Episode Transcript  

One

Life

Today is the feast of St. Teresa of Avila. With St. John of the Cross, she is one of the most important teachers of the spiritual life. She was born in Spain in 1515. When Teresa was seven, she talked her cousin into running away from home to be martyred by Muslims. Her uncle caught them at the edge of town and brought them back. Her mother died when she was 14, so she took Mary as her mom. At 20, she entered the Carmelite monastery of the Incarnation in Avila. At 22, she experienced an illness that paralyzed her for three years. Then she turned to St. Joseph, who obtained for her a miraculous healing.

She writes, “I took for my advocate and lord the glorious St. Joseph and earnestly recommended myself to him…I don't recall up to this day ever having petitioned him for anything that he failed to grant…For with other saints, it seems the Lord has given them grace to be of help in one need, whereas with this glorious saint I have experience that he helps in all our needs and that the Lord wants us to understand that just as He was subject to St. Joseph on earth -- for since bearing the title of father, being the Lord's tutor, Joseph could give the Child command -- so in heaven God does whatever he commands.”

Two

Mental Prayer

The biggest problem Teresa faced was that the nuns in the convent were kept so busy that there was no time for deeper prayer, and there was no one to teach them how to go deeper. So, Jesus appeared to her and taught her how to have a deep friendship with him in mental prayer (otherwise known as discursive meditation).

Mental prayer is friendship and good conversation with God in which we speak to him from the heart and tell him whatever we are thinking and feeling. But if it’s going to be a two-way conversation, we need to listen to God. How do we do that? Read or listen to something from the Word of God found in Scripture, Tradition, that is, the writings of the saints, or the teaching of the Church. But if we stop there, it is almost useless. We need time to think about whatever struck us from the Word or God, reflect on it, and ask ourselves, “Am I living this or not? If not, what is preventing me? And what am I going to do about this?” Then we make a resolution.

Jesus said it is not enough to hear the Word of God; we must do it, put it into practice. So, every meditation must end with a resolution, choose something practical and concrete from the meditation to put into practice that day. In the Book of Her Life (13:12), she writes, “This is the method of prayer with which all must begin, continue and finish; and it is a very excellent and safe path until the Lord leads one to other supernatural things.”

Three

Helping Others 

Certainly, there are people in our lives who are totally opposed to God and religion or who deny his existence. But I don't think that describes most people. Most people aren't interested in God, not because they are anti-God, but because they are so busy and distracted by life that they have simply forgotten Him. They just don't think about Him.

We live in an age that has constructed an environment almost perfectly designed to keep us from remembering God. We face an industrial-scale competition for our attention. We can spend every waking moment receiving information, messages, entertainment, news, and images. And so we can forget God without ever consciously rejecting Him. He simply disappears into the background because everything else constantly occupies the foreground. So what can we do?

Develop a friendship with Jesus Christ. Teresa said, prayer “is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us.”

Then allow that friendship with Christ to transform you. At the same time, develop real friendships with the people God has placed in your life. Do good things with your people. Spend time together. Have good conversations. And because you pray the Rosary every day, when whatever you are doing together is finished, simply invite them, “I'm going to pray the Rosary now. Would you like to pray with me?”

That's it. And that is exactly what Our Lady asked on Sept. 25, 2026. Build a friendship with them and invite them into friendship with Jesus through Mary in the Rosary. In an age that has forgotten God, perhaps the first step is simply to help people remember Him again.

Four

Determination

If we want to reach the perfect happiness God is offering to everyone, then Teresa says we need determination, courage, and we must not be cowardly toads. “Have great confidence” she says. “that Almighty God can carry you where you are too weak to go on your own.”

She tells us that we must desire the deepest possible union with God and then seek it day after day by daily meditation and a resolution whereby we grow in the virtues and holiness.

And we must not have a false humility, “Oh, I am no Mother Teresa, I could never be a saint.” Enough of that. Teresa was bold, and she tells us we must be bold and not cowardly. She writes, “I often thought that St. Peter didn’t lose anything when he threw himself into the sea, even though he grew frightened afterward. These first acts of determination are very important…we are not to be toads that will be satisfied with catching and eating little lizards.”

And she said: I marvel at how important it is to be courageous in striving for great things along this path. (Life 11, 11).

Five

Attachment to God

Teresa writes: Let nothing trouble you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything passes. God never changes. Patience obtains all. Whoever has God wants for nothing. God alone is enough.

Most people do not know it, and very few would admit it, but Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and all the great spiritual masters understood that we usually have two or three things we actually want more than God, things we think we need more than God. Success. Health. A relationship. Financial security. The future we have planned.

We discover these attachments when those things are threatened or lost. We become angry, anxious, or deeply discouraged. We pray and pray and pray for God to give us this thing, and we may even be tempted to reject Him if He does not. All the while, we may never actually seek Him. We are seeking what God can give us rather than seeking God Himself. But everything else passes. God never changes. No created thing can satisfy our desire for perfect happiness. God alone can.

So, the great work of the spiritual life is to become increasingly attached to God above everything else. We may deeply desire many things. We may rightly grieve when we lose them. But little by little, we must learn that there is only One we ultimately need. God alone is enough.

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