St. Teresa of Avila was a woman that, like so many others, faced many challenges in her physical and spiritual life. In her illness, she found peace in God through her inner prayers and spiritual union. What sets her apart from others who also find peace in God is what she was able to conquer. Her powerful union with God gave her strength to later become an influential person. As a mystic her transcendent life motivated her to reform the Carmelite Order. Teresa of Avila was nothing extraordinary as a child. She was born Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada, in Avila, Spain, the third child of a conservative and religious father, Don Alonso, whose devotion to Catholicism and life of righteousness led Teresa of Avila to live the convent life.
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He chanted everyday as did the family. Teresa developed a similar devotion to the Lord. Belief in the Virgin Mary and the saints began to be part of St. Teresa of Avila’s early life. However, she was still a common girl. Even though her father tried to impose and teach his religious beliefs to her, outside influences had an effect on her thinking as well. Her mother Doña Beatriz Davila y Ahumada, even though being very righteous and virtuous, had a pastime of reading chivalric literature, or stories of courtly love. This kind of reading did not affect her mother the way it affected Teresa. In Teresa’s book “Life,” she stated that in reading those books, she started to abandon all her good desires and religious upbringings, and her interests led to wrongdoing. She started to care about appearances, vanity, and engaged in frivolous conversations. Teresa was critical of her early life and her bad companions, such as Antoinette. However, if Teresa had not engaged in such behaviors her father would never have sent her to an Augustinian convent to become a nun. As a result, Teresa became an influential figure in the Catholic Church and the transcendental life. …show more content…
Perhaps if she had not faced them, she would have just been a regular nun in the 1500s. Even at her time in the convent and all the good influences that the nuns had given to her, she still desired to return to her previous life. However, her illness brought a new awareness to her life. She believed that her illness was a warning from the devil telling her that she could not endure God’s trials. She feared her illness was a sign that she was going to hell. This deeply influenced her decision to enter the religious life permanently. Her fear that she might not be able to endure religious trials led her to completely devote herself to the religious life. During this period of recovery, while she was still facing the impairment in her health, she started to practice mental prayers. In her journey to become the “era’s leading mystic”, her mental prayers and method of union with God became her technique to engage with and feel close to
He chanted everyday as did the family. Teresa developed a similar devotion to the Lord. Belief in the Virgin Mary and the saints began to be part of St. Teresa of Avila’s early life. However, she was still a common girl. Even though her father tried to impose and teach his religious beliefs to her, outside influences had an effect on her thinking as well. Her mother Doña Beatriz Davila y Ahumada, even though being very righteous and virtuous, had a pastime of reading chivalric literature, or stories of courtly love. This kind of reading did not affect her mother the way it affected Teresa. In Teresa’s book “Life,” she stated that in reading those books, she started to abandon all her good desires and religious upbringings, and her interests led to wrongdoing. She started to care about appearances, vanity, and engaged in frivolous conversations. Teresa was critical of her early life and her bad companions, such as Antoinette. However, if Teresa had not engaged in such behaviors her father would never have sent her to an Augustinian convent to become a nun. As a result, Teresa became an influential figure in the Catholic Church and the transcendental life. …show more content…
Perhaps if she had not faced them, she would have just been a regular nun in the 1500s. Even at her time in the convent and all the good influences that the nuns had given to her, she still desired to return to her previous life. However, her illness brought a new awareness to her life. She believed that her illness was a warning from the devil telling her that she could not endure God’s trials. She feared her illness was a sign that she was going to hell. This deeply influenced her decision to enter the religious life permanently. Her fear that she might not be able to endure religious trials led her to completely devote herself to the religious life. During this period of recovery, while she was still facing the impairment in her health, she started to practice mental prayers. In her journey to become the “era’s leading mystic”, her mental prayers and method of union with God became her technique to engage with and feel close to