st terese of Avila

the important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love

i have recently been thrown into a world of saints and sinners, love and redemption, history and herstory...

and one of the threads that have been given to me, that i am beginning to weave with is that of this Spanish nun.

Turns out she was outspoken, stroppy, difficult, visionary, and confounding... and she said things, like the quote above which just make my heart sing....

apparently she used to levitate (but disliked the showiness of it so got other nuns to sit on her)

she challenged the male dominated church

saw past the divisions that gender created in her day

and believed in the power of love

and the gift of love that she has given me with this statement is profound

i know when i paint and make jewellery i am filled with fire

i know that when i come back into my daily life, from this time i am calmer, more balanced, more able to give...but justifying that to my strong training as a martyr is difficult...

i hear echos of selfish and thoughtless and.....

but when i listen to St Terese i hear her nodding at my heart and telling me the fire is right...

just listen to love - and then act....