The Life of Holy Mother
Teresa of Jesus
The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus,
of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel.
CHAPTER 18
She treats
- of the fourth degree of prayer, and
- begins to explain in what high dignity
God holds a soul that has attained this state;
- this should animate those who are given to prayer,
to make an effort to reach so high a state
since it can be obtained in this world,
though not by merit
but only through the goodness of God.
_______________________________________
Discussion Topics
1). How does St. Teresa describe
the 4th degree of prayer /
the Fourth water ?
[ Life: Ch. 18: # 12,5,4,18,20,8,21,16,
1,18,17,13,14,2]
2). St. Teresa stated that when she was granted
the grace of the 4th degree of prayer,
she thought of her unworthiness
due to "the great evils that I have done"
and her weaknesses.
She prayed that these blessings be given instead
to one who would "make a better use
of them, to the increase of Thy glory".
[ Life: Ch. 18: #7]
Why, then, give graces so high
to souls who have been such great sinners?
[ Life: Ch. 18: #5]
What insight did she later realize
regarding the graces granted by God
to herself?
[ Life: Ch. 18: # 6, 7; Ch19 #10, 11 ]
3 ). Regarding her explanation
of the 4th degree of prayer,
What does St. Teresa say
is her "object in writing"?
[ Life: Ch. 18: #10,8 ]
4 ). What did St. Teresa say about
the presence of God
in the 4th state of prayer?
[ Life: Ch. 18: #18,19,20 ]
5). How does St. Teresa describe
the action of the faculties
in the 4th state of Prayer?
[ Life: Ch. 18: # 2,3,14,15,16,17,19]
6) What did she say about
"elevation of the spirit/raptures
[Life: Ch18 #8,9]
_________________________
1). How does St. Teresa describe
the 4th degree of prayer /
the Fourth water ?
[ Life: Ch. 18: # 12,5,4,18,20,8,21,16,
1,18,17,13,14,2]
~ "the water which
- cometh down from heaven
- to fill and saturate in its abundance
the whole of this garden with water."
[ Life: Ch. 18: #12 ]
~ Divine union
- ...it is in the divine union.
union is two distinct things
becoming one".
"...that Thou givest like Thyself"
[ Life: Ch. 18: #5 ]
- " a union of all the faculties,
[ Life: Ch. 18: #3 ]
- "Mystical theology explains...
How this...union is effected, and
what it is
...what the mind is,
...how it differs from the soul
or the spirit
...all three seem to me but one"
"...the soul sometimes leaps forth
out of itself,
like a fire that is burning
and is become a flame;
and occasionally this fire
increases violently--
the flame ascends high above the fire;
but it is not therefore a different thing:
it is still the same flame of the same fire"
[ Life: Ch. 18: #4 ]
Awareness of the Presence of God:
- Regarding "what the soul was...doing...
Our Lord said to me:
It undoes itself utterly,
in order that it may give itself
more and more to Me:
it is not itself that then lives,
it is I.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #18 ]
- "that the soul is ...being close to God...
that there abides a conviction thereof
so certain and strong,
that it cannot possibly help believing so.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #19 ]
- He seemed to me to be so near...
Not to believe that He was present,
was not in my power;
for it seemed to me...
evident that I felt there
His very presence.
- "I could not believe that...
He was present
only by His grace...
(as) Some unlearned men
used to say to me,
because.... (God) seemed to me
to be present Himself..."
(Later) A most learned (Dominican
Father) delivered me from this doubt
for he told me
-- that (God) was present, and
-- how He communed with us:
this was a great comfort to me.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #20 ]
~ Growth in Love and Virtue
-"with heavenly love"
[ Life: Ch. 18: #8 ]
- "... this water from heaven,--
this greatest grace of our Lord--
always leaves in the soul
the greatest fruits,
[ Life: Ch. 18: #21 ]
- the overflowing abundance of grace,
that the brightness of the sun...
it has thus made the soul to melt away.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #16 ]
~ Growth in Detachment
- there is a growth
of the soul's detachment
from creatures
[ Life: Ch. 18: #8 ]
- "seeing that to the world
it is really dead.
- it retains the sense
-- to see that it is in the world, and
-- to feel its own loneliness; and
[ Life: Ch. 18: #1 ]
~ Temporal aspects
St. Teresa seems to say that the soul
who is brought by God into the 4th state of
prayer receives the fruits of this state
(the growth in virtue and detachment)
while the suspension of the faculties
and consolations are of brief duration
and intermittent occurrence.
- Duration (not continuous or lasting)
"If our Lord never ceased
to pour it down
whenever it was necessary,
...fruits and flowers would never fail.
