St Teresa of Avila, 1515-1582. Doctor of Prayer, Feast Oct 15th.

Saint Teresa's favorite prayer was the Our Father. For a beautiful link to the Our Father prayer click on the link below:

The Lord's Prayer Flash Movie

Teresa's insights into prayer are unparalleled. It is not that she will tell us anything startling new. Rather, we begin to immediately feel comfortable and identify with her. It is through the spirit, tone and conversational quality of prayer that she describes that draws us to her. She is a most intriguing person because she identifies with us and draws us to God.

For a concise Carmelite history of Teresa click on the below link:

http://www.karmel.at/eng/teresa.htm

She was extraordinarily humble, greatly detached, and showed tremendous charity. That is the mark of a genuine mystic. Some mystics experience visions, levitations and raptures as Teresa but these aren't needed or necessary for transforming union with God. Teresa assures us that sincere prayer has to be imparted from God. You can't really describe or teach it. It teaches you when you live godly. Teresa's writings and example laid the foundation for many thousands of houses of prayer around the world.

Teresa's writings inform us today that it is within us that we will discover the meaning of Jesus' words. "My house will be called a house of prayer". She is for the entire world to know, appreciate, and savor that the kingdom and Christ the King dwells within each creature. The entire world and all religions have an immeasurable gain when they explore this indefatigable reformer, nun and consecrated virgin, St Teresa of Avila. She reaffirms that it is within the Kingdom of God that the majestic King dwells awaiting your glance and attention. He jealously awaits us daily in prayer. It is truly there that adoration, praise, honor and thanksgiving will be given us when we truly thirst for our blessed Redeemer who has paid for each of us with his precious blood.

Teresa assures us that the abundant blessings, gifts, and favors that God gives, especially in prayer, the mass and sacraments will astonish and astound us. Give it time and God will capture you and make you his own exclusively in accordance to your generosity. Don't expect signs and wonders. Aim only to be kind, compassionate, patient, and gentle as Jesus showed. Enjoy God's presence, silence and his good pleasure.

Teresa's mind had a thousand and one thoughts that pestered her. Aren't we the same? Aren't we always worrying about something and preoccupied with many anxieties? Isn't it nearly impossible for us to quiet our minds? Due to demands and deadlines, all of us need to daily unwind and relax and be rejuvenated.

Today, many people unwind, for the most part, by recreation, meeting with love ones, family, friends, food and drink, travel, vacation, exercising, having sex (married couples), hobbies, TV, music and a host of things. These can all be holy and sacred. However, for Teresa's recommendation, unwinding is definitely to include prayer. One can unwind not only exteriorly but by going interiorly into one's thoughts through reading or reflecting. Our mystical friend always had a book at hand when she began prayer time because she was easily distracted. Sound familiar?

What Teresa does for us when we practice prayer in any form, vocal or silent, group or individual, public or private, will encourage us to pester God than allow us to be pestered by anything else that is not related about God. In fact, the gospel tells us that it was the widow who pestered the judge, in the parable taught by Jesus, that finally gave her what she asked for despite originally denying her or putting her off. God is that same judge toward us and 'pestering prayer' has precedent.

The most interesting aspect of this woman of prayer is how it wasn't until she was around forty that she first began to be drawn to prayer in a powerful manner. Although Teresa was always faithful and engaged in prayer, during this time in her life, she was not waiting for the prayer period to end as it was for her previously. (The Rule and Spirit of Carmel sets aside specific times for prayer, generally one hour periods two times a day.) As she matured in prayer more generously she began to listen in prayer and surrender to her vocation wholeheartedly. Prayer for her was not a compelling event at first. Only when she begin to live out her prayer life through generous sacrifices and obedience to her vows did she understand and sense the grandeur and magnificence that prayer offered her.

God drew Teresa so marvelously to the Godhead that she began to experience ecstasies and raptures even in public. Her conversation with Jesus Christ became so alive to her that his presence became almost real.

She experienced what the church has always taught regarding Jesus' presence. He is actually present Body, Soul, Blood and Divinity on our altars and holy tables through the consecrated bread and wine. And he remains in all Catholic Churches around the world where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in the tabernacles. He is also present in a special manner in the soul and body of every creature on the face of the earth. He is present in God's word and many other manners. God is ubiquitous and his sacred humanity stays with us in an ineffable manner.

The saint's writings and your prayer will furthermore inspire you to spend more time and reflection on this divine person who dwells with us on earth as he is in heaven. St Teresa's mystical writings lived out will steep you in unforgettable contemplation of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Sincere prayer is unitive and Trinitarian and encourages and impels you to show and have love for God and all of God's creatures. God jealously loves us and wants us to jealously love others. Jesus said it first. Give to God what is God's and to Caesar what is Caesar's.

Perhaps more books have been written on prayer than any other subject in religion. This does not mean to state that prayer needs to be associated with religion. Prayer is the heart's cry for love. All creatures need and want love. Some will not state it in religious terms. After all, Jesus didn't come only to set up a religion although he designated Peter to be the head of the church. We would be wise to heed Peter's voice and authority. Jesus came to give us spiritual life through his Spirit and God's beatitudes, gifts and divine favors.

The church further developed because Jesus called the twelve to proclaim the kingdom. In the below link on the Twelve Apostles of the Catholic Church, one will find details on their lives:

http://www.12apostlesofthecatholicchurch.com

God promised and sent the Holy Spirit to his believers from the very beginning of recorded history and he gave us the prophets and holy women. Later Christ sent the fathers, apostles, martyrs, saints and doctors, like St Teresa, to help us in the transmission and transformation of that holy faith through their examples, writings, and life so that we might imitate them. Therefore, Atheists, beware! Agnostics, watch out! Do not read about this holy woman if you want to maintain your traditional way of thinking and believing. Why? Others like you have done so and have discovered religion, began praying more, and actually became saints. St Teresa's writings can be like a stick of dynamite. Her influences are spiritually explosive. To all sincere non-believers this is a warning. Teresa may be too hot for you to handle.

All people of God and especially those dedicated to God in religion, please be advised. The material you are now reading may be challenging to your spiritual health. Why? Once you get a taste of genuine prayer, as Teresa discovered, you might become more intimately united with God causing you to change your weak habits, if any exist.

Authentic prayer has the power to reveal to you that your habits may not be as good as you assumed. Spirit-led-prayer pours supernatural light and special graces into your body and soul. You begin to see as never before experienced. For example, as Teresa explained or perhaps it was John of the Cross, one of her dearest friends who helped her in Carmelite reform, an apparent clean and empty room, when exposed to the rays of the sun will reveal dust, dirt and stains that may surprise you. Similarly, the bestowal of divine love, through earnest prayer, reveals hidden, secret and unknown flaws and sins. In spiritual terminology, sin is filth. It is offensive and repugnant to God and it blocks any intimacy and true knowledge of the Creator.

