Teresa was a religious of only one cause, the only one of any religious: perfection, and for such divine purpose she offered herself, the testimony of her life, her hidden and bare humanity as the book where everyone, either woman or man, red or white, could find the utter truth behind every atom of reality. With this intellectual as well as spiritual sacrifice, she is not only undertaking the path of the Cross where Christ set out the wounds of his flesh as a testimony of a renewed human dignity, but also the example of the great Doctors and teachers of the Church: She dialogued with the world as St. Augustine did in his platonic style confessions (clearly shown in The Book of the Life); she imitated the love of St. Jerome for the scriptures and his Christological exegesis; who could be unaware of the similarities between her treatment of the virtues and that of St. Thomas Aquinas (especially in The Way of Perfection)? The doctrine of Teresa is not something “new” like those of the sixteenth century reformers, but a sublime actualisation of the same message, the very Good News which only revolutionary attempt finds its goal in the human spirit.

If someone wants to be “authentically” revolutionary, the best way to pursue this desire would be attending the God’s call towards a deep conversion of the very heart and human’s nature, and for such heroic work, perhaps there couldn’t be a better “red book” than the writings of St. Theresa of Avila.  Godzdogz: Dominican Friars – England & Scotland post by Br Rafael Jimenez O.P.

Since I have not worked on this book for several days, I have forgotten much of what I was saying to you.  However, I won’t dwell on those matters much, and I won’t worry too much about making connections in this chapter to things I’ve already written.  If you have an orderly mind and are able to practice prayer in great solitude, you will benefit a great deal from the many books on prayer written by more competent people than I.  There are books that describe the mysteries and the Passion of the Lord in short passages, one for each day of the week.  There are meditations on the Judgement, on Hell, on our own nothingness, and all we owe to God.  These books contain helpful teachings as well as excellent methods for using well your time of prayer.  If anyone already has the habit of practicing prayer in this way, the Lord will lead her to the harbor of light.  If she begins well, she will also end well.  Everyone who walks along the road will walk restfully and securely, for one always walks restfully when she restrains her understanding.   –‘The Way of Perfection’ Teresa of Avila

Do Thou, O Lord, take into account all that we suffer in this way through our ignorance. We err in thinking that we need only know that we must keep our thoughts fixed on Thee. We do not understand that we should consult those better instructed than ourselves, nor are we aware that there is anything for us to learn. We pass through terrible trials, on account of not understanding our own nature and take what is not merely harmless, but good, for a grave fault. This causes the sufferings felt by many people, particularly by the unlearned, who practice prayer. They complain of interior trials, become melancholy, lose their health, and even give up prayer altogether for want of recognizing that we have within ourselves as it were, an interior world. We cannot stop the revolution of the heavens as they rush with velocity upon their course, neither can we control our imagination. When this wanders we at once imagine that all the powers of the soul follow it; we think everything is lost, and that the time spent in God’s presence is wasted. Meanwhile, the soul is perhaps entirely united to Him in the innermost mansions, while the imagination is in the precincts of the castle, struggling with a thousand wild and venomous creatures and gaining merit by its warfare. Therefore we need not let ourselves be disturbed, nor give up prayer, as the devil is striving to persuade us. As a rule, all our anxieties and troubles come from misunderstanding our own nature. –St Teresa of Avila ‘Interior Castle’

Love can be manifested in a variety of ways to God.  It can be a love shown in both prayer and action.  It can be the love of contemplatives, for example, in the religious life who pray not only for themselves, but in actuality more for others.  It can be a love of a very active spiritual nature in which the actions throughout each day can be offered up for the greater honor, glory, and love of God.  This is especially true of people of various occupations of work in which the very work they’re doing can become a prayer.  It can take the form of suffering in which the suffering persons offer up their suffering to God out of pure love for Him, for themselves, and others throughout the world.  The most vitally important thing about prayer is that it comes pure from the heart—without distractions if possible, and be devoid of self-love, self-seeking, or self-interest.  –St Teresa of Avila