St. Teresa of Avila
October 15 is the feast day of St. Teresa of Avila, also referred to as Teresa of Jesus, who lived in the 1500s and died in 1582. Teresa was raised by the church because, when she was 15 years old, she “became quite worldly” after her mother died, and her father sent her to an Augustinian convent to be educated. She lived during a time when a woman’s place in society was not normally in a position of scholarship or leadership. Despite that, she was a writer and religious leader. Teresa traveled, wrote and established a new reformed Carmelite order.[i]
In her early life, Teresa had visions of Christ coming to her in His resurrection body. When she shared the visions, she met with strong opposition and disbelief from her superiors, and some even believed she needed an exorcism to rid her of a devil inside her. After her confessor required her to cross herself and snap her fingers at the visions to make them disappear, Teresa had a conversation with the Lord. She wrote that Jesus told her that He would take care of the confessors and gave her help with how to describe her visions so that others would understand.[ii]
It is interesting to consider whether Teresa would have understood her experiences in the same way if she had not been educated by religious communities. The life of the religious community most likely taught her the basic knowledge that laid a foundation for her to be receptive to God’s call and taught her the language to describe it. Without those linguistic skills, she would not have been able to communicate her experience and provide counsel to others. The community and Christian Education of the church is important to each of us. It provides us with a framework in which to understand, and then be able articulate our faith and to share our faith with others, as all followers of Jesus Christ are called to do.
Collect for Teresa of Avila:
O God, by your Holy Spirit you moved Teresa of Avila to manifest to your Church the way of perfection: Grant us, we pray, to be nourished by her teaching, and enkindle within us a keen and unquenchable longing for true holiness; through Jesus Christ, the joy of loving hearts, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.[iii]
[i] The Proper for the Lesser Feasts and Fasts: Together with the Fixed Holy Days Conforming to the General Convention 2006 (New York, N.Y.: Church Publishing, 2006), 416.
[ii] Teresa, The Life of Teresa of Jesus: The Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, ed. and trans. E Allison Peers, A Doubleday Image Book (Garden City, N.Y.: Image Books, 1960), 270.
[iii] Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 417.
