A Short Poem Hidden in a Breviary
When the friars and nuns who knew her began to organize the papers of Teresa of Jesus after her death in 1582, they discovered, according to tradition, a small bookmark written in her own hand inside her breviary. On it were these nine verses. They were not born as a literary poem nor to be published: they were a personal note, almost a reminder that the saint of Ávila left for herself for the difficult days, of which she had many. She reformed the Carmel amidst misunderstandings, exhausting travels across sixteenth-century Castile, illnesses, and suspicions from the Inquisition.
From that intimacy, it became one of the most prayed prayers in the Spanish-speaking world. Popular devotion named it after its first verse, "Let nothing disturb you", although in some editions it appears under the title "The Efficacy of Patience". Today it is prayed and sung in monasteries, youth groups, and communities of all kinds, and the Church itself included it in the Catechism. Teresa was declared a Doctor of the Church by Saint Paul VI in 1970, the first woman to receive that title: these verses are the synthesis, fitting on a bookmark, of all her spiritual doctrine.
Full text of "Let nothing disturb you"
Nada te turbe,
nada te espante,
todo se pasa,
Dios no se muda,
la paciencia
todo lo alcanza;
quien a Dios tiene
nada le falta:
sólo Dios basta.
We do not reproduce here the official version of this prayer in your language because we do not know it with certainty; this is the Spanish text. The Latin original, which is indeed common to all languages, appears below.
Reflection and Meaning
There is a question worth asking before analyzing these verses: where does the calm they promise come from? Because it is not the calm of someone who has no problems, but that of someone who has them all and is still standing. Teresa does not write "nothing happens", she writes "let nothing disturb you". The problems are still there; what changes is the perspective from which you view them. That is the key to the entire prayer: it is not a relaxation technique, it is an act of faith.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly cites this short poem when explaining what it means to believe in God. In paragraph 227 it teaches that having faith "implies trusting in God in all circumstances, even in adversity", and puts forward precisely these verses by Saint Teresa as an admirable example. In other words, the Church uses them to define what trusting consists of. "Everything passes, God does not change" is not poetic comfort: it is pure theology. It contrasts the contingent—what exists but could not exist, like me, like my fears, like Monday's exam—with He who is, the "I Am" who reveals Himself to Moses (Exodus 3:14). Only what does not change can sustain what does.
From there springs what Scripture promises to those who trust. Saint Paul says it almost with the exact same words as Teresa: "Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts" (Philippians 4:6-7). And Jesus Himself, in the Sermon on the Mount, dismantles anxiety about tomorrow: "Do not worry about your life... your heavenly Father knows that you need them all" (Matthew 6:25-34). The Catechism gathers this teaching in paragraph 305, when speaking of filial abandonment in the Father's Providence, and in paragraph 2547, where "God alone suffices" is illuminated: trusting abandonment frees one from the burden of tomorrow and prepares the beatitude of the poor in spirit.
That is the Teresian heart and the climax of the poem: "whoever has God lacks nothing". It does not say you will have everything you want, it says that in God you lack nothing, which is different and much greater. Saint Augustine had written centuries earlier in his Confessions: "you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." The restlessness that Teresa wants to calm is the same one as Augustine's, the same one that any young person carries today among a thousand screens: the suspicion that nothing we accumulate ever truly fulfills us.
The fruit that this prayer produces, according to Tradition, is the peace that the world cannot give (John 14:27) and a surprising freedom. Chiara Luce Badano lived this in our time, who at eighteen and with terminal cancer repeated "if You want it, Jesus, I want it too." That is "let nothing disturb you" made flesh. That is why this prayer works so well when prayed slowly, one verse per breath, when the mind is going too fast: it does not take you out of the problem, it anchors you in He who does not move while everything else trembles. And from there, almost without realizing it, calm returns.
A Hand-Annotated Poem, Not a Composed Prayer
"Let nothing disturb you" was not written as a liturgical prayer or to be prayed in common. It is a short poem that Teresa of Jesus noted in her breviary, much like someone jotting something down in the margin of a book today. That origin explains its form: it has no invocation, no petition, and no ending; it is a reminder to oneself.
The reference is Mt 6:34.
The Catechism quotes it literally when speaking of trusting God in all circumstances, which is the strongest endorsement a text of this type can have. And its core—"God alone suffices"—is the Spanish translation of a conviction that runs through all mysticism: the rest is not bad, it is simply not enough.
How It Is Used
- As a jaculatory prayer: a short phrase repeated throughout the day, not a text prayed all at once.
- In moments of anxiety or waiting, which is the use for which people seek it.
- Sung, in the Taizé version, in communal prayer.
You may also be interested in Sub Tuum Praesidium, the Gloria.
In the store: engraved wooden plaques.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it a prayer or a poem?
It was born as a poem: a short poem that Saint Teresa noted in her breviary. It is used as a prayer, but it does not have the form of one—neither invocation nor petition—and that is why it works better repeated than recited in full.
Did Saint Teresa of Jesus write it?
Carmelite tradition maintains this, passing it down as an annotation in her breviary. There is no autograph, so the attribution is firm in tradition but not documented with a manuscript in her hand.
What does "God alone suffices" mean?
It does not say that everything else is bad, but rather that it is not enough. It is the culmination of the poem and its central idea: what is not God can be good and still leave one unsatisfied.
Why is it sung so much?
Because of the Taizé version, which popularized it as a repetitive chant. It fits well with that form precisely because it is a jaculatory prayer, not a narrative text.
Sources
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 227 (express quote of "Let nothing disturb you"), no. 305, and no. 2547.
- Sacred Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 4:6-7; John 14:27; Exodus 3:14.
- Saint Teresa of Jesus, Doctor of the Church (proclaimed by Saint Paul VI, 1970); short poem "The Efficacy of Patience", attributed according to tradition to her breviary.
- Saint Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, book I, chap. 1.
- Michele Zanzucchi, Chiara Luce. A Life That Illuminates (Ciudad Nueva).
About the Author
Elena Pascual is a lay missionary associated with the Hakuna movement since its beginnings. She collaborates in university missions, summer camps, and World Youth Day gatherings. She studied Philosophy and Theology at San Dámaso University. She writes for young people who discover prayer as something living and transformative, not as an obligation.
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