St Teresa of Avila

Today is the feast day of that wonderful blend of profound and insightful mysticism with robust practical common sense, St Teresa of Avila.

 

St Teresa
A posthumous portrait by Peter Paul Rubens

Image: Wikipedia

This year is the fifth centenary of her birth in 1515 and so there is that added reason for celebrating today and giving thanks for the gift of her to the Church, for her reform of the Carmelites - no mean achievement by any standards to create a new community that has borne such fruit over the succeeding centuries - and for her writings. There have such directness and are a rich source for spiritual discernment as well as a record of living the Christian and monastic life in practice, and also a marvellous insight into life in Spain between 1515 and 1582.

St Teresa
 A more nearly contemporary portrait 
 
Image umblepie-northerterritory.blogspot.com 


May St Teresa pray for us