And it is just
here, at the very commencement and centre of divine things, that we all
make such shipwreck and come so short. The sense of the reality of
divine and unseen things in Teresa's life of prayer is simply miraculous
in a woman still living among things seen and temporal. Her faith is
truly the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not
seen. Our Lord was as real, as present, as near, as visible, and as
affable to this extraordinary saint as ever He was to Martha, or Mary, or
Mary Magdalene, or the woman of Samaria, or the mother of Zebedee's
children. She prepared Him where to lay His head; she sat at His feet
and heard His word. She chose the better part, and He acknowledged to
herself and to others that she had done so. She washed His feet with her
tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. She had been forgiven
much, and she loved much. He said to her, Mary, and she answered Him,
Rabboni. And He gave her messages to deliver to His disciples, who had
not waited for Him as she had waited.
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