Minor Works of St Teresa of Avila

Saint Teresa of Avila wrote not for scholars but for souls hungering for God, and these shorter works reveal her spiritual genius in its most intimate form. The Exclamations are piercing prayers, almost gasping in their urgency, as if she cannot get close enough to the divine. The Meditations offer guidance for nuns (and now any serious reader) on the mechanics of prayer, but don't mistake 'minor' for 'lesser' - these are the writings of a woman who literally collapsed in ecstasis, who described prayer as 'the interplay of love' between the soul and its maker. Written in 16th-century Spain, they carry the fire of the Catholic Reformation and the particular grace of a woman who refused to be silent about her encounters with the divine. She is one of only four women named a Doctor of the Church, and these pages show why: her clarity is ruthless, her love is relentless, her language is accessible yet inexhaustible. For anyone who has ever tried to pray and found it harder than it looks, Teresa meets you exactly where you are.