September
1
SAINT
TERESA MARGARET REDI
OF
THE SACRED HEART
Virgin
OC:
Optional Memorial
OCD:
Memorial
Carmelite
Proper
Teresa
Margaret was born in Arezzo in Tuscany in 1747 of the noble Redi family, and
entered the Discalced Carmelites in Florence on September 1, 1764. She was given
a special contemplative experience concerning the words of Saint John, "God
is love." She felt deeply that her vocation was to live a hidden life of
love and self-immolation. That vocation was confirmed by her heroic exercise of
fraternal charity, but was soon completed: she died in 1770, aged twenty-three.
From
the Common of Virgins, except the following:
Office of Readings
HYMN
Come,
happy Saint, and teach us all
The
boundless love of Christ,
His
gifts to you, that for the height
Of
sanctity sufficed.
You
made Teresa's teaching yours,
Together
with her name,
Determined
to become with her
A
spirit of pure flame.
Drawn
by your Spouse, you lived with Him
A
hidden life apart.
Teach
us to drink the healing springs
That
well up from his heart.
THE
SECOND READING
Decr. Super tuto
From
the Decree of Canonization
The love of Christ overwhelms us
BRIEF
as it was, Teresa Margaret's whole life may be regarded as one continual raising
up of her guiltless soul to God.
In
its innocence her soul turned spontaneously to God, and seemed able to find rest
in him alone. In her, utter purity was joined to profound humility and she
genuinely loved to be disregarded and despised. She did not simply bear
humiliations, she rejoiced in them. Her purity of heart and her lowliness of
spirit earned for her a high degree of charity, and this rapidly increased until
her ardor became truly seraphic and she could hardly speak of God without her
face becoming suffused with joy. Her love of God went hand in hand with a deep
love for her neighbor and especially for sinners, on whose behalf she offered
herself unreservedly to God as a victim. Her unassuming kindness and complete
self-denial for the sake of her sisters in religion, especially the sick, were
such that she was regarded as an angel of charity.
The
fires of her love were fed principally by the Eucharist, and she looked forward
with longing to her communions. She was also especially devoted to the Sacred
Heart of Jesus, a devotion which did much to curb the advances of Jansenism at
that time in Tuscany. She was utterly devoted to Our Lady, whom she regarded as
the model and protectress of her own virginal purity. She was endowed to a high
degree with the gift of contemplative prayer, and daily grew closer to God, as
though reflecting the glories of the eternity she was fast approaching.
As
her life neared its end this true daughter of the holy Mother Teresa and
faithful disciple of Saint John of the Cross was called upon through a mystical
martyrdom of the spirit, to resemble her crucified Spouse yet more closely. It
was the very intensity of her love which caused this martyrdom; for the more
fervent love becomes the more unrelentingly it spurs the soul on to further
love, and since no love of ours can match God's infinite lovableness, such a
soul suffers exquisite torments from its insatiable thirst for greater love, and
seems to itself to be wrapped in impenetrable darkness and to be totally lacking
in love for God. In fact the greater love is, the less it seems to itself to be.
It is the soul that is truly 'nailed to the cross with Christ' by this supreme
martyrdom of the heart that wins for itself and for others the choicest fruits
of redemption.
Such
souls by their silent apostolate of suffering, love and prayer, are foremost in
the benefits they obtain for mankind and are the purest and most exalted in the
whole Church.
RESPONSORY
R.
Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is the one Lord. You must love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
V.
The Lord our God is a consuming fire, a jealous God is he, * You must love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength.
PRAYER
Father,
you
enabled Saint Teresa Margaret Redi
to
draw untold resources of humility and charity
from
the fountain-head, our Savior.
Through
her prayers
may
we never be separated from the love of Christ.
Grant
this through our Lord.
Morning Prayer
HYMN
The
life that flowered in Carmel's shade,
Yielding
a fragrant-scented grace,
Is
crowned in heaven, a bud of light
Washed
in the radiance from God's face.
Margaret,
you blaze with charity
Among
those weaving virgin choirs
Who,
for reward, follow the Lamb
Singing
the love his name inspires.
Help
us to catch that same love's fire
That,
lit with the interior flame,
we
find our life, our peace, our joy,
All
things in Christ and in his name.
Help
us deserve the Father's gifts,
tasting
eternity and heaven
In
the unclouded source of joy
From
whom alone all gifts are given.
Open
your hearts to take the life
Which
his renewing Spirit pours,
Life
that returns the Father's love
with
the same freedom it restores.
So
even on earth we come to know
God's
Trinity by God's own grace,
Happy,
like you, for evermore
To
sing his glory and his praise.
L.M.
Unknown
BENEDICTUS
I
am the way, the truth and the life: no one comes to the Father except through
me.
PRAYER
Father,
you
enabled Saint Teresa Margaret Redi
to
draw untold resources of humility and charity
from
the fountain-head, our Savior.
Through
her prayers
may
we never be separated from the love of Christ.
Grant
this through our Lord.
Evening Prayer
HYMN
The
life that flowered in Carmel's shade,
Yielding
a fragrant-scented grace,
Is
crowned in heaven, a bud of light
Washed
in the radiance from God's face.
Margaret,
you blaze with charity
Among
those weaving virgin choirs
Who,
for reward, follow the Lamb
Singing
the love his name inspires.
Help
us to catch that same love's fire
That,
lit with the interior flame,
we
find our life, our peace, our joy,
All
things in Christ and in his name.
Help
us deserve the Father's gifts,
tasting
eternity and heaven
In
the unclouded source of joy
From
whom alone all gifts are given.
Open
your hearts to take the life
Which
his renewing Spirit pours,
Life
that returns the Fathers's love
with
the same freedom it restores.
So
even on earth we come to know
God's
Trinity by God's own grace,
Happy,
like you, for evermore
To
sing his glory and his praise.
L.M.
Unknown
MAGNIFICAT
As
the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: remain in my love.
PRAYER
Father,
you
enabled Saint Teresa Margaret Redi
to
draw untold resources of humility and charity
from
the fountain-head, our Savior.
Through
her prayers
may
we never be separated from the love of Christ.
Grant
this through our Lord.
last
edited on 11 Sep 2008 |