15 Days of Prayer with Saint Teresa of Avila
Jean Abiven
Victoria Hébert (Translator)
Denis Sabourin (Translator)
Last year I stumbled upon a different volume in this series, 15 Days of Prayer with Saint Pier Giorgio Frassati by Père Charles Desjobert, OP, and really enjoyed it. I did some research on the series and this was the sixteenth volume I decided to work through. In my research to date there have been at least 40 volumes in this series. Many written in French and then translated, including this volume, this book was first published in English in 2000, the first French edition was 1996. Then in 2010 the series were rebranded, this is one of only a handful with digital copies currently available.
I believe as of the writing of this review there have been 40 volumes in the series in English; the earliest I found was from 1996 through to a volume which was published in 2025. Only about a dozen seem to be in print currently and of those only a handful appears to have eBooks. With my dual form of dyslexia this is disappointing. I greatly prefer eBooks so I can change the font, and the colour of font and page to make reading easier. I have added all the eBook editions I could find to my wish list. About the Series we are informed:
“15 Days of Prayer Series
On a journey, it’s good to have a guide. Even great saints took spiritual directors or confessors with them on their itineraries toward sanctity. Now you can be guided by the most influential spiritual figures of all time. The 15 Days of Prayer series introduces their deepest and most personal thoughts.
This popular series is perfect if you are looking for a gift, or if you want to be introduced to a particular guide and his or her spirituality. Each volume contains:
• A brief biography of the saint or spiritual leader
• A guide to creating a format for prayer or retreat
• Fifteen meditation sessions with reflection guides”
The description of this specific volume states:
“As spiritual guide and director, Teresa of Avila placed prayer at the center of the relationship between the human person and God. She is best known for her mysticism, but this volume presents the many other kinds of prayer that sustain us over the course of our lives. She places steadfast trust in God as the cornerstone of a holy life, but insists upon intellectual engagement and good judgment, objectives this 15-day journey will help readers achieve. Teresa of Avila is a faithful mentor for anyone seeking a spiritual education.
Saint Teresa of Avila, a 16th-century Carmelite nun and Doctor of the Church, withstood tremendous opposition to revive the primitive monastic rule and conditions of poverty, hardship and solitude for religious life. With Saint John of the Cross, Teresa became an influential spiritual director, leaving a legacy of classic writings that include The Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle, her most complete statement on prayer and contemplation.”
On the back of the physical book we are informed:
“Follow in the footsteps of Saint Teresa of Avila
Saint Teresa of Avila, a 16th-century Carmelite nun and Doctor of the Church, was a courageous reformer who withstood tremendous opposition to revive the primitive monastic rule and conditions of poverty, hardship, and solitude for religious. With Saint John of the Cross, Teresa became an influential spiritual director, and left for posterity a series of classic writings, including The Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle, her fullest statement on prayer and contemplation.
Pray without ceasing
Saint Teresa, as spiritual guide and director, places prayer at the center of our relationship with God. She recognizes the different kinds of prayer that may sustain us over the course of our lives, not only the mystical prayer for which she is best known. In addition to steadfast trust in God, Teresa insists upon intellectual engagement and good judgment as cornerstones of the holy life, objectives this 15-day journey will help you achieve. Saint Teresa of Avila will be a faithful mentor in your spiritual education.”
About the author we are informed:
“Jean Abiven was born in Brest and entered the Carmelite order in 1977. He is a devoted student of Carmelite spirituality, especially through courses at the Catholic Institute of Toulouse, and is particularly attached to the contributions of Saint Teresa of Avila.”
The chapters in this volume are:
How to Use This Book
A Brief Chronology of Saint Teresa’s Life
Abbreviations Used in This Book
Introduction
1. The Business of Friendship
2. I Am Yours
3. Thrown Into Hell
4. Devoted to the Glorious Mary Magdalene
6. After Seeing the Lord’s Great Beauty
7. Converse Not With Men, But With Angels
8. I Insist on Three Things
9. Resolute Determination
10. The Two Troughs
11. The Silkworm
12. Martha and Mary Magdalene
13. Harm Done to the Kingdom of France
14. The Lord Walks Among the Pots and Pans
15. My Soul Is Serene and at Peace
Bibliography
I highlighted a few of passages while reading this volume some of them are:
“She was a woman who would not only leave her mark in her native country, but also on the religious world by becoming the first woman to be raised to the level of Doctor of the Catholic Church.”
