St Teresa of Avila’s Reminder: Focus On Bettering Oneself, Not Sin

Last updated on: March 29, 2022 at 2:48 am by Henry Karlson

St Teresa of Avila’s Reminder: Focus On Bettering Oneself, Not Sin 2022-03-29T02:48:39-05:00 Henry Karlson

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Peter Paul Rubens: St Teresa of Avila / Wikimedia Commons

We should strive to better ourselves, and to do so every day. We should strive for justice, seeking out how we follow its expectations with prudence, not legalistically. Justice must always be coordinated with mercy, not apart from it. This is why, if and when we do some wrong, we should not use that as an excuse to ignore our call to be better, but rather, we should just accept it as a momentary slip on our part and just focus on improving ourselves. This is one of many things St. Teresa of Avila learned:

Once while I was experiencing great distress over having offended God, He said to me: “All your sins are before me as though they were not; in the future make every effort, for your trials are not over.” [1]

If we embrace justice without mercy, we will end up hurting ourselves, for we will not allow ourselves the mercy and grace which we need to overcome our mistakes: we will not allow ourselves to move on and attain the perfection we once had before our sin. Teresa, like many of those who had attained some level of perfection, was very aware of her minor imperfections, making her experience them as if they were greater than they were. This is why she became anxious for what she had done. God, recognizing her good desire, reminded her that all she needed to do was continue to strive to do better, telling her that if she did, she would receive the mercy and grace she needs, and all her mistakes will be as if they were not. Since she was already sorry for what she had done, and she was resolved to do better, that was enough; she didn’t have to dwell on it, for by dwelling on what she had done would prevent her from moving forward with her life.

If we pay attention, we can see another meaning in God’s response, one which tells us how insubstantial sin is: sin is not a thing in and of itself. Ontologically, there is no substance to sin, meaning, it can said to be nothing. Sin comes from an act of will, arising out of us when we act contrary to the various possible goods open to us. Where our greater good is ignored, or resisted, we end up undermining ourselves and our potential. Without that good, we find ourselves less than what we could and should be. Indeed, when we ignore our own good, and act contrary to it, we become less than who and what we are by nature, that is, we find a kind of corruption infecting our being. Such corruption is not a thing in and of itself, but rather, when we give it a name, such as avarice, we establish a convention which allows us to describe it Nonetheless, sin cannot and will not entirely destroy what is good, and what remains of the good can be restored by grace. What is important is that we let grace work in us by cooperating with it, so that we do not hinder the healing which it can provide to us.

Thus, sins are as nothing before God, because they are nothing, the thing which remains after the act of sin is something which has been wounded and corrupted, but also something which can be and should be healed and perfected. Our effort should be for that perfection, realizing, of course, the error of our ways, but not in such a way we become overly distressed by them (for such distress can lead us to despair, making us think we are so bad, such perfection is impossible for us). Once we have properly asked for forgiveness, we have it, and with that forgiveness, we have grace, grace which will help us not only to reestablish and attain the goodness of our nature, but to go beyond it by having us come into union with God.

Following this awareness, Teresa also learned that she was to look at everyone, not in the way of worldly glory, but in accordance to the goodness given to all things. While the world might divide people, so that some appear to be noble and some ignoble, some rich and some poor, we should not think that someone possessing such worldly honors or goods means they are more worthy than those who do not have them. An aristocrat is not better than a commoner; a rich man or woman is not better than someone who is poor. What is worthy of esteem is virtue, the good character which we establish for ourselves. This insight, affirmed by God, also gave Teresa the justification she needed to make sure anyone could and should be given honors by her when they died, and not just those the world would have her to honor:

While I was at the monastery in Toledo, some were advising me that I shouldn’t give a burying-place to anyone who had not belonged to the nobility. The Lord said to me: “You will grow very foolish, daughter, if you look at the world’s laws. Fix your eyes on me, poor and despised by the world. Will the great ones of the world, perhaps, be great before me? Or, are you to be esteemed for lineage or for virtue?”[2]

We should pursue perfection. If we are to be perfect, we must act with good will towards others, treating them with compassion and kindness, no matter their worldly background. We will not ignore people who are poor, decrying their needs, saying they are not worthy of our respect because of their poverty. Rather, we will seek to meet the needs of all, especially those who are in most need of our help. We will not allow ourselves to become respecters of persons due to worldly conventions, conventions which are usually based upon how much money, fame, or power someone has made for themselves. Someone who has made a lot of money is not more worthy of honor and respect than someone who has not; indeed, if anything, because of the way money is accumulated, it is likely they have done all kinds of evil which would make them less, not more, worthy of honor and respect. But even then, we must remember, there is some good in them and it is that good which we should try to honor. In this way, we honor the source and foundation of every good, God. The omnipresence of God allows us all to turn to God and receive the blessings which we need, and so even those who have acted contrary to God’s will can still find their way back to God and be perfected by grace. The nature of our soul can be said to be like that of a sponge; when it is surrounded with water, it soaks it in, and so we, likewise, find ourselves capable of soaking in the grace of God: “One time I understood how the Lord was present in all things, and how in the soul, and I thought of the example of a sponge which absorbs water.” [3] This brings us back to where we began; our focus should always be about what is good and true; we should seek to perfect ourselves, knowing we do so, not by our effort alone, but with grace, grace which is all around us. We should not focus on what we have done, but on moving forward, focusing on that grace, realizing that through it, we can indeed become perfect.

[1] St. Teresa of Avila, “Spiritual Testimonies” in The Collected Works Of St. Teresa of Avila. Volume One. Trans. Kieran Kavanaugh OCD and Otilio Rodriguez OCD (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1976; sec. ed., 1987), 434 [#63].

[2] St. Teresa of Avila, “Spiritual Testimonies,” 386 [#5].

[3] St. Teresa of Avila, “Spiritual Testimonies,” 410 [#40].

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