For discussing traditional Christian literature.Today is Saint Theresa of Ávila's feast day. In honor, here is one of her poems:Christ has no body now on earth but yours,no hands but yours,no feet but yours,Yours are the eyes through which is to look outChrist’s compassion to the world;Yours are the feet with which he is to go aboutdoing good;Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now.---I really like her style. I find her more clear than Saint John of the Cross on many issues and The Interior Castle is a fantastic work. Interestingly, at the outset of the Fourth Mansion she says:>God, Who is so great, so wise, has doubtless hidden secrets in all things He created, which we should greatly benefit by knowing, as those say who understand such matters. Indeed, I believe that in each smallest creature He has made, though it be but a tiny ant, there are more wonders than can be comprehended.I really like this. The same idea shows up in the Patristics, Aquinas, etc., but it's a nice reminder when we are so often bombarded with the delusion of a "self-subsistent nature" made up from building blocks that exist of themselves, exploding into being "for no reason at all."Also, I'm planning to re-read the Commedia at a canto a day so as to finish on Easter for 2026. I roughly did this for 2025, so maybe it can be a tradition. I tried Paradise Lost to scratch the itch, but it isn't the same.
I've always liked her short contemplative prayer:Let nothing disturb youLet nothing frighten youAll things are passing awayGod never changesPatience obtains all thingsWhoever has God lacks nothingGod alone sufficesSometimes I'll kneel in silence and pray it over and over. A strange, tranquil, sublime feeling almost always comes over me when I pray it on repeat. Sometimes it moves me to tears, too. It functions almost like a mantra in meditation, I suppose; though I've never meditated so I wouldn't know.
what are the best fewness of the saved works
Today is the feast day of Saint Hedwig of Bavaria, and in the Eastern Rite Holy Martyr Longinus The Centurion Who Stood At The Foot Of The Cross, the Holy Martyr Eloff, and St. Gall, Monk.
Fun fact: for all my life I've had at home part of this collection of great female writers. Most of it is what we call here "romanceslop" (I'm not saying that it does not hold any value, I'm just pointing it out) by either Spanish authors or translated English authors, but then you have an outlier, "Castillo Interior", by Saint Theresa which is about casually merging with God.
