospel, is significant. The Lord promises the Samaritan woman living water: “Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, rather the water that I will give him will become in him a source of water welling up to eternal life” ( Jn 4, 13-14).

Among the holy women in the history of the Church, Teresa of Jesus is undoubtedly the one who responded to Christ with the most fervent heart: Give me this water! She herself confirms this to us when she recalls her first encounters with the Christ of the Gospel: “How many times have I remembered the living water that the Lord spoke about to the Samaritan woman! I am very devoted to that evangelical episode” (S. Teresa, Vita , 30, 19). Teresa of Jesus, like a new Samaritan, now invites everyone to draw closer to Christ, who is the source of living water.

Christ Jesus, the Redeemer of man, was Teresa's model. In him the Saint found the majesty of her divinity and the condescension of her humanity: "It is very important for us men, while we are down here, to represent the Lord in the figure of a man" ( Ibid . 22, 9); she saw that despite being God he was a Man, that he is not surprised by the weaknesses of men. What horizons of familiarity with God Teresa reveals to us in the Humanity of Christ! With what precision you affirm the Church's faith in Christ, true God and true Man! How she experiences his closeness, "our companion in the Blessed Sacrament" (cf. St. Teresa, Vita , 22, 6).

Starting from the mystery of the most holy Humanity, which is the door, way and light, it reached the mystery of the Holy Trinity (cf. Ibid . VII, 1, 6), source and goal of man's life, "mirror in which our image is also imprinted” ( Ibid . 2, 8). And from the height of the mystery of God he understood the value of man, his dignity, his infinite vocation.

7. Get closer to the mystery of God, to Jesus, “keep in mind . . . Jesus Christ” ( Ibid . 4, 8), summarizes your entire prayer. This is a personal encounter with the one who is the only way to go to the Father (cf. S. Teresa, Interior Castle , VI, 7, 6). Teresa reacted against books that proposed contemplation as a vague immersion in divinity (cf. S. Teresa, Vita , 22, 1), or as "not thinking about anything" (cf. S. Teresa, Interior Castle , IV, 3, 6), seeing in this the danger of withdrawing into oneself, of moving away from Jesus from whom "all good things come to us" (cf. St. Teresa, Life , 22, 4). This is why she shouts: “abandon the Humanity of Christ. . . no, no, I can't stand it!” ( Ibid . 22, 1). This cry also applies today against some methods of prayer which are not inspired by the Gospel and which in practice tend to ignore Christ, to the advantage of a mental emptiness which makes no sense in Christianity. Every way of prayer is valid as it is inspired by Christ and leads to Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life (cf. Jn 14:6). It is very true that the Christ of Teresian prayer goes beyond any corporeal imagination and any figurative representation (cf. St. Teresa, Vita , 9, 6); it is the risen Christ, alive and present, who transcends the limits of space and time because he is both God and man (cf. St. Teresa, Vita , 27, 7-8). But at the same time it is Jesus Christ, son of the Virgin, who is close to us and helps us (cf. Ibid . 27, 4).

Christ crosses the path of Teresian prayer from one extreme to the other, from the first steps to the summit of perfect union with God. Christ is the door through which the soul accesses the mystical state (cf. Ibid . 10, 1) . Christ introduces her into the Trinitarian mystery (cf. Ibid . 27, 2-9). His presence in the development of the "friendly relationship", which is prayer, is obligatory and necessary: ​​it is he who generates it and makes it exist, it is he who is also its object. It is the "living book", Word of the Father (cf. Ibid . 26, 5).

Man learns to remain in profound silence when Christ teaches him interiorly "without shouting words" (cf. St. Teresa, The Way , 25, 2); he empties himself "looking at the Crucifix" (cf. S. Teresa, Interior Castle , VII, 4, 9). Teresian contemplation is not the search for hidden subjective virtualities by means of refined techniques of interior purification, but to open oneself in humility to Christ and to his Mystical Body which is the Church.

8. In my pastoral ministry I have insistently affirmed the religious values ​​of man, with which Christ himself identified (cf. Gaudium et Spes , 22); that man who is the very path of the Church, and therefore determines his concern and love for him, so that every man reaches the fullness of his vocation (cf. John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis , 13. 14. 18) .

