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St. Teresa of Avila: The Unperfect Saint

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Contrary to common belief, saints are not perfect. Saints simply seek Christ more than anyone else. Saints understood the need for Christ in their own lives through their own experiences. St. Teresa of Avila did not live a perfect life, although she strived to after her conversion. St. Teresa, after living in the world, realized her desperate need for a personal relationship with God, but by no means was she perfect.
Teresa Sánchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada lived in Avila, Spain where she was born in 1515 and lived during the Reformation until her death at age 67. She was canonized in 1622, forty years after her death. St. Teresa's grandmother was forced to be converted from a Jew into a Christian during the Inquisition. Without her …show more content…

She started to turn towards worldly pleasures with the help of her cousin. She soon found out how easy it was for one person to change another person for the good or bad.
Her loving father noticed her falling into the ways of the world and decided he would send her for schooling with Augustine nuns in Avila. During her time with the nuns, God sent her a particular nun into St. Teresa’s life who was able to make an impact in the lost girl’s life which changed her life. After leaving the nuns she realized during her illness she could’ve died and would have died with all the sins she had committed in her life. While she was trying to decide to become a nun, St. Jerome’s letters gave her encouragement to stand up to her protective father. Her father did not wish to go in fear he would never see her again. St. Teresa once said, “The best we could get out of him was a reluctant concession that I could do whatever I wanted after he was dead” (Starr, 2007, p.16). Against her father’s wishes, Teresa ran away to become a nun of the Carmelite Order. Although the convent was crowded, she started right away teaching people the power of mental prayer. She did not just teach women, as nuns often did, but men as well. She did not want to entertain people; instead she wanted to change people’s lives. “She guided nuns not just through strict disciplines, but also through the power of love, and common sense” (Pettinger, 2010). She had a heart

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