Your habits could dramatically change you through prayer causing you to practice prayer and devotion more wholeheartedly. As Teresa, herself, was radically changed by the reading of St Jerome's letters at first, and later with St Augustine, so too, might you be changed if you read about her life. The almighty One might lovingly stalk you as he stalked her. Prayer time might become a romance and a feast that never tires you. Once God touches you profoundly, one hardly returns as the same person.

In John F. Fink's books, Volume 1 and 2, on The Doctors of the Church listed in the sources, he writes that Teresa originally felt drawn toward the religious life through an attraction stimulated by her reading the "Letters of Saint Jerome". When she told her father that she wanted to become a nun, he refused to give his consent. Although hating to defy her father, she went secretly to the Carmelite Convent of the Incarnation just outside Avila and asked for admittance. She was twenty years old.

This first woman doctor of the church will definitely assist you in prayer as no other when you turn to her through her illuminating writings on prayer. When you invite her into your thoughts and heart through intercessory prayer, you will gain her insights. She is your spiritual sister. The church confirms her unanimously as a dear friend who will guide you to know and love God. Read her Interior Castle, Way of Perfection and her Autobiography to get a taste of Teresa. Also read the books and resources within the content of each doctor that may not be listed in the sources. For example, to be imbued with Carmelite spirituality, subscribe to Spiritual Life and Desert Call. Both are rich resources and have won Catholic Press Awards (CPA) repeatedly in many categories.

Teresa's writings on prayers are classics and incomparable. She richly inspires the church today about the subject of prayer. She described it as a conversation with God. Our saint sometimes depicts prayer as taking place in the interior of the soul-"the castle" and the different parts of the castle or "mansions" as stages of prayer. By reading and reflecting on From Ash to Fire by Carolyn Humphreys, one can gain a rich, contemporary insight and journey through the Interior Castle of St Teresa of Avila's book.

For this astonishing reformer, prayer was the magic of the moment and the moment of magic. Both, time set aside for prayer and spiritual dialogue, offered her unlimited access to the kingdom. Within her mansion dwelt the majestic Master who called her into conversation and friendship. It really did not matter to her if the prayer was vocal, mental or contemplative. It was all the same-sacred, unique and special.

St Teresa of Avila was graced from childhood and wanted to be a nun ever since she could remember. In John Fink's book already mentioned, Teresa was only fourteen when her mother died and this event seemed to trigger a change in Teresa. She wrote in her Autobiography that she became enamored with tales of chivalry, and she even tried to write romantic stories. She wrote: "These tales did not fail to cool my good desires, and were the cause of my falling insensibly into other defects. I was so enchanted that I could not be happy without some new tale in my hands. I began to imitate the fashions, to enjoy being well dressed, to take great care of my hands, to use perfumes, and wear all the vain ornaments which my position in the world allowed." For those parents today, doesn't this sound all too familiar with our kids today? If it only could stop there.

However, when Teresa was sixteen, she went through some changes that turned her off from being a nun but shortly thereafter she entered the Carmelites in Avila, Spain very young. After many years leading a "comfortable", holy life as she would describe it, she felt called and challenged to a more spiritual surrender to the ways of prayer. She achieved this through a more consecrated living out of her vows to her Lord in obedience to God's commandments and the rule of the Order.

Prayer deepened and enlightened her to appreciate, cherish and treasure the vocation that she was called to live. She began to encounter prayer more seriously and discovered that the sacred humanity of Jesus took on newer dimensions and led to firmer commitments to God's church.

The sacred humanity of Jesus guarantees us a tangible, creative and intimate union each and every time we dwell with him and he in us. It matters not how we feel. He is alive, real and avidly seeking our generosity. And he can never be outdone in generosity. He is our Creator, Redeemer and Guide. Our Lover craves our heart, thoughts and compassion now. He eagerly seeks us daily not for himself but for ourselves and others. Many leave him cold, alone and forgotten. Many do not know him as a gentle, loving Friend. He treats those who pray faithfully as his friends. The gospels tell the whole story.

During Teresa's lifetime she considered there was too much laxity, needless talking and ease among the nuns. She started a movement of renewal that would revolutionize the convent where she lived and the founding of new convents and monasteries throughout the world. Faithful conversation with God continually would be the benchmark of Mary's Order in the future.

Obviously Teresa had a devotion to Mary as did all the doctors. See link below:

THE DOCTORS AND ST MARY

Teresa was engaged in prayer with the rosary and meditations on our sacred Lord, especially the sorrowful mysteries, whenever time permitted outside the regular time for prayer. She held that from prayer all favors flowed abundantly.

Our nun took as her patron, St Joseph, the husband of Mary, who had cured her when she was young.

St Joseph is a special protector of those dedicated to prayer because he is the Protector of God's church. There can be no church without prayer.

Who but Joseph and Mary were as close to Jesus for nearly thirty years before his public ministry? Who could teach us more about intimacy with God than he who would be addressed by Jesus, himself, as father? The illustrative St Joseph, a son of David by birth, has been designated as the "Protector of the Church", the "Husband and Guardian of Mary and the foster father of the Son of God." He is the silent one. Not one word of his has ever been recorded in scripture. Others have written about him but he, himself, is unspoken.

Joseph is the model and example of all husbands and all who consecrate themselves to prayer, labor and those wanting a holy death. All the doctors are in awe of the unsurpassed dignity of St Joseph-Spouse of Mary. He is the Defender and Patron of the Universal Church, which is the mystical spouse of God and picked by Teresa to watch Carmel. What a remarkable choice by a very savvy woman!

St Joseph and the third Millennium, edited by Michael D. Griffin, O.C.D., covers traditional themes and contemporary issues and can be obtained from the Teresian Charism Press, 1525 Carmel Road, Holy Hill, Hubertus, Wisconsin 53033.

Read The Divine Favors Granted To St. Joseph, by Pere Binet, S. J.,(Tan Books and Publishers) and two other books in the Sources listed on this website to help understand Mary's husband. Another insightful book is The Life of St Joseph as manifested by Our Lord, Jesus Christ to Maria Cecilia Baij, O.S.B.



