THE INCURRUPT BODY OF ST. THERESE MARGARET.
The
grace of Deus caritas est
One Sunday after Pentecost, on the 28th of June, 1767, when
Sister Teresa Margaret was officiating in choir, she read out the little
chapter at Terce: “Deus caritas est.” She had heard these words repeatedly,
Sunday after Sunday, for the past three years, but now it seemed as though she
understood them for the first time - or rather, her understanding of them was
raised to an entirely different plane. The verse struck her with the force of a
revelation: “God is love; he who dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him.”
This dwelling had been the goal of all her striving, seeking as she did to
imitate the interior life and hidden operations of Christ. From that day
onwards the necessity of proving her love by deeds became so compelling a force
that it was obvious to her sisters that some special grace had been given her.
“Nobody comes to the Father except through Jesus,” she said. “To come to God
who is everything and consequently all good, no fatigue must seem to us too
great; we must not be put off either by the difficulties we meet on the way,
but accept bitterness and welcome every kind of cross with eagerness. By these
means, which are precisely those of Jesus Christ, it is not difficult to come
to the true God, to live in charity, to walk in love.”
Despite her customary reticence and assiduity in concealing any
graces or spiritual favors, the fact that something out of the ordinary had
taken place on that Sunday morning was apparent to all. For days the young nun
seemed quite out of herself, and the sudden illumination that the words had
sent flooding into her soul is difficult to explain, because of the seeming
triviality of the incident and her own habitual silence about such things. It
marked the beginning of a new stage in her spiritual life, as Father Ildefonse
was quick to observe. From this time, he noticed that the quiet, self-possessed
and reserved sister appeared to withdraw even more into herself, becoming
engrossed in a silent, determined, and conscious awareness of the presence
within her, and her endeavors to attain to perfect union with Him. However,
this withdrawal was a purely spiritual matter, and there was no suggestion of
cutting herself adrift from the community, for she continued to give herself
wholeheartedly to all, in her services as infirmarian, in companionship and
sympathy at recreation, and in never avoiding her share of work on the grounds
of seeking more solitude.
Speaking to Father Ildefonse one day, she tried to express to
him something of the significance those words God is love now held for her, but
she became almost incoherent in her emotion. “Just as the soul in the state of
grace (which is charity) is in God, God is in her. Just as the soul lives the
life of God, so does God in a certain way live IN her. And so it is that between
them there is but a single life, a single love ... God alone! The difference is
that God has all by essence, whereas the creature has it only by participation
and grace.” And, adds Father Ildefonse, “Note that these words came from a
simple child who had never studied and knew no theology apart from what her
instinct taught her.”
Father Ildephonse reflecting on her death remarked “she could
not have lived very much longer so great was the strength of the love of God in
her”.
HER FEAST DAY IS CELEBRATED ON SEPTEMBER 1st.
