Happy Feast Day!

Today is the feast day of the great mystic, St. Teresa of Avila. She was the first woman doctor of the Church. Born in Avila in 1515 she secretly left her Fathers house when she was 20 and joined the Carmelites. Her convent housed more than 140 nuns, and the parlour was the social centre of the
whole place receiving many visitors. Teresa used to love the social scene chatting happily with all the
 visitors, She found it very easy to neglect her prayers.

When she decided to strive for religious perfection she received many spiritual graces, for which she was ridiculed, however in 1557 St.Peter of Alcantra assured her that what she was experiencing was truly from God.
Teresa  established  a new, reformed convent where the nuns were enclosed and spent much of their time in silence. They wore sandals instead of shoes, hence the name discalced. Teresa went on to found a number of convents and she reformed two monasteries with the help of her friend St. John of the Cross.

 Teresa is well known for her spiritual writings especially the way to perfection and the interior castle.
So if like me you are neglectful of saying your prayers and spend to much time on social networking, then maybe some prayer time spent with Teresa of Avila will help us to also reach the way of perfection.