Consider the glorious titles of SAINT JOSEPH by John Henry Cardinal Newman found at the end of Maria Cecilia Baij's book listed above:

• HE WAS THE TRUE AND WORTHY SPOUSE OF MARY, SUPPLYING IN A VISIBLE MANNER THE PLACE OF MARY'S INVISIBLE SPOUSE, THE HOLY SPIRIT.
• HE WAS A VIRGIN, AND HIS VIRGINITY WAS THE FAITHFUL MIRROR OF THE VIRGINITY OF MARY.
• HE WAS THE CHERUB, PLACED TO GUARD THE NEW TERRESTRIAL PARADISE FROM THE INTRUSION OF EVERY FOE.
• HIS WAS THE TITLE OF FATHER OF THE SON OF GOD, BECAUSE HE WAS THE SPOUSE OF MARY, EVER VIRGIN.
• HE WAS OUR LORD'S FATHER, BECAUSE JESUS YIELD TO HIM THE OBEDIENCE OF A SON.
• HE WAS OUR LORD'S FATHER, BECAUSE TO HIM WAS ENTRUSTED, AND BY HIM WERE FAITHFULLY FULFILLED, THE DUTIES OF A FATHER, IN PROTECTING HIM, GIVING HIM A HOME, SUSTAINING AND REARING HIM, AND PROVIDING HIM A TRADE.
• HE IS HOLY JOSEPH, BECAUSE ACCORDING TO THE OPINION OF A GREAT NUMBER OF DOCTORS, HE, AS WELL AS ST. JOHN BAPTIST, WAS SANCTIFIED EVEN BEFORE HE WAS BORN.
• HE IS HOLY JOSEPH, BECAUSE HIS OFFICE OF BEING SPOUSE AND PROTECTOR OF MARY, SPECIALLY DEMANDED SANCTITY.
• HE IS HOLY JOSEPH, BECAUSE NO OTHER SAINT BUT HE LIVED IN SUCH AND SO LONG INTIMACY AND FAMILIARITY WITH THE SOURCE OF ALL HOLINESS, JESUS, GOD INCARNATE, AND MARY, THE HOLIEST OF CREATURES.
• BLESSED BE THE NAME OF JOSEPH HENCEFORTH AND FOR EVER. AMEN.

Teresa would have us go to Joseph in every need and the light of the Savior's radiant smile will rest on you. Let us pray at the side of the Saint who inspires us all to give thanks to our loving Redeemer, for the hidden miracles of grace in our lives and for every blessing of his love.(from the above book).

Teresa was a most practical and kind woman. She radiated smiles, humor and goodwill toward all despite poor health. She frequently experienced migraine headaches, spiritual challenges and numerous crosses including extensive vomitings and heart ailments for many years. To maintain her own spiritual renewal, Teresa always remained faithful to prayer especially to the two hours that Carmel sets aside and prescribes daily for each member. The Order encourages all members to remain in the presence of God through loving conversation with God as they perform their duties, responsibilities and routine living.

Recollection is an art, habit and practice that can be mastered in all lifestyles and is a must for holiness, sanctity and sanity. No one could have been more busy or called upon more than Jesus during his three active years of public ministry. Yet, he always created time for prayer by getting up early, sticking to his plan and fleeing at times from the crowds.

The favors from prayer that the Lord bestowed on her, with the joy, peace and love that those fruits instilled in her, made her convinced that there was no place in her convents for "dour" face saints. Teresa was merry, cheerful and animated with enthusiasm. She ministered to the church assiduously by taking God seriously-not herself- and followed his inspiration. The love of God set her mind and body on fire. She was aflame with divine love despite pain, difficulties and many vicissitudes that she encountered in her reform efforts. Despite poor health she traveled extensively throughout Spain and usually by wagon and animal over intolerable roads if they could be classified as roads. When she was younger she had been paralyzed for around three years. She was no stranger to hardships and with God's grace she welcomed all joyously.

She prayed in "dry" times when there were no spiritual consolations and when she was animated with God's Holy Spirit. It did not matter how she felt when she prayed- only that she always had the intention to pray! Teresa kept the conversation alive in season and out of season. She found God's "hot button" and the Almighty consumed her in service for the church. Her work became her prayer and her prayer became her work. All becomes one when one peers through the lenses of graces and divine gifts. God enraptures one's spirit with the Deity's Spirit. It is almost as if all sincere love becomes tangible, intense and vividly alive. All love, human and spiritual, when prayerfully lived and executed, is extraordinarily pleasing to God.

In summary, all forms of pure love, and this includes non-prayer time, ravishes our Supreme Being infinitely because that is the "stuff" that drives and establishes God's existence and essence: pure Love. Prayer and pure love constitutes the divine cycle of divine Being. It is giving and sharing eternally for us, with us and among us. Prayer allows us to be conscious of God's powerful yet gentle communication. Grace enters each body and soul uniquely and causes different reactions and effects. However, God's telling trademark is charity. When we give (trade or exchange) with God, the eternal hand marks and moves us. God can bind us, blind us, trouble us, purify us, comfort us or let us experience total bliss. When we begin to experience union with God, consciously or unconsciously, God takes over and we become as it were a pawn on the chessboard of life. Our free will doesn't stop but as long as we surrender to God, God will do all the moving and directing of our lives.

God increased Teresa's confidence to achieve things that were most uncommon for a woman ever to imagine. Nuns were supposed to stay in their places and out of sight. For Teresa she felt called to do more and that required more visibility. This was a radical departure. Many people did not like it or were upset. During this time, male domination was rife in and outside the church.

Teresa was suspected by the Inquisitors. They were the Roman Catholic tribunal for the discovery and punishment of heresy. People were accusing her of heresy. These paralyzing thoughts could have led her to be burned as a witch that was not uncommon. Fr Christopher whose source is listed tells us that the Inquisition finally exposed her as a fraud, and the shock was felt throughout Spain.

At this time, Teresa was controversial. Her writings were being investigated. According to Cathleen Medwick's book on Teresa of Avila, her writings were investigated six separate times by the Spanish Inquisition. It is also reported that the papal nuncio considered her unstable, restless, disobedient and a contumacious female.

Teresa suffered mental anguish because she felt called and asked to establish new convents and monasteries and renew old ones. She accomplished this despite her preference for the contemplative life rather than her traveling throughout Spain. She did this despite bad health and the fact that for three years, when she was younger, she was paralyzed. Although she was treated hostile by church officials and harassed frequently, she helped establish about sixteen foundations for women and four for men. She recruited John of the Cross to help her with the friars of the same Order. In addition, she took on enormous correspondences. One estimate was that Teresa wrote between one and three thousand letters. Another estimated in the Spiritual Life Quarterly indicated that she wrote 15,000 letters of which fewer than 500 have been preserved. She was constantly expanding the Carmelites through traveling in addition to her other responsibilities.

Some people, even religious and church members with authority definitely thought she had gone off the 'deep end'. Teresa, as Jesus, made many enemies. This always happens when someone introduces needed change. Keep in mind, that Teresa was herself dramatically changed. When she entered the Order of Carmel, she loved to entertain others in a nice manner. All of us to some degree have that nice entertaining spirit. However, although prayer allows recreation, it puts a reign on many of our activities. We will never be able to discern the will of God and the activities we should be engaged in without the grace and insight that God offers us in prayer and divine gifts.

Teresa thought, at times, that she was going "mad" due to the infinite and "unreal" graces received through prayer. This labeling of "unreal" is not because it did not conform to reality but it encompassed a different heavenly reality that is so breathtaking that it seemed incredible or unreal to experience or express.

