St. Teresa of Avila, the First Female Doctor of the Church, and Her Medicinal Gifts for Our Soul

October 15 is the memorial feast of St. Teresa of Avila (who is known as Santa Teresa de Jesus in Spain) , a 16^th century Spanish saint. She is one of the 16^th century Spanish Catholic mystics, often compared to her contemporaries, such as St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. John of the Cross.

St. Teresa of Avila was proclaimed as the first female doctor of the Church by Bl. Pope Paul VI in 1970 for her excellent works on prayers to enrich the spirituality and the theology of the Church. What is important to note is that Teresa’s prayer cannot be reduced to mere academic armchair theology, though it can be studies rigorously through the academic disciplines of theology, as well as psychology and philosophy. No matter which academic approach we take to examine Teresa’s exemplary prayer and her spirituality, it must be a psychospiritually transcendent journey, which leads us into the unshakable intimacy with Christ.

We can learn Teresa’s spiritual life and spiritual growth into the ultimate intimacy with Christ through her writings, La Vida (her autobiography), Camino de Perfection (Way of Pefection), and El Castillo Interior (The Interior Castle).  As St. Ignatius of Loyola wrote Exercitia Spiritualia (Ejercicios Espirituales or Spiritual Exercises) for his fellow Jesuits, based on his own spiritual growth, St. Teresa of Avila  wrote Camino de Perfection, based upon her spiritual growth, for the Carmelite sisters. Both of these spiritual writings are important to understand how St. Teresa of Avila and St. Ignatius of Loyola tried to bring a fresh life into the Church during the time of the Protestant Reformation. In this regard, it makes an interesting theological comparison to study these against writings of Martin Luther and John Calvin.

Certainly, there was no straight and flat path to spiritual perfection, as Teresa’s writings remind. Her path of spiritual perfection (camino de la perfection spiritual), indeed, goes through many obstacles and long distance of the spiritual desert for an extended period of what St. John of the Cross calls La Noche Oscura del Alma (The Dark Night of the Soul). In this regard, Teresa’s spiritual path of perfection is like that of St. Ignatius of Loyola, as both of these Spanish mystic saints found themselves in deeper conversion which brought much more closer to Christ during their extended periods of physical, emotional, and spiritual sufferings.

When she was young, she contracted malaria, which brought her high fever, and plunged into coma for a few days. Though she came out of it, she suffered from convulsion and paralysis of her legs as sequelae of malaria and poor medical treatment. It was during that time of intense suffering that Teresa met wounded Christ in her prayers and experienced a conversion on an unfathomably deeper and intimate level. Upon this experience, Teresa was miraculously recovered from convulsion and paralysis. This deeper spiritual and mystic experience of conversion of St. Teresa of Avila is comparable to a similar experience of St. Ignatius of Loyola in Manresa.

Because Teresa’s theology of prayer is rooted in her own experience of suffering, it is empirical. It also gives a great clinical wisdom for discerning healing amidst of suffering that may drive us into despair.

According to St. Teresa of Avila, it is about giving up our ego’s control and letting God work on us, to grow more intimate with Christ amidst our suffering. Healing is rather a secondary to this spiritual growth. This is why Teresa emphasizes that prayer is a constant dialogue with God in a way for us to gradually abandon our ego and let God work on us through the Holy Spirit, in Camino de Perfection. As a result of this, we can attain peace in Christ.

St. Teresa of Avila understands that it is not easy to overcome ego. This is why ‘camino de perfection” is rather an extended journey with gradual progression. It is like a marathon or a long voyage.  Just as there are mile markers to help runners know how far they have run and how many more to run to the finish line on the parathion course, she helps puts seven “stations” to cross the “finish line” on our “camino spiritual hacia la perfection” in El Castillo Interior. In this book, St. Teresa of Avila describes seven mansions, which guide us step-by-step closer to and into Christ – for us to cross the “finish line” of our “spiritual marathon” for perfection. As many marathon runners experience and overcome series of physical and mental pains throughout the course, we, too, experience and overcome various forms of sufferings – physical, mental, and spiritual.

As the first female doctor of the Church, St. Teresa of Avila has “prescribed” and “dispensed” excellent medicinal gifts to us so that we, too, may grow into sainthood, which is spiritual perfection. It is the path into the fullness of the mystery of the risen Christ.  We shall complete this “spiritual marathon” before parousia.