...The gardener would have his delight
...but in this life that is impossible".
[ Life: Ch. 18: #12 ]
- Duration is temporary
-- "it passes away so quickly
in the beginning--at least,
...it passes so quickly away.
the period of time,
however long it may have been,
during which the faculties of the soul
were entranced,
is very short;
if half an hour,
that would be a long time.
I do not think
that I have ever been so long.
...it is extremely difficult
to know how long,
because the senses are in suspense;
but I think that at any time
it cannot be very long before
some one of the faculties recovers itself.
It is the will that persists in the work;
the other two faculties quickly
begin to molest it.
As the will is calm,
- it entrances them again;
- they are quiet for another moment, and
- then they recover themselves
once more.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #16 ]
- St. Teresa stated that although the
suspension of the faculties
is of brief duration,
this experience can recur repeatedly:
"In this way, some hours may be,
...passed in prayer;
for when the two faculties begin
...they follow the will...
this state of complete absorption,
together with the utter rest
of the imagination...
lasts only for a short time;
though the faculties do not
so completely recover themselves
as not to be
for some hours afterwards
as if in disorder:
God, from time to time,
drawing them to Himself.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #17 ]
- Occurrence
-- This water from heaven comes down
very often when the gardener
least expects it.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #12 ]
-- in the beginning,
this almost always happens
after much mental prayer.
Our Lord advances
step by step...
He observed it...for a long time,
striving with the understanding
and the will, and with all its might,
to seek God and to please Him;
so now it is His pleasure to reward it
even in this life.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #13 ]
"one moment is enough to repay
all the possible trials of this life."
[ Life: Ch. 18: #13 ]
~ Suspension of senses and faculties
- "...the faculties of the soul
were entranced,
[ Life: Ch. 18: #16 ]
"all the faculties of the soul
are in this state of suspension,
[ Life: Ch. 18: #12 Peers translation ]
- "the senses are in suspense"
[ Life: Ch. 18: #16 ]
- "...this state of complete absorption
[ Life: Ch. 18: #17 ]
- St. Teresa stated that this temporary
suspension is hard to describe to those
who have never experienced it.
She seems to be saying that during this
time
-- The Will remains in Union with God
-- The Understanding and Memory /
Imagination are more apt
to recover from the absorption
quickly and become active again
-- "God, from time to time,
drawing them to Himself"
[ Life: Ch. 18: #16,17]
[ See the "Temporal aspects" topic above.]
~ Consolations (joy, peace, contentment)
- The soul,
while thus seeking after God,
is conscious,
with a joy excessive and sweet
- "for all bodily strength vanishes,
and that of the soul increases,
to enable it the better
to have the fruition of its joy.
Great and most perceptible, also,
is the outward joy now felt.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #14]
- "in the later states
the labour is attended
with so much bliss and comfort
of the soul,
that the soul would never willingly
pass out of it,--and
thus the labour is
not felt as labour,
but as bliss.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #1]
- "In this the fourth state there is
-- no sense of anything, only fruition"
[ Life: Ch. 18: #2]
- "it is plain,
from the overflowing abundance of grace,
that the brightness of the sun
which had shone there
must have been great,
seeing that it has thus made the soul
to melt away.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #16]
____________________________________
2). St. Teresa stated that when she was granted
the grace of the 4th degree of prayer,
she thought of her unworthiness
due to "the great evils that I have done"
and her weaknesses.
She prayed that these blessings be given instead
to one who would "make a better use
of them, to the increase of Thy glory".
[ Life: Ch. 18: #7]
Why, then, give graces so high,
to souls who have been such great sinners?
[ Life: Ch. 18: #5]
What insight did she later realize
regarding the graces granted by God to herself?
[ Life: Ch. 18: # 6, 7; Ch19 #10, 11 ]
St. Teresa stated that
although she feared that
God's granting of graces to herself would
"imperil jewels so precious...
undervaluing them,
when Thou puttest them
in the power of one so wretched,
so vile, so frail, so miserable, and
so worthless as I am"
[ Life: Ch. 18: #6]
"I saw afterwards
- my own foolishness and
- want of humility"
- that God knows what is best needed
by each soul;
"for our Lord knoweth well
what is expedient"
- that because of her weakness,
God granted her these favors
in order that she might attain salvation:
"there is no strength in my soul
to be saved,
if His Majesty did not give it
with graces so great.
- She also saw her hesitancy
in accepting these favors from God
as lack of humility:
-- that these graces can not
be merited or earned;
One can do nothing, of itself,
to acquire spiritual favors.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #7 ]
Later in chapter 19,
St. Teresa added this further detail:
She states that she wondered:
"Why, O Lord, dost Thou pass by
most holy persons,
who have always served Thee,
... that they are not recipients
of those graces which
Thou hast bestowed upon me?
