Teresa Of Avila Quotes

If we do not use great care to mortify our will, there are many things which can deprives us of the holy freedom of spirit that we are seeking in order to fly more freely to our Creator, without always being bogged down with the clay of this earth. Moreover, there can never be solid virtue in a soul that is attached to its own will.

Mental prayer is, as I see it, simply a friendly intercourse and frequent solitary conversation with Him who, as we know, loves us.

But here the Lord asks only two things of us: love for His Majesty and love for our neighbour. It is for these two virtues that we must strive, and if we attain them perfectly we are doing His will and so shall be united with Him.

If we practice love of neighbor with great perfection, we will have done everything.

Each of us has a soul, but we forget to value it. We don't remember that we are creatures made in the image of God. We don't understand the great secrets hidden inside of us.

Since God has given it such great dignity, permitting it to wander at will through the rooms of the castle, from the lowest to the highest. Let it not force itself to remain for very long in the same mansion, even the one of self-knowledge.

Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

If we learn to love the earth, we will find labyrinths, gardens, fountains and precious jewels! A whole new world will open itself to us. We will discover what it means to be truly alive.

Granting that we are always in the presence of God, yet it seems to me that those who pray are in His presence in a very different sense; for they, as it were, see that He is looking upon them, while others may go for days on end without even once recollecting that God sees them.

One always goes on as one begins ...

Any true ecstast is a sign you are going in the right direction ... don't let any prude tell you otherwise

When we accept what happens to us and make the best of it, we are praising God.

To wish to act like angels while we are still in this world is nothing but folly.

It is a dangerous thing to be satisfied with ourselves.

Do not think you have gained a virtue unless you have first been tried by its opposite.

God, deliver me from sullen saints.

Life is to life in such a way that we are not afraid to die.

To argue over who is the more noble is nothing more than to dispute whether dirt is better for making bricks or for making mortar.

We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble.

How often I failed in my duty to God, because I was not leaning on the strong pillar of prayer.

God prefers your health, and your obedience, to your penance.

For if the will has nothing to employ it and love has no present object with which to busy itself, the soul finds itself without either support or occupation, its solitude and aridity cause it great distress and its thoughts involve it in the severest conflict.

It is presumptuous in me to wish to choose my path, because I cannot tell which path is best for me. I must leave it to the Lord, Who knows me, to lead me by the path which is best for me, so that in all things His will may be done.

The closer one approaches to God, the simpler one becomes.

That is how His Majesty [the Lord] rewards our good works
I mean, by predisposing us to perform better ones.

How is it, Lord, that we are cowards in everything save in opposing thee?

For though we know quite well that God is present in all that we do, our nature is such that it makes us lose sight of the fact; but when this favour is granted it can no longer do so, for the Lord, who is near at hand, awakens it. And even the favours aforementioned occur much more commonly, as the soul experiences a vivid and almost constant love for Him whom it sees or knows to be at its side.

But, as I know that strength arising from obedience has a way of simplifying things which seem impossible, my will very gladly resolves to attempt this task although the prospect seems to cause my physical nature great distress; for the Lord has not given me strength enough to enable me to wrestle continually both with sickness and with occupations of many kinds without feeling a great physical strain. May He Who has helped me by doing other and more difficult things for me help also in this: in His mercy I put my trust.

Union is as if in a room there were two large windows through which the light streamed in it enters in diffrent places but it all becomes one.

It is a great folly to be willing to violate the friendship of God, rather than the law of human friendship.

It is love alone that gives worth to all things.

The mind's continual keeping in the presence of God 8 and the concentration of its thoughts on Him would so enrage the fiend that, although he might try the experiment once, he

However much we do to avoid them, we shall never lack crosses in this life if we are in the ranks of the Crucified.

But always when I was without a book, my soul would at once become disturbed, and my thoughts wandered. As I read, I began to call them together again and, as it were, laid a bait for my soul

I would write a thousand foolish things that one might be to the point, if only it might make us praise God more.

Let us look at our own shortcomings and leave other people's alone; for those who live carefully ordered lives are apt to be shocked at everything and we might well learn very important lessons from the persons who shock us. Our

Since in the centre of the soul there is a mansion reserved for God Himself ...

It is a good proof and test of our love if we can bear with such faults and not be shocked by them. Others, in their turn, will bear with your faults, which, if you include those of which you are not aware, must be much more numerous.

Humility cannot exist without love, and love cannot exist without humility. It is impossible for these virtues to exist except where there is great detachment from all created things.

Anyone who has the habit of speaking before God's majesty as if he were speaking to a slave, careless about how he is speaking, and saying whatever comes into his head and whatever he's learned from saying prayers at other times, in my opinion is not praying. Please, God, may no Christian pray in this way.

It is of great importance, when we begin to practise prayer, not to let ourselves be frightened by our own thoughts.

Do you suppose, daughters, that He is alone when He comes to us? Do you not see that His most holy Son says: "Who art in the Heavens"? Surely such a King would not be abandoned by His courtiers. They stay with Him and pray to Him on our behalf and for our welfare, for they are full of charity.

Every part of the journey is of importance to the whole.

Let us look at our own faults, and not other people's. We ought not to insist on everyone following in our footsteps, nor to take upon ourselves to give instructions in spirituality when, perhaps, we do not even know what it is.

I cannot understand how humility exists, or can exist, without love, or love without humility,

God has no hands or feet or voice except ours and through these He works.

Many people are good at talking and bad at understanding,

To want to become angels while we are still on earth ... is ridiculous.

Trust God that you are where you are meant to be.

Give me, if you will, prayers;
Or let me know dryness,
An abudance of devotion,
Or if not, then barrenness.
In you alone, Sovereign Majesty,
I find my peace,
What do you want of me?
Yours I am, fo ryou I was born:
What do you want of me?

