121: St Teresa of Avila's Message: Introduction 0/16

This year we celebrate the quincentenary of the birth of St Teresa of Avila (1515). The celebration lasts from the 15th of October 2014 to the 15th of October of the current year. The span of these twelve months will most assuredly see us blessed with many special graces.

Since I have had the grace of teaching St Teresa of Avila for more than twenty years now, a few months ago a number of people suggested I write something on her, in her honour. The present book is the result of my efforts and includes many pertinent points for today's Church. The following sixteen chapters constitute the outline of these points:

1- Is Mysticism for everybody?

2- St. Teresa's Conversion; the meaning of her life

3- Christ the Groom

4- The Way of Contemplative Prayer

5- The Particular Help of the Grace of God

6- The Supernatural

7- Finding the Correct Path in the Spiritual Life

8- Mapping Spiritual Life

9- The movement of Contemplative Prayer

10- The necessity of Mental Prayer

11- Humility

12- Detachment

13- Fraternal Charity

14- God's Entrepreneur

15- Evangelisation
16- Teresa's Heritage

I hope that reading the present offering to the literature on St. Teresa will whet the reader's appetite to go on to read her actual works – her Autobiography for instance. This I consider would fulfil a significant part of my purpose in writing the book.

Here, I would like to express my warmest and deepest gratitude to Francesca Crocker, who tirelessly and patiently worked to improve my written English in order to make it understandable and more elegant. Without her help this book would not have seen the light of day.

St Teresa of Avila's Important Dates

1515	0	Birth : 28 March
1528	13	Loses her Mother
1535	20	Entering the Incarnation Monastery 2Nov
1554	39	Conversion
1556	41	Spiritual Betrothal
1559	44	1st vision of Christ 29 June
1560	45	Transverberation: April Vision of Hell: Sept Project of Foundation. 1st Relation
1561	46	1st Reformed Monastery (S. José)
1562	47	Life Inauguration of the first Monastery: 24 August S José1 (from now on the small numbers indicate her foundations) Starting Way of Perfection 1 et 3
1563	48	Constitutions
1565	50	Finishes Life. Way of Perfection Val.
1566	51	1st Version of her Meditations on the Song of Songs
1567	52	Medina del Campo2. Meeting John of the Cross
1568	53	Malagon3 Valladolid4 Foundation of Duruelo 28 Nov (Carmelite brothers).
1569	54	Exclamations Toledo5 Pastrana6
1570	55	Salamanca7
1571	56	Alba de Tormes8 Prior at the Incarnation Starts 2nd version of the Meditations on the Song of Songs
1572	57	Spiritual Marriage
1573	58	Book of Foundations Book Way of Perfection Val. End
1574	59	Segovia9 2nd version of the Meditations on the Song of Songs Index of Valdès
1575	60	Beas10 Seville11
1576	61	Stopped in her Foundations.. Way to visit the monasteries. Caravaca12
1577	62	Interior Castle. Persecutions
1579	64	End of Persecutions
1580	65	Villanueva de la Jara13 Palencia14
1581	66	Soria15
1582	67	Granada16 Burgos17 Dies at Alba de Tormès 4 Oct at 9 pm
1614		Beatified
1622		Canonisation
1970		Paul VI Declares her 1st Woman Doctor of the Church

Her Books

St Teresa wrote four major books, namely, Autobiography, Way of Perfection, Interior Castle, Foundations, some minor books known as Relations, Constitutions, Comment on Song of Songs, How to Visit a Monastery, Poems,... and a full collection of Letters.

If what is sought for is her teaching on the Prayer of the Heart, this can be found in the three following books: Autobiography, Way of Perfection and Interior Castle, a brief outline of which follows.

1- In her Autobiography she describes four ways of doing the Prayer of the Heart, and offers a first-hand account of her life and particularly of her spiritual life.

2- In the Way of Perfection, we find explained the foundations of spiritual life, namely the three virtues of humility, love and detachment, as well as one of her best descriptions on how to practise Recollection (chapters 26, 28-31). It is the main book for formation in the spiritual life.

3- In the Interior Castle we find a more mature and structured book, where she takes us by hand and leads us from the initial stages in this process to the very last ones, the Spiritual Marriage. The book describes the journey of growth, taking the example of a Castle that symbolises the human being, the soul, and at its very centre the Groom's room is to be found.The aim of the entire journey is to reach this room.

As a simple piece of advice, I would like to recommend a start be made with her Autobiography when reading St Teresa. When St Benedict of the Cross (Edith Stein) read this book, she exclaimed: this is the Truth.

Another way of familiarising oneself with St Teresa, as Father Louis de Leon said, is to visit one of her monasteries and meet the nuns - one can almost see her alive and breathing in her nuns.