Today October 15

Today, rejoice, -- it is the feast day of St. Teresa of Jesus (aka St. Teresa of Avila), (1515 - 1582). Much has been made of the fact that her paternal grandfather Juan Sanchez was Jewish; old hagiographers to play it down, new ones to play it up. In truth it was a common thing in Castile at that time, home of so many so-called conversos, or Jewish converts, and not a huge factor -- for pride or shame -- in Teresa's young life.

Teresa Sanchez de Ceseda y Ahumada was born to an upper middle class family and it was AS an upper middle class girl she entered the Carmelite convent at 21. There she retained her property(!), was waited on by lower-class nuns, and went in and out of the convent at will, especially for meals -- at home. She received visitors often, and the constant traffic, the huge number of nuns (130), and the many lady boarders resulted in much confusion. Perhaps that's why her prayer life stayed pretty much at the adolescent stage for 15 years. But in 1556 she had a conversion, began to hear voices (she was a great mystic -- "although not attaching undue importance to visions and so forth, she gave much space to them and discussed them more than St. John of the Cross" - Angelus Book of Saints) and began the seeds of the total reform of the Carmelites -- to the point of actually starting a whole new order: the Discalced, or Shoeless, Carmelites.

She started by throwing out class distinctions and embracing true poverty. She then truly cloistered the nuns: no ingress and egress. She also honed down the numbers, believing, accurately, that a smaller group of more fervent and orthodox Christians was more effective than a large group of more lukewarm and lax ones. But above all, she stressed mental prayer. Living as she did in more modern -- and documented -- times (even though she died 425 years ago), and being as prolific a writer as she was, we have the great good fortune of following her thought on this matter. In her Autobiography she recounts the early stages of mental prayer, in the Interior Castle, she defines the full 7 stages. She delves rather deeply -- and accurately -- into psychology. Her style is, in her own words, very "dense" -- she packs a lot in, and she goes off on elaborate and blissful tangents. But her work is weighty, humorous, and charming -- and taken all together, completely disarming. She is above all, humble -- recounting her many faults fearlessly and without excuse. No wonder she was such a good psychologist!

One thing all can agree on is she was a profound feminist, in the best sense of the word. She was a powerful figure, a staunch leader, a platonic friend of many men, a passionate Hispanic, and an admirable role model. She knew the difference between men and women and embraced it, never losing sight of that fact in the rules she made for her sisters. Her influence is felt all over the world -- and from the farthest Carmelite convent to the nearest home, where any simple layman can read and profit by the gift of her heartfelt words. For this, we thank you, great St. Teresa of Avila.