Readings & Reflections: Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time & St. Teresa of Avila, October 15,2019

As a young girl in Avila, Spain, Teresa, inspired by the stories of the saints, briefly ran away to “become martyr.” Years later, she would counsel nuns to seek detachment from earthly things, that they might run headlong towards God. With the aid of John of the Cross, she reformed the Carmelite Order, advocating penance, silence, and a simple habit without shoes, hence “discalced.” She is commonly associated with ecstatic prayer, as exemplified in Bermini’s famous statue. Yet her first attempts at mental prayer were marred by excuses, distractions, and illness. “On one hand, God was calling me; on the other hand, I was following the world,” she admitted. But she persevered. Gradually, Teresa felt the call to create the precise conditions that would renew the prayer of her fellow Carmelites: silence, austerity, and enclosure. She initiated the Carmelite reform in 1562, and founded seventeen convents before her death in 1582. Her spiritual treatises earned her the title of Doctor of the Church in 1970. “Always think of yourself as everyone’s servant,” she advised. “Look for Christ Our Lord in everyone and you will then have respect and reverence for them all.”

In our readings, “What can be known about God is evident…. His invisible attributes… have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made.” The Maker of the outside of things also made the inside. That is why, from within our hearts and minds that he himself made, we live to “accord him glory as God” and “give him thanks.”

AMDG+

Opening Prayer

“Lord, fill me with your love and increase my thirst for holiness. Cleanse my heart of every evil thought and desire and help me to act kindly and justly and to speak charitably with my neighbor.”  Amen.

Reading 1
Romans 1:16-25

Brothers and sisters:
I am not ashamed of the Gospel.
It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes:
for Jew first, and then Greek.
For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith;
as it is written, “The one who is righteous by faith will live.”

The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from heaven
against every impiety and wickedness
of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
For what can be known about God is evident to them,
because God made it evident to them.
Ever since the creation of the world,
his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity
have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made.
As a result, they have no excuse;
for although they knew God
they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks.
Instead, they became vain in their reasoning,
and their senseless minds were darkened.
While claiming to be wise, they became fools
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God
for the likeness of an image of mortal man
or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes.

Therefore, God handed them over to impurity
through the lusts of their hearts
for the mutual degradation of their bodies.
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie
and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the creator,
who is blessed forever. Amen.

The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 19:2-3, 4-5
R. (2a) The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day pours out the word to day,
and night to night imparts knowledge.
R. The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
Not a word nor a discourse
whose voice is not heard;
Through all the earth their voice resounds,
and to the ends of the world, their message.
R. The heavens proclaim the glory of God.

Gospel
Lk 11:37-41

After Jesus had spoken, a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home. He entered and reclined at table to eat. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal. The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Reflection 1 – Rigidity

In today’s gospel, the Pharisee who invited Jesus to his home negatively reacted to Him when He did not wash His hands before dinner. The Pharisees were particular about the observance of Jewish rituals and tradition and took note of the actions of Jesus. To this Jesus said: “You Pharisees! You cleanse the outside of cup and dish but within you are filled with plunder and evil. Fools!”

Compliance to any law is good as it reveals one’s willingness to be subordinate to a higher order for the sake of the whole body. Rituals, traditions and laws are all good but their value is lost in the way people may use them and implement them.  The very essence of the law or a ritual is lost and becomes negative and reactionary when rigidity sets in.

RIGIDITY is one Pharasaic attitude that we should always avoid as it leads to a lot of negative repercussions.

What is quite discouraging in most instances is when man’s rigidity flows into partiality which in time becomes divisive as it develops into discrimination. “There is no partiality with God.” Romans 2:11

In other words, when a law or a ritual becomes a subjective instrument to place more burdens on people in order to favor some against others, rather than making it a tool for unity and order, then the noble intentions of a ritual or law are lost. It becomes a way by which people can be re-classified and segregated according to one’s very subjective standards. When one adopts a very rigid attitude, ignorance becomes willful. One becomes blinded not because he cannot see or understand what is good but intentionally avoids what will be good for everyone, for his own benefit.

There is no partiality with God.

In the case of the Pharisees, theirs was not only a willful ignorance about Jesus but their adamant refusal to see His light, the goodness and godliness that flowed from within Him. In our case most of us have learned to follow Jesus, have faith in Him and proclaim our loyalty to Him.  But our willful ignorance and blindness to what is of God reveals itself in the way we deal with one another, in the perversity of our minds and hearts to hide from the truth and in our rigidity to open God’s love and grace to all because we believe we are more superior to our neighbor.

Today God warns all of us against our hypocritical attitude which can somehow prevail in our hearts: “Beware, for the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against the irreligious and perverse spirit! Romans 1:18 The only way we can go in terms of our relationships is to be one with Christ. Through Him we become righteous and through our faith in Him we can give each other God’s selfless love.

Direction

Follow the Word not as a ritual to be observed but for the goodness and love of God and neighbor that flow from such an act.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, pour your grace upon me so that whatever rigidity I may have in my heart may turn into a deeper faith in your Word. In Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Reflection 2 – Giving of alms conquered the self-interest

Jesus has been challenging the crowd around him to sincerely listen to this message and to be reconciled with God. He concluded his remarks on the theme of inner light. The ideal thing is to remove from the heart anything that would compromise that inner light.

At last someone in the crowd makes a response. A Pharisee invites the Lord to dine at his house. Does it mean this Pharisee has accepted the Lord? Or is it merely a calculated measure to find some grounds to lodge a complaint option against him with the authorities? As things turn out, this last option seems to be the most likely one.

It is surprising that Jesus accepts the invitation. But Jesus is always ready to use every opportunity to invite people to faith. He knows what interior barriers to faith the Pharisees and his guests possess. He accepts the invitation to awaken them to their spiritual needs. Jesus does not perform the ceremonial washing before he takes his place at the table. Perhaps he knows his omission will provide him with an opportunity to give a lesson. When the Pharisee expresses surprise at his failure to wash before the meal, Jesus points out to his host and his guests that they are careful about exterior cleansing but neglect the more important cleansing that must take place within their hearts.

