The mysticism of Teresa of Avila

Teresa of Avila (1515–1582) was a nun who came forward in the tumultuous years of the Spanish Inquisition to found a new order of nuns, the Carmelites. The new order had stricter rules about poverty and seclusion than other Spanish orders of that time. Teresa was a contemplative who was famous for reaching the highest levels of union with God, but she was also very active in setting up the new order, traveling in horrendous conditions to often dilapidated houses where nuns were setting up convents and working along side the nuns to open new houses.Teresa is a very popular religious teacher for a few reasons. These include her self-effacing approach to relating her own experience, her down-to-earth examples, and her pithy sense of humor. She has been described as an “able chess-player, an accomplished horsewoman, and a fine dancer” in the years before she entered the convent. Though she lived through one of the most difficult periods of history for a religious woman in the Catholic Church, had recurring bouts of bad health, and met with great opposition in her work, she rarely seemed to lose her sense of humor. Stories abound about her humorous responses to experiences, such as the story that when the cart she was riding in lost a wheel during a storm she said to God, “If this is how you treat your friends, it’s no wonder you have so few.” In another story, some objected to her eating partridge, and said, "What would people think?" She replied, "Let them think what they please.

[...] They say that in the case of those who are advancing, these corporeal images, even when referring to the humanity of Christ, are an obstacle or impediment to the most perfect contemplation. In support of this theory they quote what the Lord said to the Apostles about the coming of the Holy Spirit—I mean at the time of His Ascension. They think that since this work is entirely spiritual, any corporeal thing can hinder or impede it, that one should try to think of God in a general way, that He is everywhere, and that we are immersed in Him. [...]

[...] and Otilio Rodriguez O.C.D., trans. New York: One Spirit Teresa of Avila. Interior Castle. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. and Otilio Rodrigues, O.C.D. trans. Mahway, N.J.: Paulist Press The Teresian Carmel, St. Teresa of Avila, retrieved April from http://www.karmel.at/eng/teresa.htm Zugar, Susan. A theology of grace in Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle, retrieved April from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3885/is_200310/ai_n9323307/ Susan Zugar, A theology of grace in Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle, retrieved April from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3885/is_200310/ai_n9323307/ The Teresian Carmel, St. Teresa of Avila, retrieved April from http://www.karmel.at/eng/teresa.htm Victor Shepherd, [...]

[...] Union with God Teresa includes a large range of experience within the concept of union with God. The final question in terms of a relationship with God is whether in the ultimate union with God Teresa is still separate enough to be said to be in relationship or whether she is talking about a kind of merger. Throughout her work she is consistent with Christian theology in claiming the Creator and creatures are of a different substance and eternally separate. [...]