Juan Antonio Marcos, OCD (Madrid)
In the following pages, we present some key concepts that allow us to better know and understand both the psychology and the language of that enchanting and passionate woman, Teresa of Jesus. Her existential courage, authenticity of life, her humor, and her freedom, as well as her early feminism, were something unprecedented in 16th century Europe.
Our key concepts aim to guide the reader toward a current and living reading, that is, a reading that notices the positive "effects" that Terezians texts1 should have on the lives of today's readers, on us. We must not forget that the Terezian work has for the modern reader an "added value," which lies in the fact that it is presented primarily as narrative/experiential theology ("All this based on experience, for it is then something other than when one thinks about it" – CV 6,3). When Teresa “tells” us what she experienced and lived (her own life experience), she connects to the depths of life, where we all feel interconnected with one another, and thus with God himself.
"To speak of God, she begins with her own story" (C. Kaufmann). Therefore, an empathetic reading of her texts will help us to better connect with the true Terezian spirit, to delve into the depths of her soul, open before the reader, and to discover that in the depths of Teresa's being, everything is surprising. For in the depths of her soul lies the truth about her life and the truth about ourselves. From her personal experience emerges – as always happens with true mystics – what is universally human.
1. Courage and personal determination
This is one of the first psychological and personal traits of Teresa. Courage, boldness, "determination" (as she expresses it) in the face of any problem or difficulty that life may bring, both spiritually and materially, or in the context of founding.
Courage primarily in internal matters (in the spiritual adventure): "a very decisive decision not to stop... whatever may come" (CV 21,2). And no matter what objections the environment may have: "Here are the dangers, she strayed because of this..." (CV 21,2). This is a typical theme of the Way of Perfection.
"Decisive decision" is a global attitude that defines the person of prayer in an existential and vital way. Our inner life is depicted as a struggle, as a battle: "you struggle", "you are not here for anything else but to struggle" (CV 20,2). Terezian "determination" is not a single act, nor can it be narrowed to the time of prayer somewhere in the chapel corner. It is an existential attitude, as it is with prayer itself.
Here, Teresa speaks of "holy boldness" (in CV 41,4 she speaks of "holy freedom"), of the courage to live life. It is about "deciding" with absolute conviction that God is always faithful: (Strive to achieve holiness) "and do not be afraid that it will not happen because of Him, it will not happen because of us. (...) Nothing of all that we know pleases the Lord more should be anything we do not dare to accomplish with His blessing. This arrogance [= trust] (...) causes humility to grow: having that holy boldness that God helps the strong" (CV 16,8).
And therefore, whoever has discovered the value of prayer will also need persistence. It is not a path that will spare us effort:
"And I tell you that it is very important, indeed it is everything, to have a great and very decisive decision not to stop until we reach it,
whatever may come,
whatever may happen,
whatever may weigh upon us,
whoever may complain,
whether one arrives there or dies on the way..." (CV 21,2).
Let us not forget that we are in the context of a controversy regarding inner prayer between theologians and inquisitors on one side and contemplative and spiritual persons on the other. The classic tension between activity and contemplation. And in the context – as we all know – of antifeminism and orthodoxy, in which the isolated cases of some visionary women engendered a general suspicion towards any spiritual woman. Teresa raises her voice against this anxious and pathological suspicion. We face another "obstacle" on this "God's journey": "....as often happens, when it is said: here are dangers, she strayed because of this, another was deceived, another who prayed fell, this harms the virtues, it is not for women, as they will have illusions from it, it will be better if they pray without these subtleties, the Our Father and Hail Mary will be enough..." (CV 21,2).
Even in the Interior Castle, Teresa emphasizes that for the soul it is important: "Great determination that it prefers to lose its life and rest and everything offered to it than to return to what was before" (2H 1,6). "His Majesty wants brave souls and is their friend when they walk with humility and without any trust in themselves. And I have not seen such a soul remain low on this path; nor any cowardly soul that, under the shelter of humility, has reached what others will reach in a short time after many years. I am startled at how much it means on this path when someone dares to do great things; even if the soul does not have strength, it still flies and achieves much, even though – like a little bird with insufficient feathers – it tires and falls" (Ż 13,2).