God can touch any creature's soul, spirit, body and mind in amazing manners that are impossible to realize when they are faithful to prayer. They receive all they desire or could imagine including degrees of God's omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence and untold numbers of God's attributes. This makes one wonder if one is sane because the person becomes immersed and absorbed in God. This results in being aware of an ocean of light, energies and beauty deeper than the universe. One becomes intoxicated with the infinite. It is impossible to describe, define or discuss. Silence is golden when it comes to explaining authentic and genuine prayer. Experience in prayer is everything and it can only be understood by living it rather than talking about it. Genuine prayer is deep intimacy. Carolyn Humphreys states in her book, already noted, that transcendence is the fairest flower of intimacy.

Prayer is a journey and a road, to, and with God. Sometimes you struggle along and often you are carried. St Teresa says that no soul on this road is such a giant that it does not often need to become a child at the breast again. She meant that we need to be nourished by our Mother the church who offers us a wide variety of praying. No matter the level that we reach in sublime contemplation, it is often necessary to return to the source or the beginning of prayer. For many years the simple Our Father Prayer nourished Teresa's soul abundantly. She wrote a beautiful, small book on the Our Father and planned to do one on the Hail Mary Prayer, although she actually never accomplished that desire that we are aware.

Her total reliance on God in prayer, her faithful execution of her vows and God's commandments, led her to perfection and the highest states of prayer. Her heart was closely enamored with the love of God and neighbor. She had a fierce determination to carry out God's will. She focused on renewal and reform within the church. This was a stupendous task for anyone, least of all, a cloistered nun in a convent. Her unswerving obedience, humility and openness to the movement of the Spirit in her prayers led her to follow all the designs that God had for the glorious Order of his Mother. Originally established on Mount Carmel in Palestine, the Carmelites are, as all approved and sanctioned religious orders of the church, a precious jewel in the church's crown. She wears this crown and is proud to display it with honor and distinction.

The Carmelite Order in all of its branches and divisions both for men and women, and its Third Order members, have been abundantly blessed by the Mother of God. She enriches and bestows tremendous graces with the bestowal of the scapular for protection and assurance. This can empower one to attain a closer union with God on earth and heaven. Mary, the Mother of God, guides and enlightens all who faithfully and devotedly wear the scapular-her garment. All sacramentals such as the scapular, the miraculous medal and many others that the church designates, have awesome spiritual powers. They are special gifts and graces to humankind.

People are by nature, sacramental. We are signs and symbols, formed from clay, and we depend on signs and symbols for survival. This includes physically, mentally and supernaturally survival. The tangible aspect of sacramentals such as blessed (holy) water, the cross, cloth such as the scapular, are most important and significant today because it enables us to identify with a religous order, an event such as baptism or gifts that God has bestowed. There are church sacramentals and some will say there are natural sacramentals. God's traces are omnipresent.

The immense treasury of the church staggers the imagination. One such example is the scapular. The church has approved at least eighteen different scapulars. They act as shields, badges and pledges for salvation. They afford us peace and protection against snares, dangers, difficulties and evil both spiritual and physical. Sacramentals such as the scapular are promises of spiritual support and assistance for perfection. The brown, woolen scapular allegedly given by the Mother of God herself to St. Simon Stock, a holy Carmelite, living in England in the mid-thirteenth century, is perhaps the most popular scapular. Simon was imploring St Mary for assisting the Carmelites when its ranks were being depleted. God's Mother intervened by building up not only the Carmelites but also the entire church itself through the growing use of the scapular. Many popes have sanctioned, in a special manner, the scapular and our past holy father, Pope John Paul II, wore one religiously. It can be worn inconspicuously as a medal or as an outer garment. Although the Vatican has insisted that the "Sabbatine Privilege" is a forgery,(a document about it benefits) the overall blessings of the scapular are indisputable.

Human beings benefit by using all the spiritual forces they can muster to ward off, guard and defeat hostile forces. It does not take a genius to realize that invisible, but real, violent, spiritual and physical enemies challenge us continually not only in our world at home and work but also in our inner thoughts, feelings and affections wherever we are.

All the masters of the spiritual life insist that wicked and virulent enemies are really, sometimes, our own distorted, seductive thoughts and our selfish habits which cause more harm than we imagine or think possible. If we could see the invisible world of spirits we would know that the earth is a battlefield and testing grounds where the real powers of death and life are constantly struggling for victory and defeat. It goes on naturally and supernaturally. In the natural order it is the survival of the fittest and in the supernatural domain, the fittest, or graced creatures, that survive. God allows us to choose and empowers us to choose well.

The scapular and other sacramentals such as the rosary beads will also protect us from visible and physical force when we wear them or use them as designed. Our past Holy Father's survival from an assassin's bullet he attributed to Mary's protection. The scapular is essentially a habit which reminds us that all creatures can be united in spiritual love and good because humans, by nature, are sacramental and encouraged by signs and symbols as the scapular.

Often we see rosaries hanging on the mirrow in people's vehicles. Sports figures wear them around their neck. One of my favorite saints, but not a doctor yet, is St Anthony Mary Claret who survived at least fourteen attempts on his life. This missionary, religious founder, social reformer, queen's chaplain, writer and publisher always got protection from God. Mary's rosary was never out of his hand. His followers called the Claretians number around 3000 today. The Franciscan friar, Foley, whose book is listed in the sources, notes that a hired assassin (whose release from prison Anthony had obtained) slashed open his face and wrist. Anthony succeeded in getting the would-be assassin's death sentence commuted to a prison term. The title "Doctor of Reconciliation" would be a fitting title for this lover of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the poor and those heavily oppressed. The Sister Claretians honor the Venerable Marishya Antonia Parishys as their founder. Jesus and Mary down through the centuries have assured everyone who prays that God will protect them as Anthony Mary Claret and Teresa of Avila.

Listen to the beautiful lines that Fr. Foley writes about Teresa. As a woman, Teresa stood on her own two feet, even in the man's world of her time. She was "her own woman," entering the Carmelites despite strong opposition from her father. She is a person wrapped not so much in silence as in mystery. Beautiful, talented, outgoing, adaptable, affectionate, courageous, enthusiastic, she was totally human. Like Jesus, she was a mystery of paradoxes: wise, yet practical; intelligent, yet much in tune with her experiences; mystic, yet an energetic reformer. A holy woman, a womanly woman.

The church wants everyone to take advantage of her sacramentals and sacraments. They protect us from physical and spiritual danger and harm. Many religions have their own forms of sacramentals and sacraments and are distinctly different from Catholics.

Teresa is a spiritual mother, friend, sister, lover and model. Her writings on prayer are private, personal and intimate. She has shared all. The church urges all to prayer with her. Teresian prayer is clearly explained in a twenty-page pamphlet by Father Sam Anthony Morello, OCD. Write to ICS Publications in Washington, DC for information or purchase. The author has captured the spirit and essence of St Teresa of Avila's prayer style and substance in a marvelous manner. She is truly the Doctor of Prayer because her approach, guidelines and support to you are universal and most personal.