Jesus even goes so far as to call his host and guests fools. This may seem a blatant social misstep, but from the point of view of Jesus it is justified because there is so much at stake. Jesus wants those around him to enjoy the kingdom of heaven, a feast far superior to any that could be enjoyed on earth. It is worth nothing that rabbinic tradition just as candidly addresses the faults of some Pharisees. The Pharisees were supposed to be the ideal models of service to God.

Jesus identifies the interior faults that stand in the way of their relationship with God. They are full of plunder and greed. The giving of alms to the poor would be a clear indication that they had conquered the self-interest that interferes with their bond with God (Source: Rev. Timothy P. Schehr. Weekday Homily Helps. Ohio: St. Anthony Messenger Press, October 12, 2010).

Reflection 3 – What makes the heart clean and holy?

Is the Lord Jesus welcomed at your table and are you ready to feast at his table? A Pharisee, after hearing Jesus preach, invited him to dinner, no doubt, because he wanted to hear more from this extraordinary man who spoke the word of God as no one else had done before. It was not unusual for a rabbi to give a teaching over dinner. Jesus, however, did something which offended his host. He did not perform the ceremonial washing of hands before beginning the meal. Did Jesus forget or was he deliberately performing a sign to reveal something to his host? Jesus turned the table on his host by chiding him for uncleanness of heart.

What makes the heart clean and holy?
Which is more important to God – clean hands or a clean mind and heart? Jesus chided the Pharisees for harboring evil thoughts that make us unclean spiritually – such as greed, pride, bitterness, envy, arrogance, and the like. Why does he urge them, and us, to give alms? When we give freely and generously to those in need we express love, compassion, kindness, and mercy. And if the heart is full of love and compassion, then there is no room for envy, greed, bitterness, and the like. Do you allow God’s love to transform your heart, mind, and actions toward your neighbor?

“Lord Jesus, fill me with your love and increase my thirst for holiness. Cleanse my heart of every evil thought and desire and help me to act kindly and justly and to speak charitably with my neighbor.” – Read the source:  http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/2019/oct15.htm

Reflection 4 – Sometimes we act like Pharisees

Paul had spoken of the unity of God’s design for the human race. That design is revealed to us in many ways. In today’s first reading (Rom 1:16-25), Paul describes the breakdown in our human perception of that divine plan. He describes a world without Christ. Without Jesus men and women could know something about God from the world of nature as well as from their own moral experience. Their hearts and minds were darkened, however, and that darkness spread through entire cultures and religions. The religious sense, present in every person, easily became demonic, distorted and deviant. This world, swollen with sin, could not, unaided, attain holiness. Christ not only clarified the nature of God through His teaching, but promised and gave us the power, through the Holy Spirit, to attain holiness. It is the very power of God teaching everyone who believes to salvation. The Gospel of Jesus not only shows us what the right track is but enables us to follow that track to come to the same relationship with the Father that He has (Source: Rev. Joseph Krempa. Daily Homilies Year I. New York: Alba House, 1985, p. 193).

In the Gospel (Lk 11:37-41) reading illustrates the distortion that can enter religion. Jesus does not condemn ritual and external observances but insists that the heart of ritual is faith. Here’s a story of a business woman who stopped in a neigboring parish for Mass. When she arrived no one was there, so she genuflected and began to move into her pew. As she did this she noticed the credence table sitting in the sanctuary. On top of the table sat a gold chalice, beautifully jeweled. She had never seen a chalice up close so, with no one around, she decided to get a closer look. Slowly she climbed into the sanctuary. Reverently she lifted the chalice and noticed how absolutely beautiful it was. The gold was polished perfectly. The gems on the base and stem glistened in the light. The woman thought, “What a beautiful vessel for the blood of Christ!”

The woman was just about to put the chalice down and return to her pew when a shout came from the other side of the church, “Put that chalice down! You don’t belong up here in the sanctuary. This place and that chalice are sacred. You can’t touch holy things!” The shouts and accusations came from the church’s sacristan, a faithful Catholic who served her church for years. Normally she was a gentle and loving person, but on that one day she became a Pharisee, concerned more for a cup than for a person.

Pharisees were devout Jews and religious men, but sometimes they got caught up in the exterior things of life, like cleansing of cups, platters and hands. On this day they could not see the holiness of Jesus standing in front of them, because he was not acting “appropriately.” Our sacristan had the same problem.

It cannot be that way with us. As Christians we look for the God who dwells within others rather than what the other looks like or how they act. (Source: Rev. Steven R. Thoma, C.R. Weekday Homily Helps. Ohio: St. Anthony Messenger Press, October 13, 2009).

Reflection 5 – True obedience

True obedience to the laws of God is true faith – not because obedience wins us God’s approval and gets us into heaven, but because faith is the presence of Christ within us and he is the fulfillment of the Law.

St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians (5: 1-6) reminds us that faith expresses itself through love. Since God is love and every law of his is based on love, obedience without love is legalism, i.e., lawfulness without faith. And this, St. Paul says, is an attempt to justify ourselves; it’s a fall from grace. Why? Because it separates us from Christ who already justified us through his death on the cross.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus defines the core problem of legalistic obedience: It fails to change us on the inside. The Pharisee’s attitude was quite condescending toward Jesus, evidence that his obedience to the rules and regulations of religious life had not moved his heart with love. He was more concerned about rituals than about people.

Moral laws, Church rules, and ritual norms are good and necessary. They are all based on the Law of Love. Their purpose is to bring us into a stronger, closer relationship with the Author of Love and with the whole Church that embodies this Love. Disobedience is either rebellion against love or ignorance of the loving reasons for obedience, and someone somewhere somehow gets hurt.

However, when we love obedience more than we love people, the law itself becomes our god. To imitate Christ, we must care enough about others to put aside legalism whenever it interferes with their salvation or their basic needs. The Church calls for this in Canon Law!

