Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

Yesterday was the Feast of Saint Theresa of Avila. She is one of my favorite saints—mostly I think because she had a wry sense of humor that adds some life to our sometimes lifeless image of sainthood.

For example, she is said to have fallen from her horse in the middle of a river. Lying there in the mud she looked up to Heaven and said, “God, if this is how you treat your friends it’s no wonder you have so few!”

She seems to have had an ease with love, prayer, and devotion that made her zealous not just for dogma or doctrine but for joy.

My favorite quote of hers on faith is this one:

“Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us. The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything.”

So often the path to sainthood seems a huge, daunting thing. It’s something that most of us are content not to strive for at all given its loftiness. But St Theresa reminds us that it is in doing that which stirs love in us that we may best serve—that might best equip us for sainthood.

Doing all with the desire to please God will set us on that step by step, inch by inch, prayer by prayer, act of love by act of love path. May this week give you many opportunities to do that which stirs true love in you. May it give you a chance to please God in some new way too.

Yours in Christ,

—Fr Robert