204 Quotes by Teresa of Ávila

Authentic prayer changes us, unmasks us, strips us, indicates where growth is needed.

O Lord, all our troubles come to us because we do not have our eyes fixed on you. If only we looked at the path we're walking, we would soon arrive. But, we stumble and fall a thousand times and we stray because we do not set our eyes on the true Way.

It is a great advantage for us to be able to consult someone who knows us, so that we may learn to know ourselves.

For though we know quite well that God is present in all that we do, our nature is such that it makes us lose sight of the fact; but when this favour is granted it can no longer do so, for the Lord, who is near at hand, awakens it. And even the favours aforementioned occur much more commonly, as the soul experiences a vivid and almost constant love for Him whom it sees or knows to be at its side.

. . . it is presumptuous in me to wish to choose my path, because I cannot tell which path is best for me. I must leave it to the Lord, Who knows me, to lead me by the path which is best for me, so that in all things His will may be done.

. . . you must not build upon foundations of prayer and contemplation alone, for, unless you strive after the virtues and practice them, you will never grow to be more than dwarfs.

Once, when she was travelling to one of her convents, St. Teresa of Ávila was knocked off her donkey and fell into the mud, injuring her leg. “Lord,” she said, “you couldn’t have picked a worse time for this to happen. Why would you let this happen?”And the response in prayer that she heard was, “That is how I treat my friends.”Teresa answered, “And that is why you have so few of them!

Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes with which Christ looks out his compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.

However much we do to avoid them, we shall never lack crosses in this life if we are in the ranks of the Crucified.