There is no affliction, trial, or labor difficult to endure, when we consider the torments and sufferings which Our Lord Jesus Christ endured for us.
Teresa Of AvilaRead
How is it that we do not die of love in seeing that God Himself could do no more than shed His divine blood for us drop by drop? When as man He was preparing for death, He made Himself our food in order to give us life. God becomes food, bread for his creatures. Is this not enough to make us die of love?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the profound love of God, illustrating how His sacrifice demonstrates the depths of divine love for humanity.
Teresa of Avila emphasizes the extraordinary nature of God's love as exemplified in His self-sacrifice. By willingly shedding His blood and becoming our sustenance, God provides not just physical life but a deeper spiritual nourishment, inviting us to respond with overwhelming love and devotion in return. This intimate relationship illustrated through God's self-giving nature reveals the transformative power of love that is meant to inspire us to love in return.
Themes
LoveSacrificeDivineNourishmentFaithDevotion
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a sermon to illustrate the depth of God's love and sacrifice.
More from Teresa Of Avila
All quotes →How often I failed in my duty to God, because I was not leaning on the strong pillar of prayer.
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What friends or kindred can be so close and intimate as the powers of our soul, which, whether we will or no, must ever bear us company?
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To converse with You, O King of glory, no third person is needed, You are always ready in the Sacrament of the Altar to give audience to all. All who desire You always find You there, and converse with You face to face
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If we do not use great care to mortify our will, there are many things which can deprives us of the holy freedom of spirit that we are seeking in order to fly more freely to our Creator, without always being bogged down with the clay of this earth. Moreover, there can never be solid virtue in a soul that is attached to its own will.
Teresa Of AvilaRead
I say the same of humility and of all the virtues; the wiles of the devil are terrible, he will run a thousand times round hell if by so doing he can make us believe that we have a single virtue which we have not. And he is right, for such ideas are very harmful, and such imaginary virtues, when they come from this source, are never unaccompanied by vainglory; just as those which God gives are free both from this and from pride.
Teresa Of AvilaRead
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