Claudia Mair Burney - God Alone Is Enough: A Spirited Journey with Teresa of Avila

Praise for

God Alone Is Enough

Reading God Alone Is Enough was an absolute joy I experienced it as the gift of two older, sassy, rib-tickling sistersone Teresa of Avila and the other Claudia of Burneywho sat their kid brother (me) up on the washing machine and said, Look, junior, this is what love is all about. You trust them because you believe they care for you, but moreover because they have that glorious foolishness in their eyes.

J OHN B LASE , author of
Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas

This is the kind of book that a serious Christian has to thank God for. It only illuminates and opens St. Teresa of Avila in a profound and intimate way. I cannot recommend this book too highly or, I suspect, even adequately. Read it and you will see what I mean.

P HYLLIS T ICKLE , author of The Divine Hours

A refreshing and engaging exploration with Teresa of Avila. Also, a true journey of soul into the heart of prayer.

V INITA H AMPTON W RIGHT , author of Dwelling Places

Ive been waiting for some time for the Ragamuffin Diva to write us a book about her own spiritual quest. And what she has delivered in God Alone Is Enough is beautifully written, winsome, and touching. Hers is a voice to which we all should listen. And the fact that she brings Teresa of Avila right into our own backyards makes it even better.

T ONY J ONES , author of many books, including The Teaching of the Twelve: Believing and Practicing the Primitive Christianity of the Ancient Didache Community

Claudia Mair Burney writes with courage and compassion, capturing the best of Teresa and offering it to her readers with clarity and humor. God Alone Is Enough is an invitation and a celebration. Expect to swoon, prepare to feast.

J ENNY S CHROEDEL , author of Naming the Child

I can hardly wait to give copies of this book to everyone I know. She does a beautiful job of showing us the humanity of someone weve long placed on a pedestal, while pointing us toward the trail blazed for us by Teresa of Avilas utter devotion to God. This is an absolute treasure of spiritual writing.

J ANELLE C. S CHNEIDER , author and spiritual director

God Alone Is Enough: A Spirited Journey with St. Teresa of Avila

2010 First Printing

Copyright 2010 by Claudia Mair Burney

ISBN: 978-1-55725-661-4

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from T HE M ESSAGE . Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scriptures marked ( RSV ) are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible Copyright 1946, 1952, 1971, by the Division of Christian Education, of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, used by permission.

The Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1645-52), Cappella Cornaro, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. Photograph by Marie-Lan Nguyen. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Burney, Claudia Mair, 1964
God alone is enough : a spirited journey with St. Teresa of Avila / Claudia Mair Burney.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-55725-661-4
1. Teresa, of Avila, Saint, 1515-1582. 2. Spiritual life--Catholic Church. 3. Spirituality--Catholic Church. I. Title.
BX4700.T4B88 2010
248.482--dc22 2010006552

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published by Paraclete Press
Brewster, Massachusetts
www.paracletepress.com

Printed in the United States of America

To Terry Behimer, my soul friend

I have found nothing that compares to the magnificent beauty of a soul, and its marvelous magnitude.
Teresa of Avila

Contents

Its silly to think that my words could be meaningful to anyone other than my friends, but if one person reads this and praises my Beloved a little more, God will be granting me a great favor. He knows Im not interested in anything else. If I manage to say something well, my friends understand that this doesnt come from me; there would be no foundation for it unless the

Lord gives it to me! If theyre wrong about this, it will be because theyre as ignorant as I am incapable. Only God in his mercy gives such things to us.

St. Teresa of Avila

Authors Note

Dont call me a saint. I dont want to be dismissed that easily.
Dorothy Day

W hen I was a little girl my mother bought me a silver Virgin Mary necklace. I was in love with the tiny Our Lady of Lourdes charm, but she was an anomaly in my otherwise saint-free childhood. As a teen I came to believe a saint was a deeply devout and very much alive person, like the old church mothers who sat near the altar in my congregation, crying out joyful or plaintive hallelujahs. If I was a good girl, and occasionally I was, I too was a saint.

By this time Id learned other spiritual traditions honored the godly dead who had led exemplary lives. The prefix St. preceded the names of these special people. Unfortunately, Id been taught not to trust those sacred traditions, so I missed out on the immense treasures the officially canonized had to offer.

I understand the kind of skittishness some people will bring to this book. Not everyone grew up regaled by inspiringand sometimes gruesomesaint stories. There were no icons on their walls opening windows to heaven. No plaster statue of the Virgin Mary stood like a serene sentry on their chest of drawers. There wasnt even a blissful, concrete St. Francis of Assisicomplete with birds perched on his shoulderspoised in their garden. To them the esteemed dead in Christ are gone for heavens sake. Literally. Theyre gone for heavens sake, and accoutrements of devotion to saints such as medals, holy cards, and candles are at best extrabiblical, or downright superstitious. Yet other readers who pick up this book will love the saints, and find those same things to be sacramentals, visible signs that draw them closer to God, and sanctify all areas of their lives.

We wont get into any of that here.

Instead, Id like for the saint-skeptical among us to reimagine what a saint is, and for our purposes here, consider those dear souls to be friends in high places. Think of this book as an invitation for you to get to know a reliable ally, St. Teresa of Avila, who has already walked, ran, and sometimes inched, baby step by baby step, into the arms of God. A journey is so much more enjoyable when you share it with someone whos already traveled the road youre on, and St. Teresa is much safer than a person you could meet online or speed-dating.

Ive gently paraphrased and condensed her words for this trip, but I encourage you to pick up her books and read them for yourself. Theyre as remarkable as she is. Let this book simply serve as a disarming introduction to her teachings.

With that said, lets meet our illustrious guide for this pilgrimage. Were going to have a grand adventure.

An Opening Prayer
by St. Teresa of Avila

From silly devotions and sullen saints
deliver me, O Lord! Amen.

Introduction

My Invitation and Yours

W inter always calls on me in the middle of August. Its just a whisper of the season, an unmistakable chill slashing like a knife through the heat, but its cold breath never fails to startle me. Despite my ardent desire to remain in denial, I brace myself. Soon the temperature will drop. The leaves will brown on their solemn branches and my mood will nosedive. Before the end of November Ill be trapped in an inner terrain akin to Dantes third circle of hell, where the poor souls are forced to lie in a loathsome slush made of black snow, glacial rain, and battering hail.