Saint Teresa of Ávila

First Point

Saint Teresa was so favored by grace from her childhood that at the age of seven, upon reading the lives of the holy martyrs, she felt herself inspired to suffer martyrdom for the faith. With one of her brothers, she even set out for Africa to find there among the Moors the chance to shed her blood. When they were brought back by one of their uncles, she spent her time with this brother building little hermitages in order to seclude themselves there and to pray to God. How happy it is to begin to serve God from early life! When piety has been taken in with the infant’s milk, it takes hold of the heart to such an extent that it is almost impossible to lose it entirely. It sometimes can fade away, as it did in Saint Teresa for a time, but the fundamentals always remain in the soul and revive, little by little, to produce new action, as happened in the case of Saint Teresa. In her this spirit grew day by day until the last breath of the saint’s life. This example teaches us how advantageous it is to inspire children with piety and to procure it for them, especially by making them read good books capable of making good impressions on their minds.Because God has called you to give children a Christian education, for this purpose use the same means that God employed for Saint Teresato prepare her early with his graces.

Second Point

For the rest of her life, this saint continued to have a great desire to suffer, and she was not content with mere desires but wanted to put them into effect, for she practiced great austerities and almost continual penances. On his side, God supported her in the ardent love she had for suffering. For many years he tested her with very painful illnesses that gave her no respite, with very violent temptations, and with dryness in prayer very difficult to endure. Thus this saint experienced not only the tenderness but also the rigors with which God sometimes treats a soul whom he loves and whom he desires to favor with his most extraordinary and very special graces. He also did some great things for this saint, for after difficult and long years of dryness, she received a highly elevated gift of prayer, which she describes in clear detail in her writings, which have been honored by the approbation of important people and are considered among the faithful as heavenly doctrine. God gave her this grace also, that one day while she was in prayer, a Seraph pierced her heart with a flaming arrow; as a result, for the rest of her life, she felt in her heart an ardor that kept her always attentive to God. This is how God rewards souls who give themselves perfectly to him and who suffer much for him. If you wish to be honored with the graces that he grants only to his well beloved, be glad when he afflicts you and tries you, because, as the Wise Man says, God chastises the children whom he loves tenderly.¹

Third Point

The main occupation of Saint Teresa during her life after she had consecrated herself to God was continual and sublime contemplation, in which she had no other purpose than to be closely united with Jesus Christ, her Spouse. In the midst of her greatest dryness, she was profoundly immersed in God and totally abandoned to him, in spite of the interior darkness she experienced. The more God caused her to suffer, the more she had recourse to him, because she found everything in him, no matter how hidden he was to her. Faith alone guided her in this state and provided her with light. Also, because she found everything in God, she had the happiness of finding God in everything. Wherever and in whatever condition she might be, Godwas her guide.Oh, how fortunate this saint was to enjoy the presence of God! This caused her to perform all her actions in view of God, and it led her to make a vow to do whatever she knew was most pleasing toGod. This is the result of frequent and fervent prayer, to enjoy God by anticipation as far as living faith can procure this happiness in this world.If you love God, prayer will be the food of your soul, and God will enter within you and will have you eat at his table,² as Saint John says in the Apocalypse. You will then have the advantage of havingGod present in your actions and of having no other purpose than to please him. You will even have a constant hunger for him,³ as the Wise Man says, for, according to the expression of the Royal Prophet,you will not be filled until you enjoy his glory in heaven.⁴ By living a holy life, be worthy of such grace and of possessing such happiness.

Historical Context

Teresa (1515–1582) was born near Ávila, Spain, partly of Jewish descent, and grew up in a large, upper-middle-class family. When her mother died in 1528, she became a boarder in a convent school in Ávila and in 1536 entered the Carmelites there. After some years of mediocre living in the convent, she was favored with a spiritual conversion and received excellent guidance from her uncle and from Dominican and Jesuit priests. In 1562 she founded the first of her reformed convents, Saint Joseph at Ávila. She spent the next 20 years of her life in this reform movement, which included the Carmelite Friars with the help of Saint John of the Cross. Her spiritual writings, especially The Interior Castle, and her autobiography won for her the title of Doctor of the Church in 1970.

Scripture Citation

1. Prv 3:12
2. Rev 3:20
3. Sir 24:21
4. Ps 17:15