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GENERAL AUDIENCE TODAY:
Catechesis on St. Teresa of Avila
Pope begins catechetical cycle
on the Doctors of the Church
2 FEN 2011 (RV) - Pope Benedict XVI says he will dedicate his Wednesday audiences to a new cycle of lessons on the Doctors of the Church in the coming weeks, beginning with “one of the highest examples of Christian spirituality of all time”, St Teresa of Avila.
The 16th-century saint and Carmelite reformer was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI. Describing her as " true teacher of life for the Christian faithful of every era" Pope Benedict XVI said her life and writings are particularly relevant "in our current society often lacking in spiritual values”.
He described her spirituality as "profound and articulated”, proposing the Gospel virtues as the basis of all Christian life and human existence, in particular detachment from earthly goods and evangelical poverty.
But she also wrote of human virtues, such as affability, truthfulness, modesty, kindness, happiness and culture. Saint Teresa presented a profound harmony between the great biblical figures and living the Word of God in her daily life.
Teresa was born in Spain, in Ávila in 1515 to, as she herself writes in her autobiography, "virtuous, God-fearing parents". She had nine brothers and three sisters. Teresa entered the Carmel monastery in Avila at the age of twenty. Maturing in the spiritual life, she embraced the ideal of a renewal of her Order and with the support of the future Saint John of the Cross she founded a chain of reformed Carmels throughout Spain.
Pope Benedict continued: “Her highly influential writings, which include the Autobiography, The Way of Perfection, and The Interior Castle, reveal her profound christocentric spirituality and her breadth of human experience. Teresa considered the evangelical and human virtues the basis of an authentic Christian life. She identified deeply with Christ in his humanity and stressed the importance of contemplation of his Passion and of his real presence in the Eucharist”.
Above all, concluded the Pope, “she presents prayer as an intimate friendship with Christ leading to an ever greater union of love with the Blessed Trinity. In her life and in her death Teresa embodied an unconditional love for the Church. May the example and prayers of Saint Teresa of Avila inspire us to greater fidelity to prayer and, through prayer, to greater love for the Lord and his Church, and more perfect charity towards our brothers and sisters”.
Here is a translation of the full catechesis:
From left: Two generic icons; painting by Francois Gerard, 1827; founder statue in St. Peter's Basilica; St. Teresa in Ecstasy[Teresa's heart pierced by an angel), by Bernini, 1652; portrait by monk Juan de la Miseria, painted when the saint was 61; portrait by Rubens, 1615.
Dear brothers and sisters,
During the catecheses that I have dedicated to the Fathers of the Church, the great theologians, and the women figures of the Middle Eages, I have been able to dwell on some saints who have also been proclaimed Doctors of the Church for their outstanding doctrine.
Today I wish to start a brief series to complete the presentation of the Doctors of the Church. I will start with a saint who represents one of the peaks of Christian spirituality of all time, Santa Teresa de Avila, or Teresa de Jesus.
She was born Teresa Ahumada in Avila, Spain, in 1515. In her autobiography, she mentions some details about her childhood: that she was born to 'virtuous and God-fearing parents' in a numerous family with nine brothers and sisters.
As a child of less than 8 years, reading the lives of some martyrs inspired in her a desire for martyrdom, such that she devised an escape from home so that she could die a martyr and go to heaven. (cfr Vita 1, 4); "I want to see God," the child told her parents.
Some years later, Teresa would speak of her childhood readings and would say that she discovered truth, which she summarized in two fundamental principles: on the one hand, "the fact that everything that belongs to this world passes away"; and on the other hand, that only God is "for always, always, always", a theme that would return in her very famous poem, "Let nothing disturb you;/ let nothing frighten you./ God does not change./ Patience obtains everything:/ Whoever has God/ does not lack anything./ God alone is enough".
Orphaned of her mother at age 12, she asked the Virgin Mary to be a mother to her (cfr Vita 1, 7).
If in her adolescence, reading profane [ie.,non-religious] books had brought her the distractions of worldly living, her experience as a student of the Augustinian nuns of Santa Maria de Gracia in Avila and her frequent reading of spiritual books, especially the classics of Franciscan spirituality, taught her to meditate and to pray.
At age 20, she entered the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation in Avila, taking the name of Teresa de Jesus. Three years later, she fell gravely ill and was in coma for four days, apparently dead (cfr Vita 5, 9).
Even in her struggle against her own illnesses, the saint saw a struggle against her weaknesses and resistances to the call of God: "I wished to live," she wrote, "because I understood quite well that I was not living, but fighting the shadow of death, and I had no one who would give me life, nor could I myself take it away. He who could give it to me had reason not to help me, since so many times I had turned toward him, only to abandon him" (Vita 8, 2).