Please note: Moral laws are unchangeable, because it’s always unloving to disobey them. But rules and norms and policies do change as the problems that they address change. If we’re afraid that changes and adaptations are disobedience, we have to examine them through the lens of moral law, and if the change is based on love and we still don’t approve, we are only understanding them legalistically, not faithfully.

Legalism makes us desperate. Try as we might, we cannot earn our way into heaven through obedience, because we will never be perfect enough. In trying to make ourselves right with God, we become more rigid, we distrust changes in the Church, and we’re unable to see where and how the Church does allow for adaptations.

Faith means obeying even before we understand why we should obey, always asking the Holy Spirit to give us understanding. To fulfill the law faithfully, we must keep our eyes on Jesus, for he showed us by his example how to be truly obedient (Source: Terry A. Modica, Good News Ministries http://gnm.org/good-news-reflections/?useDrDate=2016-10-11 ).

Reflection 6 – How to win arguments without defeating others

Reflection 7 – The wrong direction in which the Pharisees looked

“Everything in your life he has designed to free you of self and expand your heart to enter into his limitless Love. The things that seem most to be an obstacle to this are usually what most deeply frees and opens out – if we surrender deeply enough….

“People look in the wrong direction for holiness. Subconsciously they are expecting transformation in Jesus to mean that they cease to be themselves: they become “perfect.” But if we think holiness is “perfection” we have never understood the human reality of Jesus. In his “weakness,” we are real. And just as his Love doesn’t transform our physical limitations, so neither does it our psychic: the stupid remain stupid and the emotionally unstable retain their personal affliction. But now it is “different” – it is a vehicle of grace….

“All that we are is potential entrance for his Love, but it humbles us to admit it! Here is the great actual divide between what people really believe and what they think they believe” (Source: Sister Wendy Beckett, Magnificat, Vol. 16, No. 8, October 2014, pp. 188-189).

Reflection 8 – St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582 A.D.)

Teresa lived in an age of exploration as well as political, social and religious upheaval. It was the 16th century, a time of turmoil and reform. She was born before the Protestant Reformation and died almost 20 years after the closing of the Council of Trent.

The gift of God to Teresa in and through which she became holy and left her mark on the Church and the world is threefold: She was a woman; she was a contemplative; she was an active reformer.

As a woman, Teresa stood on her own two feet, even in the man’s world of her time. She was “her own woman,” entering the Carmelites despite strong opposition from her father. She is a person wrapped not so much in silence as in mystery. Beautiful, talented, outgoing, adaptable, affectionate, courageous, enthusiastic, she was totally human. Like Jesus, she was a mystery of paradoxes: wise, yet practical; intelligent, yet much in tune with her experience; a mystic, yet an energetic reformer. A holy woman, a womanly woman.

Teresa was a woman “for God,” a woman of prayer, discipline and compassion. Her heart belonged to God. Her ongoing conversion was an arduous lifelong struggle, involving ongoing purification and suffering. She was misunderstood, misjudged, opposed in her efforts at reform. Yet she struggled on, courageous and faithful; she struggled with her own mediocrity, her illness, her opposition. And in the midst of all this she clung to God in life and in prayer. Her writings on prayer and contemplation are drawn from her experience: powerful, practical and graceful. A woman of prayer; a woman for God.

Teresa was a woman “for others.” Though a contemplative, she spent much of her time and energy seeking to reform herself and the Carmelites, to lead them back to the full observance of the primitive Rule. She founded over a half-dozen new monasteries. She traveled, wrote, fought—always to renew, to reform. In her self, in her prayer, in her life, in her efforts to reform, in all the people she touched, she was a woman for others, a woman who inspired and gave life.

Her writings, especially the Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle, have helped generations of believers.

In 1970, the Church gave her the title she had long held in the popular mind: Doctor of the Church. She and St. Catherine of Siena were the first women so honored.

Comment:

Ours is a time of turmoil, a time of reform and a time of liberation. Modern women have in Teresa a challenging example. Promoters of renewal, promoters of prayer, all have in Teresa a woman to reckon with, one whom they can admire and imitate.

Quote:

Teresa knew well the continued presence and value of suffering (physical illness, opposition to reform, difficulties in prayer), but she grew to be able to embrace suffering, even desire it: “Lord, either to suffer or to die.” Toward the end of her life she exclaimed: “Oh, my Lord! How true it is that whoever works for you is paid in troubles! And what a precious price to those who love you if we understand its value.”

Patron Saint of: Headaches

Related St. Anthony Messenger article(s) 

Ten Great Catholics of the Second Millennium, by Christopher Bellitto

Four Great Spanish Saints, by Jack Wintz, OFM

Read the source:  http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1169

SAINT OF THE DAY
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to God’s invitation to use his or her unique gifts. God calls each one of us to be a saint. Click here to receive Saint of the Day in your email.

Related Article:

SAINT TERESA OF ÁVILA: MYSTIC AND FIERCE REFORMER – A saint for all seasons — and synods http://www.pagadiandiocese.org/2019/10/15/saint-teresa-of-avila-mystic-and-fierce-reformer-a-saint-for-all-seasons-and-synods/

Reflection 9 – St. Teresa as our model

As a young girl in Avila, Spain, Teresa, inspired by the stories of the saints, briefly ran away to “become martyr.” Years later, she would counsel nuns to seek detachment from earthly things, that they might run headlong towards God. With the aid of John of the Cross, she reformed the Carmelite Order, advocating penance, silence, and a simple habit without shoes, hence “discalced.” She is commonly associated with ecstatic prayer, as exemplified in Bermini’s famous statue. Yet her first attempts at mental prayer were marred by excuses, distractions, and illness. “On one hand, God was calling me; on the other hand, I was following the world,” she admitted. But she persevered. Gradually, Teresa felt the call to create the precise conditions that would renew the prayer of her fellow Carmelites: silence, austerity, and enclosure. She initiated the Carmelite reform in 1562, and founded seventeen convents before her death in 1582. Her spiritual treatises earned her the title of Doctor of the Church in 1970. “Always think of yourself as everyone’s servant,” she advised. “Look for Christ Our Lord in everyone and you will then have respect and reverence for them all.”

