Teresa of Avila
Last October 15 was the feast day of St. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church, Spanish Mystic, founder of the Discalced Carmelites, and a determined reformer in the mid 1500s. I dedicate this article to my high school class which celebrated its “Diamond Jubilee” or 60 years since graduation at the STC homecoming this year.
How does one describe Teresa de Ahumada who was born to a well-off family on March 28, 1515, and lived through the periods of Spanish history — the renaissance, the reformation, and the counter-reformation? She founded the order of the Discalced Carmelites at a time when the rule was not observed strictly — life was altogether too comfortable and far too close to the world for women who were supposed to have renounced it. Her mission was to reform the Carmelite Order — strict observance of poverty, her nuns strictly enclosed and never to be seen unveiled, a timetable of daily devotions, and after Mass, dispersal to their duties. Teresa insisted on only two things — virtue and intelligence.
She was a gifted writer, writing over 1,000 pages of reflections, prayers and poetry, as well as 450 letters to various recipients (and these, before typewriters and computers!). Her most important works were “Life, the Autobiography,” “The Way to Perfections” (El Camino de Perfeccion) and “The Interior Castle” (El Castilo Interior). Her “Life” is a conversation with her confessor, and in “The Way to Perfection”, Teresa discusses the fundamentals for the spiritual life. As well, her “Foundations” describes the origins of each of the convents she founded. Then there are the “Spiritual Testimonies” written for the Inquisition and the “Soliloquies,” which offer concrete examples of Teresa’s prayers. “The Interior Castle” is her masterpiece, written when she was 62, and is a serious theological treatise on the mystical life — it synthesizes her finest teaching.
Teresa’s writing style was like her personality — lavish, extravagant, flamboyant, full of zest and enthusiasm. She wrote with freedom and spontaneity, revealing her inner depths. Some would even describe her as charismatic, indefatigable, steadfast, strong-willed, resolute, courageous, caring, passionate and even sexy — indeed, a woman of substance.
It is sometimes easier for us to think of her as that mystic who had rapturous experience with Christ, and to say that we now live in a world completely alien to Teresa’s times, and a temptation to say that we could not possibly identify with her, because this is the 21st century. Wrong! The time in which she lived was one marked by political intrigue, widespread heresy, addiction to power and wealth, and by violence and turbulence — no different from our times! Her writings are classic, applicable to any age. Because they are “primordia — concerned with fundamental human questions… (and) perennial,” they are as relevant today as they were in her time, and as they will be in the future.
Teresa lived a full and exuberant life — a nun, a foundress, a tireless and determined reformer, a loving, cheerful mentor of her charges — this, notwithstanding her long and frequent bouts of illness. She died at the age of 67 on October 4, 1582 but as the Gregorian calendar was introduced that year, the day following Teresa’s death, became October 15, and this is the day we celebrate her feast. She was beatified by Pope Paul V on April 24, 1614, canonized by Pope Gregory XV on March 12, 1622, and declared the first woman Doctor of the Church on September 27, 1970.
In trying to meditate on her life, I find myself still inextricable bound by my spiritual weakness, full of good desires, but finding it difficult to detach myself from the cares of my daily life, and struggling to fight a wandering mind during prayer time. But Teresa says that “the Lord doesn’t look so much at the greatness of our works as at the love with which they are done… even though our works are small, they will have the value our love for Him could have merited had they been great.” And isn’t it wonderful that she assures me — and all of us — struggling for perfection that “the important thing is not to think much, but to love much.” Let us be strengthened and restored by Teresa’s counsel,
“Let nothing disturb you, nothing dismay you. All things are passing, God never changes. Patient endurance attains all things, God alone suffices!”
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