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Often appears with: doubt, skepticism, and certainty · prayer and worship · religious persecution and toleration · divine locutions · justice as a virtue · language, naming, and meaning · equity, mercy, and pardon · vow of enclosure · visions of christ · veil and divine mysteries · union with god · trinity sunday visions
Usually: reflection (10) · exhortation (6) · skepticism (6) · crisis of belief (5) · detachment (5) · wonder (5) · the test or trial (4) · argument (2) · commentary or gloss (2) · narrative (2)
“This Thy servant, O my God, is no longer able to endure sufferings so great as those are which she must bear when she sees herself without Thee if she must live, she seeks no repose in this life,--and do Thou give her none.” Teresa of Ávila, Saint, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our · insight
“People consider it wanting in humility, and think it means to teach those from whom it should learn, particularly if it be a woman.” Teresa of Ávila, Saint, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our · observation
“There is nothing to be afraid of if we walk, as I said before, in the truth, in the sight of His Majesty, with a pure conscience.” Teresa of Ávila, Saint, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our · precept
“And if I might help, by my prayers, to make but one soul love Him more, and praise Him, and that only for a short time, I think that of more importance than to dwell in glory.” Teresa of Ávila, Saint, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our · insight
“But when I am in prayer, and during those days when I am in repose, and my thoughts fixed on God, if all the learned and holy men in the world came together and put me to, all conceivable tortures, and I, too, desirous of agreeing with them, they could not make me believe that this is the work of Satan.” Teresa of Ávila, Saint, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our · insight
He argues humans cannot know God’s will without the Spirit, likening divine mysteries to a veil and insisting only the Spirit reveals spiritual realities, giving believers new perception through Christ’s teaching.
the extreme dulness of man in apprehending the mysteries of God, and partly from not regarding that firm and steadfast constancy of heart, which is the principal branch of faith. XXXIV. But if, as Paul tells us, no one is acquainted with the will of a man but “the spirit of a man which is in him,”(1556) how could man be certain of the will of God? And if we are uncertain respecting the truth of God in those things w…
Teresa argues that true spiritual humility includes acknowledging God’s gifts, warns against fear of vain glory, and stresses that remembering God’s benefits strengthens faith and courage to serve Him.
itself weeping for so great a Lord. I am not surprised; for the soul has reason enough, and more than enough, for its joy. Here it comforts itself--here it rejoices. 3. The comparison which now presents itself seems to me to be good. These joys in prayer are like what those of heaven must be. As the vision of the saints, which is measured by their merits there, reaches no further than our Lord wills, and as the bl…
Teresa explains how Satan misleads beginners with false humility, and urges modest, God-graced detachment from worldly comforts rather than extreme penances that can harm sick and weak people.
not attain more quickly to great perfection; for our Lord never fails us, and it is not His fault; the fault and the wretchedness of this being all our own. 9. We may also imitate the Saints by striving after solitude and silence, and many other virtues that will not kill these wretched bodies of ours, which insist on being treated so orderly, that they may disorder the soul; and Satan, too, helps much to make them …
Teresa describes early stages of spiritual goodness as flowers beginning to bud, argues it is hard to convince a soul that God is absent until it turns inward to see its faults, and contrasts fear with thankful assurance of divine mercy.
words of praise, but it has no control over itself,--it is in a state of sweet restlessness. The flowers are already opening; they are beginning to send forth their fragrance. 5. The soul in this state would have all men behold and know of its bliss, to the praise of God, and help it to praise Him. It would have them to be partakers of its joy; for its joy is greater than it can bear. It seems to me that it is like…
Teresa claims rapture grants sharp vision, humility, and compassion for those still in darkness, but also can bring misunderstandings, persecution, and the soul’s renunciation of honor and money.
that this is the flight of the spirit rising upwards above all created things, and chiefly above itself: but it is a sweet flight, a delicious flight--a flight without noise. 33. Oh, what power that soul possesses which our Lord raises to this state! how it looks down upon everything, entangled by nothing! how ashamed it is of the time when it was entangled! how it is amazed at its own blindness! how it pities those…
Teresa says that after abandoning her attachment to hearing whether prayer would be granted, Our Lord freed and strengthened her, ending long self-struggle without pain.
I abandoned the attempt, on the ground that there was nothing unseemly in those attachments. Now our Lord set me at liberty, and gave me strength also to use it. 9. So I told my confessor of it, and gave up everything, according to his advice. It did a great deal of good to those with whom I used to converse, to see my determination. God be blessed for ever! Who in one moment set me free, while I had been for many…
Teresa explains how divine locutions are heard and understood without bodily hearing, distinguishes them from imagination and Satan’s communications, and offers tests—effects on the soul, clarity, and conformity to Church teaching.