Visiting a doctor is not usually a fun experience. We do not relish the idea of spending time with them unless we are sick. When we don’t feel well we pray that our doctor is educated. We pray that our doctor didn’t skip too many classes and that she/he studied well and is prepared. Study, time, experience and persistence help them.

Today in our church we celebrate the feast of Saint Teresa of Jesus, a doctor of our faith. She could not have told you one disease from another for she was not that kind of doctor, but she knew the answers to life’s questions. She studied Scripture, spent time in prayer, experienced God in life and was persistent in her faith. She knew that God is the answer to all of our needs.

She understood Jesus’ challenge to the Pharisees today that true knowledge is not found somewhere in the world or in a pile of books. It is not found on the internet or by watching television. The key to true knowledge is found by listening to and knowing God. The scribes, Pharisees and lawyers of Jesus’ day were all smart people. They thought they had all the answers to life’s questions, but they were wrong. Only God gives meaning to life. Only God answers questions perfectly and gives us what we need! Saint Teresa understood this, and that is why she is called a doctor of our church. She was not book-wise, nor did she receive multiple academic degrees. But with God as the key to her life she was the best kind of doctor and example for us. She invites us to follow her lead today by spending time with Scripture, sitting silently in prayer, experiencing God wherever we go today, and growing strong in our faith. (Source: Rev. Steven R. Thoma, C.R. Weekday Homily Helps. Ohio: St. Anthony Messenger Press, October 15, 2009).

Here’s the life story of St. Teresa of Jesus. On March 28, 1515, Teresa de Ahumada y Cepeda was born near Avila, Spain, of a large, aristocratic Castilian family with Jewish ancestry. She entered the Carmelite monastery of the Incarnation at Avila in 1535. Teresa was a Carmelite who established a strict, reformed branch of her order – the Discalced Carmelites. Her efforts with John of the Cross at reform where hindered by the pervasive laxity and politicking that pervaded Spanish religious orders at the time.

She died on October 4, 1582 at the convent of Alba de Torres, Spain. She was beatified in 1614 and canonized saint in 1622

In 1970, Pope Paul VI named her a Doctor of the Church. Her spiritual writings, especially the Interior Castle, are classics, psychologically perceptive and profound. She is a master of the spiritual life. One of her saying is, “Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things pass away. Only God remains. Patience wins everything. He who has God wants nothing. God alone suffices.” St. Teresa and her messages are signs for us leading to God in heaven and warning for all of us.

Related Articles/ Videos click below:

Readings & Reflections: Saturday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time & St. Teresa of Avila, October 15,2016 http://www.pagadiandiocese.org/2016/10/14/readings-reflections-saturday-of-the-twenty-eighth-week-in-ordinary-time-st-teresa-of-avila-october-152016/

Ten Lessons from St. Teresa of Avila (St. Teresa of Jesus) http://www.pagadiandiocese.org/2014/10/16/ten-lessons-from-st-teresa-of-avila-st-teresa-of-jesus/

14 Of The Most Powerful Peace Quotes From St Teresa Of Avila  http://www.pagadiandiocese.org/2015/11/19/14-of-the-most-powerful-peace-quotes-from-st-teresa-of-avila/

The Love & Humor of St. Teresa of Avila http://www.pagadiandiocese.org/2015/10/16/the-love-humor-of-st-teresa-of-avila/

For other saints with similar names, see Saint Teresa.

SAINT TERESA OF AVILA
Saint Teresa of Ávila by Peter Paul Rubens
SAINT, MYSTIC, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
BORN	28 March 1515 Gotarrendura, Ávila, Crown of Castile (today Spain)
DIED	4 October 1582 (aged 67)[1] Alba de Tormes, Salamanca,Spain
VENERATED IN	Roman Catholic Church Lutheran Church[2] Anglican Communion[3][4]
BEATIFIED	24 April 1614, Rome by Pope Paul V
CANONIZED	12 March 1622, Rome by Pope Gregory XV
MAJORSHRINE	Convent of the Annunciation,Alba de Tormes, Spain
FEAST	15 October
ATTRIBUTES	Habit of the Discalced Carmelites, Book and Quill, arrow-pierced heart
PATRONAGE	Bodily ills; headaches; chess; lacemakers; laceworkers; loss of parents; people in need of grace; people in religious orders; people ridiculed for their piety;Požega, Croatia; sick people; sickness; Spain

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v t e

Teresa of Ávila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptized as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada (28 March 1515 – 4 October 1582), was a prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, Carmelitenun, author during theCounter Reformation, and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer. She was a reformer of theCarmelite Order and is considered to be a founder of the Discalced Carmelites along with John of the Cross.

In 1622, forty years after her death, she was canonized by Pope Gregory XV, and on 27 September 1970 was named aDoctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI.^[5] Her books, which include her autobiography (The Life of Teresa of Jesus) and her seminal work El Castillo Interior (trans.: The Interior Castle), are an integral part ofSpanish Renaissance literatureas well as Christian mysticism andChristian meditation practices. She also wrote Camino de Perfección(trans.: The Way of Perfection).

After her death, Saint Teresa’s cult was known in Spain during the 1620s, and for a time she was considered a candidate to become a national patron saint. A Santero image of the Our Lady of the Conception, said to have been sent with one of her brothers toNicaraguaby the saint, is now venerated as the country’s national patroness at theShrine of El Viejo.^[6] Pious Catholic beliefs also associate Saint Teresa with the esteemed religious image calledInfant Jesus of Prague with claims of former ownership and devotion.

