What I love about St. Teresa of Ávila is her no-nonsense approach to spiritual transformation. She is often celebrated as a great mystic – which she certainly was. She was also a very practical, seasoned practitioner… Her insights and teachings show us how she did it. Her life is an example of the potential that is within us all.
Read MoreOne of things about St. Teresa of Ávila that surprises me most is that she spent years struggling to pray. In The Book of My Life, she talks about life in the convent when she was young and says that she was filled with enormous shame around her lack of prayer life.
Read MoreIn our present times, I find that I often struggle with all the different ways the word “meditation” is used. Meditation is talked about and taught everywhere in our current mindfulness and spirituality culture, and there are a multitude of ways it can be practiced.
Read MoreMany Christian mystics thought of contemplation as a state in which we are completely open to the immediate experience of God. It is a state of grace and not something we can make happen for ourselves. It is a place of being so completely in the experience of God that all thought drops away and we are drawn into a glimpse of true reality.
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