“You are going to spend fifteen days, dear reader friend, in the company of Teresa of Ávila; or, more precisely, you will spend fifteen days in the company of the Lord with Teresa’s help.”
“The titles for each day are borrowed from Teresa’s own writings. They could make up what we used to call a “spiritual banquet”: a sort of summary or prospectus to mull over during the passage of each day’s journey. The texts themselves are extracted from the saint’s writings, which are, at times, arranged into groupings made up of passages from different works.”
“The joy of friendship with God in prayer is the time spent in prayer with God. This can be quiet time (wordless contemplation), serious, heart-to-heart time, playful talking, or simply listening.”
“As one would have suspected, Teresa, admirably gifted to keep company or hold a conversation, does not imagine a relationship with God to be anything other than this.”
“Lord, in order to pray, there must be two of us. Since you are always there, all we have to do is establish ourselves in your presence and dwell there.”
“First, what is essential is to be there, to be there with God in friendship.”
“We must ask the Lord to teach us to allow ourselves to “establish ourselves in him, immobile and quiet, as if our soul is already in eternity.””
“This time given over to God initially may be an hour, a half-hour, or fifteen minutes. It is freely given with no expectation of return. It is given for no other reason than for the pleasure of being with you. Or better yet, it is given solely because the Lord takes great pleasure in seeing you there, in his presence.”
“Without a doubt, the time spent in prayer is a question of vocation and situation. The amount of time spent by a Carmelite, a parish priest, or a mother are not necessarily the same.”
“Therefore, we try to give ourselves completely to him, without reservation. It is in this manner of giving, that every part of a person experiences the delight of God’s presence.”
“What do you want of me? Why have I come to this world? What is my place? What am I to do?”
“Do I give every part of who I am to God? What areas of my life are kept separate from God? My working life? My leisure time? Relationships with certain people in my life?”
“Teresa’s vision of hell had an extraordinary impact on her life, as the following quotes of this saint will attest to. We may not experience such a harrowing vision ourselves, but we do get glimpses of the eternal loneliness and sadness that living without God promises. Those moments when we feel like God is far away from us are difficult—but ultimately beneficial to our friendship with God.”
“Am I aware of choices in my life—choices that bring me closer to God and choices that lead me away from him? How do these choices/ habits affect feelings of loneliness and alienation from God?”
“One day, upon entering the oratory, I saw a statue they had borrowed for a certain feast to be celebrated in the house. It showed the much wounded Christ and inspired so much devotion that the sight of it troubled me, for it so well represented what he had suffered for us. I felt so keenly aware of how poorly I had thanked him for those wounds that my heart broke. Beseeching him to strengthen me, once and for all, so that I might no longer offend him, I threw myself down before him in a torrent of tears.”
“Everything has its own time. And right to the end of our days, we will have weaknesses and imperfections caused by our miseries, fragility, and psychological wounds. The ideal of Christian perfection is not one of a statue without faults, but one of a human being, carried by love, who answers you, Lord, love for love.”
“If Jesus is truly our friend, then it only makes sense that we would want to spend as much time as possible in his presence.”
“How many times, stricken with fever, suffering in pain in all of her limbs, had she not found renewed vigor and dynamism through the simple thought that she was serving this good Master?”
“Do I perceive God as a friend? If not, how can I cultivate this friendship to the degree of joy which Saint Teresa knew as a friend of God? If I do perceive God as a friend, in what ways do I express my friendship to him? Do I seek to spend time with God as I do with my other friends? It is said that the friends we keep say very much about who we are and what we strive to become as people. In what ways does this hold true for my relationship with God?”
