Teresa of Jesus
Feast of St. Teresa of Avila.
Today is the feast of my favorite saint - and I had no access to this blog to do a post on her. So I am reminding everyone that I continue to post at Abbey-Roads 1 when I do not have access to Abbey 2. Well, that is not exactly true - I post at Abbey 1 every day anyway. (Make sure Abbey 1 is in your blogroll if you enjoy reading this blog.)
Now it is already 2nd Vespers of the feast of Holy Mother St. Teresa, and what can I say about her that hasn’t been said already today? If you read this blog, you know I write about her a lot. Teresa of Avila is especially dear to me because it took her so long to become a person of prayer. She writes:
“Very often, for some years, I was more anxious that the hour I had determined to spend in prayer be over than I was to remain there… and so unbearable was the sadness I felt on entering the oratory, that I had to muster up all my courage.” - Life 8, 7
After determining to practice prayer faithfully, St. Teresa continued to encounter problems:
“For more than eighteen of the twenty-eight years since I began prayer, I suffered this battle and conflict between friendship with God and friendship with the world.” - Life 8, 3
Many, many people who desire to make mental prayer a part of their life encounter the same difficulties as St. Teresa did. Perfection doesn’t happen in a night, as Holy Mother’s life demonstrates, while her example and teaching encourages and leads anyone interested on the pathways of prayer. Teresa struggled for twenty years! She writes:
“I voyaged on this tempestuous sea for almost twenty years with these fallings and risings and this evil - since I fell again - and in a life so beneath perfection that I paid almost no attention to venial sins. And mortal sins, although I feared them, I did not fear them as I should have since I did not turn away from the dangers. I should say it is one of the most painful lives, I think, that one can imagine, for neither did I enjoy God nor did I find happiness in the world. When I was experiencing the enjoyments of the world, I felt sorrow when I recalled what I owed to God. When I was with God, my attachments to the world disturbed me. This is a war so troublesome that I don’t know how I was able to suffer it even a month, much less for so many years.” - Life 8, 2
It is almost amusing to realize that what St. Teresa describes above is something a few people seem to mistake for the ”dark night” of the spirit. Not.
October 15th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Indeed, it was the work of the devil to have made StBlogs’ blogs unavailable on this day.. grr.
But as for mistaking a dark night for the dark night, that won’t cause any harm to the soul, will it? If one attributes what is most greatly one’s own fault to something to do with the holiness of God, at least one is still thinking of God, and is still trying to pray. No doubt the Lord will even accept this confusion of terms that keep His loved ones near, until they are more enlightened (she said quite hopefully).
October 15th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
“But as for mistaking a dark night for the dark night, that won’t cause any harm to the soul, will it?”
Heavens no! - in the end, the real dark night purifies us of all our delusions anyway - if not, purgatory will. The important thing is to persevere in prayer like St. Teresa did - and to remain humble and loving God for himself - not too concerned about “where we are at” in the spiritual life, so long as we are not going backwards that is.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
I like St. Teresa because, although she was an incredible saint, she is someone you can relate to. Some day soon I will have to tackle the huge book of her writings instead of just bits and pieces.