Teresa will guide your prayer life through Morello's succinct and beautiful booklet. To explore it:

http://www.karmel.at/ics/others/more.html

This saint from Avila will personally assist you to do God's will with a merry disposition and peace despite pain and challenges. However, be prepared and aware that Teresa assures us that Jesus treats his friends with the heaviest crosses. That is why he has few. However, special graces are given to those who generously, pray daily and come to him. Listen to her words: "There is no greater aid to holiness than frequent communion. How marvelously the Lord shows his power therein." St. Teresa said that in this world it is impossible for all subjects to speak to the king, and they must do so by way of a third party. "But to speak with Thee, O King of Heaven, there is no need of a third person - for everyone that wishes can find Thee in the most Blessed Sacrament."

The challenges of praying can actually become welcomed. If pain occurs, there is more gain. Suffering for God, when unavoidable, steeps us in serenity and in deep peace. Explore reading Teresa if you haven't done so already. It could begin to transform you through prayer's power. It will most assuredly lead you to God who is both Mother, Father and Brother to the human race. The most noblest of all prayers comes from the heart and the lips. The prayer that Jesus gave us, The Our Father, is the universal prayer for all people and religions. It provides to all the perfect words and prescription for peace and happiness both on "earth as it is in heaven".

One can in a special manner always be engaged in the perfect prayer of the church. The mass prayed and offered up daily, worldwide, would never break or disturb one's contemplation but rather enhance and elevate it. It is holy and the church's perfect prayer because the real celebrant is the High Priest, Christ, who is represented by the ordained person. Jesus is the Pascal Victim who first fulfilled the new law. It is the continuation of his perfect sacrifice and life of obedience to do the holy will of God. The major part of the mass concludes with the Our Father Prayer that Teresa wrote about and said most of her life. The mass offers us unlimited blessings and graces and it can never have any substitute. It is the sum and substance of the union between God and humankind. Its redeeming value is as a constant reminder for us to share in it according to the grace that is given to each of us.

For a beautiful link to the Our Father prayer:

The Lord's Prayer Flash Movie

After all has been said and done about prayer life, one should be reminded of St Teresa words when she says: It seems that the soul's good cannot be merited or gained through all the trials one can suffer on earth. This good is a gift from the Lord of heaven and earth who gives according to who he is and who he wills.

In Fr. Christopher Rengers', O.F.M. Cap., recent book on The 33 Doctors of the Church found in the sources, he has twenty-five pages on St Teresa. His keen anecdotes and fascinating facts are most interesting. The following are commentary and paraphrases from his book.

Women have their own special capacity for mystical prayer Paul VI stated and that light becomes life in a sublime manner for the good and service of humankind. St Teresa possessed a distinctive, charismatic and feminine way of giving guidance and enlightenment to the whole Church.

Quoting from Life of the Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus by E. Allison Peers, Teresa says that anyone who has not begun to pray, I beg, for the love of the Lord, not to miss so great a blessing. There is no place here for fear, but only desire.

Teresa tells us that prayer isn't always 'peaches and cream'. For nearly 20 years, she experienced aridity in her praying and she was often restless. She assures us that the Devil will try his damndest to thwart us from praying for he has no power over those who desire to give themselves to God. God sees our sincerity and desire and overlooks our distractions, fear and feelings that plague us especially during our attempt to be with God and his court. Teresa enlightens and guides by saying that dryness and desolation of spirit may often be better signs of progress than sweetness. The Devil likes to turn people away from prayer on the grounds that they are too weak and sick. St Teresa found out that the less she bothered about her health, the more it improved.

Due to her constant moving during her reform efforts, she had about 25 different confessors. Many caused her mental anguish. She prized intelligent priests, but she "had a peculiar distrust of holy men who where stupid" (St Teresa of Avila, Bruce, 1943; TAN, 1987, p 75).

Teresa prided herself on being a daughter of the church. Jesus and the church were the same and despite the harsh treatment she often receive in her reform movement from the church, she embraced her vows of obedience, charity and poverty in a superb manner.

As she matured in wisdom, her trust in God's providence became total and complete and each cross she turned into a precious crown. She said that nothing is insignificant in our lives. Every event represents a divine opportunity, a divine call, a definite contribution to the intricate design of God's providence. (Taken from Spiritual Life. Vol 16, no.4, p.254.)

Teresian Carmelites came to the US in 1790, settling at Port Tobacco, Maryland, near Waldolf, MD about 30 minutes off the Capital Beltway, and later moved the site of the convent to Baltimore. They are now once again at Port Tobacco and relocated also to the Baltimore suburbs.

As of 1991, there were approximately 11,400 Discalced Carmelite nuns in the world. Of the 764 convents, some 67 were in the United States. There were approximately 3,700 Carmelite Friars in 426 monasteries worldwide as of 1991.

Fr Christopher concludes his section on the Doctor of Prayer by saying that St Teresa's message for the modern era is "Learn to pray." Prayer is the highest art. It requires perseverance and that humble spirit whereby the creature constantly looks up imploringly to the Creator. For by prayer does God fill his creature's emptiness with a new fullness. Prayer, carried to the highest degree, will unite us with God and will make us the most fully developed human being. St Teresa is a marvelous guide for us to know, cherish and enjoy. Converse with her as she did with Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Most of us are not great conversationalist. That is not needed. Love has its own language. What is important is not the words we speak in the conversaton when we pray, but the love we express. Genuine prayer is not talking much but loving much. God looks at our desires and what comes from the heart much more than what comes from the mind or the tongue.

Only those steeped in humility, charity and detachment will discover God in this world in the fullest possible manner before they go immediately into the eternal embrace. When they take that last heartbeat on earth, they will know where they are going before they die. They will have arrived at perfect transformation and union with God. Through the gifts and graces that God gave to St Teresa of Avila for herself and others, we too, by faithful prayer on his sacred humanity of Jesus, will rediscover that same Jesus who came to earth so that we may have life to the fullest.

Copied from Magnificat Publication, October 2003 entitled Understanding Carmelite Spirituality by Father Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D.

Mount Carmel in the Holy Land is the place where the prophet Elijah made manifest the power of God over the impotence of idols. Later, the Fathers of the Church, seeing Mary as exalted above all creatures by her role in the history of salvation, called this place of beauty and holiness the mountain of Mary. When a group of hermits, in the period of the crusades, established themselves on the slopes of Carmel, they meditated on these elements at length: Elijah standing with zeal in the presence of God; Mary gazing with wonder on the face of Christ treasuring his every word. In the early years of the thirteenth century, the Patriarch Albert of Jerusalem gave a Rule of Life to this community of Carmelite hermits, who then constructed a small church in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and called themselves "Brothers of the Blessed Mary." From this seed developed the devotion to our Lady of Mount Carmel and the brown scapular.

