Teresa of Avila
On Wednesday this week (15 October) the saint for the day is Teresa of Avila (1515-1582). In 1970, together with Catherine of Siena she was made officially a ‘Doctor of the Church’, meaning a theologian.
She responded to the crisis of the Reformation not by persecuting protestants, but by reforming her own community, the Carmelites. She was also a mystic, meaning that she was not afraid to describe visions that had led her to a deeper understanding of how God is love.
Because she was engaged in setting up reformed Carmelite convents, she had to travel all over Spain and, because the Carmelites were an “enclosed order”, she had to travel in a covered wagon with no windows (which must have been pretty disagreeable in a Spanish summer).
One day, whilst so travelling with some of her sisters, the wagon tipped over while fording a river. The other nuns scrambled to the bank and looked back to see Teresa up to her waist in water shouting at God, “If this is how you treat your friends, why are you surprised you’ve got so few?”
Do we care enough about our relationship with Jesus to be cross with God sometimes?
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.
— St Teresa, The bookmark of Teresa of Ávila
Bernhard Schunemann
12 October 2025