In 1543, she lost the close support of her family: her father died, and all her siblings had emigrated one after the other to the New World. In Lent of 1554, when she was 39, Teresa reached the peak of her struggles against her own weaknesses.
The fortuitous discovery of the statue of a 'much wounded Christ' left a profound mark on her life (cfr Vita 9). The saint, who at that time, found herself in profound consonance with St. Augustine, describes the decisive day of her mystical experience: "It happened that... suddenly I had the sense of the presence of God, and in no way could I doubt that he was within me, and that I was totally absorbed into him" (Vita 10, 1).
Parallel to the maturation of her interior life, the saint started to develop concretely her ideas for a reform of the Carmelite order. In 1562, she founded the first reformed Carmel in Avila, with the support of the Bishop of the city, Alvaro de Mendoza. Shortly afterwards, she also got the approval of the order's Superior-General, Giovanni Battista Rossi.
In the following years, she proceeded with establishing other new Carmels, 17 in all. She had a meeting of fundamental significance with (the future) St. John of the Cross (Juan de la Cruz) with whom, in 1568, she established in Duruelo, near Avila, the first convent of Discalced (Barefoot) Carmelites.
In 1580, she obtained from Rome approval for erecting an autonomous Province for her reformed Carmelites, which formally gave birth to the Religious Order of the Discalced Carmelties.
Teresa's earthly life ended while she was involved in the activity of setting up more convents. In fact, in 1582, after having established the Carmel of Burgos, and while she was returning to Avila, she died on the night of October 15 in Alba de Tormes (outside Salamanca), humbly repeating two sentences: "Finally, I die a daughter of the Church" and "It is time now, my Spouse, for us to see each other".
Hers was a life spent entirely in Spain, but spent for the entire Church. Beatified by Pope Paul V in 1614, and canonized in 1622 by Gregory XV, she was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by the Servant of God Paul VI in 1970.
Teresa de Jesus did not have any academic formation, but she always treasured the teachings of theologians, litterati, and spiritual masters. As a writer, she always drew on what she had personally experienced or saw in the experience of others (cfr Prologue to 'The Way of Perfection', that is, she wrote entirely out of experience.
She was able to weave relationships of spiritual friendship with many future saints, particularly with Juan de la Cruz. At the same time, she nourished herself by reading the Fathers of the Church - St. Jerome, St. Gregory the Great, St. Augustine.
Among her principal works, there is, first of all, her autobiography entitled Book of Life, which she herself called 'Book of the Lord's Mercies'. Written in the Carmel of Avila in 1565, it is about her biographical and spiritual life, written, as she herself affirmed, in order to subject her soul to the discernment of her 'master of spirituals', the future St. John of Avila.
The aim was to show the presence and action of the merciful God in her life, and therefore, the work often narrates her dialog of prayer with the Lord. It is fascinating to read, because the saint not only narrates, but appears to relive the profound experience of her relationship with God.
In 1586, Teresa wrote The Way of Perfection, which she called Admonitions, consisting of the advice that she gave to her nuns, particularly, the 12 novices at the Carmel of St. Joseph in Avila. Teresa proposed to them an intense program of contemplative life in the service of the Church, on the basis of the evangelical virtues and prayer. Among its most valuable passages is her commentary on the Lord's Prayer, as a model for praying.
Teresa's most famous work of mysticism is The Interior Castle, which she wrote in 1577, in the prime of her maturity. It is a re-reading of her own way of spiritual life, and at the same time, a codification of the possible development of Christian life towards its fullness - sanctity - through the action of the Holy Spirit.
Teresa uses the structure of a castle with seven rooms as an image of man's interiority, while introducing the image of the silk cocoon that becomes a butterfly to express the passage from the natural to the supernatural.
The saint drew inspiration from Sacred Scripture, particularly the Song of Songs, for her final symbol of the 'two spouses', which allows her to describe, in the seventh 'room', the peak of Christian life in its four aspects: Trinitarian, Christologic, anthropological and ecclesial.
Teresa dedicated the Book of Foundations, written between 1573-1582, to her activities as founder of the reformed Carmelites, in which she describes the life of each group as it was being born. As in her autobiography, the narration is projected at demonstrating the action of God in the work of establishing these new convents.
It is not easy to summarize in a few words the profound and detailed spirituality of Teresa. But I wish to mention some essential points.
In the first place, St. Teresa proposed the evangelical virtues as the basis of all Christian and human life, particularly, detachment from material goods, or evangelical poverty, which concerns us all: love for one another as an essential element of community and social life; humility as love for the truth; determination and resolve as the fruit of Christian daring; theological hope, that she describes as a thirst for living water. She does not ignore human virtues like affability, veracity, modesty, courtesy, joy, culture.
