St Teresa of Ávila teaches the importance of prayer
In a video message on 15 April 2021 marking the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of St Teresa of Ávila as a doctor of the church, Pope Francis said the Spanish saint’s “audacity, creativity and excellence as a reformer are the fruit of the interior presence of the Lord”.
What was important … her “determined determination” to persevere
Pope Francis
The Spanish saint’s deep spiritual life made her exceptional. While St Teresa of Ávila was outstanding in many ways, her union with Christ through prayer made her an “exceptional woman”.
“We are dealing with a person who was outstanding in many ways,” he said. “However, it should not be forgotten that her recognised relevance in these dimensions is nothing more than the consequence of what was important to her: her encounter with the Lord, her “determined determination”, as she says, to persevere in union with him through prayer.”
The pope’s message was during a conference titled “Exceptional Woman”, held at the Catholic University of St Teresa of Ávila in Spain. In his message, the pope said holiness is not a virtue reserved to “specialists of the divine” but is the “vocation of all believers”.
Saints, like St Teresa, “stimulate and motivate us, but they are not for us to literally try to copy”, he said. “Holiness cannot be copied because even that could lead us away from the unique and different path that the Lord has for each one of us”.
“What is important,” he said, “is that each believer selects his or her own path, each one of us has his or her own path of holiness, of an encounter with the Lord”.
The path St Teresa followed, which “made her an exceptional woman and a person of reference throughout the centuries,” was that of prayer, which is a path “open to all those who humbly open themselves to the action of the Spirit in their lives”.
However, he added, “such a path is not open to those who consider themselves pure and perfect, the Cathars of all centuries,” referring to the 12th century gnostic movement. Instead, the path of prayer is open “to those who, aware of their sins, discover the beauty of the mercy of God, who welcomes all, redeems all and calls all to his friendship,” he said.
Pope Francis asked Christians to look to the example of St Teresa of Ávila and her union with God through prayer because it is “only his company that our heart desires and that gives us the fullness and joy for which we have been created”.
Original material by Vatican News.