St Teresa - Amendment to Picture

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Sai Ram Everyone,Enclosed is the picture of St Teresa of Avila of whom this article speaks of, and not Mother Teresa as posted earlier. Kindly excuse the oversight.Think of St.

Teresa, the little flower. She lived in a convent - a life of goodness

and purity and service, and this aroused jealousy among the other

sisters. Some took advantage of her goodness. This is a common

complaint. People say to me, you speak of the spirit of forgiveness.

But if we continue to forgive, people take undue advantage. Teresa did

not mind. She went a step further. She rejoiced when some of the other

inmates of the convent took advantage of her.She went on being

humiliated, laughed at, chaffed. Some misunderstood her innocence and

characterized it as stupidity : she did not mind. She went her way :

she called it the "little way". She realized that until she had become

nothing, until she had completely emptied herself, she would not be

acceptable to the Lord. She understood that the key - the only key - to

the portal of 'being' is 'not-to-be.'She wished to keep her

cell clean and tidy. In her absence, some threw dirt and dust in the

cell and made it unclean. She accepted it as God's Will : and never did

a word of complaint leave her lips.She was fond of a pretty

little jug. Someone took it away. The pretty jug was replaced by a

heavy, cracked one. "So much better," she said to herself, "I will be

free from attachment to things."One evening, she could not find

her lamp and had to go without her reading. She sat in the dark and

experienced the joy of having absolutely nothing.When she did

anything for anybody, she hated to be noticed. She willingly accepted

the blame that was due to others. She never tried to explain to her

superior that someone else was the culprit. When she was wrongly blamed

for having broken a vase, she kissed the ground and promised to be more

careful. She went out of her way to do things for a sister who was rude

to her : Teresa persevered with tireless patience until the

cross-gained sister became a devoted and gentle friend.She

forgave the hurts she did not deserve and, in her heart, there was

nothing but love for those who regarded themselves as her enemies but

whom she thought of as children of God. She walked the way of

forgiveness and became a saint. Today, she shines as a radiant star in

the firmament of the world's spiritual leaders.J. P. VASWANI(Burn Anger Before Anger Burns You - pg 64) For inspiring divine messages, texts, movies, videos, etc.,Visit : Sai

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