July 17
Bl. Teresa of St. Augustine and Companions, Virgins and Martyrs
OC: Optional Memorial
OCD: 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 24th, 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 17th, 1794. They were beatified by Pope St. Pius X on May 13, 1906.
(I like to know their names and thought that you might too.) Sr. Teresa of St. Augustine, Sr. St. Louis, Sr. of Jesus Crucified, Sr. Charlotte of the Resurrection, Sr. Euphrasie of Immaculate Conception, Sr. Henriette of Jesus, Sr. Teresa of the Heart of Mary, Sr. Teresa of St. Ignatius, Sr. Julie-Louise of Jesus, Sr. Marie-Henriette of Providence, Sr. Constance, Sr. Mary of the Holy Spirit, Sr. St. Martha, Sr. St. Francis Xavier, and extern sisters (siblings too), Marie-Anne-Catherine and Therese.
Office of Readings
Second Reading
>From the Way of Perfection of St. Teresa of Jesus
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.
Le 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! If you have given Him your will, what are you afraid 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 our last, is there a single one of us who will feel inclined to shirk?
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
R/. Rejoice that you share the sufferings of Christ, * for when His glory is revealed you will be filled with joy.
V/. Blessed are you when you are persecuted for Christ's sake, * for when His glory is revealed you will be filled with joy.
Canticle of Zechariah
Prepare your lamps, you wise virgins, for behold, the Bridegroom is coming: go out and meet Him.
Prayer
Lord God,
You called Bl. 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 Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Canticle of Mary
You virgins of the Lord, who have endured the great ordeal, come and rejoice with God forever.
************
for Mass
Entrance Antiphon
Let the virgins praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is supreme; its majesty outshines both earth and heaven.
Prayer
(see above)
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord,
we celebrate the martyrdom of Your holy virgins.
May we offer the sacrifice
which gives all martyrdom its meaning.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Communion Antiphon
Neither death nor life nor anything in all creation can come between us and Christ's love for us.
Prayer after Communion
Father,
we have been refreshed with bread from heaven.
May we confess Your name
with the same steadfastness
which Bl. Teresa of St. Augustine
and her companions
obtained from this sacred banquet.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
First Reading
Romans 8: 31-39
What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Responsorial Psalm
R/. Those who sow in tears shall reap with songs of joy.
When the Lord delivered Sion from ,
it seemed like a dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, on our lips there were songs. R/.
The heathens themselves said: 'What marvels the Lord worked for them!'
What marvels the Lord worked for us!
Indeed we were glad. R/.
Deliver us, O Lord, from our
as streams in dry land.
those who are sowing in tears
will sing when they reap. R/.
They go out, they go out, full of tears, carrying seed for the sowing:
they come back, they come back, full of song, carrying their sheaves. R/.
Gospel
John 15: 18-21
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. This I command you, to love one another. "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, `A servant is not greater than his master.'
If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all this they will do to you on my account, because they do not know him who sent me.
