Homily: October 15 - St. Teresa of Avila - Doctor of Prayer

Teresa was born at Avila, Spain in 1515. At the age of 20, she was so greatly moved by reading the letters of St. Jerome that she decided to become a nun at the Carmelite monastery of the Incarnation at Avila.  After reading the Confessions of St. Augustine and being deeply impressed by an image from the Passion of Jesus—scourged, bound, and crowned with thorns standing before a hostile crowd before his crucifixion, Teresa, at the age of 40, resolved to dedicate herself seriously to the practice of prayer.

Initially, she had some difficulty sitting through prayers. However, in the course of time, she became absorbed in deep contemplation. She was so filled with divine contemplation it is said at times her body would spontaneously levitate.  At times she felt overwhelmed with divine love and felt that the illumining grace of God would wash her soul away.  There is a famous and beautiful marble sculpture by Bernini in the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome, Italy called St. Teresa in Ecstasy: an angel holds an arrow over her heart ready to pierce it with Divine Love.

St. Teresa’s beautiful book entitled The Interior Castle describes the Christian soul’s journey in union with God.

Forty years after her death, she was Canonized by Pope Gregory XV.  In 1970, Pope Paul VI bestowed upon her the title “Doctor of the Church” along with Saint Catherine of Siena making them the first women to receive this distinction.  Teresa is revered as the Doctor of Prayer.  Her definition of Contemplation is used in the Catechism: “Contemplative prayer 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.”

The mystical life of prayer is offered to all, yet we must dispose our souls to grow in union with God.  We must set aside the time for contemplative prayer, and seek God arduously.

Fr. Thomas Dubay wrote a wonderful account of Teresa’s contributions to our understanding of prayer, called The Fire Within.  He writes, “Genuine prayer, does not happen without effort.  Depth of communion with the indwelling Trinity occurs only in a person intent on living the Gospel totally, one who is humble and patient, temperate and obedient, pure and kind, free of selfish clinging.  It is not accidental that our very best explanations of contemplative prayer have their origin in men and women of marvelous sanctity.”

Through the intercession of St. Teresa, may we have the courage and strength to hand over more and more of our lives to God, to surrender to God that we may be purified of all “illusory desires”, to be united with him in all things, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.