St Teresa and books
The last post reminded me of a section from St Teresa of Avila’s Life:
In all those years, except for the time after Communion, I never dared to begin prayer without a book. … For the dryness was not usually felt, but it was always felt when I was without a book. Then my soul was thrown into confusion and my thoughts ran wild. With a book I began to recollection them, and my soul was drawn to recollection. And many times just opening the book was enough; at other times I read a little, and at others a great deal, according to the favor the Lord granted me. (Life 4.9)
St Teresa, of course, was influenced by the Confessions!
That’s excellent advice from Teresa, and I’m gonna follow it! Thanks for sharing, Marco!
BTW, total squee over the picture you included — LOVE that she’s depicted in front of a Josephite altar. Woooo! (One of the many reasons why I <3 her is for her Josephite devotion.)
December 20 at 7:27 am
I always take a book – it stops people wanting to have a “good morning” chat before Mass and it claims me down. Yet I think people often don’t understand – I was once told off by a person in our “total emergency parish” for reading before Mass. I admit that in our “total emergency parish” I have read during the sermon!
The picture is from Wikipedia and it claims to be the “Church window at the Convent of St Teresa”.
December 20 at 8:06 am