Roman Catholic saint (1515-1582)
Saint Teresa of Avila (Teresa de Jesús) (28 March 1515 – 4 October 1582), born Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada, was a Spanish mystic philosopher and Catholic saint.
From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Native Name:
Teresa de Ávila
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Teresia Abulensis
Alternative Names:
Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada
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Teresa de Jesús
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Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada
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Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada
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Teresa
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Avil̔skaia Tereza
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Saint Teresa of Jesus
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Saint Teresa of Ávila
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Teresa de, Saint Cepeda y Ahumada
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Saint Teresia a Jesu
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Saint Teresa di Gesù
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Teresa Sanchez de Cepeda y Ahumada
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Saint Thérèse de Jésus
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Saint Theresa de Jesus
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Saint Theresia von Jesus
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Theresa, Saint De Cepeda
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Saint Teresa
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Teresa of Avila
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Saint Teresa of Avila
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Teresa de Jesus
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Saint Teresa di Gesu
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Saint Therese de Jesus
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Theresa of Avila
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Theresa
From Wikidata (CC0)
Let us endeavour to do our best: beware of the poisonous reptiles — that is to say, the bad thoughts and aridities which are often permitted by God to assail and torment us so that we cannot repel them. Indeed, perchance we feel their sting! He allows this to teach us to be more on our guard in the future and to see whether we grieve much at offending Him.
… Spiritual betrothal is different… Even though by union is meant the joining of two things into one, each of the two, as is a matter of common observation, can be separated and remain a thing by itself… We might say that union is like the joining of two wax candles so that the flame coming from them is but one… Yet afterwards one candle can be easily separated from the other and there are two candles again.
In the spiritual marriage the union is like what we have when rain falls from the sky into a river or fount; all is water, for the rain that fell from heaven cannot be divided or separated from the water of the river. Or when a little stream enters the sea, there is no means of separating the two. Or, like the bright light entering a room through two windows; although the streams of light are separate when entering the room they become one.
Before we had this true fear of God worldly people would have been poisonous to us and would have helped to ruin our souls; but now they will often help us to love God more and to praise Him for having delivered us from what we see to be a notorious danger. And whereas we for our part may previously have helped to foster their weakness, we shall now be helping to repress them, because they will restrain themselves in our presence, and this is a compliment which they will pay us without our desiring it.
mental prayer, which I have already described, and which consists in thinking of what we are saying, understanding it, and realizing Whom we are addressing, and who we are that are daring to address so great a Lord. To think of this and other similar things, such as how little we have served Him and how great is our obligation to serve Him, is mental prayer.
What could be worse than not being at home in our own house? What hope do we have of finding rest outside of ourselves if we cannot be at ease within? Whether or not we appreciate them, we must always live in close proximity to our faculties: they are our greatest relatives and most faithful friends. And yet, as if they were resentful of the damage our imperfections have done to them, our faculties seem to be waging war upon us. Peace, peace, Christ says, my friends.