One of the great spiritual masters of all time is Saint Teresa of Avila, whose feast we celebrate today. Her teaching and example offer us immense help in our own spiritual journey.
Teresa lived in a very difficult time in the history of the Church. On the one side you had burgeoning Protestantism, which posed huge challenge for the Church; on the other hand the Holy Spirit brought forward great people in the true Catholic reformation, such as St John of the Cross, St Thomas More, St Ignatius of Loyola, St Angela Merici, St Felix of Cantalice, St Philip Neri and many others, as an authentic response to all these changes and difficulties. St Teresa of Avila was one this very special group of saints. In the midst of those serious challenges she gave us some very intriguing suggestions as to how we can live our spiritual life effectively and bearing abundant good fruit of which the Gospel amply speaks.
Teresa reminds us that when we accustom ourselves in doing small acts of love we keep our souls alive. She says: Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul. In a certain sense, Teresa also helps us to invite God being God in our lives. She encourages us to pray in a way as to remind God that He can do all things for those who believe in him. Teresa says: You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.
Furthermore St Teresa helps us to venture into God’s will, particularly in abandoning ourselves into his hands. We are to regard it as a great favour from God when our prayers are not answered the way we want them to be. Thus she states: There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers. Teresa’s spirituality is surely Christocentric. Jesus is the epicentre of her life. Hence she expresses this underlying attitude when she says: Christ has no body now but mine. He prays in me, works in me, looks through my eyes, speaks through my words, works through my hands, walks with my feet and loves with me here.
Her practical approach of facing not just the earthly life but, and most importantly, the spiritual journey, make this saint a very special and much needed one. Teresa was bold enough to affirm in a rather ironic way: From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, good Lord deliver us! In Teresa we can not not appreciate her great sense of discernment. Love of God is verified by love of neighbour. She said: The surest way to determine whether one possesses the love of God is to see whether he loves his neighbor. These two loves are never separated. Rest assured, the more you progress in love of neighbor, the more your love of God will increase.
For those of us who cast doubts as to whether their present vocation is really theirs, Teresa tells them: Trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. Obviously for this great reformer Jesus walks amongst us, in the hustle and bustle of daily life. Hence she says: God walks among the pots and the pans.
St Teresa also shows us that those who were truly closest to Christ’s heart are the ones who had to face enormous trials in life. She tells us: We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials. One of the most important insights Teresa teaches us is that knowledge of self comes from knowledge of God. She said: We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding his greatness, we realize our own littleness; his purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon his humility we find how very far we are from being humble.
Let us pray with St Teresa of Avila, her well-known prayer: Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.