In the second place, St. Teresa proposes profound harmony with the great Biblical figures and listening to the Word of God. She felt herself to be most in consonance with the bride in the Song of Songs and with the Apostle Paul, other than with Christ of the Passion and Jesus in the Eucharist.
The saint then underscores how essential prayer is: To pray, she said, "means to keep frequent company with a friend, since in prayer, we keep company, one on one, with him whom we know loves us" (Vita 8, 5).
Teresa's ideal coincides with the definition St. Thomas Aquinas gave of theological charity as “amicitia quaedam hominis ad Deum” - a kind of friendship between man and God, who had offered his friendship to man first - that is, the initiative comes from God (cfr Summa Theologiae II-ΙI, 23, 1).
Prayer is life and develops gradually in step with the growth of Christian life. It starts with vocal prayer, then passes into internatlization through meditation and contemplation, until it achieves a union of love with Christ and the Most Holy Trinity.
Obviously, it is not a development in which ascending to the higher steps means leaving the previous types of prayer, but it is a gradual deepening of a relationship with God which wraps around one's whole life.
More than a pedagogy of prayer, Teresa's teaching is a true 'mystagogy' [teaching a mystery]: She teaches the reader of her works to pray by praying herself along with him. In fact, she often interrupts her narration or her exposition by 'bursting' into prayer.
Another subject that was dear to the saint was the centrality of Christ's humanity. For Teresa, Christian life was a personal relationship with Jesus, which culminates in union with him through grace, through love, and through imitation.
That is why she gave great importance to meditation on the Passion of Christ and on the Eucharist as the presence of Christ in the Church, for the life of every believer and as the heart of liturgy.
St. Teresa had unconditional love for the Church: she manifested a vivid sensus Ecclesiae in the face of the episodes of divisions and conflicts of the Church in her time.
She reformed the Carmelite Order sp that it could better serve and defend "the holy Roman Catholic Church" and she was ready to give her life for the Church (cfr Vita 33, 5).
One last aspect of the Teresian doctrine that I wish to underscore is perfection as the aspiration of all Christian life and its final goal. The saint had a very clear idea of the 'fullness' of Christ to be re-lived by the Christian.
At the end of going through the 'interior castle' and reaching the seventh room, Teresa describes this fullness, which is realized in the indwelling on man of the Trinity and union with Christ through the mystery of his humanity.
Dear brothers and sisters, Sr. Teresa de Jesus is a true teacher of Christian life for the faithful of all time. In our society, which often lacks spiritual values, St. Teresa teaches us to be tireless witnesses for God, of his presence and his action.
She teaches us to truly feel the thirst for God that exists in the depth of our heart, the desire to see God, to seek him out, to converse with him and to be his friend. This is the friendship that we all need and which, day after day, we must seek anew.
May the example of this saint, who was profoundly contemplative as well as effectively industrious, urge us to dedicate each day an appropriate time for prayer, to this opening towards God, to this way to seek him out, to see him, to find his friendship, and with it, true life.
Truly, many of us need to say: "I do not live, I do not really live, because I do not live the Essence of my life". Because of this, time for prayer is never time lost - it is a time during which the road of life opens up, the road opens up tso we can learn from God ardent love for him, his Church, and concrete charity for our brothers. Thank you.
After his plurilingual greetings to various pilgrim groups, he said this:
I wish to greet with affection all religious men and women and all consecrated persons on this day that is specially dedicated to the consecrated life, on the liturgical feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.
Dear brothers and sisters, I bless each of you and your way within the Church.
In his greeting to young people, the sick, and newlyweds, he said:
The other day, we celebrated the liturgical memory of St. John Bosco, priest and and educator. Look to him, dear young people, as an authentic teacher of life and holiness. You, who are afflicted, learn from his spiritual experience to trust in the crucified Christ in every circumstance. And you, dear newlyweds, turn to his intercession so that he may help you assume generously your mission as spouses.
[COLORE=@FF0000] APPENDIX
Actually, the Holy Father has already covered most of the Doctors of the Church in his chronological catecheses of the great figures of the Church since the Apostles. The following is a list of the Dcotors of the Church, classified by era. According to this list, after Teresa of Avila, Benedict XVI will have seven more DOC to present.