Contents

 [hide] 

• 1 Early life
• 2 Activities as reformer
• 3 Mysticism
• 4 Writings
  • 4.1 Excerpts
• 5 Saint Teresa and the Infant Jesus of Prague
• 6 Patron saint
• 7 Portrayals
• 8 See also
• 9 Notes
• 10 References
• 11 Bibliography
• 12 External links

Early life[edit]

Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada was born in 1515 in Gotarrendura, in the province of Ávila, Spain. Her paternal grandfather, Juan Sánchez de Toledo, was a marrano (Jewish convert to Christianity) and was condemned by theSpanish Inquisition for allegedly returning to theJewish faith. Her father, Alonso Sánchez de Cepeda, bought aknighthood and successfully assimilated into Christian society. Teresa’s mother, Beatriz de Ahumada y Cuevas,^[7] was especially keen to raise her daughter as a pious Christian. Teresa was fascinated by accounts of the lives of the saints, and ran away from home at age seven with her brother Rodrigo to find martyrdom among the Moors. Her uncle stopped them as he was returning to the town, having spotted the two outside the town walls.^[8]

When Teresa was 14 her mother died, this resulted in Teresa becoming grief-stricken. This prompted her to embrace a deeper devotion to the Virgin Mary as her spiritual mother. Along with this good resolution, however, she also developed immoderate interests in reading popular fiction (consisting, at that time, mostly of medieval tales of knighthood) and caring for her own appearance.^[9]Teresa was sent for her education to the Augustinian nuns atÁvila.^[10]

In the monastery (“cloister” is an area where only monastics have access), she suffered greatly from illness. Early in her sickness, she experienced periods of religious ecstasy through the use of the devotional book Tercer abecedario espiritual, translated as the Third Spiritual Alphabet (published in 1527 and written by Francisco de Osuna). This work, following the example of similar writings of medieval mystics, consisted of directions for examinations of conscience and for spiritual self-concentration and inner contemplation (known in mystical nomenclature as oratio recollectionis ororatio mentalis). She also employed other mystical ascetic works such as the Tractatus de oratione et meditatione ofSaint Peter of Alcantara, and perhaps many of those upon which Saint Ignatius of Loyola based his Spiritual Exercisesand possibly theSpiritual Exercises themselves.

The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Bernini, Basilica ofSanta Maria della Vittoria, Rome.

She claimed that during her illness she rose from the lowest stage, “recollection”, to the “devotions of silence” or even to the “devotions of ecstasy”, which was one of perfect union with God (see below). During this final stage, she said she frequently experienced a rich “blessing of tears.” As the Catholic distinction between mortalandvenial sin became clear to her, she says she came to understand the awful terror of sin and the inherent nature of original sin. She also became conscious of her own natural impotence in confronting sin, and the necessity of absolute subjection to God.

Around 1556, various friends suggested that her newfound knowledge was diabolical, not divine. She began to inflict various tortures and mortifications of the flesh upon herself. But herconfessor, the Jesuit Saint Francis Borgia, reassured her of the divine inspiration of her thoughts. On St. Peter’s Day in 1559, Teresa became firmly convinced that Jesus Christ presented himself to her in bodily form, though invisible. These visions lasted almost uninterrupted for more than two years. In another vision, aseraph^[11] drove the fiery point of a golden lance repeatedly through her heart, causing an ineffable spiritual-bodily pain.

I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it…

This vision was the inspiration for one of Bernini‘s most famous works, the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa at Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.

The memory of this episode served as an inspiration throughout the rest of her life, and motivated her lifelong imitation of the life and suffering of Jesus, epitomized in the motto usually associated with her: Lord, either let me suffer or let me die.

Activities as reformer[edit]

Teresa entered a Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation in Ávila, Spain, on 2 November 1535. She found herself increasingly in disharmony with the spiritual malaise prevailing at the Incarnation. Among the 150 nuns living there, the observance of cloister — designed to protect and strengthen the spirit and practice of prayer — became so lax that it actually lost its very purpose. The daily invasion of visitors, many of high social and political rank, vitiated the atmosphere with frivolous concerns and vain conversations. These violations of the solitude absolutely essential to progress in genuine contemplative prayer grieved Teresa to the extent that she longed to do something.^[12]

The incentive to give outward practical expression to her inward motive was inspired in Teresa by the Franciscan priest Saint Peter of Alcantara who became acquainted with her early in 1560, and became her spiritual guide and counselor. She now resolved to found a reformed Carmelite convent, correcting the laxity which she had found in the Cloister of the Incarnation and others. Guimara de Ulloa, a woman of wealth and a friend, supplied the funds. Teresa worked for many years encouraging Spanish Jewish converts to follow Christianity.

The absolute poverty of the new monastery, established in 1562 and named St. Joseph’s (San José), at first excited a scandal among the citizens and authorities of Ávila, and the little house with its chapel was in peril of suppression; but powerful patrons, including thebishop himself, as well as the impression of well-secured subsistence and prosperity, turned animosity into applause.

In March 1563, when Teresa moved to the new cloister, she received the papal sanction to her prime principle of absolute poverty and renunciation of property, which she proceeded to formulate into a “Constitution”. Her plan was the revival of the earlier, stricter rules, supplemented by new regulations such as the three disciplines of ceremonial flagellation prescribed for the divine service every week, and the discalceation of the nun. For the first five years, Teresa remained in pious seclusion, engaged in writing.

Church window at the Convent of St Teresa.

In 1567, she received a patent from the Carmelite general, Rubeo de Ravenna, to establish new houses of her order, and in this effort and later visitations she made long journeys through nearly all theprovinces of Spain. Of these she gives a description in her “Libro de las Fundaciones.” Between 1567 and 1571, reform convents were established at Medina del Campo, Malagón, Valladolid, Toledo,Pastrana, Salamanca, and Alba de Tormes.

