Novena St. Teresa of Avila. Day 8
Ahava and Blessings
Today we celebrate day 8 of our Novena to St Teresa of Avila.
For a long time St Teresa of Avila was very worried about what people thought of her. Not only did she constantly have to prove to the church that she was not Evil, she also had to constantly be aware of the Inquisition Jury who wanted to get rid of her. She was a danger as she was an Awakener. She was a MAGDALENE.
Once she finally integrated these raptures into her life she started to balance her energy and she could actually control herself in public and surrender to her beloved in the privacy of the Convent. She wrote that she finally created a balance between the physical experience and the ecstatic experience. This balance led her to stop worrying about the threat of the Inquisition and even what people thought of her. Many Men of the Church wrote horrible things about her and criticized her, specially when she wrote and taught in her ORDER, (what I see as a Priestesshood), that no intermediaries were needed for the Soul to achieve Union with the Abwoon. She taught that all one had to do was go within and the Beloved is always there, in the Interior Castle, in the Bridal Chamber, waiting for us to receive Him-Her. She said that at the core of the Human Soul was the indwelling place of the Divine and the seed of all creation. This is POWER. This is SOVEREIGNTY.
Day 8 of Novena
Say out loud:
St. Teresa, I ask that you open the doors to the interior castle of my heart so I too may begin the journey into the power of prayer. I ask that you grant me this gift. Make me a channel of Creativity and Inspiration.
Read the following written by St. Teresa of Ávila. Please note that GOD as she calls the Divine has no Gender, I am just being faithful to the translation.
I used to be tormented by this turmoil of thoughts. . . . I [didn’t] understand why, if the mind is one of the faculties of the soul, it is sometimes so restless. Thoughts fly around so fast that only God can anchor them, and when he does, we feel almost as if we were disconnected from the body. It was driving me crazy to see the faculties of my soul calmly absorbed in remembrance of God while my thoughts, on the other hand, were wildly agitated. . . . Can we stop the stars from hurtling across the heavens? No. We cannot stop the mind, either. Off it goes, and then we send all the faculties after it. We end up blaming ourselves for wasting precious time in the presence of God. But it could be that the soul is fully present with him in the innermost chamber while the mind stays on the periphery of the palace, grappling with a thousand wild and dangerous creatures and gaining real merit from this kind of struggle. — Teresa of Avila, from The Interior Castle
These words are so powerful as St Teresa speaks of the power of our thoughts as entities that meet dangerous creatures that give merit to these thoughts. I see these thoughts as our repetitive patterns, the self sabotage, the karmic vibrations we carry from many lifetimes, unloving words of those who we have allowed to enter into our subconscious. Yes, these are the subconscious patterns that take over the EGO. The way to release these is to go within, go into the Chamber, go into the heart, go into the Soul, and there, deeply within, we find our Beloved. This is the place of VICTORY.
On this 8th day of the Novena, let us reflect on the following:
1. Throughout this day when one of our Demons appears as a thought Vibration, stop and go into the breath. Take a few minutes to breath while you put your hands on your heart. Just stop for as long as it takes. The VICTORY takes place with the Light of the Soul in the arms of the Beloved. These words by St. Teresa will help you:
Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing upset you.
Everything changes.
God alone is unchanging.
With patience all things are possible.
Whoever has God lacks nothing.
God alone is enough. — Teresa of Avila 2. Again, go within, deep within the Soul and know that here is the Beloved, here is the truth. Today start the practice of believing in yourself. Believe in your gifts and your deliverance. Just be you in your Light. Don´t worry about how people may judge you. When you are finished reflecting, chant and do the Movement Prayer in the video included below. AHAVA
RACHAMIN
CHESED
SHALOM
INANA NOOHRA DI ALMA
Ahava,
Ana Otero
