St Teresa and humility

  • Thread starter Thread starter MysticMonist
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

MysticMonist

Guest
Hello!

I started reading St Teresa’s Interior Castle. It’s wonderful, but I was struck with her humility. Here are some quotes:
"“Wise and learned men know them quite well, but we women are slow and need instruction in everything.”
“there are so many of them that nobody can possibly understand them all, much less anyone as stupid as I.”
“for I write as mechanically as birds taught to speak, which, knowing nothing but what is taught them and what they hear, repeat the same things again and again”

Clearly, she really isn’t ignorant nor a poor writer but a master of her subject. I don’t believe she is being falsely humble for show or to avoid church censors (I’m sure feminists have floated these theories). But I think she clearly understands the vital importance of humility in spirtuality. I suspect she knows she is knowledgeable and has good insight (she writes about avoiding being too self critical later) but she counts this knowledge as nothing.

I am not very humble. I take myself too seriously and put too much stock in my having studied theology and my mystical insights. False modesty I think is a trap of becoming prideful in showing humilty and there is a temptation to remind everyone else of their need to be humble. I wondering if St Teresa is on to something and that by not pretending to having no knowledge (she wasn’t fooling anyone) but recognizing that my knowledge is but ignorance and my wisdom is foolishness. Basically saying “I’ve read a bunch of books on theology, I’ve had some mystical visions. But so what? I know nothing of the higher truths of God.”

Any advice?
 
This is probably above my level of understanding since I’m still working on The Way of Perfection, but to my mind, St. Teresa didn’t write so much as she allowed God to write through her. I’ve noticed that she starts off saying one thing and then follows a different train of thought instead. She admits to getting off track, but ultimately left it alone, trusting that the Holy Spirit guided her.

True humility, I think (I’m no expert, being much to proud myself!) is recognizing that you’re not the painter, but the brush. Try to make yourself as pliable an instrument in God’s Hand as possible, and when people come to admire the “painting” give due credit to the Painter, not the brush.
 
I agree with you about her. And also considering that she was one of the most spiritually-experienced members, she was simultaneously one of the most practical and hard-working people the Church has known. I guess that’s the way God works, not adhering to the standards we might expect. Thank, er…God! I tend to think that the more we want and think we’re worthy of the kinds of experiences she received, the less likely we are to receive them.
 
Last edited:
I don’t know all of her details, but without a doubt, God is like a fire, refining us. This is what keeps you humble… knowing what it took to reach a certain point. And if you haven’t been refined, that’s reason to worry.
 
I like your example of being the brush not the painter. Hmm… In a mystical sense this is very profound. How I am not the one who prays, it is no merit of mine. Hmm…
 
Last edited:
MysticMonist said:
I like your example of being the brush not the painter. Hmm… In a mystical sense this is very profound
Click to expand...
I can’t take the credit. I read The Way of Divine Love, by Sister Josefa Menedez, who was supposedly a mystic (the jury is still out on her). If her story is true, this analogy was authored by Our Mother Mary.
 
From what I’ve read of her, St Thereasa is one of the best illustrators of the process by which the Holy Spirit inspires man to speak His words into the world. Many of those who regularly work to guide the faithful (whether it be one person or a large flock) often stumble upon this process accidentally. There are crucial moments in another’s spiritual life when they have no idea how to proceed. Usually they send up a little prayer to the Holy Spirit for guidance, not truly expecting dramitic response. They then open their mouths and from it flows forth exactly what the person needs to hear, exactly how they need to hear it. If the speaker realizes what is happening, they usually tend to turn to the Holy Spirit more and more for guidance. Eventually, the person realizes that everything good which happens in our lives is He. This is the state in which our sister Theresa lives in. Only her faults are her own, all else is God’s.
 
Last edited:
I am reading her book backwards atm. The interior mansions. No idea why. But I enjoy it.
 
It is a well known fact that Teresa was carefully avoiding the Inquisition. They were active in her time, and Teresa herself as well as such saints as Ignatius were questioned by them. You don’t have to presume a “feminist” interpretation to note how Teresa carefully professes to be “ignorant” in her books in order to diffuse the inquisitors. Those without theological training, and especially women, were not allowed to teach the faith.
This has nothing to do with Teresa’s humility. She is also well known for insisting to her nuns that humility forms the basis of the spiritual life, and she practiced it herself. “Humility, humility, humility!” she insists.
 
That’s a shame.

Maybe she even had more to worry about than others too, since she was part Jewish.
 
Well, we can be simple in our approach and often ask God for gift of humility. This is what I do.

God will answer this prayer, but he is very unlikely to make us very humble overnight. It’s a process that we cooperate in.

And I have to come to find that I am far more humble than any of you, so it definitely works. (hehe, not serious here, but quite earnest above.)
 
Last edited:
I think her humility is entirely genuine and not an attempt to evade inquisitors. I’m a mystic and I’ve not been very humble and it’s a major obstacle to any spirtual progress. Learning humility has been significantly helpful to my soul and I continue to struggle with self renunciatuon. She would not be the source of wisdom she is with out such a humble spirit. May God grant me the grace to follow in her example.
 
Yes, her Jewish grandfather was a converso, forced in a public trial to convert to Catholicism or be banished (or worse). So Teresa had a lot of opposition to avoid in her life. Another was that she often founded her convents in areas where the local population was resentful of having to support them and/or were ashamed to have such impoverished women in their midst.
She was one tough woman, and she had a great sense of humor.
 
I did not at all say that her humility was not genuine. Read my post. However, also try not to deny history and the art of writing.
 
Fair enough. However, I think she would write the same today about her own ignorance. We are all ignorant of divine things. St John of the cross, who heavily influenced and guided Teresa, argued that all our own understandings are in darkness.
 
Last edited:
The litany of humility is amazing thank you for sharing it!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top