By Leon Bent –
Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) was a Spanish mystic who lived during the Counter-Reformation, a period of religious turmoil in Europe. Teresa founded several houses for discalced (or “barefoot”) Carmelite friars and nuns, who sought to live according to the original rule of the order.
Saint Teresa of Ávila, a Carmelite nun, author of the Counter Reformation and theologian of contemplative life, through mental prayer! She was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered to be a founder of the Discalced Carmelites along with Saint John of the Cross.
The gift of God to Teresa, in and through which, she became holy and left her mark on the Church and the world is threefold: She was a woman; she was a contemplative; she was an active reformer.
It is far from easy to sum up in a few words Teresa’s profound and articulate spirituality. I would like to mention a few essential points. In the first place St. Teresa proposes the evangelical virtues as the basis of all Christian and human life and, in particular, detachment from possessions, that is, evangelical poverty, and this concerns all of us; love for one another as an essential element of community and social life; humility as love for the truth; determination as a fruit of Christian daring; theological hope, which she describes, as the thirst for living water. Then we should not forget the human virtues: affability, truthfulness, modesty, courtesy, cheerfulness, culture.”
“There is nothing on this earth more prized than true friendship” (Saint Thomas Aquinas). This is 16th century Spain. Perhaps we would not find it difficult to imagine the vivacious, charming Teresa of Avila entertaining her Sisters this way, but might we not be somewhat taken aback at the quiet, reserved Friar, John of the Cross, who is known for his “Nada, nada” (nothingness) twirling about in a spontaneous joyous dance, with his mystical partner, St. Theresa?
With her zealous heart, she, along with her good friend St. John of the Cross, initiated a reform. Despite the oppositions she faced, her efforts bore fruit. Within her lifetime she founded seventeen convents which more faithfully lived out these counsels.
Teresa speaks of such a relationship when she writes in one of her letters, “What a wonderful thing it is for two souls to understand each other, for, they neither lack something to say, nor grow tired.”
Father Thomas Dubay, S.M. in “Fire Within”, comments that for Teresa “a person’s degree of immersion in God was the degree of her love for that person.” No wonder she was so delighted to have John of the Cross as a companion in the reform!
Teresa and John shared their gifts with one another and with many others. Thus, a great crescendo arose which continues to this day in the Carmelite Reform. The test of a holy friendship, therefore, is our desire for the other to be totally one with God.
She wrote many books throughout her lifetime. Her most famous work is her own autobiography, The Life of St. Teresa (Vida), The Way of Perfection, a commentary on the Our Father, her most famous work on prayer, The Interior Castle, various works for her Carmelite Order, and Book of the Foundations. It is easy to see why St. Teresa is one of the four women saints to be given the title Doctor of the Church.
Pope Benedict XVI, in Doctors of the Church, pp. 222-23, narrates, “She greatly loved Scripture and saw harmony in the great biblical figures. She greatly desired to hear the Word of God, and had a connection with the ‘Bride’ in the Song of Songs and a great affinity for St. Paul. She also focused on the Passion of Our Lord and His Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist”.
Saints Theresa and John will serve as our reliable guides to this spiritual summit, and how we can dispose ourselves to the fire within ourselves. It is because men and women of heroic virtue are fully responsive to the Holy Spirit they are the best teachers of the Divine Word, inspired by the same Spirit. These two saints are “pure Gospel” (Pope Pius XI). They point to the Good News of Jesus.
Now, this gold nugget! There was fire in the relationship between Theresa and John. “I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already blazing” (Lk. 12:49).
And, this final flourish! Perhaps St. Teresa’s greatest gift to busy people committed to the spiritual journey is the truth that, ordinary life and holiness are not in conflict. There need be no separation from involvement in the real world and its challenges, and ongoing, prayerful union with God.
The punch line! The Gospel invites everyone to mysticism: Advanced prayer, perfect joy and the heights of holiness. The experience of God is a contact with the divine: delicate, wordless, imageless!
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.