As part of her original patent, Teresa was given permission to set up two houses for men who wished to adopt the reforms; she convinced John of the Cross and Anthony of Jesus to help with this. They founded the first convent of Discalced Carmelite Brethren in November 1568 at Duruello. Another friend, Gerónimo Gracian,Carmelite visitator of the older observance of Andalusiaand apostolic commissioner, and later provincial of the Teresian reforms, gave her powerful support in founding convents at Segovia(1571),Beas de Segura (1574), Seville (1575), and Caravaca de la Cruz(Murcia, 1576), while the deeply mystical John, by his power as teacher and preacher, promoted the inner life of the movement.^{[citation needed]}

In 1576 a series of persecutions began on the part of the older observant Carmelite order against Teresa, her friends, and her reforms. Pursuant to a body of resolutions adopted at the general chapter at Piacenza, the “definitors” of the order forbade all further founding of convents. The general chapter condemned her to voluntary retirement to one of her institutions.^[13] She obeyed and chose St. Joseph’s at Toledo. Her friends and subordinates were subjected to greater trials.^[13]

Finally, after several years her pleadings by letter with King Philip II of Spain secured relief. As a result, in 1579, the processes before theinquisition against her, Gracian, and others were dropped,^[13]which allowed the reform to continue. A brief of Pope Gregory XIIIallowed a special provincial for the younger branch of the discalced nuns, and a royal rescript created a protective board of four assessors for the reform.^[13]

During the last three years of her life, Teresa founded convents at Villanueva de la Jara in northern Andalusia (1580), Palencia(1580),Soria (1581), Burgos, andGranada (1582). In total seventeen convents, all but one founded by her, and as many men’s cloisters were due to her reform activity of twenty years.^{[citation needed]}

Her final illness overtook her on one of her journeys from Burgos toAlba de Tormes. She died in 1582, just as Catholic nations were making the switch from theJulian to the Gregorian calendar, which required the removal of 5–14 October from the calendar. She died either before midnight of 4 October or early in the morning of 15 October which is celebrated as her feast day. Her last words were: “My Lord, it is time to move on. Well then, may your will be done. O my Lord and my Spouse, the hour that I have longed for has come. It is time to meet one another.“^[14]

In 1622, forty years after her death, she was canonized by Pope Gregory XV. The Cortes exalted her to patroness of Spain in 1617, and the University of Salamancapreviously conferred the titleDoctor ecclesiae with a diploma. The title is Latin for Doctor of the Church, but is distinct from the papal honor of Doctor of the Church, which is always conferred posthumously and was finally bestowed upon her by Pope Paul VI in December 27, 1970 along with Saint Catherine of Siena making them the first women to be awarded the distinction.^[5]Teresa is revered as the Doctor of Prayer. The mysticism in her works exerted a formative influence upon many theologians of the following centuries, such as Francis of Sales,Fénelon, and the Port-Royalists.

Statue of Saint Teresa of Ávila.

Mysticism[edit]

“It is love alone that gives worth to all things.” – St. Teresa of Avila

The kernel of Teresa’s mystical thought throughout all her writings is the ascent of the soulin four stages (The Autobiography Chs. 10-22):

The first, or “mental prayer“, is that of devout contemplation or concentration, the withdrawal of the soul from without and especially the devout observance of the passion of Christ and penitence (Autobiography 11.20).

The second is the “prayer of quiet“, in which at least the human will is lost in that of God by virtue of a charismatic, supernatural state given by God, while the other faculties, such as memory, reason, and imagination, are not yet secure from worldly distraction. While a partial distraction is due to outer performances such as repetition of prayers and writing down spiritual things, yet the prevailing state is one of quietude (Autobiography 14.1).

The “devotion of union” is not only a supernatural but an essentiallyecstatic state. Here there is also an absorption of the reason in God, and only the memory and imagination are left to ramble. This state is characterized by a blissful peace, a sweet slumber of at least the higher soul faculties, or a conscious rapture in the love of God.

The fourth is the “devotion of ecstasy or rapture,” a passive state, in which the feeling of being in the body disappears (2 Corinthians 12:2-3). Sense activity ceases; memory and imagination are also absorbed in God or intoxicated. Body and spirit are in the throes of a sweet, happy pain, alternating between a fearful fiery glow, a complete impotence and unconsciousness, and a spell of strangulation, sometimes by such an ecstatic flight that the body is literally lifted into space .^{[citation needed]} This after half an hour is followed by a reactionary relaxation of a few hours in a swoon-like weakness, attended by a negation of all the faculties in the union with God. The subject awakens from this in tears; it is the climax of mystical experience, producing a trance. Indeed, she was said to have been observedlevitating during Mass on more than one occasion.^{[citation needed]}

Teresa is one of the foremost writers on mental prayer, and her position among writers on mystical theology is unique. In all her writings on this subject she deals with her personal experiences. Her deep insight and analytical gifts helped her to explain them clearly. Her definition was used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Contemplative prayer [oración mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.”^[15] She used a metaphor of mystic prayer as watering a garden throughout her writings.

Writings[edit]

This is the one portrait of Teresa that is probably the most true to her appearance. It is a copy of an original painting of her in 1576 at the age of 61.

Teresa’s writings, produced for didactic purposes, stand among the most remarkable in the mystical literature of the Catholic Church:

• The “Autobiography”, written before 1567, under the direction of her confessor, Fr. Pedro Ibáñez;^[16]
• ” El Camino de Perfección“, written also before 1567, at the direction of her confessor;^[17]
• “Meditations on Song of Songs”, 1567, written nominally for her daughters at the convent of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
• “El Castillo Interior“, written in 1577;^[18]
• “Relaciones”, an extension of the autobiography giving her inner and outer experiences in epistolary form.
• Two smaller works are the “Conceptos del Amor” (“Concepts of Love”) and “Exclamaciones”. In addition, there are “Las Cartas”(Saragossa, 1671), or her correspondence, of which there are 342 extant letters and 87 fragments of others. St Teresa’s prose is marked by an unaffected grace, an ornate neatness, and charming power of expression, together placing her in the front rank ofSpanish prose writers; and her rare poems (“Todas las poesías”, Munster, 1854) are distinguished for tenderness of feeling and rhythm of thought.

Excerpts[edit]

Saint Teresa, who reported visions of Jesus and Mary, was a strong believer in the power of holy water and wrote that she used it with success to repel evil and temptations.^[19] She wrote:^[20]

I know by frequent experience that there is nothing which puts the devils toflight like holy water.

Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing make you afraid.
All things are passing.
God alone never changes.
Patience gains all things.
If you have God you will want for nothing.
God alone suffices.

— St Teresa, The bookmark of Teresa of Ávila, ^[21]

The modern poem Christ has no body, though widely attributed to Teresa,^[22][23] is not found in her writings.^[24]

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

— Teresa of Ávila (attributed)

Saint Teresa and the Infant Jesus of Prague[edit]

Though there are no written historical accounts proving that Teresa of Ávila ever owned the Infant Jesus of Prague statue,^[25]according to a pious legend Teresa once owned the statue and gave it to a noblewoman travelling to Prague.^[26][27] The age of the statue dates to approximately the same era as Teresa.

It was thought that Teresa carried a portable statue of the Child Jesus wherever she went. Contemporary history cannot confirm that the Prague image was what she was thought to have owned. Catholic pious beliefs follow the local legend, certainly already circulated by the early 1700s.^{[citation needed]}

Saint Teresa is also portrayed in the biographical 1984 film Teresa de Jesús, and shown in the movie protecting this infant statue in her many calamitous travels. In some scenes, the other religious sisters take turn in changing its vestments. The devotion to the Child Jesus spread quickly in Spain, possibly due to her mystical visions.^[28] The Spanish nuns who established Carmel in France brought this devotion with them, and it became widespread in France.^[29] Indeed, one of Teresa’s most famous disciples, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux,^[30] a French Carmelite, herself named for Teresa, had as her religious name “Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face”.

Patron saint[edit]

In the 1620s Spain debated who should be the country’s patron saint; the choices were either the current patron, Saint James Matamoros a combination of him and the newly canonised Saint Teresa of Ávila. Teresa’s promoters said Spain faced newer challenges, especially the threat of Protestantism and societal decline at home, thus needing a more contemporary patron who understood those issues and could guide the Spanish nation. Santiago’s supporters (Santiaguistas) fought back and eventually won the argument, but Teresa of Ávila remained far more popular at the local level.^[31] Saint James the Greater kept the title of patron saint for the Spanish people, and the most Blessed Virgin Mary under the title Immaculate Conception as the sole patroness for the entire Spanish Kingdom.

Portrayals[edit]

Teresa of Ávila by the French painter François Gérard(1770−1837)

• A biography of Saint Teresa was written by Marcelle Auclair(available in English, written originally in French)^[32]
• “St. Teresa” was painted in 1819–20 by François Gérard, a French neoclassical painter.^{[citation needed]}
• Saint Teresa was the inspiration for one of Bernini‘s most famous sculptures, The Ecstasy of St. Teresa in Santa Maria della Vittoriain Rome.^{[citation needed]}
• Simone de Beauvoir singles out Teresa as a woman who lived her life for herself (perhaps the only woman to do so) in her bookThe Second Sex.^{[citation needed]}
• Saint Teresa is the subject of the song “Theresa’s Sound-World” by Sonic Youth off the 1992 album Dirty, lyrics by Thurston Moore.^{[citation needed]}
• Saint Teresa features prominently in Joan Osborne‘s song with the same name.^{[citation needed]}
• She is a principal character of the opera Four Saints in Three Acts by the composer Virgil Thomson with a libretto by Gertrude Stein.^{[citation needed]}
• She is mentioned prominently in Kathryn Harrison‘s novel Poison. The main character, Francisca De Luarca, is fascinated by her life.^{[citation needed]}
• R. A. Lafferty was strongly inspired by El Castillo Interiorwhen he wrote his novel Fourth Mansions. Quotations from St. Teresa’s work are frequently used as chapter headings.^{[citation needed]}
• Pierre Klossowski prominently features Saint Teresa of Ávila in his metaphysical novel The Baphomet.^{[citation needed]}
• George Eliot compared Dorothea Brooke to St. Teresa in Middlemarch (1871–1872) and wrote briefly about the life and works of St. Teresa in the “Prelude” to the novel.^{[citation needed]}
• Thomas Hardy took St. Teresa as the inspiration for much of the characterisation of the heroine Tess (Teresa) Durbeyfield, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891), most notably the scene in which she lies in a field and senses her soul ecstatically above her.^{[citation needed]}
• The contemporary poet Jorie Graham features Saint Teresa in the poem Breakdancing in her volume The End of Beauty.^{[citation needed]}
• Nigel Wingrove‘s 1989 short film Visions of Ecstasy was based on Teresa of Ávila^[33]
• Paz Vega stars as Teresa in Teresa, el cuerpo de Cristo, a 2007 Spanish biopic directed by Ray Loriga.^[33]
• Barbara Mujica‘s novel Sister Teresa, while not strictly hagiographical, is based upon Teresa’s life.^{[citation needed]}
• St. Teresa was the subject of a 1959 play, “La Madre”; she was portrayed by actress Kate Wilkinson.^{[citation needed]}
• Performance artist Linda Montano has cited Teresa of Ávila as one of the most important influences on her work and since her return to Catholicism in the 2000s has done performances of her life.^{[citation needed]}
• Concha Velasco portrays Teresa in Teresa de Jesús, a 1984 television miniseries directed by Josefina Molina.^[33]
• Timothy Findley‘s 1999 novel Pilgrim features St. Teresa as a minor character.^{[citation needed]}

See also[edit]

• Asín on mystical analogies in St. Teresa of Avila and Islam
• Book of the First Monks
• Byzantine Discalced Carmelites
• Carmelite Rule of St. Albert
• Constitutions of the Carmelite Order
• Mental prayer
• Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites
• Saints and levitation
• Spanish Renaissance literature
• Teresa de Jesús, 1984 Spanish language mini-series
• Visions of Jesus and Mary

Notes[edit]