Let us not fail him; do not fear that he will fail you. And if some time he should fail you, it will be for a greater good. The

We bloomed in Spring. Our bodies are the leaves of God. The apparent seasons of life and death our eyes can suffer; but our souls, dear, I will just say this forthright: they are God Himself, we will never perish until He does.

True perfection consists in the love of God and our neighbor, and the better we keep both these commandments, the more perfect we shall be.

Never suppose that either the evil or the good that you do will remain secret, however strict may be your enclosure.

The hour I have long wished for is now come.

Much harm may result from bad company and we are inclined by nature to follow what is worse rather than what is better.

Suffering is a great favor. Remember that everything soon comes to an end ... and take courage. Think of how our gain is eternal.

All times are dangerous times.

I have always had this failing - that I cannot explain myself, as I have said, except at the cost of many words.

We may speak of love and humility as the true flowers of spiritual growth; and they give off a wonderful scent, which benefits all those who come near.

With all this wide and beautiful creation before me, the restless soul longs to enjoy its liberty and rest beyond its bound.

As God's beloved, I live in the bliss knowing that my soul is never separated from Him, for I learn to know Her in all that I see. God dissolved my mind-my separation. I cannot describe now my intimacy with Him.

We should blush for shame to show so much resentment at what is done or said against us, knowing that so many injuries and affronts have been offered to our Redeemer and the saints.

Let nothing disturb you, / Nothing dismay you; / All things are passing: / God never changes.

It should be observed that perfect love of God consists not in those delights, tears and sentiments of devotion that we generally seek, but in a strong determination and keen desire to please God in all things, and to promote His glory.

Let us consider what the glorious Virgin endured, and what the holy apostles suffered, and we shall find that they who were nearest to Jesus Christ were the most afflicted.

I say the same of humility and of all the virtues; the wiles of the devil are terrible, he will run a thousand times round hell if by so doing he can make us believe that we have a single virtue which we have not. And he is right, for such ideas are very harmful, and such imaginary virtues, when they come from this source, are never unaccompanied by vainglory; just as those which God gives are free both from this and from pride.

Out of suffering comes the serious mind; out of salvation, the grateful heart; out of endurance, fortitude; out of deliverance faith. Patient endurance attends to all things.

Whenever conscience commands anything, there is only one thing to fear, and that is fear.

You ought to make every effort to free yourselves even from venial sin, and to do what is most perfect.

Christ does not force our will, He only takes what we give Him. But He does not give Himself entirely until He sees that we yield ourselves entirely to Him.

I would never want any prayer that would not make the virtues grow within me.

For only the body would die, whereas the loss of a soul is a great loss which is apparently without end;

So dearly does His Majesty love us that He will reward our love for our neighbor by increasing the love which we bear to Himself, and that in a thousand ways.

Of the good things they do many will pass unnoticed, or will even not be considered good at all; but they need not fear that any evil or imperfect thing they do will be overlooked.

You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.

From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us.

After you die, you wear what you are.

It is the nature of love to work in a thousand different ways.

However softly we speak, God is near enough to hear us.

It is no small pity, and should cause us no little shame, that, through our own fault, we do not understand ourselves, or know who we are.

Ah, how true it is that we love ourselves too much and proceed with too much human prudence, that we may not lose an atom of our consideration! Oh, what a great mistake that is! The Saints did not act thus.

Be happy when you are blamed and accused wrongly, for then you have the chance to see all the bitter, hostile or self-pitying responses that your sinful soul wants to spew out - as if these puny things could in any way defend you! Watch and see if any of these poisons come out of you when your spirit is pricked by an accusation. Only then can you see yourself as you are, and confess thy sin that is within you and forsake yourself again into the Lord's care.

No one should think or say anything of another which he would not wish thought or said of himself.

that you may reap humility from your dryness, instead of the disquietude the devil strives to cause by it. I believe that where true humility exists, although God should never bestow consolations, yet He gives a peace and resignation which make the soul happier than are others with sensible devotion.

Never do anything which you could not do in the sight of all.

Prayer and comfortable living are incompatible.

I only wish I could write with both hands, so as not to forget one thing while I am saying another.

Do not dismayed daughters, at the number of things which you have to consider before setting out on this divine journey, which is the royal road to heaven. By taking this road we gain such precious treasures that it is no wonder if the cost seems to us a high one. The time will come when we shall realize that all we have paid has been nothing at all by comparison with the greatness of our prizes.

At night a hooded monk passed by where there were no lamps.
I could not see his face. I only heard these words he kept repeating:
"Teach me, dear Lord, all that you know."
I knew instantly a great treasure had entered my soul.

Christ moves along the pots and pans.

All things pass ... Patience attains all it strives for.

Tear your heart away from everything else; then seek God and you will surely find him.

We cannot know whether we love God, although there may be strong reason for thinking so; but there can be no doubt about whether we love our neighbor or not. Be sure that, in proportion as you advance in fraternal charity, you are increasing your love of God, for His Majesty bears so tender an affection for us that I cannot doubt He will repay our love for others by augmenting, and in a thousand different ways, that which we bear for Him.

Who God possesseth
In nothing is wanting;
Alone God sufficeth.

We know only that we are living in these bodies and have a vague idea, because we have heard it, and because our faith tells us so, that we possess souls. As to what good qualities there may be in our souls, or who dwells within them, or how precious they are, those are things which seldom consider and so we trouble little about carefully preserving the soul's beauty.

A slight failing in one virtue is enough to put all the others to sleep.

If this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you have so many enemies.

Humility, however deep it be, neither disquiets nor troubles nor disturbs the soul; it is accompanied by peace, joy and tranquillity.

In the presence of Jesus in the Holy Sacrament we ought to be like the Blessed in heaven before the Divine Essence