“When I pray, I pray; and when I eat, I eat!” This is apparently how 16th century Carmelite mystic Teresa of Avila responded when some sisters found her in the convent kitchen devouring partridge one day. She was a woman who was keenly aware of but not ashamed of her human desires. After her interior conversion, around the age of forty, she learned that in order to avoid the extremes of indulgence and renunciation, she simply needed to befriend those desires. In her famous text, The Interior Castle, she explains that when the various chambers of our souls – memory, intellect, will, etc. – have been cleared of lizards and snakes and any other pests that cause us spiritual confusion, we can relax and proceed progressively, room by room, to our center, where we meet the one who is the wellspring of all desire, the Beloved, in whose love all of our desires make sense and in whom we find peace. Let’s be Avilitas this day by resisting the temptation to repress. Let’s take a risk on having desires. Let’s rejoice when we hear the Lord saying “I love you” through the simple act of enjoying a plate of partridge. Ave Crux, Spes Unica.
