In this paper we are going to discuss the life, work and teachings of Saint Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Catholic Church. St. Teresa was an important figure in the Church for her reforms of the Carmelite Order. Teresa’s reforms caused a fracture of the Order and formed the Order of Discalced Carmelites, which believes in the old ways of the Carmelite Order. St. Teresa is also well known for her three books.
Teresa’s first book, Life (1565), is a partial autobiography, but it is primarily a book of prayer and the account of her own personal graces from God, intended only for the small group of her spiritual advisers . The Way to Perfection (1582) was originally a letter to St. Teresa’s sisters of the Order on advice about prayer, contemplation of spiritual life. The Inner Castle is a profound reflection on the soul’s progressive discovery of the divine indwelling .
St. Teresa was born as Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumeda in Avila, Spain on March 28, 1515. Teresa had such a profound love for Christ that, at the age of seven, as Jodi Bilinkoff writes “She was determined to die as a martyr in the land of the Moors, only to be met and brought
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home by her uncle” . On November 5, 1535, Teresa entered the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation of Avila. In 1536, Teresa suffered from an illness that plagued her for twenty years, causing her to fall into a deep coma that made many to think that she was dead. Teresa awoke from this coma through what she claimed was a blessing from St. Joseph. Teresa died on October 4, 1582, her last words being” I die, a daughter of the Church” She used her experience in life as inspiration for her teaching, as explained by Dorgan “It was part of Teresa’s wisdom to look at her own experience to see how it could be used for others.” St. Teresa divides her life into “four waters” or four methods of irrigating the soul, these being: the beginning of discursive praying and meditation; a passive experience of prayer; the way to rest our inherent mental powers; the last one being the state of union between the one who prays and God. Teresa also hold her beliefs to “the three Constitutions of ourselves: love to each other, detachment from all created things and true humility… humility being the most important of these three and the one which embraces all the rest.” I believe that Teresa’s teachings are based on the reality of what our faith should be: a relation with God honest of heart.
Teresa builds her doctrines based on her experiences of divine origin. Teresa’s idea of humility is identical to that of Jesus’ teachings of a humble and loving life. Teresa helped build what it is today’s Church, evident of her title of the Doctor of the Church. For Teresa, “prayer must be the foundation in which this house is built.” To her prayer permits people to get to know God better in an intimate way. In my opinion, I agree with St. Teresa’s theological perspective of a humble and intimate life with God. She has greatly impacted the Church and is the inspiration for many, because of her spiritual ideals on her life and writings, for this she will always be remembered as the great Catholic
Reformer.
When asked to write about an important activist who has demonstrated protest, I immediately drifted towards a Hispanic and/or feminist activist. Various names came across my mind initially such as Cesar Chavez and Joan Baez but as a later discussion in class concluded, there are numerous others who are rarely highlighted for their activism and struggles, which lead to me researching more. In my research I came across Dolores Huerta, an American labor leader and civil rights activist, who I felt was an underdog and brushed over activist in the Hispanic community.
Francis of Assisi is one of the most influential personalities in the entire world. In the book ‘Francis of Assisi: Performing the Gospel Life,’ Cunningham recounts the life of this humble monk who lived in the medieval times, and shaped the Christian life, which spread in Western culture throughout the rest of history. I believe Cunningham accurately accounts for the life of Francis of Assisi, and in doing so; he provides a trajectory of the Christian faith from its early and historical proponents through its fusion with western culture, and its subsequent spread throughout the world.
The medieval theologian Julian of Norwich was a mystic, writer, anchoress and spiritual director for her time. She is gaining in popularity for our time as she provides a spiritual template for contemplative prayer and practice in her compilation of writings found in Revelations of Divine Love. The insightful meditations provide the backdrop and basis for her Trinitarian theology’s embrace of God’s Motherhood found in the Trinity. Her representative approach of the all-encompassing unconditional love of a mother who nurtures, depicts Christ as our Mother ascending to the placement of Second hood within the Trinity while giving voice to the duality of God.
This paper centers on Sister Souljah and her works. She is one of my favorite authors and one of the most amazing person one has ever came across. Sister Souljah books draw you in because she doesn’t hold back anything when she talks or speak.
Saint Teresa of Calcutta was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia. She later considered August 27, the day she was baptized, her "true birthday." Saint Teresa received her first communion at the age of five, and was later confirmed in November 1916. In her early years, Saint Teresa was fascinated by stories of the lives of missionaries, their services, and contributions to the world. By the age 12, she had become convinced that she should commit herself to a religious life.
