Crazy For You - Teresa Of Avila

1516–82

When Teresa was five years old, she and her brother ran away from home. They planned to go to a foreign land to be martyred for their faith—but an uncle brought them back. Teresa would have to find other ways to suffer for Jesus.

Born in 1515 in the province of Avila, Spain, Teresa lived her life in the shadow of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, powerful forces trying to cleanse the church in various, often violent ways. Teresa’s grandfather, a Jewish convert to Christianity, was suspected of reverting and was condemned by the Spanish Inquisition. That might be why Teresa’s parents made their kids as Catholic as possible.

Girls in that time had two major life options: marriage or the convent. Teresa chose the convent—its rules were not as strict as her father’s. Her autobiography describes the next two decades as a time of guilt and self-doubt. She regretted the sins of her youth. She wasn’t pious enough to be a nun. She had no talent for “great theological thoughts.”

She fell ill, and in her recovery, she received visions from God. She was experiencing a level of prayer that seemed real and powerful, but when she discussed it, her friends said the visions came from the devil. So Teresa became focused on suffering, sometimes causing herself pain to do penance for her sins. At one point she stopped praying altogether, but a helpful priest urged her to continue.

And maybe it was the praying that changed her. Somehow, over the following years, this troubled soul turned into a powerful spiritual leader. She still had her opponents. Some fought her as she tried to start new convents, but she persisted. And her writings reflect a relaxed wisdom, a commonsense commitment:

Let nothing disturb you.

Let nothing make you afraid.

All things are passing.

God alone never changes.

Patience gains all things.

If you have God you will want for nothing.

God alone suffices.

It seems God had rescued her from herself.

Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God!

Psalm 43:5