2X Religion
• You will become more familiar with life and
achievements of ‘St. Teresa of Avila’.
• You will contribute to placing St. Teresa’s life in
chronological order.
• You will be able to recognise St. Teresa’s main
beliefs on prayer.
Born: 28th March 1515
Avila, Spain.
Chronological order
• 3 minutes
• http://www.online-stopwatch.com/fullscreen-stopwatch/
• Video clip.
Early life
•
Even as a young age, Teresa showed signs
of piety.
•
Her childhood games revolved around
pretending to be a nun living in the
community.
•
As a young child she read stories of saints
with her brother.
•
They were especially interested in the
stories of martyrs. They wanted to
become martyrs too, because this wasn’t
possible they decided to become hermits.
•
Their uncle spoiled their plans when they
spotted the children outside the city
walls.
• St. Teresa was sent to an
Augustinian school to be
educated at the age of
fourteen.
• About eighteen months later
she became ill. She spent her
convalescence reading the
letters of St Jerome.
• During this time she decided
she wanted to become a nun.
• Her father was opposed to the
idea at first.
• Teresa eventually ran away
from home and secretly
entered the Carmelite
monastery.
• She was twenty years old.
St. Teresa’s life as a nun.
• There were 150 nuns in the
Carmelite order.
• The lifestyle there was not as
strict as Teresa would have liked.
• Teresa again had to return home
due to illness.
• After four years she returned to
the convent.
• She had strong opinions about
prayer and felt that prayer
should be at the very centre of
her life.
• She felt that God was calling her
to found different type of
monastery where there was
more of an emphasis on a
simpler and quieter lifestyle.
• After some initial
opposition, St. Teresa
founded a new monastery
called the monastery of
St. Joseph.
• The sisters spent their
time praying, gardening
and caring for the poor.
• They owned nothing and
lived on donations they
received in return for
simple services like
spinning wool and
sewing.
• St. Teresa went on to found sixteen other
monasteries where men and women could
follow this simple lifestyle.
• Her feast day is on 15th October.
Her contribution to prayer
• At different stages in her life St
Teresa preferred different
types of prayer.
• As a young girl she loved the
rosary
• As a young adult she found
that vocal prayer brought her
closer to God.
• Later in life, she found that
reading scriptures and
focusing on nature reminded
her of God’s presence.
• In later life St. Teresa realized
that contemplative prayer was
very powerful.
Contemplation
St Teresa described prayer as moving through four stages.
•
•
•
•
Stage one
Gardener goes to water the garden with buckets of water
(Person decides to pray)
Stage two
Gardener uses a water hose to water the garden (Still requires work, but
requires less time to get the same job done. The job is easier, but is still being
completed.)
(Having firstly decided to pray the pray-er can now pray
with ease. Is now less distracted)
Stage Three
The gardener waters the garden with running water from a stream. Just a small
amount of work involved in directing the stream to the garden. The stream now
does all of the hard work.
(Prayer becomes more about what God does and less about
what the pray-er does)
Stage Four
The gardener sits quietly and allows the rain to fall and water the garden.
(Communication with God is now powerful and does not require any
work. Contemplative prayer is about resting and being comfortable in
God’s presence).
Task:
• Using the information you have learned,
complete a Facebook profile.
• You must pose as St. Teresa.
• You must include key information about her
life, and her beliefs on prayer.
St. Teresa’s prayer
(Bookmark)
Let nothing disturb you
Let nothing frighten you
All things are passing way
God never changes
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing
God alone suffices.