St. Teresa of Ávila and the Life We’re Actually Living

There is a temptation in our modern lives to believe that if we could just order everything better, we might find peace. If we could only invest in the right planner, build better habits, employ stricter discipline, establish more consistent prayer routines.

But toward what?

St. Teresa of Ávila asks us to consider exactly what we are moving toward. What if the life we are trying so hard to manage is meant first to be received?

Christian formation doesn’t begin with what we do for God. It begins with discovering who we are in relationship to Him and learning to live from that relationship.

This is a particularly important invitation for Endow women. Our pursuit of truth, belonging, and purpose ultimately leads to a life increasingly rooted in Christ.

Begin with what is real

St. Teresa calls us back into relationship with God, who created us, desires to be in relationship with us, and gives our lives meaning in relationship to Him.

Where it gets sticky, though, is understanding how we can be praying so fervently and still be relying primarily upon ourselves. We can fill our lives with good works, family commitments, ministries, and even devotional practices and still deny Christ access to the deepest places of our lives.

It’s this unholy self-reliance that kept St. Teresa from God for decades, and it may be keeping many of us from Him, too.

The appeal of self-reliance is strong. It tells us “I can handle whatever comes my way if only I work harder, get more organized, or make the right decisions.”

Through prayer we see the holes in that illusion. We can assess our responsibilities more truthfully. We perceive that are creatures, created by God. Our lives are gifts, not projects of our own making.

For the Endow woman with a full calendar, family concerns, professional responsibilities, uncertainty, or the weight of being needed by so many people, that truth can bring enormous freedom from the endless cycle of thinking we must, and can, do it all ourselves.

Belong to Him first

Before we do anything for God, St. Teresa reminds us that we belong to Him. Our productivity, usefulness, daily Rosary, well-run household, or impressive accomplishments done in His name are not the prize.

We are. God desires each of us in relationship.

St. Teresa draws us into that interior place where we learn to meet Him personally, a place where communion and belonging is the answer.

Modern women receive constant messages that our worth comes from achievement, appearance, being needed and admired, or being in control. St. Teresa leads us elsewhere. Rather than something we earn, our deepest belonging is found in relationship with Christ.

How much would change if we really believed that God desires to be in relationship withs each one of us? Prayer would cease to be a checklist item. It would become an encounter with Someone who already knows us and wants us.

Prayer is where we learn that we are known. Where silence is filled, and our weaknesses have less power to define us.

Let life flow from prayer

St. Teresa points us to ordering toward God first. Then everything else falls into place.

By beginning our lives with prayer, prayer ceases to be to-do item and becomes the source of where life begins to flow.

In the ordinariness of everyday life, purpose is found by asking, Lord, how do You want me to live this school drop-off, difficult relationship, demanding profession, care of aging parents, marriage, singleness, disappointment, or constant interruption?

St. Teresa teaches us that the interior life is the place from which real life is meant to be lived.

Start small

All of this can sound beautiful until we look at our calendars and consider, How?

St. Teresa teaches that we do not have to create the perfect prayer life tomorrow. Start small, with ten minutes, in a single place, in silence. Greet God in the morning and give the day to Him.

Intimacy with God requires that we stop, become quiet, become present, and allow ourselves to be with Him. We must make room for Him.

It may mean turning off a podcast or music during a drive, rearranging our schedule to attend daily Mass, establishing a quiet corner at home for prayer, or resisting the impulse to reach for the phone in every unoccupied moment.

Everyday life, lived differently

St. Teresa of Ávila does not promise us lives without burdens. She teaches us that we do not have to carry them alone.

In St. Teresa, truth, belonging, and purpose converge in Christ. Truth tells us who God is and who we are. Belonging teaches us that before we accomplish anything, we are His. Purpose grows from that relationship and gives order to everything else.

St. Teresa encourages us to put our Lord, Jesus Christ at the center of our ordinary lives.

God first. And then, from that relationship, everything else.

St. Teresa of Ávila, pray for us.