15/10/2014

Good morning.

Today is the feast day of Saint Teresa of Avila, one of the greatest Saints in the Church calendar. What is remarkable about Saint Teresa is that she died either on the 4th October or on 15th October 1582 because she died around midnight as Catholic countries in Europe made the switch from the old Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar. By the time the correction of the 1600 year old Julian Calendar was made it was 11 days out of sync with true time.

There are many varied ways of marking time across the world. Even if we don’t feel controlled by a watch on our wrist we still have our internal body clock telling us, sometimes pleading with us, that it is time to be going to sleep.

The seasons move on, time marches forward and just as nature moves through the seasons during the course of a year, so too do we move through the seasons in the course of our lives. In the springtime, life begins and with it is born the hopes and dreams for tomorrow. Then summer arrives. The hopes and dreams don’t fade, things just become more realistic. But more importantly, life is being lived. Then Autumn arrives and with it energy begins to fade, life slows down. And then winter comes upon us. It seems like life has stopped and nothing is friendly. The winter seems to destroy all that the other three seasons have created and built up.

Perhaps, as we start a new day, maybe even start a new job or enter a new phase of life we could take Saint Teresa’s prayer as our own, Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.