St Teresa of Ávila

“It is foolish to think that we will enter heaven without entering into ourselves.”

Today we celebrate the feast of St Teresa of Jesus (1515 - 1582), one of the great woman mystics and doctors of the Church. She was born in Ávila in Spain and entered the Carmelite convent there at the age of 20. It is interesting to note that it is not because of any great attraction to the religious life that she entered the convent but because it seemed the most sensible thing to do. At this time Carmelite convents were comfortable places. One was well looked after, had as much contact with the outside world as one wanted, and could keep one’s own possessions.

In 1562, in the face of much opposition, Teresa founded a convent of Discalced Carmelite nuns in Ávila. Discalced (“shoeless”) signified their devotion to poverty. The rest of her life is a story of the establishment of more and more Discalced Carmelite convents even in the face of intense opposition from the unreformed Carmelites. Meanwhile, every effort was made to destroy Teresa’s reforms and many of her followers (including St John of the Cross) were imprisoned and cruelly treated. Finally, in 1580 with the support of King Philip II, the Discalced Carmelites were made independent and St Teresa was able to found more new convents. She died, worn out by her efforts, on 15 October 1582.

This is one of my favourtie ancedotes from Teresa's life. One day she was coming down the steps of her convent when she saw a beautiful young boy. The child spoke to her and said, "Who are you?" So Teresa answered, "I am Teresa of Jesus. But who are you?" The child answered with a play of words: "I am Jesus of Teresa!" and then he disappeared. As this story tells of her closeness to Jesus Christ, and maturity in spiritual life, she conveys in her writings that there is a clear direction and process (in stages) to maturity and therefore to human life. She describes in detail how you can enter your inner castle in seven stages. Such growth is never lob sided. She in fact points out that every time she “touched” God, she was sent back prompted to do something. Her gigantic founding ventures is a good case in point. St Teresa is an outstanding example of how the contemplative life can well up and overflow into action.

Teresa of Ávila felt that water in all its qualities and movements was the most perfect metaphor for the entire spiritual journey. Water always and forever seeks the lower, and even the lowest, place. We must let water be our teacher here. And water, as you know, is the one single universal element necessary for all of life. Discovering our True Self is the same as the process of discovering God. Spiritual maturity is not opposed or different from integral human development, but they are one and the same. In fact it would be foolish to think that we could attain spiritual growth without entering into ourselves and working on our human maturity.

If you will, please allow the following words of St Teresa of Ávila to sink deep into your heart:

"Let nothing disturb you,

Let nothing frighten you,

All things are passing:

God never changes.

Patience obtains all things

Whoever has God lacks nothing;

God alone suffices."