O seraphic virgin, St. Teresa, beloved spouse of the Crucified, thou who didst burn with such great love of God while on earth, and now burnest with a still purer and brighter flame in heaven; thou who didst so greatly desire to see Him loved by all men, obtain for me too, I pray thee, a spark of that holy fire, whereby I may oppose the world, creatures, and myself; and grant that all my thoughts, desires and affections may be ever employed in pursuing, whether in the midst of joys or of sufferings, the will of the Supreme Good, who deserves our unbounded love and obedience. Oh, obtain for me this grace, thou who art so powerful with God, that, like thee, I may be all on fire with divine love. Amen.
Prayer of St. Alphonsus to St. Teresa of Ávila
'Obtain for me too a spark of that holy fire' — one Doctor of the Church praying to another; indulgenced by Leo XIII in 1898.
On 15 October, St. Teresa's feast; during a novena to her; in Carmel and among the Redemptorists.
Alphonsus had a lifelong devotion to Teresa of Ávila, whom he called his 'holy mother' and whose writings he quoted constantly; he chose her as a patroness of his Congregation. This short prayer asks her for the one thing she had above all others, the love of God 'whereby I may oppose the world, creatures, and myself'. Leo XIII indulgenced it in 1898 and the Raccolta prints it under Teresa's name as the 'Prayer of St. Alphonsus'.
The text is the Raccolta's of 1910.
One hundred days, once a day — Leo XIII, 22 April 1898 (Raccolta, 1910, no. 383).
