Saintly Discussion Topic: St. Teresa of Jesus

The winner in our poll for the next saintly topic was St. Teresa of Jesus (also called St. Teresa of Avila) who is a Doctor of the Church and a Carmelite. We recently celebrated her feast day on Oct. 15th. She was the first woman to be declared a Doctor of the Church in 1970 and in 1660 she was canonized a saint by Pope Gregory XV.

One part of her life:

Much of St. Teresa's life was plagued by illness. In 1538 it appears she suffered from malaria when her father took her from the convent and placed her under doctors care. Despite of this she remained ill and undertook experimental cures by a woman in the town of Becedas. These methods left her in a coma for three days and not able to walk for three years. It was during this time of illness and convalescence that she took to daily mental prayer, which led to her experiences with mystical prayer. She credited her recovery to St. Joseph. (SOURCE)

I think she shows us what many saints do is that it is not what happens to us in the beginning that makes us a saint but what we do about it. We are all called to be saints and the only way we do is if we trust in the Cross and pray that our actions show that God's will, not our own will, may be done.

She is the patron saint of bodily ills, headaches, lacemakers, laceworkers, loss of parents, opposition of Church authorities, people in need of grace, people in religious orders, people ridiculed for their piety, sick people, sickness, Spain

"My Lord, if you did not cover Your Greatness, who would dare to come to You so often to join a soul so full of misery with Your ineffable Majesty? May you always be blessed, O my God! The Angels, all creatures praise you for having adjusted Your mysteries to our weaknesses, so that we may enjoy Your riches without terrifying us with Your great power. Poor and fragile creatures that we are, we would never have dared approach you."(St. Teresa of Jesus)

Let's try and follow her advice: "You ought to make every effort to free yourselves even from venial sin, and to do what is most perfect," because as Christ, Our Lord and God, taught, all sin is wrong and we should rather take away our hand than have be sent eternally away from His love. Even if you believe so or not, it is His love that consumes us and makes us whole.

Image Source: Believed to be in the public domain, title unknown