| . Discussion of CHAPTER 33 The Way of Perfection - Treats of our great need that the Lord should give us what we ask in these words of the Paternoster: "Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie." [116] "Give us this day our daily bread." . |
St. Teresa continues to discuss
- the petitions of the Lord's Prayer
- the petitions of the Lord's Prayer
and also
- the difficulty
of surrendering our will to God
because of our weakness
and attachment to self.
and attachment to self.
By the petition, "Thy will be done",
(as she explained in Chapter 32),
we pray for the grace
to "surrender our will" to God
in order to "fulfill God's will in us".
Teresa emphasizes the connection
between these two petitions,
"Thy will be done"
and
"Give us this day our daily bread"
She explains that
although Jesus offered both His and our will
to the Father
[ "Our Father...Thy will be done"],
Jesus took into consideration
"our weakness"
and
"our weakness"
and
"our natural inclination to base things".
So, "He resolved to remain with us"
on earth by His presence in the Eucharist
"until the end of the world"
Jesus offers Himself (and His will) everyday
in the Holy sacrifice of the Mass
in humility to the Father
through the petition,
"Give us this day our daily bread".
St. Teresa is talking about the Bread of Life.
. John 6 32 ...my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34 So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." 35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. . |
Through the Eucharist,
Jesus continuously expresses
His commitment, suffering, and love for us.
He teaches us
"to give ourselves daily for His Majesty's sake" and
to strive to do the Father's will
in all our prayers, actions, and efforts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
█ The difficulty in surrendering our will
▲ The difficulty that we have in accepting trials
and also our own natural weakness
"...in this petition ('Thy will be done')
He was asking for more
than He had asked for
in the other petitions
but He already knew
what death He was to suffer
and
what dishonours and affronts
He would have to bear"
"The good Jesus understands,
- how difficult a thing
He is offering on our behalf,
for He knows our weakness,
and
- how often we show
that we do not understand
what the will of the Lord is,
since we are weak
while He is so merciful".
"He makes no difference
between Himself and us,
though we make one
between ourselves and Him
through not giving ourselves daily
for His Majesty's sake"
"the good Jesus knew
what He had given for us
and
how important it was for us
to give this (our will) to God, and
yet how difficult it would be
for us to do so,
because of
- our natural inclination
to base things
and
- our want of love and courage".
█ Christ instituted the Eucharist
to remain with us
and
to sustain us daily
and
to sustain us daily
in following God's will:
"He knows
that some means must be found
by which we shall
- not omit to give
- what He has given on our behalf,
if we did that
it would be anything but good for us,
since everything we gain
comes from what we give.
Yet He knows
that it will be difficult for us
to carry this out"
"He saw that,
before we could be aroused,
we needed His aid,
not once but every day,
and
it must have been for this reason
that He resolved to remain with us".
Jesus,
"Being made one with us
through the portion of our nature
which is His,
and
Being Lord of His own will,
He reminds His Father
that, as our nature is His,
He is able to give it to us"
( To give His Divine Presence to us
in the Eucharist )
"thus He says 'our bread' ".
" ...if the Lord had not done...
what was necessary
by means of the remedy
He has given us...
There would have been very few
who could have fulfilled this petition,
which the Lord made to the Father
on our behalf:
'Fiat voluntas tua'. "
"Thy Will be done".
"Seeing our need, therefore,
the good Jesus has sought
the admirable means
whereby He has shown us
the extreme love
which He has for us,
and
in His own name and
in that of His brethren
He has made this petition:
"Give us, Lord, this day our daily bread."
"He gave (the Father) such full obedience
and
surrendered Himself to us
with such great love…
in this petition alone
the same words are repeated:
the same words are repeated:
first of all the Lord
speaks of 'our daily bread'
and
asks Thee to give it,...
then, He says:
'Give it us to-day, Lord'. "
"He lays the matter
before His Father in this way:
the Father gave us His Son
once and for all
to die for us,
and
thus He is our own;
yet He does not want the gift
to be taken from us
until the end of the world
but would have it left
to be a help to us every day"
█ The Love that the Father and the Son
have for us:
The great Love between the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit
and the Son embraces us into that Love.
