When You Feel Nothing in Prayer: St. Teresa Margaret’s Dark Night (1 September)

About this sermon

St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart endured profound spiritual darkness while faithfully loving God and serving those around her. Her hidden Carmelite life offers encouragement to anyone who feels cold, distracted, abandoned or unsuccessful in prayer. Born July 15, 1747, on the eve of the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Teresa was remarkably devout from childhood. At five years old she asked, “Who is God?” When her mother answered, “God is love,” Teresa replied, “How can I love Him as He loves me?” After entering Carmel, she concealed her extraordinary interior life beneath an ordinary, serene exterior. She practiced penance under obedience, accepted consolation and suffering equally from God’s hands and resolved to “ask nothing, refuse nothing.” During the chanting of *Deus caritas est*—“God is love”—Teresa received a profound understanding of divine charity. Yet this grace led to a painful awareness of how little she could return God’s infinite love. She experienced coldness, temptation, weariness and even feelings of despair. Nevertheless, she continued praying, serving her sisters and practicing charity. Her example teaches that holiness does not depend upon consoling feelings. What matters is persevering in faith, rising after every fall and continuing to do God’s will. St. Teresa Margaret died suddenly in 1770 at only twenty-two years old. Her body remained lifelike and free from decay, accompanied by a remarkable fragrance of flowers. Her incorrupt body remains at the Carmelite monastery in Florence. 🙏 St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart, pray for us! 00:00 St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart 00:26 Her extraordinary childhood spirituality 00:39 “Who is God?” 00:49 “How can I love Him as He loves me?” 01:06 Her deeply Catholic family 01:23 Education under the Benedictines 01:37 Her father as spiritual guide 02:07 “My father twice over” 02:23 Entering the Carmelite convent 02:32 Receiving her religious name 02:42 Her hidden interior life 02:57 Penance practiced under obedience 03:20 “Ask nothing, refuse nothing” 03:29 Accepting consolation and suffering 03:45 The key to sanctity: God’s will 04:00 Remaining serene through every trial 04:14 Never doing her own will 04:31 Charity toward her neighbor 05:01 A mystical grace in choir 05:10 Deus caritas est—God is love 05:33 Grace becomes a spiritual trial 06:06 Tormented by her inability to love God 06:29 Saints also experience darkness 07:02 Letters describing spiritual desolation 07:36 “Burning with the desire to love” 08:01 Persevering despite spiritual coldness 08:25 Why saints considered themselves sinners 09:03 “The tempest has become extremely violent” 09:41 Temptations to despair 10:06 Encouragement for the despondent 10:23 Holiness depends upon perseverance 10:38 Her sudden final illness 11:03 Last rites and death 11:27 Her body becomes lifelike after death 11:44 Fifteen days without decay 11:52 The fragrance of flowers 12:09 Medical and ecclesiastical examinations 12:24 Her body in the Carmel of Florence 12:31 The beauty of hidden sanctity 13:02 Feeling alone in the spiritual life 13:36 God alone sees the hidden soul 13:54 Do not surrender to despondency 14:18 Prayer for perseverance 14:26 Final blessing Please say 3 Hail Marys for the priest. #SaintTeresaMargaret #CarmeliteSaints #GodIsLove #SpiritualDryness #CatholicFaith #SensusFidelium 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴 ✝️ SUPPORT THE MISSION 🙏 Donate https://sensusfidelium.com/donate-support/ 📬 Free Catholic Newsletter https://sensusfidelium.com/newsletter/ 📰 Read on Substack https://sensusfidelium.substack.com/ ──────────────────── 📺 WATCH & READ 📺 Sensus Fidelium App https://sensusfidelium.tv/ 📚 Sensus Fidelium Press https://sensusfideliumpress.com/ 👕 Official Merchandise https://sensusfidelium.com/merchandise/ ──────────────────── 🤝 PARTNER WITH US 📣 Advertise on Sensus Fidelium https://sensusfidelium.com/advertise-with-sensus-fidelium/ 🎤 Invite Steve Cunningham to Speak https://sensusfidelium.com/speaking/ ⛪ Parish Formation & Consultation https://sensusfidelium.com/for-parishes/ ──────────────────── 🌎 CATHOLIC COMMUNITY ✝️ Trusted Catholic Businesses https://sensusfidelium.com/catholic-businesses/ 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴

Topics

• Prayer
• Strength in Hard Times