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Holinness And Nature

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There is a relationship between the intention of those composers who try to bring the words of Scripture to life and the way Teresa of Avila brought these same words into her life, or rather, how God brought His Word to life in her nature. The lyrics for most of the Cantata have been selected from prayers, Scripture passages and poems which were part of Teresa’s daily life in Carmel. When Teresa reflected upon these Scripture passages and said these prayers and wrote these poems, her nature resonated the presence of the life of God within them. All of her person—her passions, thoughts, will and knowledge—grew in conformity with the mystical life that was contained. Similarly, the composer seeks to reflect upon things and express the resonation from his nature. 

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God willed that Teresa live when she did so that she might love Him when she did in the way that she did. And so it is true of every human being who ever lived, lives or will live. Therefore, the context of her life is important in understanding how God intended Teresa of Avila to love and serve Him, and how He chose to love and serve us through her life. By understanding something of how God loves a particular saint and how that particular saint loves God, one learns something of the uniqueness of His love for each one of us, and, one is inspired in turn to try and love again. One also learns how the nature of God unites itself to the nature of man, and how the nature of man struggles both for and against that union. It can be seen in the case of Teresa of Avila, how God showers love and grace upon someone despite one being undeserving, wretched and feeble of effort. We also see, though, the magnificence of man as it is expressed in the boldness of Hezekiah, the wisdom of St. Dismas and the determination of St. Teresa. They teach us to rise again after a fall and to love again after a wound until that moment when we can respond to God’s ultimate grace and turn as St. Dismas did and request, “Lord, remember me...” 

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