And courage also in external matters is manifested in the adventure of founding: in the Book of Foundations and in the face of bodily, geographical (journeys, waters, snow), economic difficulties, diseases, resistance from the environment. This is a typical theme of Foundations...
Let us look at an example. We are at the founding in Burgos, in the year 1582: "The provincial father wanted to go to this founding with us. Partly because he was then without other obligations, as he had finished his Advent sermons and was going to visit Soria, since he had not seen it since it was founded and it was not a great detour, partly to look after my health on the journey, as the weather was so harsh and I so old and sick" (Z 31,16).
And we could continue with quotes from Foundations, among other things, it could be added:
"And I was frightened and thought about how much matters if we do not look at our weak condition when we realize that by doing so we serve the Lord, even if any obstacles stand in our way, for He is powerful enough to make the weak strong and the sick healthy.
And even if He does not do so, it will be best for our soul to suffer, to focus our eyes on His honor and glory and forget about ourselves. What is life and health for, if not to lose them for such a great King and Lord? Believe me, sisters, that it will never go wrong for you, if you go this way.
And I confess that my wretchedness and weakness have often caused me to be afraid and doubt; but I do not recall any (such situation), after the Lord gave me the habit of being barefoot, nor a few years before, that by His exclusive mercy he did not grant me the grace to overcome temptations and throw myself towards what I recognized was for His greater service, even if it was most burdensome. I understand very clearly that what I did from my side was very little, but God wants nothing more than this determination, so that He then does everything from His side. May He always be blessed and praised, amen" (Z 28,18b–19).
With this, the Terezian invitation to "dare to live (risk your life)" resonates very well (Ż 21,4), urging us to reopen all doors...
2. Authenticity and truth
"Straightforwardness, authenticity, truth"; these are some words that recur in the Terezian writings.
Let us look at some quotes regarding this: When Teresa speaks of the father Gracian's mother, she says that she encountered "straightforwardness and clarity, which I fell for" (D 119,2 from September 20, 1576). And at the end of the Book of Life, she confesses that she acted in such a way that "she presented what was happening in her with all straightforwardness and truth that she was capable of" (Ż 40,24). "I love straightforwardness" (D 397,12); "In short: truth suffers (padece), but does not perish (no perece)" (D 284,26), she confesses in her letters.
And let us recall her favorite expression regarding this: "to walk in truth" (6H 10,7). "The spirit that does not walk in the truth, I would rather have without prayer"2 (Ż 13,16). These are just some of the many quotes that could be mentioned. One testimony from the Processes3 is very telling: When someone asked Teresa about the life her nuns led, she responded by narrating their life with great sincerity and straightforwardness; with all the truth and without evasion. And she usually added that truth can never harm anyone; truth never gives a bad example, nor does it harm.
One can always forgive inconsistency – we are all inconsistent – but it is not easy to forgive inauthenticity or hypocrisy. "Teresa’s success lies in exposing herself to our view so truthfully, unforgettable that even her literary awkwardness becomes part of why we read and admire her. That immense, immense soul, so free and so pliant, “a living flame of love,” cannot be observed through shallow lenses of literature. It would be a mortal sin, and the Lord would demand an account from us" (F. Rico).
Here we have Teresa’s urgent invitation to dare to live our life, to be transparent, to be one and the same, to walk through life without masks and disguises.
3. Terezian humor
Terezian humor expresses itself primarily through cheerfulness and joy of life. And so the saint speaks of “satisfactions of life” (Ż 4,5); “great satisfaction of being a nun” (Ż 33,5). "I filled with satisfaction that I am in this state [= as a nun], so to this day I have never regretted it" (Ż 4,2) [This she writes after thirty years of religious life].