[ Life: Ch. 19: #10 ]
I see clearly now, O Thou my Good,
Thou hast kept the reward
to give it them all at once:
They, being strong...
free from all self-interest
serve Thee without them...
(But) my weakness
has need of these succours".
[ Life: Ch. 19: #11 ]
______________________
3 ). Regarding her explanation
of the 4th degree of prayer,
What does St. Teresa say
is her "object in writing"?
[ Life: Ch. 18: #10,8 ]
St. Teresa stated that regarding her
"object in writing"
- her first object was "to obey" those
Confessors who had asked her to write
about her experiences of prayer
- and also to inspire souls to pray
regularly in order to advance in prayer:
"that my object in writing--
- the first is
to obey
-- is to inspire souls
with a longing
after so high a good.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #10 ]
I will speak of nothing
that I do not know by great experience
[ Life: Ch. 18: #10 ]
She hopes that by making known
the mercy and graces of God,
others will desire and dispose themselves
to graces by prayer and good works.
- "I purpose also to speak
-- of the graces and effects
which abide in the soul, and
-- of that which the soul itself can do,
or rather,
if it can do anything of itself
towards attaining to a state so high.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #8 ]
______________________________
4 ). What did St. Teresa say about
the presence of God
in the 4th state of prayer?
[ Life: Ch. 18: #18,19,20 ]
St. Teresa states that in the 4th State of Prayer
there is a certain Awareness of the Presence of God:
- Regarding "what the soul was...doing...
Our Lord said to me:
It undoes itself utterly,
in order that it may give itself
more and more to Me:
it is not itself that then lives,
it is I.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #18 ]
- "that the soul is ...being close to God…
that there abides a conviction thereof
so certain and strong,
that it cannot possibly help believing so.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #19 ]
- He seemed to me to be so near...
Not to believe that He was present,
was not in my power;
for it seemed to me...
evident that I felt there
His very presence.
- "I could not believe that...
He was present
only by His grace...
(as) Some unlearned men
used to say to me,
because.... (God) seemed to me
to be present Himself..."
(Later) A most learned (Dominican
Father) delivered me from this doubt
for he told me
-- that (God) was present, and
-- how He communed with us:
this was a great comfort to me.
[ Life: Ch. 18: #20 ]
__________________________
5). How does St. Teresa describe
the action of the faculties
in the 4th state of Prayer?
[ Life: Ch. 18: # 2,3,14,15,16,17,19]
St. Teresa describe the action of the faculties
in the 4th state of Prayer in this way:
~ The Faculties of the Soul (in general):
- "the faculties of the soul were entranced
it cannot be very long before
some one of the faculties recovers itself.
[Life: Ch18 #16]
- "All the faculties fail now, and
are suspended in such a way
that... their operations cannot be traced.
[Life: Ch18 #19]
- Inability to communicate
this experience:
-- "for there is no power in the body,
and the soul has none,
whereby this fruition
can be made known.
...if it really be
a union of all the faculties...
--- when it is in union,--
cannot make it known;
--- and if it can,
then it is not union at all.
[Life: Ch18 #3]
~ The Will:
- "It is the will that persists in the work;
the other two faculties quickly
begin to molest it.
As the will is calm,
-- it entrances them again;
-- they are quiet for another moment, and
-- then they recover themselves
once more.
[Life: Ch18 #16]
- "The will must be fully occupied
in loving,
but it understands not how it loves;
[Life: Ch18 #19]
~ The other two faculties:
(Understanding and Imagination/Memory
In this way, some hours may be,
and are, passed in prayer;
for when the two faculties begin
to drink deep, and
to perceive the taste of this divine wine,
they give themselves up
with great readiness,
in order to be the more absorbed:
they follow the will, and
the three rejoice together.
But this state of complete absorption,
together with the utter rest
of the imagination,--
for I believe that even the imagination
is then wholly at rest,--
lasts only for a short time;
though the faculties do not
so completely recover themselves
as not to be for some hours afterwards
as if in disorder:
God, from time to time,
drawing them to Himself.
[Life: Ch18 #17]
~ The Understanding:
- "without understanding what that is
the fruition of which is granted"
- "It is understood that the fruition is
of a certain good
containing in itself all good together at once
but this good is not comprehended".
[Life: Ch18 #2]
"the understanding
furnishes no help,
all reading is impracticable,
though seriously attempted".
[Life: Ch18 #14]
- "...what then takes place
is so obscure".