Gospel of John
14:20
"I am in my Father, and
you in me, and
I in you"
14:23
"If any one love me,
he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him,
and will make our abode with him"
15:9
"As the Father hath loved me,
I also have loved you"
17:21
"That they all may be one,
as thou, Father, in me,
and I in thee;
that they also may be one in us"
17:26
"...that the love
wherewith thou hast loved me,
may be in them, and I in them."
"Let this melt your hearts, my daughters,
and
make you love your Spouse".
St. Teresa' s prayer to the Father expresses for us
the humility, thanksgiving, and the awe
that we experience when we meditate
on the great love
that the Father and Son have for us.
"…the Father gave us His Son
once and for all
to die for us,
and thus
He (Jesus) is our own.
Yet (Jesus) does not want this gift
to be taken from us
until the end of the world
but would have it left to be a help
to us every day."
"What father could there be, Lord,
Who,
after giving us His Son,
and such a Son,
would allow Him to remain among us
day by day
to suffer as He had done already?"
Her prayer makes us mindful
of the continuous blessings
that we receive from the Eucharist
but at the cost of Jesus' suffering.
She brings into our awareness those questions
which have worried us
yet we have been at a loss to express in words:
"Why must all our good
come at His expense?"
Jesus, by His suffering, showed us
that He loves us
"as He loves Himself…
and
for the sake
of fulfilling God's will and
of helping us…
He went about seeking
how He could carry out this commandment
more perfectly,
even at His own cost".
St. Teresa meditates on the sacrifice
on the part of Jesus:
He "...surrendered Himself to us
with such great love".
"His will and that of the Father were one"
"…by sharing in our nature,
Jesus was "made one with us"
And since "our nature is His,
He is able to give it to us"
To give us His Divine Presence to us
in the Eucharist
Thus He says "our bread".
| . Gospel of John 3:16 For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. 3:35 The Father loveth the Son: and he hath given all things into his hand. 6:37 All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will not cast out. 6:38 Because I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. 10:17 Therefore doth the Father love me: because I lay down my life, that I may take it again 10:25 the works that I do in the name of my Father, they give testimony of me. 10:27 My sheep hear my voice: and I know them, and they follow me. 10:28 And I give them life everlasting; and they shall not perish for ever, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand. 10:29 That which my Father hath given me, is greater than all: and no one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father. 10:30 I and the Father are one. . 12:49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father who sent me, he gave me commandment what I should say, and what I should speak. 12:50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting. The things therefore that I speak, even as the Father said unto me, so do I speak. 14:9 He that seeth me seeth the Father also. How sayest thou, Shew us the Father? 14:10 Do you not believe, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I speak not of myself. But the Father who abideth in me, he doth the works. 14:11 Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? 14:13 Because I go to the Father: and whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that will I do: that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14:20 In that day you shall know, that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 14:23 If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him. 14:24 He that loveth me not, keepeth not my words. And the word which you have heard, is not mine; but the Father's who sent me. 15: 9 As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. 15:10 If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; as I also have kept my Father's commandments, and do abide in his love. 16:15 All things whatsoever the Father hath, are mine. Therefore I said, that he shall receive of mine, and shew it to you. 16:26 In that day you shall ask in my name; and I say not to you, that I will ask the Father for you: 16:27 For the Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. 17:5 And now glorify thou me, O Father, with thyself, with the glory which I had, before the world was, with thee. 17:6 I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou hast given me out of the world. Thine they were, and to me thou gavest them; and they have kept thy word. 17:7 Now they have known, that all things which thou hast given me, are from thee: 17:8 Because the words which thou gavest me, I have given to them; and they have received them, and have known in very deed that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them whom thou hast given me: because they are thine: 17:10 And all my things are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 17:11 And now I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou has given me; that they may be one, as we also are. 17:12 While I was with them, I kept them in thy name. Those whom thou gavest me have I kept; and none of them is lost,... 17:20 And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in me; 17:21 That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 17:22 And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, as we also are one: 17:23 I in them, and thou in me; that they may be made perfect in one: and the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast also loved me. 17:24 Father, I will that where I am, they also whom thou hast given me may be with me; that they may see my glory which thou hast given me, because thou hast loved me before the creation of the world. 17:25 Just Father, the world hath not known thee; but I have known thee: and these have known that thou hast sent me. 17:26 And I have made known thy name to them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them. . |
| . End of Discussion of Chapter 33 The Way of Perfection . |
