Thoughts and questions on St. Teresa of Avila’s book “The Way of Perfection”

What is your calling in this world?

Are you called to have an income?

Or are you called to be blessed in poverty, depending only on God and His mercy?

@Marja Sormunen

“Do not think, my sisters, that because you do not go about trying to please people in the world you will lack food. You will not, I assure you: never try to sustain yourselves by human artifices, or you will die of hunger, and rightly so. Keep your eyes fixed upon your Spouse: it is for Him to sustain you; and, if He is pleased with you, even those who like you least will give you food, if unwillingly, as you have found by experience. If you should do as I say and yet die of hunger, then happy are the nuns of Saint Joseph’s! For the love of the Lord, let us not forget this: you have forgone a regular income; forgo worry about food as well, or thou will lose everything. Let those whom the Lord wishes to live on an income do so: if that is their vocation, they are perfectly justified; but for us to do so, sisters, would be inconsistent”. St. Teresa of Avila – The Way of Perfection

@Marja Sormunen

What is the difference on asking for donations and trusting God that He knows what we need and will give it the moment we need it?

Should we worry about the money and how to sustain ourselves?

Are we able to leave that worry to God’s hands?

Are we responsible on the way the other people live?

@Marja Sormunen

“Worrying about getting money from other people seems to me like thinking about what other people enjoy. However much you worry, you will not make them change their minds nor will they become desirous of giving you alms. Leave these anxieties to Him, Who can move everyone, Who is the Lord o all money and of all who possess money. It is by His command that we have come here and His words are true – they cannot fail: Heaven and earth will fail first. Let us not fail Him, and let us have no fear that He will fail us; if He should ever do so it will be for our greater good, just as the saints failed to keep their lives when they were slain for the Lord’s sake, and their bliss was increased through their martyrdom. We should be making a good exchange if we could have done with this life quickly and enjoy everlasting satiety”. St. Teresa of Avila – The Way of Perfection

@Marja Sormunen

Would you be able to call yourself lucky if you were to die now?

What keeps you from doing this?

“It is when I possess least that I have the fewest worries and the Lord knows that, as far as I can tell, I am more afflicted when there is excess of anything than when there is lack of it”. St. Teresa of Avila – The Way of Perfection

@Marja Sormunen

When have you been the happiest in your life?

Was it because of all you had?

Does having money and things really make you any happier?

@Marja Sormunen