The Life of Holy Mother
Teresa of Jesus
The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus,
of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel.
Discussion of CHAPTER 21
She continues and
- concludes this last degree of prayer, and
- says what a soul having reached it feels
when obliged to turn back
and live in the world, and
- speaks of the light God gives
concerning the deceits (of the world).
This is good doctrine.
- Conclusion of the Subject.
- Pain of the Awakening.
- Light Against Delusions.
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Discussion Topics / Questions
1). What does St. Teresa say about
the desires and actions of one
who has been brought by God
to the 4th degree of prayer ?
[ Life: Ch. 21: #6, 7, 10 ]
2). What did St. Teresa say
regarding:
a). the effects of the experience
of rapture ?
[Life: Ch. 21: #10]
b). why the effects are described
in this way?
[Life: Ch. 21: #10, 15]
c). The soul's own efforts
[Life: Ch. 21: # 10,11 ]
3). Why or when does God
grant a soul these favors?
[ Life: Ch. 21: #11, 14 ]
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1). What does St. Teresa say about
the desires and actions of one
who has been brought by God
to the 4th degree of prayer ?
[ Life: Ch. 21: #6, 7, 10 ]
St. Teresa said:
"A soul that has attained to this (state)
- is not limited to the desires
it has to serve God;
- for His Majesty gives it strength
to bring those desires
to good effect".
She stated that
the soul will "throw itself,"
into its tasks
in order to serve God.
"Nothing can be put before it
into which it will not throw itself,
if only it thinks
that God may be served thereby
"it sees clearly that
all is nothing,
except pleasing God.
[ Life: Ch. 21: #6 ]
She emphasized the importance
of striving to fulfill
"desires with acts":
- not just to be "detached
in words"
- but also to "make good those words
by deeds"
[ Life: Ch. 21: #10 ]
Regarding herself,
St. Teresa said:
"I am good
only to talk...
all ends in talk and desires
that is all my service.
[ Life: Ch. 21: #6 ]
So, she prays to God
to strengthen, prepare her and
"ordain...the means whereby
I may do something for Thee...
Cost what it may, O Lord,
let me not
- come before Thee
- with hands so empty,
seeing that the reward of every one
will be according to his works.
I see well enough, O Lord,
how little I can do;
while Thou departest not from me,
I can do all things;
[ Life: Ch. 21: #7 ]
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2). What did St. Teresa say
regarding:
a). the effects of the experience
of rapture ?
[Life: Ch. 21: #10]
b). why the effects are described
in this way?
[Life: Ch. 21: #10, 15]
c). The soul's own efforts
[Life: Ch. 21: # 10,11 ]
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St. Teresa stated
a). Regarding the effects of
the experience of rapture:
St. Teresa stated that
the effects of rapture vary
in different souls
at different times.
"The truth is, that these are
- greater or
- less.
[Life: Ch. 21: #10]
b). Regarding why the effects are
described in this way:
St. Teresa stated that the effects are:
Less:
- In the beginning,
though the effects are wrought,
they are not tested by works,
and so it cannot be clear
that a person has them...
- Perfection, too, is a thing
of growth, and
of labouring after freedom
from the cobwebs of memory;
and this requires some time.
[Life: Ch. 21: #10]
Greater:
St. Teresa stated that
the greater the growth
of love and humility in the soul,
the stronger the...virtues is
for itself and
for others.
The truth is that
Our Lord can so work in the soul
in an instant
during these raptures,
that but little remains
for the soul to do
in order to attain to perfection.
[ Life: Ch. 21: #10 ]
"When our Lord brings a soul
on to this state,
He communicates to it
of His greatest secrets
by degrees.
...all tending
to make the soul
- humble and
- strong,
- despise the things of this world...
- have a clearer knowledge of
the greatness of the reward
which our Lord has prepared
for those who serve Him.
[ Life: Ch. 21: #15 ]
c). Regarding the soul's own efforts:
St. Teresa taught that
The soul should strive in prayer and
good works in order to please God
and dispose itself to graces.
But, she said that the soul's efforts
in advancing toward God
could not be as effective or as rapid
as that of God's gift of rapture.
- "No effort of ours...
can ever reach so far".
[ Life: Ch. 21: #10 ]
- "... I do not mean...that those...
who during many years make use
of the method prescribed
by writers on prayer,
who discuss
the principles thereof, and
the means
whereby it may be acquired,
will not...attain to
perfection and great detachment
with much labour...
by the help of our Lord,
but they will not attain to it
so rapidly
as by the way of raptures,
in which our Lord works
independently of us,
- draws the soul utterly
away from earth, and
- gives it dominion over all things
here below,
though the merits of that soul
may not be greater than mine were:
...for my merits are as nothing.
[ Life: Ch. 21: #11 ]
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3). Why or when does God
grant a soul these favors?
[ Life: Ch. 21: #11, 14 ]
St. Teresa stated that:
~ God grants a soul favors
according to His will.
She, at other times, explained further
that God granted graces to souls
- according to His will
and His goodness,
- knowing what each soul needs
- knowing what is beneficial
for that soul.
"God is
- more careful of us
than we are ourselves, and
- knows what each one of us
is fit for.
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 18 ]
"Why His Majesty doeth this
is, because it is His pleasure,
He doeth it
according to His pleasure"
(what He wants to do)
(what he wills)
[ Life: Ch. 21: #11 ]
~ Favors are not merited or earned
by the soul's own efforts
"even if the soul be
without the fitting disposition,
He disposes it for the reception
of that blessing
which He is giving to it.
Although it be most certain
that He never fails to comfort those
who do well, and
strive to be detached,
still He does not always give
these effects
because they have deserved them
at His hands
by cultivating the garden,
but because it is His will
- to show His greatness at times
in a soil
which is most worthless...
to prepare it for all good:
(so that) ....the soul...now, (is)
unable to go back and live
in sin against God,
as it did before.
[ Life: Ch. 21: #11 ]
Regarding herself, St. Teresa
said that she did not deserve
the graces and and favors
that God granted to her
"for my merits are as nothing".
[ Life: Ch. 21: #11 ]
"I saw clearly
- that this did not come
from myself,
- that I had not brought it about
by any efforts of my own"
[ Life: Ch. 21: #14 ]
"I do not think
that I am doing anything myself
certainly I do not"
"for I see distinctly that
all this is the work of our Lord"
[ Life: Ch. 21: #14 ]
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