St Teresa of Jesus (Avila)
BORN: 28th Mar 1515
DIED: 4th Oct 1582
St Teresa’s Prayer and Life
Teresa’s whole spirituality pulsates with a vibrant and dynamic realism, firmly rooted in the practicalities of everyday living. For all her visions and ecstasies, she knew how to find the Lord among the pots and pans (F 5:8); in fact, her skill in the kitchen was just as great as her skill at prayer!
One of the pillars of Teresian spirituality is relationship between prayer and life. How we pray depends on how we live; our life, in turn, is a reflection of the way we pray. In Teresa’s scheme of things, there is not only a relationship, there is interdependence: prayer, not tested by life, is suspect; life, not nourished by prayer, is of little value.
Teresa often speaks about virtue as the current coin, …. unfailing revenue (WP 18:7): its value is never diminished and, in the end, it is the only real test of authentic prayer. Prayer and virtue both demand faithfulness and perseverance. Daily life is the place where authenticity of prayer is proved: I would not want any other prayer than that which makes the virtues grow in me (Lt 136:5). Prayer is life lived faithfully, day by day, in the light of the gospel call. It must reveal itself in action: It benefits me little to be alone making acts of devotion to our Lord, proposing and promising to do wonders in His service, if I then go away and when the occasion offers itself do everything the opposite (IC VII:4:7).
All her teaching in The Way of Perfection about the prayer of recollection highlights the fact that we can, with a little effort, achieve the necessary control over our thoughts and imagination to allow us to rest quietly and attentively in the presence of God — and thus grow in virtue and readiness to serve.
Walking in the Truth
No matter how beautiful or moving any experience in prayer may be, it is always suspect if it does not lead ultimately to goodness of life: the love of God does not consist in tears or in this delight and tenderness…but it consists in serving with justice and fortitude of soul and in humility (L 11:13).
Both in her selection and her description of virtue, we see the concrete and practical dimension of her spirituality. She does not give a long list of virtues but focuses on three. These are social and relational: I shall enlarge on only three things…
- love for one another;
- detachment from all created things;
- true humility, which, even though I speak of it last is the main practice and embraces all the others (WP 4:4).
If the soul possesses these, it is mistress of itself and slave to none save God: these are the virtues I desire you to have, …the ones you must strive for (WP 18:9).
Teresa writes with great insight about each of these, obviously the fruit of her own lived experience. Her advice is well tailored to the domestic problems of community living and to the vacillations and evasions of human nature. Mutual love shows itself in a practical concern for others — gentle, supportive and compassionate: all must be friends, all must be loved, all must be held dear, all must be helped (WP 4:7). Detachment shows itself in freedom of spirit, an indispensable quality for maturity and personal growth, and if it is practised with perfection, [it] includes everything (WP 8:1).
Basically, this is a living out of the gospel beatitude of ‘poverty of spirit,’ acknowledging our dependence on God and confidently trusting in him. Yet there is no doubt that, for Teresa, humility is the queen of all virtues — the ointment for our wounds (IC III:2:6). It is the foundation, the bedrock, of the whole spiritual life: What I have come to understand is that this whole groundwork of prayer is based on humility (L 2:11). She draws on the idea of a game of chess, saying that humility alone can give checkmate to the King (cf. WP 16:1–2). It has nothing to do with loss of self-esteem; on the contrary, to be humble is to walk in truth (IC VI:10:7). It is about authenticity and honesty and puts the seal of truth on the way we live. It is about being satisfied with what is given to us and rejoicing in the truth about ourselves and others. It goes hand in hand with genuine self-knowledge, which is the bread with which all palates must be fed (L 13:15).
_______________
—Eugene McCaffrey, ocd. The Writings of St Teresa of Avila: An Introduction (Boars Hill, Oxford: Teresian Press, 2014), 96–99.
Books by St Teresa of Avila and other authors are available from the Carmelite Monastery
Collected Works, Vol.1: Book of her Life, Spiritual Testimonies and Soliloquies
Collected Works, Vol.2: The Way of Perfection, The Interior Castle, On the Song of Songs
Letters, Vol. 1
Letters, Vol. 2
Interior Castle: Study Edition by Keiran Kavanaugh, OCD.
Interior Castle Explored: St Teresa’s Teaching on the Life of Deep Union with God by Ruth Burrows, OCD.
Where Lovers Meet: Inside the Interior Castle by Susan Muto.
Foundations: Study Edition by Marc Foley, OCD.
The Divine Adventure: St. Teresa of Avila’s Journeys and Foundations by Tomás Álvarez, OCD, and Fenanda Domingo, OCD, with Introduction by Keiran Kavanaugh, OCD.
Writings of St Teresa by Eugene McCaffrey, OCD.
Teresa and The Our Father by Aloysius Rego, OCD.
Heirs of St Teresa: Christopher Wilson.
The Intimate Sharing of Friends by Mark O’Keefe, OSB.
St Teresa: 100 Themes on her Life and Work by Tomás Álvarez, OCD. Translated by Keiran Kavanaugh, OCD.