Teresa of Avila Quotes About Prayer

Quotes about: Prayer

• For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God.

  Teresa of Avila

  Friendship, Prayer, Catholic

  Saint Teresa (of Avila), James M. Houston (2005). “Life of Prayer”, p.85, David C Cook

• Prayer is an act of love. Words are not needed.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Acts Of Love, Needed

• Prayer is an act of love; words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love.

  Teresa of Avila

  Love, Prayer, Sickness

• There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Humility, Catholic

  Attributed in "The Last Word: A Treasury of Women's Quotes" by Carolyn Warner, 1992.

• Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us. The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Mean, Love Is

• Before prayer, endeavour to realise Whose Presence you are approaching and to Whom you are about to speak, keeping in mind Whom you are addressing. If our lives were a thousand times as long as they are we should never fully understand how we ought to behave towards God, before Whom the very Angels tremble, Who can do all He wills, and with Whom to wish is to accomplish.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Angel, Saint

  "The Way of Perfection".

• One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Thinking, Offering

• Mental prayer is nothing else but being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing in secret with Him.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Secret, Saint

  St Teresa of Avila (2008). “The Life of St. Teresa of Avila”, p.51, Cosimo, Inc.

• Souls who do not practice prayer are like people whose limbs are paralyzed.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Practice, People

  Teresa Of Avila (2004). “The Interior Castle”, p.29, Penguin

• It is of great importance, when we begin to practise prayer, not to let ourselves be frightened by our own thoughts.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Meditation, Frightened

  Saint Teresa (of Avila) (1972). “General introduction. Life. Spiritual relations”

• How often I failed in my duty to God, because I was not leaning on the strong pillar of prayer.

  Teresa of Avila

  Strong, Prayer, Saint

  St Teresa of Avila (2008). “The Life of St. Teresa of Avila”, p.49, Cosimo, Inc.

• Much more is accomplished by a single word of the Our Father said, now and then, from our heart, than by the whole prayer repeated many times in haste and without attention.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Father, Heart

• Don't imagine that, if you had a great deal of time, you would spend more of it in prayer. Get rid of that idea; it is no hindrance to prayer to spend your time well.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Ideas, Saint

  Saint Teresa (of Avila) (1966). “The Letters of Saint Teresa of Jesus”

• Jacob did not cease to be a Saint because he had to attend to his flocks.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Saint, Flocks

  Saint Teresa (of Avila) (1966). “The Letters of Saint Teresa of Jesus”

• Anyone who has the habit of speaking before God's majesty as if he were speaking to a slave, careless about how he is speaking, and saying whatever comes into his head and whatever he's learned from saying prayers at other times, in my opinion is not praying. Please, God, may no Christian pray in this way.

  Teresa of Avila

  Christian, Prayer, Saint

• I would never want any prayer that would not make the virtues grow within me.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Saint, Want

  Saint Teresa (of Avila) (1966). “The Letters of Saint Teresa of Jesus”

• Let him never cease from prayer who has once begun it, be his life ever so wicked; for prayer is the way to amend it, and without prayer such amendment will be much more difficult.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Wicked, Saint

  St Teresa of Avila (2006). “The Life of St. Teresa of Avila”, p.51, Cosimo, Inc.

• You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.

  Teresa of Avila

  God, Prayer, Saint

• Vocal prayer . . . must be accompanied by reflection. A prayer in which a person is not aware of Whom he is speaking to, what he is asking, who it is who is asking and of Whom, I don't call prayer-however much the lips may move.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Moving, Reflection

  Saint Teresa (of Avila), Kieran Kavanaugh, Otilio Rodriguez, Stephen J. Connor (1997). “The Wisdom of Teresa of Avila: Selections from the Interior Castle”, p.33, Paulist Press

• The most potent and acceptable prayer is the prayer that leaves the best effects. I don't mean it must immediately fill the soul with desire . . . The best effects are those that are followed up by actions-when the soul not only desires the honor of God, but really strives for it.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Mean, Soul

• Prayer is a friendly conversation with the One we know loves us.

  Teresa of Avila

  Spiritual, Prayer, Friendly

• We are always in the presence of God, yet it seems to me that those who pray are in His presence in a very different sense.

  Teresa of Avila

  Prayer, Different, Praying

  St Teresa of Avila (2008). “The Life of St. Teresa of Avila”, p.49, Cosimo, Inc.

• In order to profit from this path [of prayer] and ascend to the dwelling places we desire, the important thing is not to think much but to love much; and so, do that which best stirs you to love.

  Teresa of Avila

  Love, Prayer, Thinking

  Teresa of Avila (2011). “The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, vol 2”, p.146, ICS Publications

• His Majesty knows best what is suitable for us. There's no need for us to be advising Him about what He should give us, for He can rightly tell us that we don't know what we're asking for (cf. Mt. 20:22). The whole aim of any person who is beginning prayer ? and don't forget this, because it's very important ? should be that he work and prepare himself with determination and every possible effort to bring his will into conformity with God's will.

  Teresa of Avila

  Christian, Determination, Prayer

• The life of prayer is just love to God, and the custom of being ever with Him.

  Teresa of Avila

  Christian, Prayer, Religion

  Saint Teresa (of Avila) (1897). “Santa Teresa: An Appreciation, with Some of the Best Passages of the Saint's Writings Selected”

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