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If You Don't Quit, You Win
4 Things St Teresa of Avila Taught Me About Prayer (Part 3)
Ryan Patrick Murphy
November 03, 2023
In honor of the Feast Day of my prayer hero St Teresa of Avila, I’m writing on 4 things that Teresa has taught me about prayer that I would love to offer to you as an encouragement to help you enjoy prayer more.
Two weeks ago, I talked about how growing in prayer is possible, the importance of having prayer heroes who inspire you to love God more, and Teresa’s vision of prayer as the art of relating to a Person. Last week, I wrote about the supremacy of Jesus in prayer. For Teresa, prayer is as simple as looking at Jesus and talking to Him.
This week, I want to suggest that, for Teresa:
If You Don’t Quit, You Win.
Teresa writes:
“We must have a determined determination to never give up prayer.”
I often say that 90% of prayer is showing up. The art of building a prayer life really comes down to simply committing to a time and a place and then doing it over and over again for decades. The other 10% is what you pray, what God says back to you, and all of the other variables. That’s why a Catholic monk and Pentecostal preacher can have a similar depth of intimacy with God after many years — they have simply committed to show up again and again. And Jesus is really good at teaching people how to pray! While what they have said during their times of prayer may be as different as night and day, the end result will be a beautiful depth of relationship with a Person who is deeply committed to teaching people how to talk to Him.
So much of St Teresa’s life is a testimony to the simple power of showing up in prayer. She grew to great heights of intimacy with God through the simple rhythm of showing up again and again.
Elsewhere, she encourages her nuns:
“It is most important—all-important, indeed—that they should begin well by making an earnest and most determined resolve not to halt until they reach their goal, whatever may come, whatever may happen to them, however hard they may have to labour, whoever may complain of them, whether they reach their goal or die on the road or have no heart to confront the trials which they meet, whether the very world dissolves before them.”
Wow! How markedly different this is than what many of us think about prayer. Many of us speak of prayer as something we can sprinkle into our schedules when there’s time, and as the first thing to be dropped when life gets busy.
Teresa speaks of prayer as an athlete speaks of their sport or as an artist speaks of their craft. Granted as a full-time nun, prayer was her vocation, her discipline, her art — but I would love to suggest that the gift of her life as a nun learning how to pray is that we can learn from her and creatively innovate principles from her 16th-century monastic life in ours.
What would it look like for us to practice prayer the way an athlete practices their sport, or an artist their craft?
What would it look like to pick a time and a place to be with God and stick to it “whatever may come?”
Do I have a “determined determination” to never stop praying?
P.S. Next week, for our final installment of this little four-part series, I’ll write about the “goal” that Teresa mentions. If you don’t quit, you win — but win what, exactly? I’ll give you a hint — you get God. But, no more spoilers! Be sure to check your inbox next week!
P.S.S. Thank you all for your kind words and encouragement about how these devotionals are helping you to enjoy prayer. What a joy it is to learn how to pray together!