Teresa of Los Andes
Evening was descending, the sun was slowly hiding behind the mountains, bidding farewell with its last rays. Everywhere there was silence and peace.
A young troubadour walked along the path to the nearby castle to entertain the company there, reciting ancient romances to the sound of his lute, which always pleased the nobles, as they celebrated the heroic deeds of knights of those times. Or the heat of love that burns in his heart could create new, unheard-of songs. Beneath his rough clothing, this young man truly hides a noble soul. While his verses resonated through the castle hall, I could admire his lofty feelings, but above all, they were revealed to me in the dazzling light of his motto: "Wings!" Yes, I said to myself, as he soared in the space without boundaries, he has infinity within reach, and therefore the notes of his songs express the beautiful, the great, and the sublime.
Thousands of reflections were born in my mind, thousands of images poured forth from my imagination. I saw an eagle soaring from the depths of the abyss, spreading its black wings in the air. I watched it rise until it vanished from my sight among the rosy clouds on the horizon. For a long time, I followed the path it took high above and envied its mighty flight. Why, I asked myself, why does a human not have this gift? Why does he crawl on the ground while a bird ascends so close to the sky that it can, like this eagle, observe the sun's rays within itself?
But when I thought about it more deeply, I told myself: Does not a human have wings a thousand times more powerful?
Oh yes! Tell me – what does the sea experience before infinity when it seems that there are no boundaries for its waves?
Does not the soul spread before this noble spectacle the wings of reason and undertake a flight to infinity, until it gets lost in the immeasurable greatness of God? And does it not rise when, in God's temple, a person kneels in prayer and encounters the Most High in mysterious conversation? Oh yes! A human, created in God's image, endowed with reason that reaches for the immaterial, which contains everything that cannot be perceived by the senses, and a will that finds its rest only in God Himself (and moreover elevated by grace to the supernatural order) has wings incomparably more powerful than that sea eagle, the ruler of space. Blessed is the person who can spread them and live always elevated above their own atmosphere! Blessed is the soul that looks from there, free as a queen, at the trivialities of life; it sees them more easily when stripped of the cloak of apparent happiness that fascinates those who view it from their own level!
Wings! Oh, beautiful and profound motto! Give shape to our lives, be our sign, as you were in the Middle Ages the sign of that noble man. His soul constantly lived on the heights of splendor and ideals as he sought the unspeakable beauty for his songs.
(translated by Sister Zdislava OCD)
