A Saint for Troubled Times
By Mary Frances Myler
The past year has led to more turmoil than many of us ever expected. Our nation has suffered from more than the pandemic as conflict, division, and violence have wracked the public sphere. When faced with outward turmoil, the Christian impulse is often to turn to the Church, which guides us towards the unchanging peace of Christ. But the Church has also been embroiled in conflict and controversy, troubled by scandals, misconstrued by the media, and disregarded by culture. What do we do when everything is glaringly imperfect?
For St. Teresa of Ávila, the answer is straightforward: we do what we can, seeking God’s will amidst the imperfections of human life. St. Teresa lived in tumultuous times, surrounded by turmoil in both her home country of Spain and in the Church.
The Spanish empire was rapidly expanding into the western hemisphere, bringing new wealth to the nation. In an attempt to unify the empire, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella mandated that all citizens convert to Catholicism. However, rather than uniting Spain, this led to the violent politicization of religious identity.
In the Church, too, conflict abounded. The medieval Church suffered from widespread corruption, including the selling of indulgences, the purchasing of Church offices, and a general loss of pious spirituality among many religious men and women. Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation during Teresa’s early childhood, dividing the Church like never before.
Against this grim backdrop, St. Teresa of Ávila reformed religious life, offered spiritual guidance, and provided a witness of virtue and love that has captured the hearts of Christians through the ages. She responded to God’s call, working to address the needs of the Church in a time of distress. Her story offers comfort, revealing the ways people respond to hardship with healing and hope.
Early Life
Teresa was born on March 28, 1515 in Ávila, Spain to a large Catholic family. From a young age, she was spirited and adventurous, but she was also drawn to the faith. After attending a school run by Augustinian nuns, Teresa became aware of her vocation to religious life.
Shortly after entering the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation in Ávila, Teresa became very ill, nearly died, and remained an invalid for nearly three years following her entry into religious life. During this time, she practiced mental prayer—a form of contemplation and dialogue with God. She eventually recovered and attributed the return of her health to the intercession of St. Joseph, who remained a beloved intercessor throughout her life.
Reformer
In the midst of unrest in the Church, Teresa did what she could: she reformed the Carmelite order. During the middle ages, convents were heavily involved with corrupt temporal affairs and often lacked a disciplined focus on Christ. Teresa discerned the will of God and sought to restore piety and contemplation to religious life.
Teresa founded St. Joseph’s Convent in Ávila in 1562 with papal approval, thereby formalizing a renewed rule of life for the Carmelite order. Teresa’s reforms renewed the Carmelite commitment to prayer and separation from the world, which led to the moniker “discalced,” or without shoes. Wearing sandals symbolized a detachment from earthly luxuries.
She proposed a strict rule of life, but Teresa brimmed with warmth and love. She was a mother to her fellow Carmelites, and sought to assist others in the spiritual life. Teresa cautioned her sisters against extreme mortification that could harm both the body and soul, encouraging them to care for their bodies amidst fasting and penance.
After several years, Teresa met the young Carmelite priest who would become St. John of the Cross. She encouraged him to conduct parallel reforms for the men’s Carmelite orders, and the two remained close friends and correspondents.
Teresa’s reforms were often met with opposition. Religious authorities, fellow Carmelites, and local townspeople found fault with her and objected to the establishment of new convents. Despite this opposition, which often came from within the Church, Teresa remained faithful to her calling, which she knew to be from God.
Mystic
While institutional reform is a significant part of Teresa’s legacy, she is also remembered for her personal encounters with Christ. However, prayer wasn’t always easy. For a prolonged period following her entrance to religious life, Teresa found prayer unappealing and felt pulled between God and the world. After nearly twenty years of this spiritual restlessness, Teresa gained a new perspective on relationship with God after seeing a statue of Christ on the cross and reading St. Augustine’s conversion story in his Confessions.
Following this spiritual rejuvenation, Teresa experienced mystical visions of Christ. In these visions, she heard Christ’s voice and saw the risen Christ. Teresa never sought mystical experiences, and she cautioned her sisters about the dangers of seeking to induce a mystical experience. Visions and bodily rapture occurred through the grace of God, and Teresa always accepted his will, even when she did not understand why her spiritual life contained such joy and suffering.
Teresa also constantly practiced contemplative mental prayer, writing: “Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us.” Her deep spirituality was characterized by this deep friendship with God.
Writer
Teresa also wrote prolifically, thereby offering her mystical experiences and wisdom to a broader audience. She constantly corresponded through letters, wrote poetry, and authored several spiritual classics. Teresa was plagued by headaches which made writing difficult, and the volume of her correspondence often kept her writing late into the night, but Teresa accepted this as a necessary part of her ministry.
Among her writings, The Interior Castle has been both popular and influential within the Catholic spiritual and intellectual tradition. This work adds a new dimension to Teresa’s work amidst the tumult of her times. In this book, Teresa speaks about the soul through the metaphor of a castle with many chambers. The Lord dwells within the innermost chamber—within every human heart—and so each person must learn to turn inwards and seek Christ through the rooms of their heart. Each chamber represents a threshold of virtue which the pilgrim must embody to move on to the next room. With this metaphor of the soul as a castle, Teresa captures a vibrant image of the spiritual life as a perpetual journey where knowledge of God is entangled with true knowledge of self.
Rather than turning outwards to the political sphere or the Church for peace, Teresa encourages a turning inwards to the self and a detachment from the troubles of the world: “It is quite important to withdraw from all unnecessary cares and business, as far as compatible with the duties of one’s state of life, in order to enter the second mansion [within the soul].” Teresa identifies this “second mansion” as the chamber of the practice of prayer, in which the soul gains a deeper awareness of God’s presence.
While one may not be able to change the world through action, one can always turn inwards through prayer to find Christ in the soul. As one draws closer to God, the imperfections of life fade away, replaced by the peace of Christ. Teresa emphasizes that this is not a withdrawal from the world but a contemplation of God that provides a stable foundation for the active love of the Christian life, which seeks to serve others and promote human flourishing.
Doctor of the Church
Teresa died in 1582 and was canonized forty years later. Her feast day is October 15th, and she is a patron saint of Spain and headache sufferers. In 1970, Pope Paul VI named Teresa a Doctor of the Church. She received the title alongside St. Catherine of Siena and is one of four female doctors of the Church. This title recognizes Teresa’s remarkable contributions to the life of the Church, especially through her reforms, writing, and personal example of holiness. In a homily on this topic, Pope Paul VI referred to her as “a mother full of enchanting simplicity, a teacher full of admirable depth.”
Although she lived some five hundred years ago, St. Teresa offers insight into a fulfilling life during times of trouble. Through her institutional reforms, mystical visions, and influential writings, Teresa testifies to the beauty of a well-lived life against the backdrop of turmoil. By turning to Christ in all things and seeking to do his will, she offers a path for us to follow today. We cannot change the world in a moment, but we can respond to Christ’s call in our individual lives. Through the concerted work of all the faithful, with each person contributing what they can, troubled times will be made less trying through abundant hope and service.
If you are interested in encountering St. Teresa through her words, The Interior Castle,The Way of Perfection, and The Autobiography of St. Teresa of Ávila are recommended as spiritual reading.
