St. Teresa of Avila, (1515-1582), Spanish Saint, Mystic Quotes

Let us remember that within us there is a palace of immense magnificence.

How is it, Lord, that we are cowards in everything save in opposing thee?

God prefers your health, and your obedience, to your penance.

From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us.

Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours.Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.

With all this wide and beautiful creation before me, the restless soul longs to enjoy its liberty and rest beyond its bound.

Life is to life in such a way that we are not afraid to die.

Let nothing disturb thee, Let nothing affright thee, All things are passing, God changeth never.

It is only mercenaries who expect to be paid by the day.

It constantly happens that the Lord permits a soul to fall so that it may grow humbler.

However much we do to avoid them, we shall never lack crosses in this life if we are in the ranks of the Crucified.

As to the aridity you are suffering from, it seems to me our Lord is treating you like someone He considers strong: He wants to test you and see if you love Him as much at times of aridity as when He sends you consolations. I think this is a very great favor for God to show you.

Let him never cease from prayer who has once begun it, be his life ever so wicked, for prayer is the way to amend it, and without prayer such amendment will be much more difficult.

Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.

There seem to me a great many blessings which come from true poverty and I should be sorry to be deprived of them.

The saints rejoiced at injuries and persecutions, because in forgiving them they had something to present to God when they prayed to Him.

the realized soul can play with the universe the way a child does a ball.

Feast of Teresa of Avila, Mystic, Teacher, 1582 We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble.

Feast of Teresa of Avila, Mystic, Teacher, 1582 I had one brother almost of my own age, whom I loved best... We used to read the lives of the Saints together. And when I read of the martyrdoms which they suffered for the love of God, I used to think that they had bought their entry into God's presence very cheaply. Then I fervently longed to die like them, not out of any conscious love for Him, but in order to attain, as quickly as they had, those joys which, as I read, are laid up in Heaven. I used to discuss with my brother ways and means of becoming martyrs, and we agreed to go together to the land of the Moors, begging our way for the love of God, so that we might be beheaded there. I believe that our Lord had given us courage enough even at that tender age, if only we could have seen a way. But our parents seemed to us a very great hindrance.

We cannot know whether we love God, although there may be strong reason for thinking so; but there can be no doubt about whether we love our neighbor or not. Be sure that, in proportion as you advance in fraternal charity, you are increasing your love of God, for His Majesty bears so tender an affection for us that I cannot doubt He will repay our love for others by augmenting, and in a thousand different ways, that which we bear for Him.