"All I am able to say is,
-- that the soul is represented
as being close to God"
[Life: Ch18 #19]
- " ...but it understands not how it loves;
the understanding,
if it understands,
does not understand
how it understands--
at least, it can comprehend nothing
of that it understands:
it does not understand,
as it seems to me, because,
as I said just now,
this cannot be understood.
I do not understand it at all myself"
[Life: Ch18 #19]
~ The Memory / Imagination:
- "If the soul is making a meditation
on any subject,
the memory of it is lost at once,
just as if it had never been thought of.
If it reads,
what is read is not remembered
nor dwelt upon;
neither is it otherwise with vocal prayer.
Accordingly, the restless little butterfly
of the memory
has its wings burnt now, and
it cannot fly".
[Life: Ch18 #19]
~ The senses:
- "...the senses are in suspense"
[Life: Ch18 #16]
- "The senses are all occupied
in this fruition in such a way
that not one of them is at liberty,
so as to be able to attend to anything else,
whether outward or inward"
[Life: Ch18 #2]
- "The senses were permitted before...
to give some signs of the great joy they feel
but now, in this state,
the joy of the soul is incomparably greater,
and the power of showing it
is still less;"
[Life: Ch18 #3]
- "The soul, while thus seeking after God,
is conscious,
with a joy excessive and sweet,
utterly fainting away in a kind of trance:
breathing, and
all the bodily strength, fail it,
so that it cannot even move the hands
without great pain;
the eyes close involuntarily, and
if they are open,
they are as if they saw nothing;
nor is reading possible,--
the very letters seem strange,
cannot be distinguished,--
the letters, indeed, are visible,
but, as the understanding
furnishes no help,
all reading is impracticable,
though seriously attempted"
[Life: Ch18 #14]
"The ear hears;
but what is heard is not comprehended.
The senses are of no use whatever,
except to hinder the soul's fruition;
and so they rather hurt it.
It is useless to try to speak,
because it is not possible
to conceive a word;
nor, if it were conceived,
is there strength sufficient
to utter it"
for all bodily strength vanishes,
and that of the soul increases,
to enable it the better
to have the fruition of its joy.
Great and most perceptible, also, is
the outward joy now felt"
[Life: Ch18 #14]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This prayer,
however long it may last,
does no harm--
at least, it has never done any to me;
nor do I remember, ...
that I ever felt the worse for it--
... I was always better afterwards.
...it thus robs us of our bodily powers
with so much joy,
in order to leave them greater.
[Life: Ch18 #15]
___________________________
6) What did she say about
"elevation of the spirit/raptures
[Life: Ch18 #8,9]
St. Teresa seems to introduce another state
or experience which she refers to as
the "elevation of the spirit".
St. Teresa seems to say that
although elevation of the spirit
can take place during union
in the 4th state of prayer:
a). There is a difference between
Union and the "Elevation of the Spirit"
and
God's operations in them
are different.
b). That similar to Union,
the "elevation of the spirit"
is accompanied by heavenly love.
c). God's work is stronger / more efficacious
in the elevation of the spirit
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --
a). St. Teresa stated
- that there is a difference between
Union and the "Elevation of the Spirit"
"but, as I understand it,
union is a different thing
from elevation in union, itself".
[Life: Ch18 #8]
"... these two kinds of graces
which our Lord bestows."
[Life: Ch18 #9]
- that God's work is different in union
and the elevation of the spirit
"even if they are both one,
the operations of our Lord therein
are different"
b). She stated that similar to Union,
the "elevation of the spirit"
- is accompanied by heavenly love.
"The elevation of the spirit, or union,
comes together with heavenly love"
c). St. Teresa stated that God's work
- is stronger in elevation of the spirit
"there is a growth
of the soul's detachment
from creatures
more abundantly still
in the flight of the spirit.
I have clearly seen that
this is a particular grace,
though, as I say,
it may be the same,
or seem to be so,
with the other;
- She refers to the elevation of the spirit
as the "great fire"
while union is the "little fire"
"but a little fire, also,
is as much fire as a great fire
yet there is a visible difference
between them"
- Union as the "little fire" by which
"some time must pass" for its
work to be accomplished:
" Before a small piece of iron
is made red-hot in a little fire,
some time must pass"
- The "Elevation of the spirit"
as the "great fire"
whose work is done quickly:
"but if the fire be great,
the iron very quickly,
though bulky,
loses its nature altogether
in appearance.
[Life: Ch18 #8]
... these two kinds of graces
which our Lord bestows.
He who has had raptures will,
I am sure, understand it well;
[Life: Ch18 #9]
_________________________
