Tag: God

God is very near – Teresa of Avila

Today, October 15th, the Church keeps the feast-day of one of my favourite saints – Teresa of Avila.  She was often referred to as God’s Gadbout because she spent a lot of her energy in founding convents of nuns throughout Spain in the 16th century.  She was forever on the move and yet she is remembered best for her teaching about Prayer and particularly about Contemplative prayer which requires stillness.  No matter how busy she was – and she was very busy – she made sure her heart was constantly fixed on God, whom she referred to as Your Majesty.  God for her was very near.  Indeed she coined a famous phrase – ‘God walks among the pots and pans’  We find God in the ordinariness of life, and if we train ourselves to recognize that, we shall meet Him in the everyday events of our lives and in the people we meet.  This is about finding Heaven in Ordinary.

Teresa believed that God was within us as well as beside us, and here she took up our Lord’s own teaching that the Kingdom of God is within us.  We encounter Him in the silent depths of our hearts.

You know that God is everywhere, she says, which is a great truth; wherever God dwells there is heaven, and you may feel sure that all which is glorious is near His Majesty.

Then she refers to St Augustine who sought God in many places and at last found the Almighty within himself.  We don’t need to go to heaven to find God, she says, We are not forced to take wings to find Him, but have only to seek solitude and to look within ourselves.

She calls this seeking God in solitude within ourselves the prayer of Recollection – or Contemplation.  In her work, Interior Castle, she develops this using the imagery of a King in his Palace.

Let us realize that we have within us a most splendid palace built entirely of gold and precious stones – in short, one that is fit for such a Lord – and that we are partly responsible for the condition of this building, because there is no structure so beautiful as the soul full of pure virtues, and the more perfect these virtues are, the more brilliantly do the jewels shine

What we find in this Palace is the mighty King who, she says,  has deigned to become your Father and Who is seated on a throne of precious value, by which I mean your heart.

Realizing this took her quite a while.

Had I understood always, as I do now, that so great a King resided in my soul I should not have left Him alone so often, but should have stayed with Him sometimes and not kept His dwelling place in such disorder.

For Teresa, then, it is when we enter into silence and spend a little time with God in our hearts that the soul makes progress in the prayer.  God becomes the centre of our being, always to be found when we still the voices of the world that claim so much of our attention.

Teresa says that it is only through silence that we can encounter the love of God and receive it into our hearts.  God is very near.  We should seek him within.

A Prayer of St Teresa
(often known as Teresa’s bookmark.
It was found in her prayer book after her death)

Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing frighten you.
All things are passing;
God only is changeless.
Patience gains all things.
Who has God wants nothing.
God alone suffices.

Harvest, a time to thank God

Harvest poster @ St. James, Whitechapel, Lancashire
created by Helen Smith & Sunday School children

John, a Vicar in North Lancashire once told me that on Harvest Sunday he had blessed the Atlantic Ocean . As his parish was extremely land-locked I expressed some scepticism about this. “The trouble with you,” he told me, “is that your vision is too narrow!” He then explained that on Harvest Sunday morning he had held a service at a farm in the parish. During this service he had blessed the farm’s water-supply, a stream which ran into a small pool and then out again at the other end. This water then flowed down into a small river which eventually flowed into the mighty Ribble. This in turn flowed out into the Irish Sea and the Irish Sea was eventually joined to the Atlantic Ocean . So John, by a small stretch of imagination and a big vision had indeed blessed the Atlantic Ocean .
I was both deeply impressed and very chastened!

John’s big vision was a reflection of God’s vision for Creation. Harvest Festival time is an opportunity to think about the Farming community and , despite the problems in Agriculture, to celebrate and give thanks for those who provide for our needs and share with God in the joys and fruits of creation.

It is also essential to focus on those who have no harvest.
This is a time of great uncertainty with all the effects of Coronavirus, not least the plight of the increasing numbers of those needing to use Foodbanks*. Then there is drought in various parts of the world, extreme heat causing wildfires in West Coast America, after devastating fires in Australia, the effects of war in the Middle East, the destruction of the rain forests, all of which are compounded by situations like the explosion in  Beirut which destroyed homes and lives, and so much that mars creation. Add to that the possible problems for farmers and food producers and sellers who will be affected if we have a no-deal Brexit.

Whilst these are big issues affecting us as we try to harvest the resources of our planet with responsibility, we mustn’t lose sight of the bigger picture. In a world teeming with beauty there is a right moment to say Thank You to God for providing a world not only for our needs but also for our delight.

When, in 1843, the Revd R.S. Hawker introduced to his parish in Cornwall an Harvest Thanksgiving service, he simply wanted to give thanks to God and to the farming community. He did not guess then that by 1862 such a festival had become so widespread that the Church of England, encouraged by Queen Victoria, made it an official Thanksgiving.  Others have joined the celebration.

Though that Cornish Vicar lived at a time of rapid and deeply unsettling change in Agriculture as people started to migrate to the new industrial centres seeking work in manufacturing industries, he still saw much to give thanks for. We can get bogged down in the negatives in a way which blots out the positive. There is a wideness of vision which can take in the difficulties and problems whilst pointing us beyond them.

In rural Lancashire during the time I was there, we had the beef and then the sheep crisis in the space of ten years. Both had a devastating effect on the lives of the farming community. We also lived in an official Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Both the problems and the joys existed side by side. With so much beauty around us the area attracted many visitors. Today many farmers still tend the land but also cater for those in search of the beautiful and the breathtaking. Those indeed who are able to drive or walk through the countryside in search of something we might call spiritual and what I would certainly recognize as God, are often refreshed in spirit. With the brushstrokes of His creativity God has painted on a wide and deep canvas. We should stand back from time to time and enjoy the view.

Harvest is certainly a time to pray for farmers and give thanks for their provision of food. It is also a time to do something practical about the needs of the world.
It is, however, particularly, a time to thank God for all the providence and goodness towards us.

[GC]

  • Foodbanks* throughout the country are reliant on gifts from the public. Many are currently overstretched and would welcome donations of food . Why not find out where your nearest Foodbank is and phone them to ask what are their specific needs. Then think about how you might be able to help. This too is an expression of thanksgiving.