October 15, 2026 Teresa of Avila (Teresa of Jesus) Gospel: Luke 11:47-54
Today is Thursday of the 28th Week in Ordinary Time. The Church celebrates the Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus today. According to the recently published Roman Martyrology: St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) was born in Avila (Spain). She joined the Carmelite convent in Avila, and after twenty-five years as a nun, began to reform the Order with the help of St. Peter of Alcantara and St. John of the Cross. She founded seventeen reformed houses in Spain, and despite her busy life of administration, reached the highest “mansions” of union with God. Her outstanding works of ascetical and mystical theology led her to be declared a Doctor of the Church in 1970.
Today, the text taken from the Gospel of Luke continues to show us Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees and the religious leaders of that time. Let us continue to reflect.
St. Luke tells us: The Lord said: “Woe to you who build memorials for the prophets killed by your ancestors. Therefore, you testify to what your ancestors did, and your act of building is an approval of your ancestors killing the prophets. Therefore, the wisdom of God says: ‘I will send them many prophets and apostles, some of whom will be killed and some persecuted, so that the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who died between the altar and the temple, will be charged to them. Truly, I say to you: this generation will bear the guilt of their blood.'” (cf. Luke 11:47-51)
Sometimes, we are also like the Pharisees, intending to eliminate God’s Word, and those who proclaim God’s Word to us. The reason we do this is that we find it hard to agree with the ideas of those brothers and sisters who faithfully fulfill the mission entrusted to them by God. Those brothers and sisters who faithfully fulfill the mission entrusted to them by God, like Teresa of Avila, they love to listen to God’s Word, that is, all the words spoken from the mouth of Jesus. In their view, God’s Word will make them no longer follow all the rules of this world that is passing away as they did before, but to follow the world of God proposed by Jesus. The core meaning of all the rules of this world that is passing away is: focusing on and preserving one’s own interests is the most important thing, as for the interests of others, we need not pay attention. However, the world of God proposed by Jesus is a world full of love, where there is only the God who loves people, and people who are loved by God, where God’s Word is always with us, and He teaches us personally.
Today, let us not learn from those Pharisees, do not hinder the spread of God’s Word, and even more so do not set up evil examples to hinder others from approaching Christ who loves us, but imitate Saint Teresa of Jesus, bearing witness to the true Way with good words and deeds. Now, let us pray to God together:
O God, who through your Spirit raised up Saint Teresa of Jesus to show the Church the way to seek perfection, grant that we may always be nourished by the food of her heavenly teaching and fired with longing for true holiness. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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