This year’s celebration of the feast day of the 16th century Spanish saint Teresa of Avila is especially significant because in March of next year we will mark 500 years since her birth. A number of my friends have been sharing their favourite Teresa quotations via email and Facebook today. A couple of examples:
“May God save us from gloomy saints”
and advising a bishop:
“My Lord, you are just wrong”
and a selection of her inspirations at this link: Teresa: top 10 quotes.
With a link to Teresa’s closest friends in Christchurch New Zealand: Christchurch Carmelites
Saint Teresa and Saint John of the Cross were on fire with God. They demonstrated that once we are touched by God, then union with God becomes a great longing. Much of their writing is about this divine hunger. It was also without fear. In a climate of Inquisition and severe punishments, Teresa could say of a bishop that he made spiritual progress like a hen with its feet tied together.
(I think most of us lesser mortals are glad she isn’t our spiritual director!)