“Now, then, the first thing we must strive for is to rid ourselves of our love for our bodies, for some of us are by nature such lovers of comfort that there is a great deal of work to do in this area. And we are so fond of our health that it is amazing what a war our bodies cause, especially with religious and even with those who are not.”
“She is a realist about that which refers to friendship relationships. The idealistic portrait that she outlines about spiritual love is, in fact, an ideal. She knew how to recognize that a little passion and a search for self could be mixed in at the beginning.”
“However, some people find themselves becoming discouraged. As we said, Teresa is as radical as John of the Cross. The Kingdom of God calls resolved people.”
“In The Interior Castle, Teresa marks out the road for us that she has traveled. But she did it in such a way that each of us could find our own path. That fact is true, even if, in the highest rooms,”
“Lord, you only wait for a gesture from us of perseverance. If we know how to address you, the time will come when you will take matters into your own hands. That will be when you judge it to be right: whether it is in the first or the eleventh hour, it is your secret. But you will come.”
“Many people could give witness that, during the course of a retreat, for example, they had been filled with the joy of knowing that they are loved by God in spite of their misery. That consciousness has taken hold of them suddenly, without any apparent cause, and has left them appeased, confident, and feeling generous.”
“Others have known times of prayer during which they found themselves gently turned toward God, with no effort on their part, “eyes turned towards the interior guest, knowing about nothing except this presence.” Happy with this experience and naively confident, they have perhaps said to themselves that they finally know how to pray. This is a serious error!”
“As we are approaching the time when we must leave these two weeks of apprenticeship, it is good for us to turn our outlook toward our regular everyday lives. It is there that we will find the presence of the risen Christ. It is a presence in each and every moment of our days. At times, we have a tendency to think that this presence is reserved for our difficult times, for these moments of “Tabor,” as they are so numerous at times; in any event, these moments seem to be restricted to times when, in prayer for example, we become conscious of this presence.”
“There is no more precious grace than the one that “sticks” to the present moment—even if the present requires that we plan for next year! But it is a grace that needs flexibility and availability! For the present leaves a space in each moment for the future with its unexpected surprises. We must then face up to it with flexibility, as a horse obeys his jockey during the race with the least little indications being given it.”
“May nothing trouble you, May nothing frighten you. Everything passes, but God never changes. Everything comes through patience. To those who have God, nothing is lacking. God alone is enough.”
I hope those quotes give you a feel for this volume. Over the years I have read much about and by Saint Teresa of Avila and I really enjoyed working through these 15 days with the saint, her words, and her thoughts.
This is a great volume in an excellent series. Spending these 15 days with Saint Teresa of Avila was informative. The written reflections and the discussion questions were engaging. I just really wish all of the 40 volumes were available as eBooks, I would work through them all if so.
A great read in an excellent series!
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2026 Catholic Reading Plan!
Books by or about Saint Teresa of Avila:
...
Books in the 15 Days of Prayer With Series:
Blessed Frédéric Ozanam - Christian Verheyde
Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Matthieu Arnold
Don Bosco - Robert Schiele
Henri Nouwen - Robert Waldron
Jean-Claude Colin - Francois Drouilly
Johannes Tauler - Andre Pinet
Meister Eckhart - André Gozier
Peter Joseph Triest - Brother René Stockman
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin - André Dupleix
Saint Alphonsus Liguori - Jean-Marie Segalen
Saint Augustine - Jaime García
Saint Benedict - André Gozier
Saint Catherine of Siena - Chantal van der Plancke
Saint Dominic - Alain Quilici
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton - Betty Ann McNeil
Saint Eugene de Mazenod - Bernard Dullier
Saint Francis de Sales - Claude Morel
Saint Francis of Assisi - Thaddée Matura O.F.M.
Saint John of the Cross - Constant Tonnelier
Saint Katharine Drexel - Leo Luke Marcello
Saint Martín de Porres: A Saint of the Americas - Brian J. Pierce
Saint Therese of Lisieux - Victoria Hebert
Saint Thomas Aquinas - Suzanne Vrai and André Pinet
The Curé of Ars - Pierre Blanc
…
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