You might have read this quotation at some point:
In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth, a life full of the most atrocious tortures on earth, will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.
This quote is often attributed to Mother Teresa, but elsewhere it is attributed to St. Teresa of Avila. I looked high and low for a source. I found my way to p. 47 in Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Faith. But there, the quote is actually in the mouth of the famous Catholic author, Peter Kreeft citing “St. Teresa.” Kreeft himself alludes to the quotation on p. 139 in his book, Making Sense Out of Suffering, but he does not actually quote it. So where does that leave us?
An Alternate Version
I found an alternate version of the quotation that goes like this:
From heaven even the most miserable life will look like one bad night at an inconvenient hotel.
That one is attributed to St. Teresa of Avila, but these two quotes must have a common lineage, right?
Finding the Source of the Quotation
I think I finally tracked the thread of the quote down to chapter 40 of The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila, where she is comparing life in hell to life on earth as two alternate hotels. I will quote the larger context here:
What will become of the poor soul that, after being freed from the sufferings and trials of death, falls immediately into these hands? What terrible rest it receives! How mangled as it goes to hell! What a multitude of different kinds of serpents! What a terrifying place! What a wretched inn! If it is hard for a self-indulgent person (for such are the ones who will be more likely to go there) to spend one night in a bad inn, what do you think that sad soul will feel at being in this kind of inn forever, without end?
Let us not desire delights, daughters; we are well-off here; the bad inn lasts for only a night. Let us praise God; let us force ourselves to do penance in this life. How sweet will be the death of one who has done penance for all his sins, of one who won’t have to go to purgatory! Even from here below you can begin to enjoy glory! You will find no fear within yourself but complete peace.
(Source: Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection, Meditations on the Song of Songs, and The Interior Castle, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez, vol. 2 of The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila [Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 2017], 195.)
So there it is, I think. Life on earth is like a bad night at a bad inn. Mother Teresa loved St. Teresa of Avila, so it is very possible that she recycled the quotation and expanded it, but I have not found any evidence of it in print yet. If you do, let me know in the comments. If I do, I guess I’ll have to post a follow-up.
thank you Mark!
Whoa! Blast from the past! I’m glad to see you reading some of my blog.
Thank you for clarifying. I love this quote. It gives a new perspective and provides comfort and inspiration.
I wonder if the original source might be Paul’s words in Romans 8:18 of The Bible. Is that your thinking as well?
#StTeresa
#TimKeller
#Quote
Google’s Gemini Deep Research led me here, exploring the origin of the line “The first moment in the arms of Jesus will make one thousand years of misery on earth like one night in a bad hotel.” (from preacher and author Tim Keller, attributed to Teresa of Avila, but obviously a paraphrase).
Longstanding Secular Franciscan here. Although but only in an oral tradition, it is said that Saint Francis of Assisi would occasionally make comments to effectively essentially such effect. Although his comments would have been in Italian, not in English, and it must be remembered that nuance can oft get lost in even the most rigorous exacting literate word for word translation from one language to another, with translation from Italian to English being no exception. It is also said that although professed as a Carmelite, Saint Teresa of Avila was at her core Franciscan, and acted spiritually on the call to fulfilling one’s unique personal vocation that our Seraphic Father Saint Francis of Assisi would charge one and all with. Saint Teresa of Avila was reverently paying forward the sentiment of Saint Francis of Assisi she had received on our earthly mortal physical existence contrasted to that of our eternal spiritual existence. Saint Francis would tell his charges essentially to the effect of to go out and preach the Gospel, and, if, and only if necessary, use words. Saint Teresa was simply honouring Saint Francis when she put his sentiment on a hard earthly life versus eternity in words essentially effectively to the effect of: “From heaven even the most miserable life will look like one bad night at an inconvenient hotel.” And was Saint Francis of Assisi in being called to rebuild His Church the first one to express the idea of “From heaven even the most miserable life will look like one bad night at an inconvenient hotel.”? I highly doubt it. I would expect that idea to be something Our Savior conveyed to the Apostles. Secular society’s perverse obsession with who thought of something “first” or who said something “first” has a foundation resting on quicksand. Ask yourself, where did the very first human thought come from? It could not have come from within, it had to have come from without, from Our Creator. People have to get over themselves and so-called “Intellectual property” as we have no original thoughts or novel thoughts, nor can we create original thoughts or novel thoughts. Man comes, man goes, nothing new under the sun comes to mind. Although we do have free will—free will arguably is one of the greater evidences for the existence of A Creator; The Creator, Our Creator—our thoughts inexorably ultimately daisy chain back to Our Creator. The original source of “From heaven even the most miserable life will look like one bad night at an inconvenient hotel.” was divine. The first one to say it or something to that effect? Probably Our Savior. Sorry, it is highly doubtful that Saint Teresa of Avila was the first one to utter essentially effectively to the effect of: “From heaven even the most miserable life will look like one bad night at an inconvenient hotel.” And it ultimately does not matter who uttered it first.
We typically have at least three explanations to choose from. We are never forced to accept or believe one or the other or the other explanation. However, one explanation will be better than the rest. Still, we are free to, accept or reject it, or, believe it or disbelieve it. We have free will.
Pax et Bonum (Peace and The Good.).