It seems a lifetime ago when we traveled to Avila to stand before one of the giants in catholic culture. Saint Teresa of Avila was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Saint Paul VI. Today, there are four women doctors honored in the Church, Teresa being the first in this lineup of holy women.

She lived in the second half of the sixteenth century. She is our great heavenly friend who joins the ranks of Carmelite saints before and after her. She is also among the many great mystics and reformers of the Church.

Meeting Teresa in Rome

I stumbled on Teresa of Avila, strolling through Rome. I visited the Cornaro Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria. There I was alone in this tiny Church, dimly lit, gazing at Bernini’s marble statue known as the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.

Bernini had a gift for presenting marble suspended in mid-air. Critics of Bernini saw this statue as an exaggeration of eroticism in the spiritual life. The seventeenth-century masterpiece draws you into Teresa’s inner life. The statue depicts the moment Teresa felt the fiery arrow pierce her soul, infusing her with God. In Carmelite theology, this ecstasy is called the Transverberation.

Such brilliant emotionalism moves the viewer to feel God’s love for Teresa. The viewer feels the immensity of God’s love evading her very being.

Teresa’s Castle

Teresa gave the Church her outstanding spiritual tome known as the Interior Castle. When you gaze at the city of Avila, this idea of a castle is striking. The whole town is a well-built stone fortress, and at the center of its people is this Spanish giant! Father François-Marie Léthel, a professor at the Teresianum, commented on her tome,

The Interior Castle is a synthesis of all her spirituality. It’s a profound reflection on the words of Jesus: ‘Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.’ Teresa spoke of the soul as a castle with many rooms, with God dwelling at the center.

At the depth of all our feelings, we will find God. Life is a journey to the center of this castle, to the inner chamber where Christ awaits us.

This journey to the center of the soul is about self-knowledge, which is the desire of communion with God through prayer. Without prayer, a person cannot enter the interior castle. Prayer is the doorway into this castle.

Among the many rooms of the Interior Castle, one room worth revisiting is the room of self-knowledge (1.2.8). This room is essential, no matter how far the soul has progressed in the spiritual life. Self-knowledge takes much work and demands vigilance.

Self-knowledge moves us to prayer. Prayer helps us speak with awareness to God. This awareness prompts humility. Humility “is always at work. Without it, everything goes wrong” (1.2.8). Humility and self-knowledge help purge us from sin so we can journey to God. Humility allows us to speak to the all-holy and completely loving God.

Teresa’s great tome takes us on a lifelong journey into the soul. In the inner chambers of our castle is the King who died for us. In the center of the castle is the King who defeated death and has prepared a place for us. Life is a journey of purging sin and our attachments to stand in his holy presence.

A Father’s Wish For His Daughter

While this day is marked by the presence and prayers of this awesome saint, it is also a difficult day. October 15 was the due date of our daughter, Cecilia Therese.

Trusting God through the pain and loss is difficult. I dream of castles for a princess, a daughter who I so longed to hold in my own arms. My eldest son seems to have a deep sense of heaven. Every weekend we visit the cemetery and he leads prayer, asking that his sister watch over us. He thanks Jesus for having a sister in heaven.

I abandon myself to prayer. Prayer is all I have. I seek to understand and to make sense of this immense journey, trusting that God never abandons us.

I find consolation in Saint Teresa of Avila. She exhorts us to see Jesus as our friend and in that friendship, he will be with us. She said,

If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandons us. He is a true friend .