Arriving in Avila, encountering Teresa

We set off from Oxford at what felt like the crack of dawn. Once in Gatwick the pilgrims that came from other parts of the UK joined us and we gradually got to know each other. Somehow the hours went by and I barely noticed them. Somehow half the day had gone by and though the early rise did make me sleepy I didn't feel the type of exhaustion I can sometimes feel when travelling. Expectation, curiosity, and good company contributed to this. 

We are staying in the birth house of St Teresa, the home of the oldest congregation of discalced friars. The Monastery church is built on top of Teresa's paternal home, our rooms overlook the courtyard. 

The gospel for today was from Luke 18:9-14; it spoke of how the tax collector and not the pharisee went home justified. Fr Matt led us in a meditation of this passage bringing our attention of how at the root of it the parable was speaking of prayer and maturity in the faith. Both the publican and the pharisee came to God, seeking a relationship with Him, but each with a very different type of prayer, which reveal where each one was in their faith. The publican, though in outer appearance seemed the weaker of the two was in fact the one who's prayer revealed a mature faith. The pharisee's prayer revealed his still had much to learn and grow. St Teresa reminds us that a mature faith is one rooted in self-knowledge and it is self-knowledge, which allows the type of mature prayer that we witness in the publican. St Teresa paints a very clear picture of how self-knowledge is key to prayer and a mature faith. She uses the image of bread. In Spain all meals are accompanied by bread and it is common to hear that a meal without bread is not a meal. So is self-knowlege is the bread of the spiritual life, which can only come from our relationship with God and is key to a mature faith.

After mass Fr Matt spoke of how for St Teresa said that once a mass had been celebrated together, those that had shared in it became a new community. Evening prayer followed and then we had dinner. As we sat first in the chapel and then around the dinner table with as new friends I understood what she meant. We were receiving the sustenance of life, spiritual and physical together. We had shared in the mystical encounter that is the Mass and that had bound us to each other in a way that only God can. So ended our first day, in expectation of what is come, aware that we are travelling together through whatever the Holy Spirit has prepared for us and that makes this evening particularly sweet.