1. Jump up^ At some hour of the night between 4 October and 15 October 1582, the night of the transition in Spain from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar
2. Jump up^ “Notable Lutheran Saints”. resurrectionpeople.org.
3. Jump up^ “Holy Days”. churchofengland.org.
4. Jump up^ “Holy Men and Holy Women” (PDF).churchofengland.org.
5. ^ Jump up to:^a b (Italian) [1]
6. Jump up^ “Inmaculada del Viejo”. corazones.org.
7. Jump up^ Zupeda, Reginald. From Spain to Texas, ISBN 9781479770083
8. Jump up^ Medwick, Cathleen, Teresa of Avila: The Progress of a Soul, Knopf, 1999, ISBN 0-394-54794-2
9. Jump up^ “ST. TERESA OF AVILA :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)”. Catholic News Agency.
10. Jump up^ Zimmerman 1911.
11. Jump up^ Teresa wrote that it must be a cherub (Deben ser los que llaman cherubines), but Fr. Domingo Báñez wrote in the margin that it seemed more like a seraph (mas parece de los que se llaman seraphis), an identification that most editors have followed. Santa Teresa de Ávila. “Libro de su vida“.Escritos de Santa Teresa.
12. Jump up^ “HISTORY – discalced carmelite order – Contemplative Discalced Carmelite Nuns”. pcn.net.
13. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Kavanaugh, Kieran (1991). “General Introduction: Biographical Sketch”. In Kieran Kavanaugh. The Collected Works of St John of the Cross. Washington: ICS Publications. pp. 9–27. ISBN 0-935216-14-6.
14. Jump up^ 2000 Years of Prayer by Michael Counsell2004 ISBN 978-1-85311-623-0 page 207
15. Jump up^ “Catechism of the Catholic Church – Expressions of prayer”. vatican.va.
16. Jump up^ Pedro Ibáñez, “La Vida de la Santa Madre Teresa de Jesús”, Madrid, 1882; English translation, The Life of S. Teresa of Jesus, London, 1888.
17. Jump up^ “El Camino de Perfección”, Salamanca, 1589; English translation, “The Way of Perfection”, London, 1852.
18. Jump up^ “El Castillo Interior,” English translation, “The Interior Castle,” London, 1852, comparing the contemplative soul to a castle with seven successive interior courts, or chambers, analogous to the seven heavens.
19. Jump up^ Bielecki, pp 238-241
20. Jump up^ Teresa of Avila, 2008 Life of St. Teresa of JesusISBN 978-1-60680-041-6 page 246
21. Jump up^ Teresa of Avila. Let Nothing Disturb You: A Journey to the Center of the Soul with Teresa of Avila.Editor John Kirvan. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0-87793-570-4
22. Jump up^ Howell, James C. (2009). Introducing Christianity : exploring the Bible, faith, and life (1st ed.). Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. p. 151.ISBN 9780664232979.
23. Jump up^ “The Journey with Jesus: Poems and Prayers”. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
24. Jump up^ Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (7th ed.). Oxford: OUP. 2009. p. 684.ISBN 9780199237173.
25. Jump up^ http://www.ewtn.com/library/christ/infhist.txt
26. Jump up^ Infant Jesus of Prague
27. Jump up^ padre seraphim. “DEVOTIONS & PRAYERS”.devotionsandprayers.blogspot.com.
28. Jump up^ “CatholicSaints.Info”. CatholicSaints.Info.
29. Jump up^ carmelnet.org/biographies/Margaret.pdf
30. Jump up^ “Saint Therese of Lisieux: A Gateway“
31. Jump up^ Erin Kathleen Rowe, Saint and Nation: Santiago, Teresa of Avila, and Plural Identities in Early Modern Spain (2011)
32. Jump up^ Auclair, Marcelle (1988). Saint Teresa of Avila. Kathleen Pond (trans.) (Reprint; Originally published: New York: Pantheon, 1953 ed.). Petersham, MA: St. Bede’s Publications.ISBN 9780932506672. ISBN 0932506674, OCLC 18292197 (457 pages); French original: Auclair, Marcelle (1950). La vie de Sainte Thérèse d’Avila, la Dame Errante de Dieu. Paris, France: Éditions du Seuil. OCLC 4154440 (493 pages)
33. ^ Jump up to:^a b c See Teresa of Ávila at the Internet Movie Database.

References[edit]

• Du Boulay, Shirley (2004). Teresa of Avila: An Extraordinary Life.Katonah, New York: BlueBridge. ISBN 0-974-24052-4; ISBN 978-0-97424-052-7.
• Williams, Rowan (2004). Teresa of Avila. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8264-7341-7.
• Bielecki, Tessa; tr. by Mirabai Starr (2008). Teresa of Avila: The Book of My Life. Boston, Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications.ISBN 978-1-59030-573-7.
• This article was originally based on the text in the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge.
• “St. Teresa of Jesus (Teresa of Avila)”. 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). “Theresa, St“. Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
•  Zimmerman, Benedict (1912). “St. Teresa of Jesus“. In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Bibliography[edit]

Library resources about Teresa of Ávila
Online books Resources in your library Resources in other libraries
BY TERESA OF ÁVILA
Online books Resources in your library Resources in other libraries

• Teresa of Ávila, Way of perfection, London, 2012. limovia.net ISBN 978-1-78336-025-3
• “The Interior Castle – The Mansions,” TAN Books, 1997. ISBN 978-0-89555-604-2
• “The Way of Perfection,” TAN Books, 1997. ISBN 978-0-89555-602-8
• Teresa of Avila, “The Book of Her Life” (Translated, with Notes, by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD. Introduction by Jodi Bilinkoff). Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 2008. ISBN 978-0-87220-907-7
• “The Delighted Angel” drama about Teresa of Ávila and Rabija al-Adavija by Dževad Karahasan, Vienna-Salzburg-Klagenfurt, ARBOS 1995.
• “The Interior Castle (Edited by E. Allison Peers),” Doubleday, 1972. ISBN 978-0-385-03643-6
• “The Way of Perfection (Translated and Edited by E. Allison Peers),” Doubleday, 1991.