Purity, Presence, and Prayer

Medieval Scripture scholars interpreted the fact that Elijah was told to go and hide by the spring of Cherith as a command to offer God a heart holy and pure from every mark of sin. In doing so, one could drink of God's gift from the spring; that is, taste the divine presence in the soul. The Catalan Carmelite, Philip Ribot, writing toward the end of the fourteenth century, stated that the aim of the Carmelite is twofold: to offer God a pure heart and experience in so me measure the strength and sweetness of the divine presence.

Although the Carmelite hermits eventually became friars, Saint Teresa of Avila, the great Carmelite mystic in sixteenth-century Spain, pointed out that all who wear the habit of Carmel are called to prayer and contemplation since they descend from the holy hermits who lived on Mount Carmel. Ordered by her spiritual directors to write about prayer, Teresa spoke from her own experience, insisting that all persons are called to intimacy with God and that anyone who refuses to follow this call will never know the meaning of life or it fulfillment.

The concepts of asceticism and prayer in Teresa's teaching are based on friendship. She views the goal not in terms of the ordering and perfecting of human instincts but in terms of loving communion with Christ and of good works done in his service. Realizing different forms of friendship in her relationship with Christ, she experienced him as brother, companion, teacher, and bridegroom. In Jesus Christ, God offers souls human friendship as well as divine. In speaking of the soul, she was referring to a person capable of God with an emphasis on interiority.

Recollection

An important aspect of prayer for Teresa is the truth that God is close. In the prayer she calls " recollection," the soul enters within itself to be with Christ, to be near him, to look at him, to be present to him who is looking at her. Along with this recollection, she suggest relating to him as biblical figures such as Peter, Paul, Mary Magdalene, and the Samaritan woman. Or she suggests along with this recollection the slow repetition of the Our Father or some other text from Scripture.

In the Eucharist, Teresa rejoiced in a tangible prolongation of the presence of Christ among us, though with his humanity also veiled as was his divinity when he walked on earth.

With The Interior Castle Teresa wanted to explain what God does in prayer. Through the practice of presence to Christ within, she was drawn by God to ever deeper recollection, finally being brought into her center, a place where the three divine persons revealed their presence. Like Elijah and Mary, she then lived with wonder in God's presence.

The science of the cross

A companion of Teresa was the lyric poet and mystic of the "dark night", Saint John of the Cross. Comparing the journey inward to an escape on a dark night, he wrote about the purification necessary to reach union with God. The path along which one travels in this night is the path of "nada" or nothing. In other words the soul must seek God and beyond creatures, as hidden in faith and love; that is, she must never seek satisfaction in what she understands or experiences of God, but consider him as always higher and deeper than anything she can reach. Walking the path of "nada" means following Christ and carrying his cross or, as Saint Edith Stein reflects, it is a "science" of the cross, not a theory but real, living effective truth that leads to resurrection.

Carmelite saints witness to the fact that, through prayer, thirst for God increases, and along with this thirst for the salvation of souls. This led Saint Therese of Lisieux to exclaim, "I wanted to give my Beloved to drink, and I felt myself consumed with a thirst for souls".

This website below provides a comprehensive view of the Discalced Carmeite Order worldwide.

http://www.ocd.pcn.net/index_en.htm

Carmelite website for the nuns in Baltimore: (which will provide a Carmelite Web Ring)and many more links within and around the world.

www.geocities.com/baltimorecarmel

Thanks to St Teresa of Avila, there are probably over 70 Discalced Carmelite Women Communities in the United States alone. She started the renewal process many years ago and it keeps flourishing. This is because the hunger and thirst for God in prayer is insatiable and for those who get a taste of it, life is never the same. It becomes infinite and consumming even on earth. Reflect on this profoundly, moving prayer of St Teresa entitled:

A Prayer after Individual Confession

(This beautiful prayer by St Teresa was found in a pamphlet in the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle, Washington, District of Columbia for a Communal Prayer Service. The service was lead by former Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington.)

Although I have often abandoned you, O Lord, you have never abandoned me. Your hand of love is always outstretched towards me, even when I stubbornly look the other way. And your gentle voice constantly calls me, even when I obstinately refuse to listen. When the sins in my soul are increasing, I lose the taste for virtuous things. Yet, even at such moments, Lord, I know I am failing you and failing myself. You alone can restore my taste for virtue. There are so many false friends willing to encourge sin. But your friendship alone can give the strength of mind to resist and defeat sin.

What a good friend you are, Lord! You are so patient, willing to wait as long as necessary for me to turn to you. You rejoice at the times when I love you, but you do not hold against me the times when I ignore you. Your patience is beyond my understanding. Even when I pray, my mind fills with worldly concerns and vain daydreams. Yet you are happy if I give only a single second of honest prayer, turning that second into a seed of love.

Oh Lord, I enjoy your friendship so much, why is it not possible for me to think of you constantly?

Carmelite Family, History and Origin:

http://www.ocarm.org/eng/index.htm

For Teresa's writings, and other Carmelite publications such as the subject of Carmel and Contemplation, click on the below link. You can also call 1-800-832-8489 M-F (9:30am-4:30pm)ET. There are many tapes on John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Thérèse of Lisieux, Elizabeth of the Trinity, Edith Stein, and other Carmelite Saints and Themes, Albums and Videotapes:

http://www.icspublications.org/

Additional links on St Teresa of Avila and Carmel in Scotland:

Teresa's Way of Perfection

http://www.cfpeople.org/Books/Perfect/cfptoc.htm

http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/cloisters/32/mypage.html

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintt01.htm

The following link is entitled Leaves of Prayer and contains Scriptural Passages and Catholic Reflections For Those Who Enjoy Nature

http://www.angelfire.com/poetry/leavesofprayer/

Exciting Teresians and ministries:

http://www.teresians.org/

Carmelite Spirituality:

http://geocities.com/carmelite_2000/spindex.html

This is a sample of a few Carmelites. Others are found below in a complete gallery.

http://www.carmelnet.org/chas/saints/saints1.htm

Current remarks by Our Pope on the scapular.

http://www.petersnet.net/research/retrieve.cfm?RecNum=3525

http://www.helpfellowship.org/

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6272/carmel.htm

The below gallery of 40 Carmelite Saints with their pictures is listed on 6 different pages:

http://www.carmelnet.org/galleries/Saints/Listing/ listing.htm

The Carmelites of Indianapolis publish this site where you can read a current news event and then pray about it:
http://www.praythenews.com/

A famous Carmelite website: Blessed Nuno of St Mary

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/4961/OurHolyPatron.html

For additional Carmelite links go to Sts John and Therese on this site at the below links:

www.doctorsofthecatholicchurch.com/JC.html

www.doctorsofthecatholicchurch.com/TL.html

Teresian Carmelities and links to the Catholic world:

http://www.teresiancarmelites.org/NewFiles/Links.html

Carmelite Studies-Distance Education Certificate Program. Carmelite Institute, 1600 Webster Street, NE-Washington,DC 20017, Phone: 202.635.3534 Fax:202.635.3538 Email:carminst@carmeliteinstitute.org