And she also urges us to energize inner satisfaction: "inner cheerfulness" (Z 14,5); "inner joy" (7H 3,5; Z 1,1; 27,12).
Even amidst the diseases of life, she, who was sick for most of her life, with nearly daily hardships, always revived joy: "I overcame everything... with great joy" (Ż 6,2); "I had great physical pains... I overcame them with great joy" (Ż 30,8).
And at the beginning of the entire spiritual adventure, she also urges us to joy and contentment: "At the beginnings, let them strive to walk with joy and freedom; for there are some individuals who seem to lose all devotion as soon as they slightly neglect something" (Ż 13,1).
Along with inner satisfaction, Teresa also has a concern to bring joy to the lives of others, "to provide satisfaction to others": "For in this, the Lord gave me grace that I distributed satisfaction wherever I went" (Ż 2,8); "For in this providing satisfaction to others I went to excess..." (Ż 3,4). "The Lord gives grace to some, to be refreshment for others" (St 27). Much of human happiness depends on this healthy openness to others, just as it does with the happiness of a mother towards her little child: "This house is heaven, if it is possible to have it on earth, for one who is satisfied with merely making God happy and does not look at their own satisfaction" (C 13,7).
And she has a sense of humor to the extent that she is able to laugh at herself, her life, her own language: "I laugh at these comparisons that I do not like" (7H 2,11); "I laugh at how he [= her brother Lawrence] sends me sweets, gifts, and money, and I send him threads" (D 173,19).
"Smiling is part of developing social attitudes and communication ability, an essential aspect of becoming a human being. The first reward a child bestows upon its parents is a smile" (S. Rose).
A sense of "recreation," celebration, poetry, song, and playfulness can also be found in Teresa's writings: "they can all talk about what delights them most" (St 26). The gratuity of life... She herself composes and sings her verses... (see Z 13,5 about the style of Terezian recreation). This is a very Carmelite tradition.
In the context of this "style," recreation was a very important moment for Teresa. It represents a key aspect of the humanistic side of Teresa’s lifestyle. She introduced recreation into the new convents, as it seems that there was none in the Incarnation monastery in Avila. She instituted it in the very Constitutions, where she speaks of two times a day for recreation. In the Constitutions she states that during recreation, the sisters can talk about "what delights them most." They should not play games and must have small handicraft work with them ("all should have their spinning wheels"), which should never impede relaxation and the opportunity to converse: "for the Lord gives grace to one, to provide refreshment (recreación) to others."
In the Way, she emphasizes that recreation serves "to rest." "You should also try to rest with the sisters when they need it, and likewise during the usual recreation, even if it is not to your taste, for when done thoughtfully, all this is perfect love" (C 7,7).
Also in the Mansions, Teresa speaks on this theme: "Sometimes I have a particular joy when we are together, and I see that these sisters have such great inner natures, that the one who can give more, praises our Lord more when seeing the grace that is present in the monastery; for it is very clear that these praises come from the depths of the soul" (6H 6,12). It is the ability to "delight."
And in the Letters, she protests when she sees that some visitor suggests that the sisters should not have recreation on the day they receive the Eucharist: for then, she argues, the priests could never have recreation, as they celebrate Mass daily (see D 144,2).
We thus stand before what we can call the festive reading of the Terezian texts, with a strong invitation to join in the joy (cf. Jüngel), to start living again...
4. Healthy ("holy") freedom
Teresa invites us to "walk with holy freedom" (C 41,4) in everything. Firstly in the internal, spiritual adventure, where the inner person is understood as a space of freedom: "It seems to me that it will be a comfort to you [sisters] to enjoy this interior castle, for without permission from the superiors you can enter and walk through it at any hour" (H conclusion,1).
Another of her concerns is the theme of freedom from oneself, from the human "I", from the "ego": "There is no worse thief" (CV 10,1), Teresa says, than we ourselves. At this location, Teresa speaks with some irony about the obsession with health.
