Carmelite Quotes<p><strong>Quote of the day, 29 June: St. Teresa of Avila</strong></p><p class="">What I’ve said is enough now for beholding His great mercies, not the one time but the many times He has pardoned so much ingratitude. </p><p class="">Saint Peter, You pardoned once when he was ungrateful; me, You pardoned many times. With what reason the devil tempted me not to pretend to be a friend with one whom I treated publicly like an enemy. </p><p class="">What terrible blindness mine was! Where, my Lord, did I think I could find a remedy save in You? </p><p class="">What folly: to flee from the light so as to be always stumbling! Such proud humility the devil invented in me: withdrawing from the column and the staff which were my support against a fall so great!</p> <p class="">Once while with this presence of the three Persons that I carry about in my soul, I experienced so much light you couldn’t doubt the living and true God was there. </p><p class="">In this state He gave me understanding of things I didn’t know how to speak of afterward. Among them was how the Person of the Son, and not the others, took flesh. </p><p class="">As I say, I wouldn’t know how to explain any of these things. For some of them take place so secretly in the soul that it seems the intellect understands, as in the case of a person who while sleeping or half asleep, thinks that what is spoken is understood within. </p><p class="">I was reflecting upon how arduous a life this is that deprives us of being always in that wonderful company, and I said to myself, “Lord, give me some means by which I can put up with this life.” </p><p class="">He replied: <em>“Think, daughter, of how after it is finished you will not be able to serve me in ways you can now. Eat for Me and sleep for Me, and let everything you do be for Me, as though you no longer lived but I; for this is what St. Paul was speaking of”</em> [<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/1%20Corinthians%2010%3A31" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">1 Cor 10:31</a>].</p><p><strong>Saint Teresa of Avila</strong></p><p><em>The Book of Her Life, chap. 19, no. 10<br>Spiritual Testimonies, no. 51</em></p><p class=""><strong>Note:</strong> The Pauline spirituality expressed in Teresa’s vision—living “as though you no longer lived but I”—had already found poetic expression three years earlier in her famous verse from around 1572: <em>Vivo sin vivir en mí, / y de tal manera espero / que muero porque no muero</em> (I live without living in myself, / and in such a way I hope, / I die because I do not die). Christ’s words in this 1575 testimony seem to confirm and deepen the mystical theology Teresa was already experiencing and articulating through poetry.</p> <p class="">Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, <em>The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila</em>, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, <a href="https://www.icspublications.org/collections/teresa-of-avila" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">ICS Publications</a>, Washington DC.</p><p class="">Teresa de Jesús & Álvarez, T 1994, <em>Obras completas</em>, Editorial Monte Carmelo, Burgos.</p><p><strong>Featured image:</strong> <em>“<a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/object/BI-1904-78-9--91a5cc194457e1b82788604257e68e43" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Saints Peter and Paul often assist Teresa in overcoming demons</a>”</em> is an engraving on paper by <a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/search?p=1&ps=12&involvedMaker=Adriaen%20Collaert&st=Objects&ii=0" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Adrian Collaert</a>, engraver, and <a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/search?p=1&ps=12&involvedMaker=Theodoor+Galle&st=Objects" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Theodoor Galle</a>, publisher. The printer is unknown; the engraving dates to Antwerp, 1613. The banner above reads <em>“Confide, quia a daemone nequaquam decipieris”</em> (Trust, for you will never be deceived by a demon). The Latin inscription reads: <em>“She sees the glorious apostles Peter and Paul often standing by her side, promising help against the demons’ illusions: nor is it a vain promise, for she was so divinely illuminated with grace that she could easily conquer all the devil’s tricks.”</em> From the album <em><a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/BI-1904-78" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Vita B. Virginis Teresiae A. Jesu ordinis carmelitarum excalceatorum piae restauratricis….Antverpiae, Apud Adrianum Collardum et Theodorum Gallaeum. M.DC.XIII.</a></em> (BI-1904-78). Image credit: Rijksmuseum (Public domain).</p><p><strong>⬦ Reflection Question ⬦</strong> <br>Have you ever found yourself speaking to God in prayer as naturally as thinking to yourself, without formal words or structure? <br>⬦ <em>Join the conversation in the comments.</em></p><p></p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://carmelitequotes.blog/tag/god-alone/" target="_blank">#GodAlone</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://carmelitequotes.blog/tag/perseverance/" target="_blank">#perseverance</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://carmelitequotes.blog/tag/st-paul/" target="_blank">#StPaul</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://carmelitequotes.blog/tag/st-peter/" target="_blank">#StPeter</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://carmelitequotes.blog/tag/st-teresa-of-avila/" target="_blank">#StTeresaOfAvila</a></p>