Five Quotes by St. Teresa of Avila on Prayer

St. Teresa of Avila was a sixteenth century Carmelite nun who led a significant reform of her religious order. Her profound teachings on prayer are valuable for all Christians today. Here a five short quotes we can all learn from.

You must believe that if you give up prayer, you are, in my opinion, courting danger (1:140).

As a young nun, Teresa made the mistake of thinking that she was too unholy to really pray. She recited her required prayers with the rest of the sisters, but for a long time gave up any attempt to really be close to God because she imagined that she wasn't good enough. She later realized that this was her greatest error. God loves us and wants to be a part of our lives.

What I have come to understand is that this whole groundwork of prayer is based on humility and that the more a soul lowers itself in prayer the more God raises it up (1:196).

Teresa eventually understood that without real prayer, she was relying on her own strength to live a Christian life, which is absolutely impossible. Instead, we must realize that we need God himself to accomplish anything worthwhile in our lives.

Since vocal prayer is prayer it must be accompanied by reflection. A prayer in which a person is not aware of whom he is speaking to, what he is asking, who it is who is asking and of whom, I do not call prayer however much the lips move (2:286).

Rather than just rattling off prayers without thinking, Teresa advised that we should always remember that we are talking to God. Otherwise, we’re not really praying. Real prayer is never only moving our lips (“vocal prayer”), but should also involve our mind (“mental prayer”).

Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us. In order that love be true and the friendship endure, the will of the friends must be in accord (1:96).

Teresa understood that God loves us and wants a relationship with us, so we should be careful to set aside plenty of time to be with him in prayer. To be “friends” with God, however, doesn’t mean that we are equal to Him– we ultimately want to unite our wills to God's, not God's will to ours.

I tried as hard as I could to keep Jesus Christ, our God and our Lord, present within me, that was my way of prayer (1:67).

This final, simple advice of St. Teresa of Avila is something that each of us can apply. Our lives are changed when we try to remember that Jesus is always with us and wants to be a part of our day-to-day activities.

References

The above references are from the following volumes:

The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Volume 1. Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD. Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1976.

The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Volume 2. Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD. Washington, DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1980.

The above references are indicated by the volume number, then the page number.