Saint Teresa of Avila, preached on October 15, 2026

Father Fessio says that Teresa of Avila is an exemplar of the principle that mystics are very practical people.

So I decided to go through my mental archives and see if I can find some Theresian stories that would illustrate that.

So first one was I found was Teresa said that God in two gold coins and Teresa can do very much more than just God and Teresa.

I mentioned this when I was having dinner with a bishop and he dropped his fork and said, I'm gonna write that down.

So first illustration of practicality.

And then I thought back to a class I had in mysticism when I was an undergrad and the professor told the story of St. Teresa opening one of her many monasteries and of course after the mass they have a big banquet and the bishop is there and the duke is there and they're serving partridge, which in that culture was a very great delicacy, and Saint Teresa was giving herself fully to the enjoyment of the partridge, such that she was just kind of throwing the bones over her shoulders and grabbing another hunk, and some of the sisters said, Mother, His Excellency and His Lordship, they're watching.

And she stopped chewing for a moment.

She said, sisters, when you pray, pray.

And when you partridge, partridge.

And went back to eating the partridges.

So Aji quote Ajis.

Okay, so that's very good.