Today is the Feast Day of Teresa of Ávila
A Short Reflection on the Doctor of the Church, Mystic, Reformer
To my Carmelite friends and readers:
Wishing you a most blessed and joyful feast of your holy mother, St. Teresa of Jesus! May her radiant love for Christ, her bold fidelity amid trials, and her life of deep contemplative union inspire each of you anew today.
May our Lord, the true Friend of the soul, bless you abundantly through the intercession of St. Teresa. May He deepen your prayer, strengthen your love, and fill your hearts with His peace.
In Christ and Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
St. Teresa of Ávila and the Way of Holy Friendship
“Put no trust in princes, in mortal men in whom there is no help…Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.”
(Psalm 146:3,5 – Morning Prayer)
Today the Church celebrates a woman who dared to put all her trust not in princes or even in the favor of religious authorities. She placed her trust in Jesus Christ alone: her Friend, her Spouse, her Strength. St. Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582) shines as an icon of what it means to be deeply united to Christ in friendship and transformed into Him through the path of contemplative prayer, suffering, and holy fidelity.
The Psalm from today’s Divine Office sets the tone for reflecting on Teresa’s life: “Put no trust in princes…” (Ps 146). Teresa knew this from experience. She was betrayed, dismissed, censured, and misunderstood not by enemies of the Church, but by its own ministers. Her efforts to reform the Carmelite order were met with fierce resistance, mockery, and political intrigue. Yet she never wavered in her trust in Jesus. Her strength was not from “mortal men in whom there is no help” but from “the Lord who keeps faith forever” (Ps 146:6).
For Teresa, friendship with Christ was not a vague or sentimental idea. Friendship with Christ was the very foundation of her interior life. Teresa lived with the deep certainty that Christ never abandons those who are troubled or distressed. For her, Jesus was not a distant God to be admired from afar, but a true Friend to be known and loved but a faithful Companion who walks with us through every trial and every joy.
In a moment both humorous and intimate, when Teresa was thrown from her horse while crossing a river and found herself soaked and injured, she looked up to heaven and said to the Lord: “If this is how You treat Your friends, no wonder You have so few of them!” Her words were not irreverent; they were the speech of one who knew she could speak freely to her Beloved because she loved Him with all her soul.
In her own writings, she offers us the key to sustaining this divine friendship:
“If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandons us.”
The path of deep union with Christ does not lead away from suffering but it often leads straight through it. But it transforms suffering into the very place of communion. Teresa understood that the soul must be purified, stripped, and tested in order to be united more fully with Christ. Through what Garrigou-Lagrange calls the “passive purifications” of the soul, God draws the soul into deeper trust and fuller love, where it no longer relies on feelings or consolations but clings to Christ alone.
St. Teresa reminds us that friendship with Jesus is not an end in itself. No, friendship with Christ is a road to beatitude. Her intimacy with Christ purified her desires until they were ordered entirely toward union with God. As she wrote:
“If at some time the Lord should grant us the grace of impressing His love on our hearts, all will become easy for us and we shall accomplish great things quickly and without effort.”
The goal of prayer, for Teresa, is transformation not merely consolation or mystical gifts, but to become another Christ. This transformation, born of friendship, leads to what the Catechism calls “life everlasting” not just in heaven, but a foretaste of it here and now (CCC 1024–1025).
In a world that often places trust in power, visibility, and status, Teresa’s life calls us back to the “one thing necessary”: sitting at the feet of Jesus in loving attention (cf. Lk 10:42). Like the Psalmist, like Teresa, we must lift our eyes from princes and plans and fix them on the Lord.
St. Teresa’s enduring lesson is this: When you are united with Christ in love, you are not alone. Even in betrayal, abandonment, and exhaustion, you are held by a Friend who will never forsake you. And in this friendship lies your transformation not just to be like Christ, but to become one with Him, a sharer in His divine life.
Saint Teresa, Pray for us!
© 2025, Lawain McNeil, Mission Surrender, LLC.