Link below
www.carmelite.org

Carmelite Seculars (OCDS) from a sister country in Canada with interesting links:

http://www.ocds.ca/

Aspects of St Teresa of Avila in the below link.

http://www2.evansville.edu/ecoleweb/glossary/tavila.html

Pioneers of the Spirit is a wonderful introduction to the lives of the mystics. This series will inspire anyone who watches it to pursue their own spiritual journey with the same passion as Teresa of Avila and six others. See www.visionvideo.com. Box 540, Worcester, PA 19490



Teresa informs us that all prayers can join us in union with God. The below link is focused on many types of prayers including traditional and beautiful vocal prayers. It includes comments by other doctors on prayer and recalls to us the Mass as the best prayer. Click on the below link and go the sidebar that says Prayer

http://www.ourladyswarriors.org

Reflections on Carmelite traditions and saints, contemplation, and the arts. . . among other things. Your host (Steven) is a member of the Third Order of Carmel:

http://floscarmeli.blogspot.com/2003_01_05_floscarmeli_archive.html



Taken from the Magnificat Publication, April 2004

"Doing the Work of God"

O my Lord, how you are the true friend, and how powerful! When you desire you can love, and you never stop loving those who love you! All things praise you, Lord of the world! Oh, who will cry out for you, to tell evryone how faithful you are to your friends! All things fail; you, Lord of all, never fail! Little it is, that which you allow the one who loves you to suffer! O my Lord! How delicately and smoothly and delightfully you treat them! Would that no one ever pause to love anyone but you! It seems, Lord, you try with rigor the person who loves you so that in extreme trial he might understand the greatest extreme of your love. O my God, who has the understanding, the learning, and the new words with which to extol your works as my soul understands them? All fails me, my Lord; but if you do not abandon me, I will not fail you. Let all learned men rise up against me, let all created things persecute me, let the devils torment me; do not fail me, Lord, for I already have experience of the gain that comes from the way you rescue the one who trusts in you alone-Saint Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church, reformed the Carmelite Order.

Her link is below.

St. Teresa of Avila 10/15

The following article is taken from Desert Call , Summer 2004, written by Thomas Crutcher and is about Carmel's great seer and forefather, Elijah the prophet, who defended the purity of Israel's faith in the living God. He dwelt on Mount Carmel in service to the word of God and battled the bad prophets. Elijah also appeared with Jesus and Moses on Mt Tabor during the feast of The Transfiguration of the Lord, to be celebrated on August 6th in the year 2004.

The titles of the article is Elijah, Prophet of Patient Persistence

The dove descending breaks the air, with flame of incandescent terror, of which the tongues declare, the one discharge from sin and error, the only hope or else despair, lies in a choice of pyre or pyre to be redeemed from fire by fire. Who then devise the torment? Love. Love is the unfamiliar name behind the hands that wove the intolerable shirt of flame which human power cannot remove. We only live, only suspire, consumed by either fire or fire.

T.S. Elliot, Four Quartets

Our personalities, like those of the saints, are forged in the conjunction of pain and love. The fire of pain and the fire of love. This is especially true of Elijah and Elisha who are prophets of both pain and ecstasy. The Old Testament Book of Kings tells the story of Elijah and Elisha and their lives can teach us much about living.

In the story of Elijah we see a man fresh from the success of destroying the priests of Baal now fleeing for his life from Jezebel’s henchmen. And like most of us, he could go from the extremes of inflation to the depths of depression very easily. All of us have known times when we wished we were dead: “I’ve had enough; I can’t do it anymore. “ Our own dark nights can take many forms; we find ourselves asking: Is this relationship worth it? Is this marriage worth it? Did I make a mistake? How can I continue with this commitment, this vocation, this career? Should I persevere with ideals that seem to be costing me so much?

We question during the quest. That’s the essence of the quest. And, if we don’t ask questions, then we’re not human, because questioning is the price we pay for going deep. It may be that we’ve experienced a failure that makes us say, with Elijah, “Take my life, for I am no better than my Fathers.” We’ve simply had enough., like Elijah, who simply lost hope. Why did Elijah lose hope after he’d been so successful? The answer, I believe, is that he was clinging to too many hopes. Because if God had let this younger Elijah be totally successful, after he had killed the priests of Baal and become a popular and prophetic figure, he would have established the perfect theocratic state, with himself at the head of it. And all the naughty boys and girls would have been put in the juvenile detention center and there would have been a whole lot of rules about everyone’s behaviors. Elijah’s desires, on others words, were too narrow. God decided he was going to take Elijah deeper. And God will take all of us deeper, if we are willing to go the next step, beyond success and beyond failure. God will take us to a place of deeper freedom.

Elijah was in a dangerous place at this time in his life. Perhaps he had too much success too early. Good people, like Elijah, are not destroyed by bad things; they are destroyed by good things. Spiritual people are similarly not destroyed by material things, but by spiritual things. We cling to things instead of becoming Christ men and Christ women. We cling to some narrow good: the greatest thing we can conceive is still not God. When we cling to things, we turn them into idols. Elijah’s zeal, if it had been left unchecked, would have become rashness. We need the virtue of fortitude, which protects us from both rashness and fear. Elijah does not strike one as a fearful person, but then we see him under the broom tree, totally afraid. He’s gone from rashness to fear, and needs the virtue of fortitude.

When the Angel comes to Elijah, and even before, what is Elijah’s response? Sleep. He wants to go to sleep. That’s anesthesia. Anesthesia takes many forms. One of our favorite forms in America is workaholism. We don’t think of it as anesthesia, but it is. Our frenetic “doing” is because we’re not in a peaceful inner place; we’re still trying to prove our worth to ourselves and to God. Because we haven’t accepted ourselves, we get caught up in a lot of good deeds and “do goodism.” Other ways that we seek anesthesia include inappropriate use of drugs and drinking. It is interesting that the Angel does not berate Elijah for being fearful. He simply gives the advice: “Eat and drink or else the journey will be too long for you.” There is a hint of adventure. The Angel is trying to stir up Elijah’s desire to go a little bit further. He says: “It’s not the end of the road; eat and drink.” Sometimes it is the simple pleasures like eating and drinking that will draw us out of our depression and our fear. The Angel tries to get Elijah out of his head and out of his despair into a place of being human again. He also tries to arouse Elijah’s sense of duty, because sometimes when our desire fails, as it often does, our sense of duty and honor will keep us at our post.

