Funny, Smart, Holy: Teresa of Avila

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watercolour by Emanuel Franco Gómez, OCarm. (Manu)
Oct. 15th is the Feast of St. Teresa of Ávila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus. I love this woman. Although she is a doctor of the Church and one of the three great 16th-century Spanish mystics (along with St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. John of the Cross), she is humourous as well as wise.

St. Teresa of Avila is the real deal; holy, down to earth, humble and best of all extremely articulate.  Her  phrases are succinct, to the point yet those few words point to a deep, Divine wisdom.
Since I cannot top St. Teresa, I will simply let her speak for herself.
The first line of her autobiography is amusing.
 “Having virtuous and God-fearing parents would have been enough for me to be good if I were not so wicked."


 After a donkey threw her into a cold river she said-
“If this is how You treat Your friends, then it is no wonder You have so few of them.”
You’ve gotta love that level of practicality and annoyance in a mystic.


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