“May this writing be an offering of praise and glory to my Lord. May it help my spiritual guides to know me better and so to better support my spiritual development. May I find the strength now to give back even a fraction of the great gifts I have received from God.” Teresa of Avila, The Book of My Life (1562)
The words Teresa writes in The Book of My Life are words that live in my heart, too: “May this writing be an offering of praise and glory to my Lord. May it help my spiritual guides to know me better and so to better support my spiritual development. May I find the strength now to give back even a fraction of the great gifts I have received from God.” Teresa wants to give back to God, and many of us respond in the same fashion. Her words resonate with us—the blessings vibrate across the ages—and we find encouragement through the reading.
While all this writing comes from Teresa’s original work, the translations of Life and The Interior Castle I am using come from Mirabai Starr. Starr has done an excellent job of giving voice to Teresa and writing in such a way that Teresa’s quickly written sixteenth-century Spanish becomes open and spontaneous twenty-first century English. Starr is true to the spirit of Teresa, and as we read Teresa’s words—or, more accurately, Starr’s words of Teresa’s words—we have much for which to be grateful...
A thousand thanks to these dear women and their words!
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