The filial relationship with Mary, from Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus

# IntroductionUnlike Islam, which emphasizes God’s transcendence almost exclusively, Christianity places the immanence at its center, confessing in Him the “all-powerful Father,” the “Father of all” (Ephesians 4:5), from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth proceeds (Ephesians 3:15). This results in a true relationship between the Christian and the Lord as that of a “child” and a familiar (Ephesians 2:19), empowering them to call Him by the sweet name of “Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6) and to conduct themselves with Him, supported by the gift of piety, in filial confidence, with love prevailing over fear.

When considering that God is our Father, Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus and Holy Face would well up with tears. With a brilliant insight, she did not hesitate to place, as a doctrinal foundation for her Path of Infancy, divine paternity and adoptive filiation. A reflection of God’s paternity is Mary’s maternality. This acted profoundly and penetratively on Teresa’s soul, especially because she had an open, vibrant, and expansive personality.In her collection of saints’ images, one was particularly dear to her: symbolically, it represented the two maternities of the Blessed Virgin, divine and spiritual, united. The image depicted Mary sitting, tenderly holding in her arms not only little Jesus, fruit of her virgin womb, but also another child, as if representing every soul entrusted to her maternal care. What most captivated our Saint about Mary was her kindness of heart. An unparalleled kindness that made her a supremely loving mother. Only the name of Mary brought Teresa joy and consolation. To Teresa, Mary was a beloved mother, gentle, tender, dear, incomparable: among mothers, the most merciful. Thus, a mother worthy of unlimited love. A mother given to us precisely as such, by Jesus agonizing on the cross. And for us, she nurtures the same love that Jesus does.# Before a Mother So AffectionateGiven such a loving mother, or, as Carmelite authors would put it, “superamable” and “superamabilissima,” what could and should be Teresa’s habitual attitude? Undoubtedly, that of a daughter: not a servant, not a slave, but uniquely and exclusively a daughter. We also have her categorical and undisputed testimony. With firm conviction, Teresa declared to Mary: “Holy Virgin, here I am, a small creature; I am in no way your servant, but I am your daughter. Mother of Jesus, you are also my mother.” The most beautiful aspect is that, based on her filial condition, she places Maria’s motherhood: physical motherhood, regarding the person of Jesus. Spiritual motherhood in relation to Jesus’ brothers, of which she is a part. Thus, her daughter. By proclaiming herself “daughter” of Mary and acting as such with her, our Saint lived more genuinely the Marian spirituality of her Order. And, through her writings, she confirmed the purest aspect of this spirituality.# The Introduction of Perpetual Slavery (c. 1650)Around 1650, at the Carmelite Discalced Novitiate in Pastrana, the Marian practice of “Perpetual Slavery” was introduced. During the act of consecration or “Protest,” the Carmelite promised to live continuously as “a slave” to Mary, surrendering herself and her merits to her freely, totally, and irrevocably. This “slavery” practice did not last long, as it was found contrary to the genuine spirit of Carmel. Teresa of Jesus, the Child and the Holy Face, as an authentic Carmelite, would never have signed such a commitment. Instead, in all her writings, she constantly proclaims herself “Daughter of Mary.” As a final synthesis and seal of her entire existence, in her swan song, *Why Do I Love You, Mary*, precisely in the last stanza and last word, she exults in proclaiming herself daughter of Mary: “I want to sing, Mary, because I love you so much / And always repeat that I am your daughter.”## Simplicity, Trust, and Love in Relationship with MaryThroughout her earthly pilgrimage, Saint Teresa of Jesus wove a celestial relationship with the Blessed Virgin, animated by simplicity, trust, and love—the three characteristics of her “Path of Spiritual Childhood.” These movements were natural to Teresa, deeply rooted in her soul, shaping each of her inner reflections and marking every external attitude. It is no wonder, therefore, that they frequently emerge in her interactions with Mary, all the more so as they were radically strengthened by a mother-and-daughter correlation that fostered familiarity and intimacy.

A) Simplicity

Simplicity, first and foremost, is synonymous with spontaneity, frankness, sincerity, and transparency. A simplicity that excludes duplicity, hypocrisy, formalism, complicated attitudes, and winding paths. In Teresa’s case, this simplicity equates to a lucid awareness of her condition as a small and poor creature. A simplicity that explains her posture, compared to the blessed Seraphim: they did not cover their faces with their wings, but looked at everything and everyone, God, Mary, the Saints, with uncovered faces. Simplicity that led her to pray to the Virgin to make her soul a level ground, free of obstacles, where a beautiful tent could be erected, adorned with Mary’s virtues, and in it harmonious concerts organized with the participation of heavenly inhabitants, angels, and saints. Simplicity in mortifications. Instead of imitating great saints in bodily macerations, for which she felt herself too small and unfit, she limited herself to practicing “small virtues,” following Mary’s examples and striving to spread flowers at Jesus’ feet. Simplicity in prayer. For her, prayer consisted of a love impulse, a cry of gratitude, a loving gaze turned towards heaven. This explains the difficulty, which she confessed candidly, of praying the Rosary for an extended period without haste. On the other hand, a simple Our Father and a Hail Mary, prayed from the heart, brought her an indescribable relief. Finally, simplicity, coupled with modesty and discretion, was a constant in Teresa’s life. Although this made her go unnoticed, even “disqualified” in the eyes of some sisters, it made her extremely pleasing to God, to the point of being called “the greatest saint of modern times” by Pope Pius X. Teresa herself had heard from an older sister that the soul becomes more pleasant to the Lord as it exercises itself in simplicity: by simplifying, it becomes ever more similar to God.

