Interpreting St Teresa of Avila (XV)

Patrick Burke, O.Carm.

Three Living Virtues

It is clear from her writings that St Teresa wished that all Christians would not only be followers of Christ but truly be his friends, and this through an intimate awareness of his love and concern in their daily lives. To help her nuns primarily and in time all her readers, she shared with them her own spirituality and way to the Lord, in order for individuals to grow in their closeness to Jesus in the practical situations of their lives. She discovered over many years in Carmelite religious life that though she meant well, her efforts to be holy were inadequate. Focusing on improving her spiritual life, especially as regard her prayer, she began to realise that she was not really sensitive or serious about what she wanted - communicating with God, speaking to Jesus. St. Paul had written to the Christians in Galatia and Rome about a similar search. “I am no longer trying for perfection by my own efforts, the perfection that comes from the law, but I want only the perfection that comes through faith in Christ, and is from God and based on faith. I want to know Christ” (Phil 3, 10). The Scripture records how much this cost the Apostle. For Teresa the search for perfection which for her culminated in following the way of prayer “established and observed by our Holy Fathers” (that is, in the Carmelite tradition) was rooted in the practice of three habits — “The first of these is love for one another; the second is detachment from all created things; the third is true humility, which, even though I speak of it last, is the main practice and embraces all the others” (Way of Perfection 4, 4). These three living virtues were stressed by Jesus in his preaching and teaching. Love of neighbour was special to him; a new commandment, his commandment. “By this love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples” (Jn. 13, 34).

Teresa then says: “Now let us talk about the detachment we ought to have, for detachment, if it is practised with perfection, includes everything” (Way of Perfection 8, 1). She means “everything”, so that “if we embrace the Creator and turn our back on the whole of creation, we will be showered with graces, enabling us to give ourselves entirely and without reserve to God”. Teresa encouraged the Sisters in their isolation from family and relatives and friends. She reminded them that “when it seems we have done all there is to do, Sisters, do not feel secure or let yourselves go to sleep”. It demands going against our will and a remedy here is “to bear in mind continually how all is vanity and how quickly everything comes to an end”. Instead “remove our attachment to trivia and centre it on what will never end”. For Teresa, focused on the person of the suffering Jesus, there was no fear of anyone or anything, “for his is the kingdom of heaven.” Such a person doesn’t care if he loses everything, so long as he doesn’t displease God.

The teaching of St. Teresa on detachment may sound very severe by modern practice but it has to be understood in the context of practical living in a community of thirteen nuns and the clear evidence that the members lived a very happy life despite the inevitable hardships of their chosen vocation. The man who finds a hidden treasure must give up his/her all if he would possess it. The merchant who would acquire the pearl of great price must sacrifice all else to get it. The virtue of mutual love, the very core of Christianity, is the life of Teresa’s communities.

The third habit that the Saint demanded was humility. She recognised that prayer is enhanced and there is real spiritual growth when we imitate Jesus who set the example for all, for he “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2, 7). She wished that her Sisters would develop the virtue of humility so that through obedience, united with self-knowledge of our own weakness and limitations, we are given the chance to enjoy the service of the Lord. Teresa felt that “here is where love will be seen; not hidden in corners but in the midst of the occasions of sin. And believe me that even though we may often fail with some slight lapses, our gain will be incomparably greater.” In her book of The Foundations, the Saint faced the difficulties that Sisters had concerning prayer because they were engaged in active works, too busy to pray. She acknowledged firstly the danger of very subtle self-love that does not allow one to understand what it is to want to please ourselves rather than God. But she acknowledged that the active works they were worried about “were all spent in the fulfilment of the duties of obedience and charity,” adding: “know that if it is in the kitchen, the Lord walks among the pots and pans, helping you both interiorly and exteriorly” (Found 5, 8).

What Teresa crystallises in the account of these three habits or virtues merely highlights the teaching of Jesus for all his followers. It is basic to the teaching of the Church throughout the centuries and was canonised in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church ‘Lumen Gentium, N.5’ of Vatican II: ‘The Church, endowed with the gifts of her founder and faithfully observing the precepts of charity, humility and self-denial receives the mission of proclaiming and establishing among all peoples the kingdom of God’.

About the love for one another that St. Teresa encouraged from her nuns, she wrote “if this commandment were observed in the world as it should be, I think that it would be very helpful for the observance of the other commandments... In a community which is made up of no more than thirteen nuns, all must be friends, all must be loved, all must be held dear, all must be helped. But let us not be dominated by that affection. Let us have the virtues and interior good, and always studiously avoid paying attention to this exterior element” (Way of Perfection 4, 7).

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