Humanity of Christ in the Spirituality of St. Teresa of Avila: Relevance for Today
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Date
2001-02
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
St. Teresa of Avila, the 16t1 century Carmelite mystic and Doctor of
the Church, taught that prayer is "nothing else than an intimate sharing
between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who
we known loves us." This became the foundation of her spirituality. For
Teresa, the relationship with God did not lie in the abstract or sublime
realm. It had to be real. Thus, "the abstract distant God was gradually
'concretized' for her in Jesus."2 Hence, the humanity of Christ plays a
central role in the spirituality of St. Teresa of Avila. The humanity of Christ
is by no means restricted to the spirituality of the religious family of St.
Teresa, the Discalced Carmelites. It does hold a message for all Christians,
and in a special way for the African.
The aim of this essay is to shed some light on the role of the humanity
of Christ in the spirituality of St. Teresa of Avila, underscore its importance
in the spiritual life of Christians, and then present some applications within
the African socio-cultural milieu. It is worthy of note that several theologians
have done a lot of work in the area of contextualizing Christ°logy in different
African cultures. I shall draw on some of their materials in this area.
I have chosen to focus my reflections on Africa as a whole, and not
any particular culture for some reasons. Firstly, no previous work has been
done in relating any aspect of Carmelite Spirituality to any of the local cultures in Nigeria (my country of origin). An in-depth research in this area
is certainly beyond the scope of this work. It is true that presently in Africa,
most of the countries are going through lots of socio-economic problems that
have continued to take their toll on the people unabated. Several of the
problems are common to most African countries: ethnic conflicts, wars,
poverty, starvation, unemployment, political instability, low per capita
income, etc. Thus, the choice of Africa as the context is intended to give a
panoramic picture of what obtains in the different countries.
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Keywords
Humanity, Christ, Spirituality