B) Trust

To simplicity, she added trust, that is, faith and abandonment pushed to the extreme after passing all intermediate boundaries. A striking testimony of this heightened trust is Teresa’s explicit confession: if she had on her conscience the guilt of all possible crimes, she would not hesitate for a moment to throw herself, with a broken heart of contrition, into Jesus’ arms, well knowing the merciful love with which He received the prodigal son. Trust that incited her to call Mary by the diminutive “mommy” instead of using the formal “mother”. Trust that fueled the desire to throw oneself into her arms with the abandonment of a child to his mother, similar to how she did with Jesus. Or, to use Jesus’ arms as an “elevator” to soar to the heights of holiness, like a weak little bird carried by His strong arms, the Divine Eagle. Trust that led Teresa to claim for herself, daughter of Mary, the “maternal inheritance” of virtues and merits of the great Mother of God. A trust so deep that it inspired Teresa with “Marian phrases” so bold they could cause bewilderment, similar to those she used to say to her mother Zélia as a child: “I wish you were dead so I could go to heaven”. For example, she didn’t hesitate to tell the Virgin that she is less fortunate than us, because unlike us, she doesn’t have a holy virgin to admire and love. And also, that Mary is less rich than us, since while we possess her alongside Jesus, she had to deprive herself of Him to leave Him free to evangelize the kingdom and accomplish our redemption. And in a nearly final phrase: “Holy Virgin, if I were Queen of Heaven and you were Teresa, I would want to be Teresa so that you could be Queen of Heaven”.”

C) Love

Simplicity and trust: two wings with which Teresa soared very high, traversing the infinite regions of love. Among divine attributes, she preferred mercy above all, valuing love more than fear. The impulse of confidence and abandonment in God, rather than shutting herself off in her own angsts from her weaknesses, had a beneficial and comforting influence on the piety of the baptized. Being a hammer against the remnants of cold heresy of Jansenism, Teresa earned another title to be proclaimed Doctor of the Church, a providentially raised hammer by the Holy Spirit. She fulfilled this mission by exalted, precisely, mercy over justice, love over fear. For her, it is not fear, but servile dread, that dilates the spirit and gives salvific value to works: love that grew within her since childhood and became an unfathomable abyss over time. The Lord’s attribute that most moved and captivated her was love: merciful love, to which she offered herself, instead of divine justice, as a holocaust victim through Mary’s hands. Only in love did Teresa finally find the motivation and purpose of her vocation, the full fulfillment of her many desires: to be a warrior, priest, apostle, martyr, doctor. Whether this flame of love is considered a sublimation of natural love or not, it does not alter reality. And in the concrete reality of her daily life, Teresa made love the motor of every movement: the unifying center, both at the natural and supernatural levels. The object of her love? Her parents, sisters, convent sisters, and many others as well. The Lord? She loved Him since childhood. Jesus? She loved Him to madness. She lived for Him in love and died for Him in love. And she ended her life looking at Him, crucified, and saying: “My God…, I love You”. And what about Mary? In her multiple expressions of love for Jesus, one can glimpse, as a filigree, the inseparable reflection on Mary. For the Virgin, Teresa nurtured a tender, confident, unlimited love. And she never tired of repeating it. No saint or servant of God that she revered, Saint Joseph, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Anne of Jesus, St. Agnes, St. Cecilia, Joan of Arc, Stanislaus Kostka, Teófanes Vénard, none, absolutely none, could compete with the love she reserved for the Great Mother of God. Many times, a fleeting glance at one of her images of Mary, and she had several, brought her serenity and joy, to the point of seeing them as an anticipation of heavenly happiness. In inevitable difficulties, it was natural and confident to turn to Mary, sure that she would receive her help in due time and never be disappointed. Before beginning to draft her memoirs, at Mother Ines de Jesus’ request, her first gesture was to implore Mary to guide her hand, so that everything she wrote would be true. During her last illness, worried about not disturbing the sisters who attended her with her coughing fits or deep sleep, she turned, as usual, to the Blessed Virgin, certain to be helped, but resigned to Her will.

In conclusion: simplicity, trust, and love formed together a triad of attitudes that continuously animated Teresa’s relationships with the Virgin. Besides constituting the axis of her personal life and of her Spiritual Childhood Way, with them Teresa reflected the triple impulse derived from the contemplative component of the Carmelite charism: impulse towards interiority, familiarity, and intimacy.

## ConclusionIn the spiritual life of Saint Teresa of Jesus, the relationship with Mary was marked by simplicity, trust, and love—three pillars that constituted her Spiritual Childhood Way and guided her daily experience. Teresa saw in Mary not just a Mother but a constant and accessible presence, whose nearness fostered intimacy and familiarity. Reflecting the contemplative essence of Carmelite charism, Teresa did not seek grand external manifestations but lived deeply a spirituality centered on trusting love, free from fear or scruples, always surrendering herself into the arms of Heaven’s Mother. Thus, she teaches us that in our relationship with Mary, true devotion is expressed through total trust, pure love, and a simple heart, mirroring God’s merciful love.The lesson we can learn from Teresa’s life is that by embracing these virtues and recognizing ourselves as children of Mary, we are invited to live a closer spiritual life to God, characterized by humility and loving surrender.**Deepen your Marian studies:** explore Mariology, Mariana Theology, Marian Apparitions, and the Postgraduate Studies in Mariology. For a deeper devotion to Mary in the spirit of Saint Teresa, refer to Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation *Marialis Cultus*.