Teaching · Poems
Let nothing trouble you
The words the Saint carried with her, for the days of fear.
“Let nothing trouble you,
let nothing frighten you,
all things pass away,
God never changes;
patience obtains all things;
whoever has God lacks nothing:
God alone suffices.”
Saint Teresa of Jesus — Poems
To understand
An anchor for the soul
These verses are known as Saint Teresa's “letrilla”; tradition says she carried them with her. They are a whole school of trust in seven lines: everything that troubles us passes, and God does not change.
It is not a promise that there will be no difficulties. It is a hierarchy: things pass, God remains. Whoever orders their heart this way can walk through fear, illness and loss without losing the ground under their feet. It is also the phrase that accompanies NUTEJE: “Whoever has God lacks nothing.”
The source
Poems
Saint Teresa composed verses for her sisters, for feast days and for the roads between foundations. This letrilla is the most famous of all her poems and is prayed all over the world.
Another word of hers
“Having so good a friend present, so good a captain who put himself first in the suffering, everything can be endured.”
Saint Teresa of Jesus — The Book of Her Life, ch. 22
To pray and to teach
How to bring this teaching into prayer
This is how we use it in the prayer group; it works just as well for praying alone or as a family.
1
Read slowly
Read the text twice, aloud, without hurry. The second time, slower than the first.
2
Keep silence
A moment of silence. Let one word or phrase stay with each person.
3
Talk through the questions
Share unhurriedly and without debate: nothing is argued here — we share what God is showing us.
4
End with a resolution
Each person names one concrete step for the week, and you close with a prayer.
Questions to talk about
- What troubles me most today — and what does this letrilla say about it?
- “All things pass away”: what hard thing in my life has already passed, and what did it teach me?
- What would it mean this week to live as one who believes that “God alone suffices”?
For daily life
Three ways to practice it this week
1
Learn the letrilla by heart; pray it slowly when fear arrives.
2
Before a worry, ask the two questions: will this pass? does God change? — and order your heart with those answers.
3
Write it out and post it where you will see it daily: the kitchen, the mirror, the desk.