Oh, Lord, You say: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” What more do we want, Lord? What else do we ask for? What are we searching for? Why do worldly people get lost, if not because they seek rest? Oh, how great the blindness, for we seek it where it is impossible to find!
Have mercy, Creator, on these Your creatures. Behold, we neither understand nor know what we truly desire, nor can we accurately express what we ask for. Lord, grant us light! Behold, we need it more than a blind man from birth who longed to see the light and could not. Now, Lord, he no longer even desires to see! Oh, how incurable the evil! Right here, my God, Your power must be demonstrated, here Your mercy.
Oh, how harsh a thing I ask for, my true God, that You should care for those who do not care for You, that You should open to those who do not call on You, that You should grant health to one who willingly remains sick, even strives for illness!
You say, my Lord, that You come to seek sinners. These are the true sinners. Do not look at our blindness, my God, but at the many blood that Your Son shed for us. May Your mercy shine forth amidst such widespread wickedness. Behold, Lord, that we are Your work. May Your goodness and mercy help us.
(Teresa of Avila, The Exclamation of the Soul to God, 8,2.3; working translation by Vojtěch Kohut OCD)