Divine Locutions. Discussions on That Subject. 1. It will be as well, I think, to explain these locutions of God, and to describe what the soul feels when it receives them, in order that you, my father, may understand the matter; for ever since that time of which I am speaking, when our Lord granted me that grace, it has been an ordinary occurrence until now, as will appear by what I have yet to say. [1] 2. The wo…
Teresa describes how fear of evil spirits fades because God promises her protection, reports frequent Divine locutions that reassure and warn, and says the safest response is to disclose everything to a learned confessor and obey him.
How the Fears of the Saint Vanished. How She Was Assured That Her Prayer Was the Work of the Holy Spirit. 1. I look upon the courage which our Lord has implanted in me against evil spirits as one of the greatest mercies which He has bestowed upon me; for a cowardly soul, afraid of anything but sin against God, is a very unseemly thing, when we have on our side the King omnipotent, our Lord most high, who can do all…
She resumes her life story: after two years praying for safer direction and trying to desire change, she experiences a Christ-vision on St. Peter’s feast, feels constant presence without form, and is reassured as not imaginary.
some of them I could mention. Here, then, are so many reasons for believing that they come from God, as make it impossible, I believe, for anybody to mistake them. 4. The safest course in these things is to declare, without fail, the whole state of the soul, together with the graces our Lord gives me, to a confessor who is learned, and obey him. I do so; and if I did not, I should have no peace. Nor is it right th…
On Trinity Sunday Teresa claims to see a battle between evil spirits and angels, later sees demons encircling her with divine light, and interprets these visions as God protecting her from offending.
afflicted, that I do not know how this can be; but so it is,--and my soul seems then to be a queen in its kingdom, having everything under its feet. 14. I had such a thought now and then--and, indeed, for many days together. I regarded it as a sign of virtue and of humility; but I see clearly now it was nothing else but a temptation. A Dominican friar, of great learning, showed it to me very plainly. When I conside…
In acute anguish before the most Holy Sacrament, Teresa reflects on her fear, reframes trials as meritorious and purgatorial, and promises enclosure—after which the devil flees and she remains calm.
my anguish, that I was like one in the agony of death. I could not make the matter known to any one, because no confessor had as yet been appointed. 8. O my God, how wretched is this life! No joy is lasting; everything is liable to change. Only a moment ago, I do not think I would have exchanged my joy with any man upon earth; and the very grounds of that joy so tormented me now, that I knew not what to do with my…
Teresa argues that her virtues and deliverance from delusion must be from God because weakness was turning her toward ruin, and she insists her experiences accord with the judgment of confessors who heard her general confession.
been not only the means of drawing me to God in His service, but of saving me also from hell. This my confessors know, who have heard my general confession. 28. Also, when I see any one who knows anything about me, I wish to let him know my whole life, [14] because my honour seems to me to consist in the honour of our Lord, and I care for nothing else. This He knows well, or I am very blind; for neither honour, nor…
Teresa offers “Observations on Certain Points of Spirituality,” teaching that true safety in spiritual life lies in a good conscience, that union with God is not mere nearness or pleasure, and that union is hard to discern without grace.
I think of it, I praise our Lord, and remember the words, "posuit fines tuos pacem," [2] and I wish I could wear myself out in the praises of God. 3. It must have been about a month after this my resolve was made, on the second day after Pentecost, when I was going to found the monastery in Seville, that we heard Mass in a hermitage in Ecija, and rested there during the hottest part of the day. Those who were with m…
She explains that Dominican spiritual advisors were consulted during her fear, but she aimed to obey confessor and order guidance, especially in founding monasteries focused on spreading the Catholic faith.
Lord seems to have given permission [10] for this torture for if one spoke more harshly of her than others, by little and little he spoke more kindly of her. 18. She took the greatest pains not to submit the state of her soul to any one who she thought would believe that these things came from God, for she was instantly afraid that the devil would deceive them both. If she saw any one timid about these things, to h…
Teresa contrasts divine and imaginary locutions, correcting a translator’s wording, and notes that in Palencia, guidance from the Lord prevented a serious blunder that was not a sin.
is necessary, our Lord gives me certain directions; and now, in Palencia, were it not for these, there would have been committed a great blunder, though not a sin. [3] 5. The acts and desires do not seem to be so vigorous as they used to be, for, though they are great, I have one much greater to see the will of God accomplished and His glory increased; for as the soul is well aware that His Majesty knoweth what is e…
Teresa continues reflecting that her inner assurance differs from mere earnest hopes, linking it to a scriptural comparison about the return from Egypt that she says does not fit a child at her mother’s breast.
find myself when I consider that the comparison of which I spoke to you, concerning the return from Egypt, does not apply to the child at my mother's breast. [4] 8. I am at peace within; and my likings and dislikings have so little power to take from me the Presence of the Three Persons, of which, while it continues, it is so impossible to doubt, that I seem clearly to know by experience what is recorded by St. John…