Nada de Turbe (Let nothing disturb you)

A re-post (with a little bit extra) in Honor of the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila.


The Ecstasy of St. Teresa - Bernini

I have been looking for something. A piece that is missing from my life. I cannot tell you what it is or where I might find it. I suspect, though, that many people feel the same way that I do. They fill their days and nights with pursuits of things that will make them feel better or feel less pain or more pleasure and just to feel whole, But no matter how many drinks or pills, things bought on shopping trips or fancy cars, Mocha Mint Frappucinos or strawberry cheesecakes, pleasures of the flesh or lost pounds in hopes of regaining some semblance of one's youth...there will always be a missing piece.

The truth is inescapable. We are not whole without God. All the missing pieces are to be found within him...and we will never find them anywhere else.

I am reminded sharply of St. Teresa's Bookmark. St. Teresa was a Spanish Carmelite nun from the city of Avila. For those of you who know Renaissance music, her time in Avila coincides with the time that Tomas Luis de Victoria was composing in the Avila Cathedral. It is suspected that she suffered from migraine headaches and also from some sort of mental illness (probably bi-polar disorder). St. Teresa's Bookmark was found scribbled on a margin in a book that she kept.

Nada te turbe;
Let nothing disturb you.
Nada te espante;
Nothing frighten you.
Todo se pasa;
All things are passing.
Dios no se muda,
God never changes.
La pacïencia todo lo alcanza.
Patience obtains all things.
Quien a Dios tiene, nada le falta.
Nothing is wanting to him who possesses God.
Solo Dios basta.
God alone suffices.

Yes...I think that says it best. I could write for hours and never say it so well.