When she expresses herself regarding exaggerated worries about health, she says: "Some nuns, it seems, come to the monastery only to try not to die. Each one tries in the way they can..." (CV 10,5). "They do not keep even the simplest things of the Rule, such as silence, which after all should not harm us. As soon as they think their head hurts, it does not occur to them even in their dreams to go to the choir – which, after all, will not kill them. One day they do not go because their head hurts, another day because it hurt, and another three days so that it might not hurt any more" (CE 15,4).
And it is also about freedom from external difficulties. The Book of Life ends like this: "Now, praise God, even if many complain about me and others speak very harshly about me, it concerns me very little. For I have already left the world and am in a small and holy company, I look at it as if from above, and what they say or what is known about me concerns me very little" (cf. Ż 40,21–22).
And for Teresa, nothing is as important as freedom; not only to lose it but to uphold it in "determination": "And so do not be alarmed, sisters, by all that I have put into this book, so that you may strive for this freedom" (C 19,4). This is what Teresa calls "detachment from all created things," which is a synonym for gratuity and freedom, not to be attached to anything and to anyone: "Let us not allow, oh sisters, our will to be the slave of anyone, but only of Him who redeemed it with His blood" (CV 4,8).
Thus liberating could our reading of the Terezian texts be! Liberating from any fear, for fears do not allow us to be ourselves, do not allow us to be free or happy.
5. Early (anticipated) feminism
This feminism is evident in her explicit laments over the fact that she is aware and feels how marginalized she is: "It is enough to be a woman for my wings to drop" (Ż 10,7); "Oh, poor little butterfly [she speaks to herself], chained down by so many shackles that do not allow you to soar as you would like!" (6H 6,4).
Or regarding those who are the omnipotent inquisitors, she makes it a point: "Is it not enough, Lord, that the world keeps us silent, that we do nothing publicly for You that is worth anything, nor do we dare speak about certain truths, that we secretly cry; and should You not hear such a just request? To this, Lord, I cannot believe, for Your goodness and justice, for You are a just judge, and not like earthly judges, who – like the sons of Adam and, after all, all men – can find no female virtue that they do not suspect" (CE 4,1).4
And also regarding the ecclesiastical hierarchy, which marginalizes women, let us recall the story with the nuncio Felipe Segura, who called Teresa "an unsettled and roaming woman who – against the command of Saint Paul – teaches...". And with the well-known: "God told me," Teresa's response: "Tell them not to look at only one place in the Scripture, but to consider others as well, and whether they can bind my hands" (Rel. 16).
In a society that discriminated against women, Teresa, seated at a table with those accused before censors (who were always men), had to multiply her rhetorical strategies to gain their benevolence and consent. And here she used her ascribed inferior status as a woman to subtly win the readers' favor: "and I am truly nothing" (Ż 31,24); "I am not here to say more" (Ż 21,5). Yet "even though I am what I am" (CE 32,7; Ż 15,7; 21,2), "if I had the authority to write..." (Ż 6,8), "but I am of no value, my Lord" (Ż 39,13), "it is enough to be a woman for my wings to drop" (Ż 10,7). All these are indications of early feminism, in which protest is also contained.
"Teresa undoubtedly suffered terrible discrimination as a woman of her time. She was a realist and accepted what she could not change, and changed what was in her power, and knew how to rightly distinguish one from the other. However, there remains an open field for her daughters and sons to further the most authentic interpretation of her charisma in our historical moment, from the position of our sensitivity, and above all, based on a deep reflection of God's Word and the writings of Teresa and John" (C. Kaufmann).
Therefore, here we can and should open ourselves to a feminist reading of St. Teresa, which assumes that we will always reject the discrimination of women in all areas of society and rehabilitate the feminine in all spheres of life, beginning with the church.
