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St. Teresa's Bookmark

1 min

Let nothing disturb thee,

Nothing affright thee;

All things are passing;

God never changeth;

Patient endurance

Attaineth to all things;

Who God possesseth

In nothing is wanting;

Alone God sufficeth.

About this prayer

Nine short lines of St. Teresa of Ávila on trust in God: everything passes, God does not change, and God alone suffices.

History

St. Teresa of Jesus (1515–1582) kept these lines in the breviary she was using when she died at Alba de Tormes; Fr. Jerónimo Gracián attested the breviary in his own hand, hence the name "St. Teresa's Bookmark". The longer poem of nine stanzas that glosses each line ("Eleva tu pensamiento…") circulated on old printed sheets, and her editor Silverio de Santa Teresa judged it a later gloss rather than her own. The English is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's translation.

How to pray it

Say it slowly, line by line, in a moment of worry or agitation; it is short enough to learn by heart.

*The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow* (London: Frederick Warne, 1889), "Santa Teresa's Book-mark", p. 535 — [Project Gutenberg #78406](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78406). Original: *Obras de Sta. Teresa de Jesús*, ed. Silverio de Santa Teresa, t. VI (Burgos: El Monte Carmelo, 1919), Poesías IX, p. 91 — [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/obrasdestateresa06tere)

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