Saint Teresa of Avila was born into the respected and well-known Cepeda y Ahumada family, a name associated with nobility, influence and power. She was a spirited little one -- very pretty, very smart, witty, self-willed, and ardent. At the age of seven, she heard that the Moors were killing Christians, sending them straight into heaven as martyrs. Teresa convinced her little brother to join her on a journey to find these Moors, become martyrs and gain their tickets to heaven. Luckily, an uncle intercepted them.

At the age of fifteen, she had the life-wrenching pain of experiencing the loss of her mother. Five years later, against her father’s wishes, she entered the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation in Avila, Spain. Her father eventually gave her his blessing. Although she still carried her noble name and title, it was not recognized in the
monastery. During her first years as a Carmelite, she led a superficial life. That life satisfied her for a while, but never completely. When she became ill, God entered into that illness with Teresa. During this time, Teresa embraced the power of mental prayer and contemplation and deepened her interior union with Christ.

Teresa began to live the spiritual life seriously, but found herself distracted by worldly temptations and distractions. One day, while walking down the convent hallway, she took special notice of a statue of Christ she had passed many times. On this encounter, however, her life was changed. From then on, prayer framed her life.


Teresa was a mystic, a reformer, a gifted writer. After twenty-five years as a Carmelite nun, she began her God-given mission of reforming the Carmelite order. Teresa established monasteries of Discalced Carmelite nuns. She was asked by her confessor to write about her intense life of prayer. She struggled to put into writing the depth of her prayers and the intimacy of her relationship with God. Her masterpiece, The Interior Castle (her journey through the seven stages of prayer), symbolically expresses her own interior prayer as well as her struggles to put these experiences into writing.

Saint Teresa learned that her weaknesses and faults were not obstacles to God’s powerful love. God needs only our sincere, consistent effort. He will bring us where He wants us to be. He does not need our success. He needs us to make a sincere, genuine, effort to progress on our spiritual path. He wants us to converse freely and intimately with Him. He wants us to be open to His will and to invite Him into our hearts. He is there --waiting for us.

Teresa died in 1582 and was canonized a saint in 1622. In 1970, St. Teresa of Avila was proclaimed “Doctor of the Church.”