TERESA: A PRAYER CENTERED REFORMER (Part 6)
HER WRITINGS
At the suggestion of a Jesuit, Father Jeronimo Ripaldo, Saint Teresa began the composition of her book, The Foundations. This book by the Holy Foundress has contributed to our knowledge of the Saint as well as many interesting facts about life in Spain at that time. Saint Teresa used this literary task as another opportunity to give analyses of persons, events, and a deeper sharing of the spiritual development to her Sisters. As she broadened her understanding of human nature through interaction with Sisters in these communities, she was able to give advice to the Prioresses about how to handle spiritual as well as physical and psychological disorders.
I want to quote from Fr. Kieran Kavanaugh’s Introduction to his edition of the Volume 1 of Saint Teresa’s Letters to show the importance of her correspondence to our understanding of Spanish life at that time: A keen observer of the reality around her as well as within, Teresa focuses light on many of the struggles in both the Carmelite order and the church of sixteenth-century Spain. She introduces us to major personalities who have left their mark on history.
Fr. Kavanaugh writes that scholars claim that Teresa’s letters are a treasure trove, which contain a wealth that is unparalleled in Spanish literature. According to Rodriquez-Egido, the number of letters written by our Saint could have been twenty-five thousand. Four hundred and sixty-eight of these have been located. Many of the recipients of these letters did not realize their value. Others destroyed them for fear of how those hostile to the Carmelite Reform would misinterpret them. Many of the letters never reached the persons to whom they were addressed.
HER FOUNDATIONS
Saint Teresa founded her monasteries throughout Spain under conditions we can scarcely imagine today. She and her companions traveled the rugged terrain in Spain on horseback, rarely in the carriage of a wealthy patron, or in carts drawn by mules. On one occasion, when the cart she was in got stuck in the mud and overturned, Teresa complained to Our Lord that he was not taking better care of her sisters and herself when they were doing all they could for his glory. Jesus replied, “Teresa, this is how I treat My friends.” And Teresa retorted, “That is why You have so few!”
The heat and cold that the Sisters experienced in the uncomfortable carts were often unbearable, and they were frequently forced to lodge in wretched inns. Teresa had the responsibility of founding these houses of prayer with inadequate financial support, not knowing from where the funds she needed would come. However, she was heard to say, “Teresa and two ducats can do nothing. But God, Teresa, and two ducats can do all things.” Because of the poor health from which our saint had suffered all of her life, she often had to travel when she was seriously sick.
The last journey Saint Teresa made was in obedience to Father Antonio of Jesus. The Provincial ordered her to be present at the birth of a baby whose mother was a member of an important family. Teresa was in a dying condition when she reached the monastery of Alba de Tormes. Surrounded by her Sisters and supported by the Last Rites of the Church, our Holy Foundress died, consoled by the realization that she was “A Daughter of the Church” to which she had tried to be faithful. Her date of death in the revised calendar was October 15, 1582.
(….to be continued everyday till end of article)
Article by Mary Eileen McNamara, OCD , titled “Saint Teresa of Avila: Prayer-Centered Reformer”, Published in Spiritual Life, Summer 2010.
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