7/13/2012 – Friday of the 14th week of ordinary time- Hosea 14:2-10; Matthew 10:16-23

        Through the prophet Hosea, the Lord tells his people that he will heal their defection and love them freely, that God will be like the dew for Israel, that he will help Israel bloom like a lily.  Israel will once again blossom like a vine.  What comforting images the prophet gives us.  Then, we hear some not so comforting images from today’s Gospel from Matthew, of how Christ’s followers will be sent out like sheep amongst the wolves.  The Lord will help us through this persecution, he will put the words in our mouths that we will use to defend ourselves, but this does not sound like it will be an enjoyable experience, does it?

         Our life of faith is not always comfortable and easy, is it?  We are confronted with persecution, suffering, and anger.  I thought of one of the saints who is celebrated today – Teresa of the Andes.  She is one of the wonderful Carmelite saints who stands as a firm example of faith for us, in the tradition of other Carmelite saints such as Edith Stein, Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, and John of the Cross.  Teresa of the Andes was made one of the patron saints of youth by John Paul II when she was canonized.  Teresa of the Andes, whose given name was Juana, was a child and youth full of life, who lived in the country of Chile in the early 20^th century in an upper middle class family.  She read the autobiography of Therese of Lisieux when she was a child, and thus decided that she would dedicate her life completely to God.  She worked hard to overcome her self-centerd personality to become a person who served others.  Yet, for all of her hopes and dreams to become a nun and to live a saintly life, she only lived for nine months after entering the Carmelite convent after have contracted typhus.  Her life of faith still speaks to us today even though her short life lasted a mere 20 years. 

         We never know what we will face in our lives of faith.  Life may not always be as straight a shot as we would like it to be.  For me, the lives of the saints speak so strongly to us as models of faith.  When we think of the adversity and the challenges that they overcame, we receive inspiration, courage, and role models to emulate in our own lives of faith.