Carmelite QuotesQuote of the day, 16 April: St. Teresa of Avila
Give us this day our daily bread (Lk 11:3)
O eternal Lord! Why do You accept such a petition? Why do You consent to it? Don’t look at His love for us, because in exchange for doing Your will perfectly, and doing it for us, He allows Himself to be crushed to pieces each day. It is for You, my Lord, to look after Him, since He will let nothing deter Him.
Why must all our good come at His expense? Why does He remain silent before all and not know how to speak for Himself, but only for us?
Well, shouldn’t there be someone to speak for this most loving Lamb? [Allow me, Lord, to speak—since You have willed to leave Him to our power—and to beseech You since He so truly obeyed You and with so much love gave Himself to us].
I have noticed how in this petition alone He repeats the words: first He says and asks the Father to give us this daily bread, and then repeats, “give it to us this day, Lord,” invoking the Father again [dádnoslo hoy, Señor].
It’s as though Jesus tells the Father that He is now ours since the Father has given Him to us to die for us; and asks that the Father not take Him from us until the end of the world; that He allow Him to serve each day. May this move your hearts, my daughters, to love your Spouse, for there is no slave who would willingly say he is a slave, and yet it seems that Jesus is honored to be one.
O Eternal Father! How much this humility deserves! What treasure do we have that could buy Your Son? The sale of Him, we already know, was for thirty pieces of silver [Mt 26:15]. But to buy Him, no price is sufficient.
Since by sharing in our nature, He has become one with us here below—and as Lord of His own will—He reminds the Father that because He belongs to Him, the Father in turn can give Him to us. And so He says, “our bread.”
He doesn’t make any difference between Himself and us, but we make one by not giving ourselves up each day for His Majesty.
Saint Teresa of Avila
The Way of Perfection, chap. 33, nos. 4–5
Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.
Featured image: Judas Goes to Find the Jews (Judas va trouver les Juifs) was executed in opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper by artist James Tissot, (French, 1836-1902) during the years 1886-1894 as he created his famed series The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ (La Vie de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ). So many of these well-known artworks are in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum in New York and are available for download online with no known copyright restrictions.
⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
On this day of betrayal, how are you moved by the Lord’s silence and His daily self-gift?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.
#bread #giving #humility #incarnation #JesusChrist #LordSPrayer #silence #StTeresaOfAvila
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