WESTERN ROMAN CHURCH DOCTORS
1 St Ambrose, 340-397 (Pastoral Doctor)
2 St Jerome, 345-420 (Doctor of Biblical Science)
3 St Augustine, 354-430 (Doctor of Grace)
4 St Gregory the Great, 540-604 (Doctor of Hymnology)
EASTERN CHURCH DOCTORS
5 St Athanasius, 295-373 (Doctor of Orthodoxy)
6 St Basil the Great, 330-379 (Doctor of Monasticism)
7 St Gregory Nazianzus, 330-390 (Doctor of Theologians)
8 St John Chrysostom, 345-407 (Doctor of Preachers)
EARLY CHURCH DOCTORS
9 St Ephraem, 306-373 (Doctor of Deacons and Poets)
10 St Hilary, 315-368 (Doctor of Christ's Divinity)
11 St Cyril of Jerusalem, 315-387 (Doctor of Faith and against Heresy)
12 St Cyril of Alexandria, 376-444 (Doctor of the Incarnation)
13 St Leo the Great, 390-461 (Doctor of Doctrine)
14 St Peter Chrysologus, 400-450 (Doctor of Homilies)
15 St Isidore, 560-636 (Doctor of Education)
16 St Bede, the Venerable, 673-735 (Doctor of English History)
17 St John Damascene, 676-749 (The Icon or Image Doctor)
18 St Peter Damian, 1007-1072 (Doctor of Reform and Renewal)
MIDDLE AGE CHURCH DOCTORS
19 St Anselm, 1033-1109 (Doctor of Scholasticism)
20 St Bernard of Clairvaux, 1090-1153 (Devotional and Eloquent Doctor)
21 St Anthony of Padua, 1195-1231 (Evangelical Doctor)
22 St Albert the Great, 1200-1280 (Doctor of Science)
23 St Bonaventure, 1217-1274 (Seraphic Doctor)
24 St Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274 (Angelic Doctor)
25 St Catherine of Siena, 1347-1379 (Doctor of Unity)
COUNTER REFORMATION CHURCH DOCTORS
26 St Teresa of Avila 1515-1582 (Doctor of Prayer)
27 St Peter Canisius, 1521-1597 (Doctor of Catechetical Studies)
28 St John of the Cross, 1542-1591 (Mystical Doctor)
29 St Robert Bellarmine, 1542-1621 (Doctor of Church State Relations)
30 St Lawrence of Brindisi, 1559-1622 (Doctor of Conversions and Missions)
31 St Francis de Sales, 1567-1622 (Doctor of Authors and the Press)
MODERN ERA CHURCH DOCTORS
32 St Alphonsus Liguori, 1696-1787 (Morality and Marian Doctor)
33 St Therese of Lisieux, 1873-1897 (Doctor of Confidence and Missionaries)
The following list provides the date when each saint was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church, and which Pope proclaimed them.
1-4: Saints Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Gregory the Great: Boniface VIII, September 20, 1295.
5: Saint Thomas Aquinas: Saint Pius V, April 11, 1567.
6-9: Saints Athanasius, Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, Saint John Chrysostom: Saint Pius V, 1568.
10: Saint Bonaventure: Sixtus V, March 14, 1588.
11: Saint Anselm of Canterbury: Clement XI, February 3, 1720.
12: Saint Isidore of Seville: Innocent XIII, April 25, 1722.
13: Saint Peter Chrysologus: Benedict XIII, February 10, 1729.
14: Saint Leo the Great: Benedict XIV, October 15, 1754.
15: Saint Peter Damian: Leo XII, September 27, 1828.
16: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux: Pius VIII, August 20, 1830.
17: Saint Hilaire of Poitiers: Pius IX, May 13, 1851.
18: Saint Alphonsus Liguori: Pius IX, July 7, 1871.
19: Saint Francis of Sales: Pius IX, November 16, 1871.
20-21: Saints Cyril of Alexandria and Cyril of Jerusalem: Leo XIII, July 28, 1882.
22: Saint John Damascene: Leo XIII, August 19, 1890.
23: Saint Bede the Venerable: Leo XIII, November 13, 1899.
24: Saint Ephrem of Syria: Benedict XV, October 5, 1920.
25: Saint Peter Canisius: Pius XI, May 21, 1925.
26: Saint John of the Cross: Pius XI, August 24, 1926.
27: Saint Robert Bellarmine: Pius XI, September 17, 1931.
28: Saint Albert the Great: Pius XI, December 16, 1931.
29: Saint Anthony of Padua: Pius XII, January 16, 1946.
30: Saint Laurence of Brindisi: John XXIII, March 19, 1959.
31: Saint Theresa of Avila: Paul VI, September 27, 1970.
32: Saint Catherine of Siena: Paul VI, October 4, 1970.
33: Saint Theresa of Lisieux: John Paul II, October 19, 1997.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 24/02/2011 21:45] |