Dear Abigail, Trepidation does not become you.\u00a0 It is the devil\u2019s ploy.\u00a0 Between the lines of your notes I can read the eagerness and excitement you feel at the prospect of giving yourself entirely to our Lord.\u00a0 In my humble opinion, those indications should influence you much more than the petty fears about what your dad will say, what your friends will say, and what may happen to your \u201ccareer\u201d if you try the consecrated life and discover that it\u2019s not your vocation.\u00a0 My dear niece, no life choices are free from risks, but risking everything out of love for God (and out of a deep and long-standing conviction that he loves you in a special way) is the surest bet of all.\u00a0 Do not fear the advances of God\u2019s love; relish them. St Theresa did.\u00a0 Her remarkable life sprang from God\u2019s determined love; all she had to do was follow along.\u00a0 She was the most normal of children, exhibiting a love for the faith (quite natural considering the prominent role of the Church in sixteenth-century Spain), but also a fascination with fashions and romance and the sparkle of high society.\u00a0 When she began to listen to her conscience and felt the tug of her religious vocation, it was hard for her to accept it.\u00a0 She had to battle against contradictory desires in her own heart, and opposition from her beloved and devoted father.\u00a0 When she finally did enter the convent, she fell into the widespread spiritual mediocrity that plagued Spanish religious life, and for years enjoyed all the dissipation of the nuns\u2019 peculiar social life (the convent was one of the busiest of Avila\u2019s social parlors).\u00a0 But God\u2019s love wouldn\u2019t leave her alone.\u00a0 A good priest here, a saintly layman there \u2013 bits and pieces of sound spiritual advice combined with special favors in her prayer (and with plenty of trials \u2013 especially long illnesses) connived to lead her down a path of ravishing intimacy with the Lord.\u00a0 Levitations, visions, interior locutions, trances, angelic visitations \u2013 God showered her with extraordinary signs of his love, because he had an extraordinary mission for her to carry out.\u00a0 At the suggestion of a young nun, she discovered it: reform the lax Carmelite lifestyle, and begin a new foundation in which the nuns dedicated themselves seriously to prayer, simplicity, work, and the love of God.\u00a0 This she did, having to overcome a whole range of mountainous obstacles (from her sisters, from the clergy, from lay people, from townspeople, from her own followers\u2026) in order to lay the foundations of thirteen new Discalced (\u201cunshod\u201d \u2013 they wore sandals instead of shoes as part of their rigorous poverty) Carmelite convents for nuns and two for monks.\u00a0 Admittedly, Theresa was endowed with uncommon natural qualities of good humor, charm, wit, intelligence, and prudence, but it was because she generously put those talents (plus her burning, passionate heart) at the service of God\u2019s call that she achieved her personal fulfillment and a renewal in the Church that continues even today. So, I repeat, don\u2019t be afraid if our Lord is showing you a special love.\u00a0 He knows what he\u2019s doing.\u00a0 Don\u2019t resist him; give yourself to him.\u00a0 That\u2019s the only way to discover the great mission he has in store for you. Love, Uncle Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Abigail, Trepidation does not become you.\u00a0 It is the devil\u2019s ploy.\u00a0 Between the lines of your notes I can read the eagerness and excitement you feel at the prospect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n