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 frie nds, then it is no wonder You have so few of them.” You’ve gott...
