Sometimes, when we think of following the authorities in our lives we think of “toeing the line.” But following the apostles is not about toeing the line; it is about carrying the cross.
By Fr. Charles Fox, Catholic World Report, June 29, 2023
Rev. Charles Fox is an assistant professor of theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit. He holds an S.T.D. in dogmatic theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), Rome. He is also chaplain and a board member of Saint Paul Street Evangelization, headquartered in Warren, MI.
St. Teresa of Avila strongly believed that God was her great Friend, and that prayer is in large measure “an intimate sharing between friends.” One time she prayed to God, sharing with her Friend the pain of dealing with the hostility and gossip she was facing at that time. At one point during her prayer, she heard the Lord say to her, “Teresa, that is how I treat my friends.” Saint Teresa replied, “That is why you have so few friends.”
This story makes me feel like a brother who cannot help but admire his sister as she says something to their father he knows he could never get away with. Saint Teresa could say such a thing because she was so holy. She was saying this to God, I am sure, with a twinkle in her eye and with the understanding that she knew the Lord was telling her the truth. …