After Elijah finishes eating and drinking, he goes on a journey for forty days. Forty is a symbolic number; it simple means “a long time.” This is consoling, because we’re not going to make it to the heights of holiness in forty days. For us, that “forty days: is the long, long time we’re going to be on the road. To stay true we need what Elijah needed to remain faithful to the long journey: the virtue of patient endurance. This virtue gives us the patience and perseverance not to be discouraged when the path seems long and the results scant. We try to put love into a relationship, and yet we don’t find love. But we don’t get discouraged, we keep trying. We hope that what John of the Cross says, that “where there is no love, put love and you will find love,” will prove true.

During his journey, Elijah learned to accept the darkest part of himself. Great people often cast long shadows. The first step in Elijah’s transformation, and in ours, was to accept the darkest parts of himself. We have to accept even our sins. We’re not going to resist our sins to death; we’re going to love them to death. We’re going to love our fears to death by accepting them and integrating them. This is the first step in transformation. We’re not called to love just a part of ourselves; we called to love all of ourselves. Even the dark parts. That is the first step in opening ourselves to grace so that we can be transformed. We have to love our worst traits. As on of my Buddhist friends says: “What we resist, persists.” That’s very profound. Acceptance precedes transformation.

Union and Perfection

Elijah also learned the hard lesson that his narrow experience and understanding was not the full measure of reality. We too set up what we know, or what we think we know, as an absolute, it isn’t. God knows so much more and tries to give us his eye view of reality. That’s wisdom: to see the world as God sees it.

Elijah was a demanding individual and during those “forty days” he perhaps learned that the journey is not about perfection but union. There is a big difference between union with God and perfection. We can take consolation in that, because none of us will ever be perfect. This is the key to stopping self-hatred: life is not about perfection, it’s about union.

Elijah learned to be a prophet of hard love early on, when he dealt so forcefully with the prophets of Baal. On his forty day sojourn, he learned another side of love. In addition to giving us a few hard knocks, God also consoles, delights, and nurtures. It works both ways. Surprisingly, sometimes God consoles us even when we’ve sinned. Counter to what we’d expect, or deserve, God comes with compassion, understanding, and love. Elijah had always been a good military man; now he learned the matrimonial aspects of spirituality. He learned to hear the voice of God, to really listen. He learned to be still and not to fall for the experience of the spectacular.

It must have been a heady experience for Elijah when he called down fire from heaven and it consumed his sacrifice and left the priests’ of Baal’s untouched! But God quickly weaned Elijah away from the spectacular and away from drama and reliance on good feelings. Therefore, when Elijah finally reached Sinai, he was ready to recognize God in that still, whispering voice. God speaks to us all a thousand times a day, in many ways. It could be in a sunrise, in the rushing stream, in a dream, or in the aspen leaves quaking in the wind. God is trying to tell us something, but we can be so caught up on wanting something dramatic or spectacular. We want an angel to come down and hit us with a wand. However, God comes in a tiny whispering voice. If we are listening, we will be able to hear him. But we need to be wide-awake with wonder for that to happen.

So, through self-acceptance, patient endurance, persistence, compassion and believing in union rather than in perfection, the angry fire in Elijah diminished and the living flame of love grew. All of us must struggle to transform that dark fire with us into heavenly fire.

Elijah said “yes” to God each step of the way, and went through a painful purging which is described by John of the Cross in this way: “When the soul is plunged in the fire of divine love, like iron, it first loses its blackness. And then growing to white heat, it becomes likened to the fire itself. And lastly it grows liquid and, losing its nature, is transmuted unto an utterly different quality of being.” This process comes at a high price. Ultimately we do become what we desire, but sometimes we underestimate the cost of getting there. Whether it’s a perfect marriage, or the realization of a religious vocation, or even the realization of some great service for humanity, the process is usually long and arduous. In our youthful enthusiasm we think, “Well, it’s all going to work out, it’s going to happen real fast.” It doesn’t. We must persist through the purging by fire. Initially, the flame will hurt us. Don’t underestimate the cost, but don’t give up either, because ultimately we will become what we desire.

Letting Go

God became all things to Elijah and all things became God to him. There is freedom in this integration, when things no longer draw us away from God. In the end, there was only one more journey that Elijah had to take, and that was the one with Elisha. In this scene, Elijah is taken to heaven in a fiery chariot. In it, we see both Elijah and Elisha having to let go of what is familiar to them. Elijah leaves the guild of prophets behind and tells Elisha that he doesn’t need to come with him. Elijah is letting go of his role as a spiritual teacher, his role as a guru, his role as a prophet. Elisha, on the other hand, must let go of his role as a disciple so that they can both go on to the next stage of the journey. Personal growth often means letting go of roles. We should be able to perform our roles in life responsibly, but remember that we are more than our roles.

Then Elisha says to Elijah: “I want a double portion of your spirit.” That’s a difficult request for Elijah to fulfill and he puts an interesting condition on it: “If you see me taken from you, then you’ll get what you want, a double portion of my spirit.” What a strange condition! Why would he put that condition on it? The answer is he’s telling Elisha that he’s going to have to stand firm and feel the loss of Elijah without swooning, without seeking anesthesia, without going to sleep or denying Elijah’s worth. We all occasionally use the defense mechanisms of denial or of minimizing loss. (Well, I didn’t want it anyway.”) But Elijah is saying, if you can stand in the truth and feel the depth of this loss without employing any defenses, then “you will get a double portion of my spirit.” Elisha is able to do that, as can be seen in the mysterious line, “My father, my father, Israel’s’ chariots and drivers.” Scripture scholars say Elisha here is affirming Elijah’s worth above al the horses and chariots of Israel. His departure will be a terrible loss indeed!

Elijah and Elisha both let go of roles. Ultimately, Elisha lets go of Elijah and merits a double portion of his spirit. Let’s relate this to real life. There is no real fecundity in life unless parents first give their children roots, and then give them wings and let them go. The same is true of “spiritual parents,” like Elijah, and “spiritual children, “ like Elisha. I don’t know that parents will be taken to heaven in a fiery chariot, but still, the point is, they have to let the kids go. And all of us are going to have to let go of everything in the end.

The image of going to heaven in a fiery chariot challenges me. It asks me: “For what do I still hope?” Teilhard de Chardin challenges us in this way also when he writes: “We persist in saying that we keep vigil in expectation of the Master, but in reality we should have to admit, if we are sincere, that we no longer expect anything. We have allowed the flame to die down in our sleeping hearts. What have we made of our expectancy? How many of us are genuinely moved in the depths our hearts by the wild hope that our earth will be recast?” That’s a real challenge: Do we still hope? How can we get that flame rekindled in us?

Ultimately, nothing excludes us from being purified, like Elijah, providing we’re willing to feel our ache for God in the dark nights, and if we’re willing to step anesthetizing in all its various forms. But if we are willing to persist, and willing to ask God to rekindle that flame of hope and love in us, then the flame that burns in pain will one day become the flame that burns in love.

Bro. Thomas Crutcher is a member of the Spiritual Life Institute living at Nada Hermitage in Crestone, CO.

www.spirituallifeinstitute.org