Humanism is a stance of thought conferring to the major importance to people rather than heavenly or mystical matters. Humanists believe that trauma is the possible importance and goodness of human beings and pursue exclusively on balanced habits of resolving human problems; “The Renaissance stressed the natural and the human. It emphasized the pleasures of life, glorified the human body, and celebrated education” (139). In the Renaissance era, most of the humanists were Christian. There were well-known scholars that were attracted in conserving and learning from traditional texts and have precise translations of the Bible. In the Renaissance era and the age of humanism, The Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini was a debated sculpture
Teresa Sánchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada lived in Avila, Spain where she was born in 1515 and lived during the Reformation until her death at age 67. She was canonized in 1622, forty years after her death. St. Teresa's grandmother was forced to be converted from a Jew into a Christian during the Inquisition. Without her grandmother’s conversion, St. Teresa would never have become a Christian saint. Her parents were Godly people and showed tremendous integrity.
To begin, Mother Teresa stands as a strong activist from India, who deserves recognition for her tremendous actions. Mother Teresa, founder of a religious group of nuns in Calcutta, India, devoted her life to aiding sick and poor people throughout the world. I see Mother Teresa as an important figure to depict, since she dedicated her life to helping other and even inspired others to do the same. Born in war-torn Albania, Mother Teresa survived her childhood and at 19 joined the Sisters of Loreto in India. She served with missionary order of nuns for 20 years, until she had a realization of her life’s mission. She found that she needed to help the poor and sick. So, Mother Teresa descended into the slums of Calcutta and began the Sisters of Charity. From there, she led the Sisters of Charity in ministering to the sick and hungry by giving them much needed food and live. Mother Teresa received local reconviction; but in 1969, after a documentary on her work, she became a celebrity and was deemed a modern day saint. Mother Teresa used this to increase awareness of her work, thus benefiting the poor and sick further. She gave speeches all over the world emphasizing the struggle of the poor. Before her death, Mother Teresa had met a large number of world l...
Catherine of Siena. The Dialogue of the Divine Providence . Trans. Algar Thorold. 1907. 25 Feb. 2004 .
She turned and prayed to Saints and God for help, based off of her drive to be more heavenly. She was not only calmed by the power of God, but she also had her eyes opened to His glory. This was due to the fact that when God made his glory known to her, He engraved so deeply upon her heart that she could never flee again. The holy engravement would still remain, even if she forgot the very vision where she realized this truth. This shows that Teresa realized the divine power of her visions. Realizing this, confirmed to her that her visions were from God and not from the devil. Even outsiders saw that she was changed by her experience. Paraphrased from Life of Teresa of Jesus, But she knew that she had jewels of her own love, as well as a changed soul. Other people even noticed too. She knew this wasn’t from the devil because of what happened in her spiritually. After this realization, Teresa was so transformed, that instead of thinking that she was crazy and believing the holy people, their questioning of her didn’t bother her as she lifter her eyes up to God for
LaPierre, D. (1997). Mother Teresa and the leprosy of the soul. New Perspectives Quarterly, 14(4), 35.
She was baptized August 27, 1910 as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. However, she is commonly known as Mother Teresa. Her family was of Albanian descent and were devoutly Catholic. They were greatly involved in the local church, especially her mother, who was a compassionate and pious women. Her father was an entrepreneur and worked as a trader of medicines and other goods in addition to a construction contractor. Tragically, however, when Mother Teresa was only 8 years old, her father became suddenly ill and died. Although the cause of his death remains unseen, it has been speculated that political antagonists poisoned him. After her father’s death, she grew remarkably close to her mother, who impressed upon her with a deep obligation to charity (Mother Teresa). Moreover, in 1912 at the age of twelve, Mother Teresa felt a strong call from God. Knowing she had to be a missionary to spread the love of Christ, she left her parental home at eighteen.
Saint Catherine was born in Siena, Italy on March 25, 1347. She was one of twenty-five children, and she had a twin but she died when she was just an infant. Her father, Giacomo di Benincasa, was a cloth dyer and her mother, Lapa Piagenti, was the daughter of a poet. Catherine grew up being a very happy child. It is reported that when she was around 6, she she had a vision of God. When she was 7, she vowed to give her whole life to God.
In A Short and Easy Method of Prayer, Madame Guyon touches on how one can accept all things God through prayer. Through the simple steps of meditation and reading accompanied by meditation, Madame Guyon teaches the reader how to use those steps to have a relationship with God. As a person of the Quietism faith in the seventeenth century, Madam Guyon was going against the norm of the church structure. Not only was she advocating people did not need to go to weekly services but she was also going against the male’s leaders of the church. One of the questions this book can help historians to answer is how religion shape everyday life. However, the readers need to keep in mind the biases surrounding this book. This is just one of the many religious
Mother Teresa is one of the most recognized women in the world. Teresa brought in a revolutionary change in the world with her positive thoughts and love for humanity. Her missionary work started way back 1931 when she was still a little girl. She joined the Nuns as a kid in 1931, and she was later named Teresa from Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. It was in respect and honor of the Saints of Theresa. Mother Teresa’s missions were concentrated around helping the poor people with their basic needs such as food, water and shelter. She also demonstrated a lot of interest in taking care of the weak and defenseless people in the society. For example, it has been recorded that she spent a lot of time caring for the elderly, disabled and injured. At the same