Quotes
from and about Saint Teresa Margaret
“Lord,I
shall be yours, whatever the cost, despite all repugnance.”
Preparing
to enter Carmel
... the Prioress suggested that, for one intending to enter
Carmel, she could think of no better practice than “to accustom herself to
mortify her own will in all things, however trifling, and to yield willingly
her own rights in order to convenience others, pleasantly agreeing with their opinions,
treating all with a genuine kindness, thus making a continual and entire
sacrifice of the self to God.” ... Anna Maria (St. Teresa Margaret) had now,
from an authoritative source, the secret of the essential spirit of Carmel: the
holocaust of one’s will, rather than the rigid adherence to exterior acts and
mortifications.
Rather than continually
dwelling on her misery and worthlessness, she merely let all thought of self
fall away before the infinite majesty of God; and truly the most profitable and
genuine way of despising self is to forget oneself altogether.
However, self-knowledge unlike self-love does not depress with
the sight of one’s imperfections. “I can do all things in Him who gives me
strength,” she repeated with St. Paul, refusing to be downcast. God could and
would supply all she lacked, and Father Ildefonse testified: “The effect of
self-knowledge did not discourage her, but rather forced her to throw herself
on the goodness and mercy of God. She said to me once, ‘From myself, nothing;
from God, everything ... the smaller and weaker I am in myself, the richer and
stronger I shall be in Him ... He shall be the more glorious in His mercy as I
am more despicable in my sins and nothingness.’’
On her practice of poverty and detachment, Teresa Margaret
framed the following counsel: “Always receive with equal contentment from God’s
hand either consolations or sufferings, peace or distress, health or illness.
Ask nothing, refuse nothing, but always be ready to do and to suffer anything
that comes from His Providence.”
She who does not know how to conform her will to that of others
will never be perfect.
Let the nuns take great care not to excuse themselves for their
faults except when absolutely necessary. By acting in this way they will make
great progress in humility.
“Knowing that a bride cannot be pleasing to her spouse unless
she endeavors to become what he wishes her to be ... I will always think of my
neighbors as beings made in your likeness, produced by your divine love,
redeemed at the price of your precious Blood, looking upon them with true
Christian charity, which you command. I will sympathize with their troubles,
excuse their faults, always speak well of them, and never willingly fail in
charity towards them in thought, word, or deed.”
I am resolved to give complete obedience in everything without
exception, not only to my superiors, but also to my equals and inferiors, so as
to learn from you, my God, who made yourself obedient in far more difficult
circumstances than those in which I find myself.”
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