Teresa of Avila warns us about the various “snakes and lizards” that infiltrate the inner layers of the human soul. These unwelcome guests—attachments, resentments, worries, obsessions, etc.—seep in during the preconscious phase of our spiritual journeys without us even knowing it. Yet, it is up to us to take responsibility for our lives and get them out! Most of us go through the gallant knight period where we try to fight them out, but we get stuck in endless battles that conform us to the very chaos which keeps us away from the inner room where we are called to experience communion with the Lord. We gradually learn that the solution to the conundrum is to simply listen for the voice of Jesus and move toward it. While the snakes and lizards love to wallow in the tangled pool of our fear and reactionary behavior, they are no match for the truth, which does not play games, which nothing on earth bears proportion to, and in the light of which the meaning of all things is plain. If we are willing to take a risk on the truth and live in the truth, the snakes and lizards will fade into the darkness and provide us with the perfect backdrop for the communion for which our hearts long. St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us!
