July 17 Blessed Teresa of St Augustine & Companions

July 17 Blessed Teresa

of St Augustine &

Companions

 

Optional Memorial

 

As the French Revolution entered its worst days, sixteen Discalced Carmelites from the Monastery of the Incarnation in Compiegne offered their lives as a sacrifice to God, making reparation to him and imploring peace for the Church. On June 24 1794, they were arrested and thrown into prison. Their happiness and resignation were so evident that those around them were also encouraged to draw strength from God’s love. They were condemned to death for their fidelity to the Church and their religious life and for their devotion to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Singing hymns, and having renewed their vows before the superior, Teresa of St Augustine, they were put to death in Paris on July 17, 1794.

From the Common of Martyrs or the Common of Virgins, except the following:

Office of Readings

Hymn

Let Carmel echo joyfully
They dying hymns that soared above
When Compiegne so gladly gave 
Its greatest witness to God’s love. 

These virgin-martyrs gave their lives
For sin’s atonement, like their Lord;
They died to bring a troubled Church
The peace of Christ as love’s reward.

May we like them serve Holy Church
And build it up in unity,

Until at last in heav’n’s pure light
We gaze on God the Trinity. 

Our Queen and Mother, Carmel’s joy,
Look down with love on us who sing
The praise of those who died for love

Of Jesus Christ, your Son, our King.

Bless God the Father, source of love,
Bless God the Word, his only Son,
Bless God the Spirit, Dove of peace,
One God, while endless ages run.

 L.M. James Quinn, S.J.

Second Reading
from the Way of Perfection of St Teresa of Jesus                        Ch. 12, 1-3

It all seems very hard work, this business of perfection – and so it is: we are waging war on ourselves! But as soon as we get down to it God becomes so active in our souls and showers so many mercies on them that whatever has got to be done in this life seems insignificant. And as we nuns do so much already, giving up our freedom for love of God and subjecting it to someone else, what excuse have we got for holding back when it comes to interior mortification? 

That is where the secret lies of making all the rest so much more meritorious and perfect, not to mention doing it more easily and peacefully. The way to acquire it, as I have said, is to persevere bit by bit in not doing our own will or fancy, even in tiny things, till the body has been mastered by the spirit. 

Let me repeat that it is all or nearly all – a matter of getting rid of self-interest and our preoccupation with our own comfort. If you have started serving God seriously, the least you can offer him is your life! It you have given him your will, what are you aftraid of? If. you are a real religious, a real ‘pray-er,’ and want to enjoy God’s favors, you obviously can’t afford to shy away from wanting to die for him, and undergo martyrdom. Don’t you realize, sisters that the life of a good religious – a person who wants to be one of God’s really close friends – is one long martyrdom? I say ‘long’ because in comparison with those whose heads have been chopped off in a trice we can call it long, but all our lives are short, very short in some cases. And we don’t even know whether our own won’t be so short that it will come to an end an hour, or even a second, after we have made up our mind to serve God fully. That could happen.

We have just got to take no account of anything that will come to an end, least of all life, for we can’t count on a single day. If we remember that every hour might be out last, is there a single one of us who will feel inclined to shrink? 

Well, there is nothing you can be more certain of, believe me! So we must train ourselves to thwart our own wills in every way; then, if you try hard, as I have said, though you won’t get there all of a sudden, you will gradually arrive, without realizing it, at the peak of perfection. 

Responsory

Rejoice that you share the sufferings of Christ
  -for when his glory is revealed you will be filled with joy
Blessed are you when you are persecuted for Christ’s sake,
 - for when his glory is revealed you will be filled with joy. 

Morning Prayer

Hymn

Voice of the Bridegroom: now is winter passing,
Rain falls no longer, gardens yield their fragrance, 
Spring blooms appearing, trees resound with birdsong
Rise, my beloved.

Go out meet him, virgins all exulting, 
See he approaches, crowns you for your nuptials
Rapture and gladness, when he leads you homeward
Sharing his kingdom.

Love for the Bridegroom filled you whole horizon, 
Making you fearless in the face of danger;
Like him, your Master, life itself you offered,
Sacrificed for him. 

Joyfully faithful to your holy calling,
Nothing could daunt you, or your lamps extinguish;
Shining and glowing you would bear them to him
Through Cloud tempest. 

 

11.11.11.5 Margarita of Jesus, O.C.D.

Benedictus

Prepare your lamps, you wise virgins, for behold, the Bridegroom is coming: go out and meet him. 

Prayer

Lord God, 

you called Blessed Teresa of St Augustine and her companions to go on in the strength of the Holy Spirit from the heights of Carmel to receive a martyr’s crown. May our love too be so steadfast that it will bring us to the everlasting vision of your glory. We ask this through. our Lord. 

Evening Prayer

Magnigicat

Your virgins of the Lord, who have endured the great ordeal, come and rejoice with God forever.