Contemplative Haven

Oct 15 2009

St. Teresa of Avila

9 responses so far

9 Responses to “St. Teresa of Avila”

1. # Cathyon 15 Oct 2009 at 5:21 am

   So very beautiful!!! Cathy
2. # Owenon 15 Oct 2009 at 8:19 am

   A fantastic prayer. Yes Lord, restore my years of locust-like ways. St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us.
3. # Carolon 15 Oct 2009 at 6:00 pm

   He is absolutely God of any configuration of time as we know it, as the Archangel alluded to Mary regarding her elderly cousin’s pregnancy at last, and as Jesus Himself later said to His apostles, “For with God, nothing shall be impossible.”
4. # terryon 16 Oct 2009 at 10:39 am

   At Mass yesterday, the priest said, “It would be wrong to try and simplify the life and person of Teresa of Avila.” A prayer such as this offers insight into the wonderful complexity of her thoughts and her relationship with the Lord.

   She and St. Bernadette are two of my favorite saints. They represent two ends of the spiritual spectrum for me…the utterly complex and the utterly simple. Yet both approaches lead to eternal life and Divine Union. So there is hope for us all.
5. # Carolon 20 Oct 2009 at 9:19 am

   I wonder how he meant that, Terry. From what I’ve read of her own writings, she did not want to be found complex. She wrote all that she wrote so that her Sisters — beings who were not worldly and likely not overly learned in those days and in that locale — would be fertile ground for infused prayer for Jesus’ sake and for theirs. Then, somewhere along the way, the Church found her writings to be valuable/applicable for us all. I confess I had trouble initially –for the longest time, I didn’t know of whom she spoke i.e., “there is a woman I know to whom this happened” — it took my reading commentary about her time’s circumstances and her genuine humility in order to figure out she was referring to herself all those times! At that point, I considered going a shade darker blond on the next L’Oreal touch-up day.. Then I read a book on how she built reformed convents and abbeys and all she went through with that, and then came a second reading of her “Life” which went much better–and now, I’m reading a translation of her “Life” by Mirabai Starr which makes it seem as if she is sitting in the room with one. Wonderful so far. Oh, I love St. Bernadette, too.
6. # gabrielleon 22 Oct 2009 at 4:06 pm

   Thank you all, for your comments. I’ve been trying to keep up at work, so have not been keeping up here!

   Carol, perhaps the priest was alluding to not being able to do her life justice in a homily? I’ve been in the congregation when homilists have refused to speak of the Holy Trinity on Trinity Sunday and refused to speak of Divine Mercy on Divine Mercy Sunday, saying they couldn’t possibly enter into such topics in such a short period of time. It’s unfortunate, but sometimes they allow the vastness of a topic to overwhelm them, and so don’t even try to highlight one or two points on which they could teach and expand. Re St. Teresa, after all these decades of being a practicing Catholic, I’ve only heard two priests even mention her in a homily. But at the risk of this sounding negative rather than simply factual concerning my own experience, I would like to add that I have also been truly, truly blessed over the years with my pastors, deacons and their teaching gifts.
7. # Carolon 22 Oct 2009 at 11:22 pm

   Until you, I had never ever heard anyone speak of her –not in all my life, except to say she was a Doctor of the Church. I think that until JP II, the Church did not wish for us to give a lot of credence to contemplative prayer. That sounds negative, but I’ve heard a priest say so as well. I’m glad to get to know her. She’s far more like us than not.
8. # michaelon 27 Oct 2009 at 9:35 am

   What a wonderful quote! Thanks for sharing this!
9. # gabrielleon 27 Oct 2009 at 11:12 pm

   Carol, it’s certainly true that the laity had to learn about contemplative prayer on their own, so I thank the good Lord that we had so many saints who were moved to write, as well as the Mertons and the Fathers Dubay and Keating, etc., etc.

   Michael, love your blog; have added it to my blogroll. Thanks for leaving a comment so we could all meet you!

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