Spiritual persecution

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Often appears with: sign of the cross · religious persecution and toleration · intercession of saints · doubt, skepticism, and certainty · demonic temptation discernment · clerical testing of visions

Usually: narrative (1) · injustice endured (1) · exhortation (1) · resignation (1)

The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel primary

Teresa of Ávila, Saint · c. 1562
Chapter XXV., § 4, St. Teresa, speaking of the difference between the Divine and the imaginary locutions, says that a person commending a matter to God with great earnestness, may think that he hears whether his prayer will be granted or not: y es muy posible, "and this is quite possible," but he who has ever heard a Divine locution will see at once that this assurance is something quite different. Mr. Lewis, following the old Spanish editions, translated "And it is most impossible," whereas both the autograph and the context demand the wording I have ventured to substitute. > Chapter XXIX. (3/7)

When others claimed her visions were from Satan, Teresa was instructed to mock them by making the sign of the cross, yet she prayed for deliverance, sought protection from St. Peter and St. Paul, and felt the burden of obeying.

preserve me from delusion. I used to see them frequently most distinctly on my left hand; but that vision was not imaginary. These glorious Saints were my very good lords. 7. It was to me a most painful thing to make a show of contempt whenever I saw our Lord in a vision; for when I saw Him before me, if I were to be cut in pieces, I could not believe it was Satan. This was to me, therefore, a heavy kind of penance…