How can someone not know who they are?…..Its our job to discover what is actually already there!

Today at Holy Mass the Universal Church honors St Teresa of Ávila, who is a Doctor of the Church and was a great reformer….If you are a student of history as I am you will notice that whenever the Church grows weak, the Lord rises up saints to renew her…St Teresa of Ávila was one of those saints…I was reading a small portion of some of her writings this morning…She tells her nuns something interesting…..”Thus it is a shame and unfortunate that through our own fault we don’t understand ourselves or know who we are”….How can someone not know who they are?……St Teresa wrote a lot about penetrating into what she called the “interior castle of the soul”….That within each of us there are “caverns”, which we do not know exist - But they are there…The deeper you go…The more you may find the deeper you still have to go…And many do not discover these “caverns” that are within us….What should that tell us today?…..There is so much potential within YOU!……If we "tap into" what God has placed deep within each of us…We will set the world on fire!…..This is what St Teresa did….And 600 years later the world is still talking about her

“Brothers and sisters: For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery”

Jesus Christ took regular blue collar uneducated men and used them to do the impossible…..These 12 men did not know what they were individually capable of accomplishing…….What makes us any different?….The original 12 apostles discovered deep within themselves what St Teresa of Ávila called “a castle made entirely of diamonds”….But to get to that “castle” these 12 guys had to penetrate many layers…..Remember, the original 12 failed Jesus many times and “did not understand a lot”…However they persevered…..When a person has a “conversion”….The process does not end….We must be converted each and everyday…..Its like pealing an onion….As we “peal off” each layer we find something new about ourself and with each “layer removed” we conform ourself more and more to Christ….The most efficacious thing a person can do is pursue a holy life…When you encounter a holy person you will know immediately that such a person is not like everyone else!…..Their life reflects Jesus…Such an encounter is so powerful I simply can not put it into words but trust me, if you meet such a person you know it!…….This is how we change the world…Not with politics…Not with “programs”….Only saints change the world and St Teresa of Ávila did just that…Again, within each of us there are “great caverns”, which are untapped and unexplored….Its our job to discover what is actually already there!

“The word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart”

In the gospel today at Mass from St Luke Jesus addresses a teacher of the law…He tells him….....”Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil”……Jesus is trying to teach this man that what is most important is developing an interior life….Finding what St Teresa of Ávila would call the “interior castle”…We do that by living sacrificially, by fasting, by daily prayer, by humbling ourself in frequent Sacramental Confessions and by receiving Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in the state of grace…There are no short cuts!…This is how we find out truly “who we are”…This is how we discover the “untapped caverns” St Teresa wrote about…And this is how we set the world on fire!

How can someone not know who they are?…..Its our job to discover what is actually already there!