Quote of the day, 30 March: St. Teresa of Avila

On Palm Sunday after Communion, my faculties remained in such deep suspension that I couldn’t even swallow the host; and, holding it in my mouth, after I returned a little to myself, it truly seemed to me that my entire mouth was filled with blood.

I felt that my face and all the rest of me were also covered with this blood, as though the Lord had just then finished shedding it. It seemed to me warm, and the sweetness I then experienced was extraordinary.

The Lord said to me: “Daughter, I want my blood to be beneficial to you, and don’t be afraid that My mercy will fail you. I shed it with many sufferings, and you enjoy it with the great delight you are aware of; I repay you well for the banquet you prepare me this day.”

He said this because for more than thirty years I have received Communion on this day when possible and have striven to prepare my soul to give hospitality to the Lord.

For it seemed to me cruel of the Jews, after having given Him such an enthusiastic reception, to have let Him go so far away to eat; and I imagined I invited Him to remain with me, which was very bad lodging for Him, as I now see.

Thus I made some foolish reflections. The Lord must have accepted them because this is one of the visions I hold to be very certain, and so the Communion was beneficial to me.

Saint Teresa of Avila

Spiritual Testimonies, 22 (excerpt)
Probably Avila, 30 March 1572

The Discalced Carmelite blog Teresa, de la rueca a la pluma publishes this curious fact:

On 17 February 1883, the left hand was stolen from sculptor Gregorio Fernandez’s statue of St. Teresa, which is kept in the Convent of La Santa [in Avila]. The thieves detached this part of the body from the sculpture to get the rings and jewelry she was wearing—pieces that later turned out to have no great economic value. This event caused a national effort to raise enough money to replace the stolen hand. It was Saint Henry de Ossó who launched a fundraising campaign to meet this goal by replacing the missing hand with one made of gold. He was successful [The golden hand has since been replaced, not to be confused with the golden reliquary in Ronda that contains the hand of St. Teresa].

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.