Dear Bean, Carolyn and others,
I hear you...not taking anything personal -- your views are respected.
For me, I am not attached to the material in that I could care less about fashion, cars, furniture, stuff, status, material possessions. That stuff is NOT my passion, although it used to be and I used to care very much about material comforts. Somewhere along the lines I gave that stuff up as I realized that it did not fill the void, nor did it ever really make me that happy. I love simplicity, it allows for me to enjoy nature more and to love and live more fully -- The less I have the more I have.
If anyone was to ask me who my favorite hero in life is I would say, besides Christ, St. Teresa of Avila.
It is my choice to be single, I never want to marry. Christ is my beloved there is not a man that can hold a candle to the way He fires my heart with love for Him. That is not to say that there are not men who are wonderful and very Christlike, it is just to say for me that I am happy and know who my spouse is.
Then there is my desire to grow....
Lord knows how much I need it. Just this morning I awoke and prayed a full rosary. Then I sat on the long bus to work and meditated on my lack of mercy and lack of compassion as well as my righteous indignation. I prayed the litany of humility 4 times asking God to take away my desire to be esteemed, loved, extolled, consulted etc., furthing asking God to deliver me from fear of rejection, slander, and selfishness. I prayed several times that God would make everyone in the world more loved and better than me and that others would be preferred to me over all things in all situations. By the time I finished this mediation I was feeling a state of peace that was wonderful yet fully grounded in reality.
My only desire is to grow spiritually, if that means suffering for the sake of righteousness, then OK. It means losing all so that I can gain heaven, well then OK.
Not all are called to this "way" this is my path...My path is a path that desires to love God above all else (even though I tend to still love myself above all else), if you only knew what God has saved me from and how He has helped me time and time again, then my love for God would not be an issue for anyone.
There is a perfect mark that we are supposed to hit, anything less is called sin which is what separates man from God....Lord knows I gotta ways to go to being perfect (understatement)....but, at least I got something to shoot for.
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The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila (Catholic Saint)
Although St. Teresa of Avila lived and wrote almost four centuries ago, her superbly inspiring classic on the practice of prayer is as fresh and meaningful today as it was when she first wrote it. The Way of Perfection is a practical guide to prayer setting forth the Saint's counsels and directives for the attainment of spiritual perfection.
Through the entire work there runs the author's desire to teach a deep and lasting love of prayer beginning with a treatment of the three essentials of the prayerfully life --
fraternal love, detachment from created things, and true humility. St. Teresa's counsels on these are not only the fruit of lofty mental speculation, but of mature practical experience. The next section develops these ideas and brings the reader directly to the subjects of prayer and contemplation. St. Teresa then gives various maxims for the practice of prayer and leads up to the topic which occupies the balance of the book -- a detailed and inspiring commentary on the Lord's Prayer.
Of all St. Teresa's writings, The Way of Perfection is the most easily understood. Although it is a work of sublime mystical beauty, its outstanding hallmark is its simplicity which instructs, exhorts, and inspires all those who are seeking a more perfect way of life.
"I shall speak of nothing of which I have no experience, either in my own life or in observation of others, or which the Lord has not taught me in prayer." -- Prologue
Almost four centuries have passed since St. Teresa of Avila, the great Spanish mystic and reformer, committed to writing the experiences which brought her to the highest degree of sanctity. Her search for, and eventual union with, God have been recorded in her own world-renowned writings -- the autobiographical Life, the celebrated masterpiece Interior Castle and The Way of Perfection -- as well as in the other numerous works which flowed from her pen while she lived.
The Way of Perfection was written during the height of controversy which raged over the reforms St. Teresa enacted within the Carmelite Order. Its specific purpose was to serve as a guide in the practice of prayer and it sets forth her counsels and directives for the attainment of
spiritual perfection through prayer. It was composed by St. Teresa at the express command of her superiors, and was written during the late hours in order not to interfere with the day's already crowded schedule.
Without doubt it fulfills the tribute given all St. Teresa's works by E. Allison Peers, the outstanding authority on her writings: "Work of a sublime beauty bearing the ineffaceable hallmark of genius."
http://www.franciscan-sfo.org/Avila/WofP1.htm
