Mystic Monday #3

This could be properly labeled Theresa of Avila~part 1.

I am in the process of finishing a biography on Theresa of Avila by Cathleen Medwick.  It's a lovely read.  She references a number of writers, both contemporary to Theresa up to the present.  It yields a fascinating picture of a woman in pursuit of God.

In order to present a fuller picture of one of my heroes, I thought I'd spend a little more time sharing the aspects of her life and writing I find so compelling.  But first let's give you a sense of when and where.

She was born in Spain, March 28th, 1515.  Theresa was born into a Castilian family, with a shadow of the inquisition over them.  In the late 1400's Jews were expelled form Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella.  Then the inquisitors took over ferreting out those who did not truely convert...  Theresa's grandfather decided to avoid being exposed as a non-converted Jew; so he came forward and accused himself of crimes that undermined the church.  After a fairly light, although humiliating punishment, Juan relocated his family to Avila where he earned the status of hidalgo or gentleman.  Theresa's father, Alonso, was a very devout Castilian, who worked hard to secure his family's honour.  When he married Theresa's mother, Beatriz, he was then part of a Old Christian family; then he fought for his country, and returned home after a successful outcome.

It doesn't seem that the shadow of the past affected Theresa.  It seems that  Theresa respected her father, although initially he forbade her to enter the convent.  He also had her stay in the family home during a lengthy illness.  All believed Theresa would soon be dead...her coffin was ready, she was wrapped in a shroud and her eyes were sealed shut with wax in preparation.  Alonso faithfully and repeatedly said "Esta hija no es para enterrar." (This daughter is not for burying.)  Slowly Theresa recovered.  Only to lose her father a few years later; however since he spent his final years in the business of 'saving his own soul', she was comforted.

Following this Theresa pursued spiritual counsel at every opportunity.  She worked hard to pray and held herself to a high standard.  Often those around her felt like the things she confessed were so trivial, but to Theresa any short-coming, any attraction the world held, any distraction, was worth dragging into the light and exposing.  

I appreciate how Cathleen Medwick ends one chapter on the beginnings of Theresa's maturing sprituality:

The woman who came back was no longer of two minds about the world and God.  But inside the convent and out, people were of two minds about her.

This would be the defining feature of the rest of her life.  And even after her death varied and opposing thought continued and continues about her life, teaching and experiences with God.  

Her writings, particularly her accounts of ecstatic experiences, have been oft surrounded by controversy.  It is interesting to me that the sculpture, The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini has been a source of contention regarding Theresa... ...too beautiful, too sensual, too intimate...  They did not live at the same time, so all Bernini could go on was Theresa's writings, and the testimony of her contemporaries.  When you read her description of her experience with God you see that Bernini faithfully brought that to life in his sculpture.

She writes in Vida (Theresa's account of her life story):

...very close to me, on my left, an angel appeared in human form... ... In his hands I saw a large golden spear, and at it's iron tip there seemed to be a point of fire.  I felt as if he plunged this into my heart several times, so that it penetrated all the way to my entrails.  When he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out with it, and left me totally inflamed with  a great love for God.  The pain was so severe... ...and the soul isn't satisfied with anything less than God.  This pain is not physical, but spiritual, even thought the body has a share in it--...  So delicate is this exchange between God and the soul that I pray God, in his goodness, to give a taste of it to anyone who thinks I am lying.