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 22
In which she shows
- that the safest way for contemplatives is
not to lift up the spirit to high things
but to wait for God to lift it up.
- How the Sacred Humanity of Christ
is the medium for the most exalted contemplation.
She mentions
- an error
under which she laboured for some time.
This Chapter is most profitable.
___________________
- The security of contemplatives lies in
their not ascending to high things
if Our Lord does not raise them.
- The Sacred Humanity must be the road
to the highest contemplation.
- A delusion in which the saint was once entangled.
____________________________
Topics / Questions
1 ). What was prayer instruction
that St. Teresa once followed
but later said was a "delusion"?
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 1, 2 ]
2). Why, When, and How did she follow
the prayer instruction from books?
But while doing so, why did she
"not dare to lift up her soul?
[ Life: Ch. 22: #2,3,4,5 ]
3 ). What reasons did she supply
to oppose this prayer method?
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 1, 2, 4, 7,8,9,
10,12, 13, 14, 15,16, 17, 18 ]
4 ). What did St. Teresa say about her
experience with this prayer method
that she learned from books?
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 2,3,4,5,8,9 ]
5). What does St. Teresa recommend now
in regard to prayer method?
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 8, 9,11, 20, 21]
6). To further illustrate the importance of
never abandoning the devotion
to the Sacred Humanity of Christ,
St. Teresa referred to many saints
who always kept this devotion.
Who were the saints that she mentioned?
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 1o]
7). In Paragraph #22, St. Teresa asked
"when our Lord begins to bestow
...the grace...of perfect contemplation,
upon a soul", why does this soul
not become "perfect at once"?
What does she later say about this?
[ Life: Ch. 22: #22, 23, 25 ]
_____________________
1 ). What was prayer instruction
that St. Teresa once followed
but later said was a "delusion"?
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 1, 2 ]
St. Teresa said that in books
regarding prayer methods,
she found the advice
which she later held "to be a delusion".
[ Life: Ch. 22: #2 ]
This advice consisted of :
~ Meditating on the Divinity of God
"And they advise us much to....
- draw near to the contemplation
of the Divinity"
"They say that
the contemplative should regard
- himself as being within a definite space
- God everywhere around, and
- himself absorbed in Him.
(that) This is what we should aim at".
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 1 ]
St. Teresa stated that the writers stated that
- "the soul...cannot in its own strength
attain to this (contemplative) state,
because it is altogether
a supernatural work
wrought in it by our Lord"
- "but may nevertheless succeed, by
- lifting up the spirit
- above all created things, and
raising it upwards in humility"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 1 ]
~ Avoiding meditation of earthly scenes,
including the Gospels, the Passion,
and "even the Sacred Humanity itself"
"They think that,
as this work of contemplation
is wholly spiritual,
any bodily object whatever
can disturb or hinder it.
"And they advise us much to
- withdraw from all bodily imagination"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 1 ]
"for they say that those
who have advanced so far
would be embarrassed or hindered
in their way
to the highest contemplation,
if they regarded
even the Sacred Humanity itself."
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 1 ]
___________________________
2). Why, When, and How did she follow
the prayer instruction from books?
But while doing so, why did she
"not dare to lift up her soul?
[ Life: Ch. 22: #2,3,4,5 ]
St. Teresa stated she had, indeed,
tried to follow this prayer instruction
which she had read
Why:
St. Teresa stated that at that time,
she had no spiritual director".
"As I had no director,
I used to read these books,
where, by little and little,
I thought I might understand something".
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 3]
I found out afterwards that,
if our Lord had not shown me the way,
I should have learned
but little from books;
for I understood really nothing
till His Majesty made me learn
by experience:
neither did I know what I was doing.
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 3]
When:
St. Teresa stated that
she followed this prayer method:
- after being brought by God
to the 2nd state of prayer,
the prayer of quiet
which is the beginning
of supernatural prayer
"So, in the beginning,
when I attained to some degree
of supernatural prayer,
... the prayer of quiet"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 3 ]
- Until the 4th state of prayer
(Union with God) and
"before our Lord gave me
the grace of raptures and visions"
"he who has
attained to union, and
advances no further,
that is, to raptures, visions,
and other graces of God
given to souls,
will consider that (method) to be best,
as I did myself"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 2 ]
"I believe myself that
this is the reason why
so many souls,
after advancing to the prayer of union,
make no further progress, and
do not attain to
very great liberty of spirit."
[ Life: Ch. 22: #5 ]
"Hitherto, I had been all my life long
so devout to the Sacred Humanity
for this happened but lately;
I mean by lately,
that it was before our Lord gave me
the grace of raptures and visions.
I did not continue long of this opinion,
and so I returned to my habit
of delighting in our Lord,
particularly at Communion.
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 4 ]
How:
- I laboured to remove from myself
every thought of bodily objects;
- However, she did not dare
to lift up her soul"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 3 ]
Why she did "not dare to lift up her soul"
St. Teresa said that
"I did not dare to lift up my soul,
for that I saw would be presumption in me,
who was always so wicked"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 3 ]
_____________________________
3 ). What reasons did she supply
to oppose this prayer method?
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 1, 2, 4, 7,8,9,
10,12, 13, 14, 15,16, 17, 18 ]
St. Teresa disagreed with this advice
~ by refuting what the authors claimed to be
its scriptural basis:
"They defend their opinion
by bringing forward the words
of our Lord to the Apostles,
concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit
...after the Ascension."
