Cathedral in Avila: Feast Day of St. Teresa of Avila

As I crane my neck, attempting to fully take in the history and beauty around me, the light dances off the stones of Avila’s Cathedral to showcase the gorgeous threads of dusty pink riddling the interior of the church. The older Romanesque sections of the cathedral utilized this rosy sandstone while the later Gothic additions used a pure white stone in their construction. The blend of rose and bright white is striking, a visual reminder of the history within these walls. However, my eyes continue to be drawn to the threads of pink. These ancient stones who have spent centuries supporting and beautifying the Church – much like the woman who is honored within their halls as a mystic, reformer, and Doctor of the Church: Teresa of Avila. 

Teresa was woman who enjoyed luxury and laughter but who also fought for reform in the church, who chose to eschew the pleasures of the world in favor of mysticism and theological pursuits. A wise woman whose mind continues to influence the church today, but who also understood and taught the benefits of the mundane aspects of life and love, such as doing the dishes. A woman of complexity, who lived out her femininity in a time when being a woman was hard, when being a woman who enacted change was near impossible. 

Teresa knew that there was truth and beauty not only around her, but within her. She taught others to seek the wonder of God within their own hearts- within their own interior castles. Teresa taught us about the dwelling places of the heart, and the journey ever closer to God that we embark upon to discover more about our Creator. 

When I saw these stones, these pillars and buttresses that have supported the church throughout centuries, I saw in them the beauty of womanhood. Not only in the delicate threads of rose, but through the steadfast nature of the stone, the playful dance of the stained-glass windows’ light, the safety and peace that permeated the cathedral. 

Both then and now, women bolster the church through their gifts. Women serve through the everyday mundane tasks of daily life, but we also serve through sharing our fire to reform, trusting ourselves and the wisdom within us, and teaching the journey of reflection and contemplation. Teresa was a woman who did not limit herself in her love and her action – she knew that the church needed all that women are, in all our multitudes. 

Like the stones of the Cathedral in her hometown, the truth of the Church’s need for women’s voices holds strong and true. May we, like Teresa of Avila, be willing to explore our interior castles to find God within us, trust ourselves and the wisdom God grants us, and continue to reform and beautify the Church through our contemplation and action. 

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Alli is a freelance writer, a mother of two spunky girls, and a recent graduate of Fuller Seminary where she achieved her master’s in theology. Cherishing a love of everyday spirituality, women in scripture, and the healing power of connection through words, she seeks to craft essays and prayers that engage and uplift. You can follow her work through subscribing to her Substack The Pondering Heart.