St Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart, OCD
1747 - 1770
Memorial - September 1st
“God is love; he who dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him.”
This verse sums up the life of St Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart. From the day that her mother told her that "God is Love," our young Saint sought to know this love and to return this love to God.
As the following excerpt from the book God is Love reveals, St Teresa seemed to receive a special grace of revelation that helped her in living out this goal:
One Sunday after Pentecost, on the 28th of June, 1767, when Sister Teresa Margaret was officiating in choir, she read out the little chapter at Terce: “Deus caritas est.” She had heard these words repeatedly, Sunday after Sunday, for the past three years, but now it seemed as though she understood them for the first time - or rather, her understanding of them was raised to an entirely different plane. The verse struck her with the force of a revelation: “God is love; he who dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him.” This dwelling had been the goal of all her striving, seeking as she did to imitate the interior life and hidden operations of Christ. From that day onwards the necessity of proving her love by deeds became so compelling a force that it was obvious to her sisters that some special grace had been given her. “Nobody comes to the Father except through Jesus,” she said. “To come to God who is everything and consequently all good, no fatigue must seem to us too great; we must not be put off either by the difficulties we meet on the way, but accept bitterness and welcome every kind of cross with eagerness. By these means, which are precisely those of Jesus Christ, it is not difficult to come to the true God, to live in charity, to walk in love.”
St Teresa Margaret cooperated with the grace of God by living in charity and walking in love. Stories of her work as the infirmarian in her monastery testify to this. Not only did she demonstrate great charity and patience in her duties, she seemed to have special gifts that, no doubt, were due to her constantly dwelling in the presence of God. In her book entitled The Hidden Life, St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross wrote of St Teresa's gifts:
"When the monastery was visited by an epidemic, her strength seemed to multiply. Indeed, it was apparent that supernatural gifts came to assist her in her duties. No matter how far away she was, she sensed when one of her patients needed her and was instantly at her side. A deaf elderly sister, with whom no one could communicate any longer, whom therefore even the confessor was no longer able to comfort, understood everything that Teresa Margaret said to her, even in a soft voice. So the infirmarian could care for her unhindered, and the patient also received from her the spiritual consolation for which she longed."
St Teresa Margaret is a great example and inspiration for us all. To read more about this wonderful Saint, please visit the website
Let us ask St Teresa Margaret to pray for us in all our difficulties that we may always respond in charity.
May she obtain for us a greater faith and love.
Through her intercession, may we be drawn to live in the presence of God that we may we bring God to everyone we meet each day.
God is Love: Life of St. Teresa Margaret by Margaret Rowe, ICS Publications, Washington, DC , Revised Edition 2003
Quote taken from The Hidden Life, St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Copyright ICS Publications. Permission is hereby granted for any non-commercial use, if this copyright notice is included. Maintained by the Austrian Province of the Teresian Carmel
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