St. Teresa of Avila -- Ascent, Descent

From one of the mystic's in my lineage...St. Teresa of Avila ~ Author of the Interior Castle...

Nada te turbe, nada t'espante
Quien a Dios tiene, nada le falte;
Nada te turbe, nada t'espante
Solo Dios basta.

Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing frighten you.
All things pass.
God does not change.
Patience achieves everything.
Whoever has God lacks nothing.
God alone suffices.

Because there is a crucial connection in the divine plan between advanced prayer/mystical union and generous suffering, we may not omit to mention the extraordinary continuity and number of physical illnesses that beset Teresa from about age twenty until her death at sixty-seven. While most writers dealing with the Tersian account of contemplation may see no particular significance in the saint's sicknesses, spiritual direction over the years has taught this observer that there is a close correlation between suffering well and growth in prayer depth. Of itself, of course, suffering improves no one, for a person can become bitter in his woes. But trials borne with love and in union with the crucified Beloved make one grow by leaps and bounds. I have noticed this connection over and over through the years. Students of contemplation must attend to what cannot be coincidental, namely, that this woman who reached the heights of contemplative prayer also descended to the inner abyss of pain. From her early twenties Teresa was in daily discomfort, sometimes in agony.