Teresa was born during a very difficult time in the Church. Christians did not always want to live the way Jesus taught; they wanted to live easy lives. Teresa’s father was a very strict man and he wanted Teresa to live a holy life. When Teresa was young, she tried to live this holy life and, one day, she convinced her brother to walk with her to the land of the Moors, where they didn’t believe in God, so that they could become martyrs. Their uncle saw them walking and brought them back to their parents.
When Teresa became a teenager, she got distracted by boys and parties and being beautiful; she put all these things before God. Her father was afraid that Teresa was turning away from God and so he sent her to a Carmelite convent. Unfortunately the convent was not being run very well and, instead of spending time in prayer, the nuns visited, spent time with men, and tried to look beautiful. Everyone liked Teresa and she spent her time with her friends and not in prayer. This type of life did not help Teresa get closer to Jesus. She had a very hard time concentrating on prayer and didn’t feel close to Jesus at all.
Her life changed when she got very sick and almost died. She became paralyzed for 3 years and, during this time, she made up lots of excuses not to pray. She thought she was too much of a sinner to spend time with God. When she was 41, a priest told her she had to start praying again. As Teresa struggled with spending time in prayer, she learned that she didn’t have to worry about what to think and say as she prayed. All that mattered was she was taking time to be with Jesus who loved her, and all she had to do was love Him back. The more she prayed, the more God blessed her prayer time, giving her visions, making her float in the air (levitate), warming her up so much that she felt like she was melting into the love of God. She didn’t think she deserved these blessings and asked God to stop, but He didn’t because He knew that the more He blessed her, the harder it would be for her to sin. God asked her to start a new convent where the sisters spent their time in prayer and chose to be poor. She did what God asked, even though many people were angry at her for doing it, and these convents of St. Joseph spread throughout Europe. She wrote a book about her life and, because the book teaches us so much about praying and getting closer to God, the Church made her a Doctor of the Church.
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