Conclusion: A sign of the quality of the entire spiritual journey
For Teresa, the authenticity of all mystical experience is tested by its subsequent "effects": "By their effects and subsequent deeds, the truths of prayer are recognized, for there is no better melting pot to test them" (4H 2,8).5 "You will know them by their fruits..." (Mt 7,16).
In the spiritual adventure, there are no orthodox and heretical forms and paths (in spirituality this question loses significance). What truly matters is orthopraxis (correct implementation). And in this sense, it can be said that there are healthy and unhealthy ways to live the spiritual life: a "healthy" one will be one that produces positive effects in our real, everyday life; and an "unhealthy" one will be one that brings negative effects.
In Teresa's experience (and works), on one side we can differentiate effects in her own life, and on the other side the reality that her own experience (and her writings) have the power to infect the lives of others. Let us look closely at this.
As a sign of true contemplative prayer, the saint considers the ability to forgive: "And pay very good attention, that if God grants any soul, in prayer, the grace I said belongs to perfect contemplation, and then she is not very determined when she has the chance to truly forgive any injustice, however serious it may be – not those trifles which are called injustices – I do not trust her prayer too much" (C 36,8).
The forgiveness that Teresa means is in addition "immediate" and "without costing us much": "At first it may happen that when the Lord grants these graces, the soul is not immediately strengthened; however, I say that when it6 grants it continuously, then in a short time makes it strong, if not in other virtues, then certainly in forgiveness. I cannot believe that a soul that approaches so close to Mercy itself and recognizes what she is and how much God has already forgiven her, doesn’t easily forgive those who have offended her" (C 36,12).
In general, according to Teresa, there tends to simplify life: "Well, I would like to conclude with this: that whenever we think of Christ, we also remember the love with which He has bestowed so many graces upon us, and how great a love God has shown us when He gave us such assurance that He loves us; for love incites love. And even if it were entirely at the beginning and we were still very wretched, nevertheless, let us still strive to walk always in such a way so as to seek it and awaken love within ourselves. For, once the Lord grants us the grace, that this love embeds in our hearts, everything will seem easy to us, and we will do anything in no time and very easily" (Ż 22,14). To contemplate and pray makes our life "easier".
And the key effects of Terezian mystical experience are the ability to "have compassion" and "to rejoice": "And when you see a sick person to whom you can bring relief, do everything so as not to lose this selflessness, and have compassion for her; and if she has any pain, may it hurt you; and if necessary, fast, so that she may eat; not so much for her, but rather because you know that your Lord demands it from you. It is true unity of will; and if you see that someone is highly praised, rejoice even more than if they praised you. (...) This joy, in which the sisterly virtues are understood, is greatly significant. And if we would see some flaw in someone, feel it as if it were outside, apart from us, and cover it" (5H 3,11).
Tereza's writings also have the power to infect and transform the lives of others, to inspire, to reshape, to open hearts, to liberate... "Teresa does not chisel out sayings for future generations; she begins to speak, yet does so in such a fresh and feminine language that she asserts herself merely through the beauty of her notions and emotions and expands the heart, opening many doors about which one did not know they existed" (J. Cotta).
The expression of Teresa, which perhaps best captures the transformative character of Terezian language and its immense power to infect her readers, is: "to inspire souls" (Ż 18,8). This expresses the aim that our mystic pursues: "My intention is to inspire souls to such noble good".
We face the enormous power of Terezian work to infect. A smile, just like a yawn, is contagious... But love, trust, and courage (as well as their negative opposites) are also contagious, as Teresa knew – long before Rizzolatti discovered "mirror neurons."7 And that means we are set for emotional contagion. And Teresa has the power to infect her readers with her passion for God, thus transforming their lives to even greater humanity. And Teresa is a woman, "with whom it is exciting to live because she powerfully draws us into the whirlpool of a life completely surrendered to God" (C. Kaufmann).
Translated from Spanish by P. Vojtěch Kohut, OCD.
