Memorial of St Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart (Redi)

"Brief as it was, Teresa Margaret’s whole life may be regarded as one continual raising up of her guiltless soul to God. In its innocence her soul turned spontaneously to God, and seemed able to find rest in him alone. In her, utter purity was joined to profound humility and she genuinely loved to be disregarded and despised. She did not simply bear humiliations, she rejoiced in them. Her purity of heart and her lowliness of spirit earned for her a high degree of charity, and this rapidly increased until her ardor became truly seraphic and she could hardly speak of God without her face becoming suffused with joy. Her love of God went hand in hand with a deep love for her neighbor and especially for sinners, on whose behalf she offered herself unreservedly to God as a victim. Her unassuming kindness and complete self-denial for the sake of her sisters in religion, especially the sick, were such that she was regarded as an angel of charity.

The fires of her love were fed principally by the Eucharist, and she looked forward with longing to her communions. She was also especially devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a devotion which did much to curb the advances of Jansenism at that time in Tuscany. She was utterly devoted to Our Lady, whom she regarded as the model and protectress of her own virginal purity. She was endowed to a high degree with the gift of contemplative prayer, and daily grew closer to God, as though reflecting the glories of the eternity she was fast approaching.

As her life neared its end this true daughter of the holy Mother Teresa and faithful disciple of Saint John of the Cross was called upon through a mystical martyrdom of the spirit, to resemble her crucified Spouse yet more closely. It was the very intensity of her love which caused this martyrdom; for the more fervent love becomes the more unrelentingly it spurs the soul on to further love, and since no love of ours can match God’s infinite lovableness, such a soul suffers exquisite torments from its insatiable thirst for greater love, and seems to itself to be wrapped in impenetrable darkness and to be totally lacking in love for God. In fact the greater love is, the less it seems to itself to be. It is the soul that is truly nailed to the cross with Christ by this supreme martyrdom of the heart that wins for itself and for others the choicest fruits of redemption.

Such souls by their silent apostolate of suffering, love and prayer, are foremost in the benefits they obtain for mankind and are the purest and most exalted in the whole Church."

-- From the Acts of Canonization of St Teresa Margaret

I want to imitate You in virtues

"Since, O my God, You inspire me to make myself like you in everything, as much as I can, I want particularly to imitate You in those virtues that are so pleasing to Your most loving Heart, namely: humility, meekness, and obedience."


-- From the Resolutions of St Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart, ocd (Redi)




Immaculate Mary, meek and humble of heart, Make our hearts like unto the Heart of Jesus. (From the Litany of the Immaculate Heart of Mary)


** Madonna of Humility icon by Simon Ushakov

Feast of St Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart

If you would like to read a nice biography and learn more about St Teresa Margaret, please visit this excellent site. I read somewhere a long time ago (read: years) that St Teresa Margaret is the best preserved incorrupt saint without any type of preservative (I love St Bernadette, but she's been waxed in recent years). St Teresa Margaret is one many jewels in Carmel. It's so unfortunate that her cult is not more widespread in the USA...

-o-
"...I sometimes am in doubt as to which way I must turn... I feel greatly confused; I certainly do not want to offend God. I have no desire other than belong wholly to Him."

"I am telling you in strict confidence, sure of your discretion, that I find myself in pain because I am not doing anything to correspond to the demands of love. I feel that I am continually being reproached by my Sovereign Good, and yet, I am very sensitive to the slightest movement contrary to the love and knowledge of Him. I do not see; I do not feel; I do not understand anything interiorly or exteriorly that could impel me to love. Everything is an obstacle and prevents me from throwing myself unreservedly into the arms of God, and I am so aware of this fact that I scarcely know how to occupy my mind - even the very things that could help me to love present obstacles to me, and I strive hard to avoid these. I have no other remedy than to work in complete faith, but on account of my cold-heartedness, this also is painful to me. However, thanks to a continual vigilance over the inferior faculties and over the suggestions of the common enemy (the devil), I think that these things are helping to make me a little less imperfect."

-- From the letters of St Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart

Sound familiar? I think we can relate to her feelings...