Spiritual reading suggestions from St. Teresa

In her Autobiography, St. Teresa mentions several books which had a profound impact upon her spritual life. Having an internet search engine puts a college library at your fingertips!

St. Teresa of Avila on the Letters of St. Jerome:

My fondness for good books was my salvation. Reading the Letters of St. Jerome so encouraged me that I decided to tell my father about my decision to take the habit...

Here's a link to the Letters of St. Jerome at New Advent.

In Chapter 4, she writes that she is very happy with a certain book:

When I was on the way, that uncle of mine I mentioned who lived along the road gave me a book. It is called the Third Spritual Alphabet and endeavors to teach the prayer of recollection.

The Third Spiritual Alphabet by Francisco de Osuna.

St. Teresa writes about the importance the words of Job:

It was a great help to me to be patient, that I had read the story of Job, in the Morals of St. Gregory (our Lord seems to have prepared me thereby); and that I had begun the practice of prayer, so that I might bear it all, conforming my will to the will of God. All my conversation was with God. I had continually these words of Job in my thoughts and in my mouth: "If we have received good things of the hand of our Lord, why should we not receive evil things?

More on line reading...the Morals of St. Gregory

Thanksgiving (and good news)

This weekend it seems like I spent time with an old friend when I picked up the Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, The Book of Her Life.

New layers of meaning are found with each new reading. This time around, I have been struck by St. Teresa's expression of remorse. I think modern writers are quick to dismiss self deprecating expressions by the saints as scrupulous or overly introspective. I find it refreshing to hear this Saint and Doctor of the Church lament her ingratitude for the many gifts He had bestowed upon her.

How many gifts and privileges have I been given by God? Do I remember to give abundant thanks for these? How many pleas and prayers have I offered to God and did I return the same amount of gratitude when the Lord interceded for me?

As the years pass and we spend more time in the Lord's company, it will be natural for the soul to feel a growing sense of inadequacy between it and God. Even though we still know and believe that God created His creatures good, we learn through first hand experience how much greater is the Lord than His creatures.

a little sewing tip

When making matching clothes for the girls, I've found that it can become confusing when the laundry is done for the girls to know which skirt belongs to whom. On an outing to the craft store, I let each daughter pick out a box of buttons. One girl chose butterflies, another squares, the third chose hearts and I picked out flowers for my littlest. I hand sew a button to each girl's skirt (or apron or shirt) to identify the owner of the clothing.

Wynken, Blynken and Nod

Since my six and eight year old girls are between sizes, I had them choose some fabric from my stash so that I could make them new skirts. As I was ironing, my 10 year old son said the fabric reminded him of Wynken, Blynken and Nod.

Over the weekend, while the children played outside enjoying the lovely spring like weather, I had a few extra moments to stitch up their skirts. I bought white shirts at the store and appliqued a wooden shoe to their shirts.

We call this their Wynken, Blynken and Nod outfits!

Pointing to Sunday Mass

Over the years, I've tried to have practices during the week which point to Sunday Mass.This year I tried to organize them so that I accomplished one thing a day to turn my mind to Sunday's Mass. I wish I could say I had been more faithful to these ideas. For next year, I think I'll try to organize them more in advance -- this might help me to keep a strong tack on this.

Here's my list

• Mondays -- begin school day with the next Sunday's Psalm. Review the psalm response during the week at lunch. Blog Post
• Tuesdays -- prepare Sunday clothes. Make sure boys's shirts are ironed, Sunday socks are washed and cleaned. Look at girls dresses. blog post on ironing and Sunday Mass -- see last paragraph
• Wednesdays -- Review St. Paul's letter read at Sunday's mass. Pick out a word for the children to focus on and listen for at Mass. During the year of St. Paul, most weeks I put this word on our fireplace mantle. Scroll down this category.
• Thursdays -- instead of reading the daily gospel, which we used to read at Tea Time but now we read first thing in the morning, read Sunday's gospel. Highlight that Thursday is a remembrance of the First Holy Thursday, the day in which the Eucharist was instituted.
• Friday -- abstinence prepares our hearts to receive the food of heaven. Our hunger from abstaining from meat reminds us to be hungry for the Bread of Heaven. Blog post on Friday abstinence
• Saturday -- something for Our Lady who always kept the Lord (and the Eucharistic Lord) in her heart.