Today is the feast day of St. Teresa of Avila, known for reforming the Carmelite order and writing a number of mystical works. Among her writings is her spiritual autobiography, The Interior Castle, in which she humbly describes her lifelong struggles with sin and temptation, even during her religious life in a convent.
One of the benefits of studying the heroes of the faith is that we discover they are human just like us – individuals who made mistakes, but clung to their faith in the sinless Christ for their salvation.
Here at Cross Catholic Outreach, this realization – that God has redeemed us in spite of ourselves – is both humbling and encouraging as we go about the business of doing his work. You don’t have to be sinless to serve the poor. You don’t have to be perfect to go to the mission field. You don’t have to reach total sanctification before God can use you to start an orphanage or spread the Gospel.
Isn’t it amazing that God honors his imperfect disciples with the responsibility to be Christ’s hands and feet to the world!
-Tony M.