Memorial of St.
Teresa of Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church
(Romans 1:16-25; Luke 11:37-41)
May we call comfort and convenience contemporary gods? People certainly pay them much tribute. Drive-through services proliferate: bank deposits, fast food purchases, even
prescription pick-ups may be done without getting out of the car. The downside of this convenience is that
partakers deprive themselves of exercise and fossil fuel is being burnt. Certainly such partakers should ask themselves if they
are doing God’s will. Paul in the
selection from his letter to the Romans today states that some indeed choose to
worship created things rather than the Creator.
For Paul the universe gives ample testimony to a Creator
and to the Creator’s will. For millennia
the latter was called natural law and well accepted in civilized societies. Paul also believes that God punishes those
who do not abide by that law. Venereal
disease is a typical example. Paul’s
purpose is not to give a philosophical treatise on law, of course, but to
introduce God’s plan of universal salvation through Jesus Christ. Humans, he will show, would not be able to
break away from their tendency to infringe natural law except for the grace of
Jesus.
St. Theresa of Jesus probably wondered if religious in
her day were not ignoring God the Creator in favor of creaturely comforts. She reformed the Carmelite Order so that a
purer worship might be given to God. So
we might adjust our lifestyles to improve our worship of God.