Saint Teresa of Jesus gives us a very clear teaching on the immense value of man: “My Jesus! she-she exclaims in a beautiful prayer-how great is the love you bring to the children of men, if the best service that can be rendered to you is to abandon yourself to attend to them and their profit!

In this way one comes to possess oneself more completely. . . He who does not love his neighbor does not love you, since you, my Lord, have demonstrated your love for the children of Adam with all the shedding of your blood" (St. Teresa, Exclamations , 2, 2). Love of God and love of neighbor, inseparably united: they are the supernatural root of charity which is love of God, with the concrete manifestation of love towards neighbor, "the most certain sign" that we love God (cf. S. Teresa, Interior Castle , V, 3, 8).

9. The fulcrum of Teresa's life, a projection of her love for Christ and her desire for the salvation of men, was the Church. Teresa of Jesus "felt the Church" as a member of the Mystical Body.

The sad events that struck the Church of his time were like progressive wounds, which aroused waves of loyalty and service. He deeply suffered the division between Christians as a laceration of his own heart. She responded effectively with a movement of renewal to keep the face of the holy Church shining. The horizons of his love and prayer widened as he acquired awareness of the missionary expansion of the Catholic Church; with your gaze and heart fixed on Rome, the center of Catholicism, with a filial affection towards "the Holy Father", as you call the Pope, who also pushed you to correspond by letter with my predecessor, Pope Pius V We are moved to read the confession of faith with which the book of “Mansions” concludes: “I submit in everything to what the holy Roman Catholic Church teaches. These are the feelings in which I now live, and in which I protest and promise that I want to live and die" ( Ibid ., Epilogue, 4).

In Avila that fire of ecclesial love blazed that illuminated and enlivened theologians and missionaries. Therese's original service to the Church of her time began; in a moment torn by reforms and counter-reforms, she chose the radical path of following Christ, to build the Church with living stones of holiness; she raised the banner of Christian ideals to incite the captains of the Church. And in Alba de Tormes, at the end of an intense day of foundational travel, Teresa of Jesus, the true Christian and the bride who wanted to see her Groom soon, exclaims: “Thank you. . . My God . . ., for having made me a daughter of your holy Catholic Church” ( Declaration of Mary of St. Francis : Biblioteca Mistica Carmelitana, 19, pp. 62-63). Or, as another testimony recalls: “Blessed be God. . . because I am a daughter of the Church” ( Declaration of Mary of the Incarnation: ibid. 18, p. 89). I am a daughter of the Church! Here is the title of honor and commitment that the Saint left us to love the Church, to serve her with generosity!

10. Dear brothers and sisters, we have remembered the luminous and ever-present figure of Teresa of Jesus, the singularly loved daughter of divine Wisdom, the wanderer of God, the Reformer of Carmel, glory of Spain, and light of the holy Church, honor of Christian women, an excellent presence in universal culture.

And she wants to continue walking with the Church until the end of time, she who on her deathbed said: "It's time to walk". Her courageous figure as a woman on the journey suggests to us the image of the Church, Bride of Christ, which proceeds through time, already at the dawn of the third millennium of her history.

Teresa of Jesus, who knew well the difficulties encountered on the journey, invites us to walk carrying God in our hearts. To direct our course and strengthen our hope he transmits to us the task that was the secret of his life and his mission: "let us fix our eyes on Christ our good" (cf. S. Teresa, Interior Castle , I, 2, 11 ), to open the doors of the hearts of all men to him. Thus the luminous Christ of Teresa of Jesus will be in her Church, "Redeemer of man, center of the cosmos and of history".

Your eyes in Christ! (cf. St. Teresa, The Way , 2, 1; Interior Castle , VII, 4, 8; cf. Heb 12, 2).

So that in the path of the Church, as in the paths of Teresa who left from this city of Avila, Christ may be "Way, Truth and Life" (cf. Jn 14, 5; S. Teresa, Interior Castle , VI, 7, 6). So be it.

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