["But I tell you the truth:
it is expedient to you that I go:
for if I go not,
the Paraclete will not come to you;
but if I go, I will send him to you"
- John 16;7 ]
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 1 ]
Her response:
1b.1) "If the Apostles had believed,
as they believed
after the Coming of the Holy Ghost,
that He is both God and Man,
His bodily Presence
would...have been no hindrance;
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 1 ]
1b.2) Also, she felt that since
Mary, His mother,
(whose love of God
and prayer to God
was greater than any saint)
was not present when Jesus said
these words to the Apostles,
then theses words were not meant
as instruction for prayer.
"for those words were not said
to the Mother of God,
though she loved Him more than all."
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 1 ]
1b.3) Since they advise that [ Life: Ch. 22: # 1 ]
"any bodily object whatever
can... hinder" progress in prayer,
she can not bear to include
she can not bear to include
Christ's Humanity with
that of all worldly objects
under the subject of "bodily objects"
as if they were comparable
in attributes or value.
"to withdraw altogether from Christ and
to compare His divine Body
with our miseries or
with any created thing whatever,
with any created thing whatever,
is what I cannot endure".
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 2 ]
~ By exposing the lack of humility
and presumptiousness in this method:
"there is a little absence of humility"
[ Life: Ch. 22: #7 ]
"we must not show ourselves
as labouring after spiritual consolations"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 15 ]
"it is a little failure in humility,
in that the soul
- desires to rise of itself
before our Lord raises it, and
- is not satisfied with meditation
on so excellent a subject,
(the Sacred Humanity of Christ)
- seeking to be Mary
before it has laboured with Martha"
( desiring to be contemplative
and receive spirtual consolations
without having to persevere in prayer
and in efforts.)
(Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus;
In the Gospel of Luke 10:38-42,
(Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus;
In the Gospel of Luke 10:38-42,
Martha was busy serving her house guests
while Mary sat at the feet of Jesus
and listened to his words.)
while Mary sat at the feet of Jesus
and listened to his words.)
"If our Lord will have a soul
to be Mary,
even on the first day,
there is nothing to be afraid of;
but we must not be
self-invited guests"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 13 ]
"This little mote of want of humility,
though in appearance a mere nothing,
does a great deal of harm
to those who wish
to advance in contemplation".
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 13 ]
"God is greatly pleased when He beholds
a soul in its humility
- making His Son a Mediator
between itself and Him,
- and yet loving Him so much
as to confess its own unworthiness,
even when He would raise it up
to the highest contemplation,
- and saying with St. Peter:
"Go Thou away from me, O
Lord, for I am a sinful man."
"the whole foundation of prayer
must be laid in humility...
"the more a soul humbles itself in prayer,
the more God lifts it up".
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 16 ]
"We are not angels,
for we have a body;
to seek to make ourselves angels
while we are on the earth...
is an act of folly".
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 14 ]
~ By indicating that their method:
- withdraws the soul's attention from Christ
and so, separates their focus
from His loving support.
"But that we should
carefully and laboriously
accustom ourselves
not to strive with all our might
to have always
the most Sacred Humanity
before our eyes,
is what seems to me not to be right:
it is making the soul...
to walk in the air;
for it has nothing to rest on,
how full soever of God
it may think itself to be.
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 12 ]
In the most Holy Sacrament,
He is our companion,
as if it was not in His power
to withdraw Himself
for a moment from us.
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 8 ]
. With so good a Friend
and Captain ever present,
Himself the first to suffer,
everything can be borne.
He helps,
He strengthens,
He never fails,
He is the true Friend.
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 9]
What more can we want
than so good a Friend at our side,
Who will not forsake us
when we are in trouble and distress,
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 10 ]
It is a great matter for us
to have our Lord before us
as Man
while we are living and in the flesh.
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 13 ]
In general, our thoughts
must have something to rest on
for when we have many things to do,
when we are persecuted and in trouble..
when we have our seasons of dryness,
Christ is our best Friend;
for we regard Him
as Man,
and behold Him faint and in trouble,
and He is our Companion; and
when we shall have accustomed ourselves
in this way,
it is very easy to find Him near us"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 14 ]
~ By asserting that their method
hinders progress in prayer:
- "if a soul attempts to advance
to the prayer of union,
by its own efforts
-- it will quickly fall back because
the foundations were not duly laid"
(even if at first, it appears to
to make progress )
-- it "will never attain
to true poverty of spirit.
(which) consists of
--- finding solace in their work / trials
for the love of God
--- "abandoning the consolations
of the world and
--- in being calm in the midst
of sorrows and aridities.
rather than seeking consolation
or pleasure in prayer".
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 17 ]
- "...does a great deal of harm
to those who wish
to advance in contemplation".
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 13 ]
Conversely, she teaches that
to meditate on
the Sacred Humanity of Christ
is the path toward God
and advancement in prayer.
The Sacred Humanity of Christ
"... is the door
by which we are to enter,
if we would have His supreme Majesty
reveal to us His great secrets.
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 9 ]
Our Lord is He
by whom all good things come to us;
He will teach you.
[ Life: Ch. 22: #10 ]
~ God (not ourselves) knows
what will be beneficial
for each particular 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 ]
St. Teresa teaches us:
To conform
to His will and
to His plan for us
to His will and
to His plan for us
rather try to have Him follow our plan
"to embrace the cross is the great thing"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 15 ]
"We must
- walk in liberty on this road,
- committing ourselves
into the hands of God.
If it be His Majesty's good pleasure to
raise us and
place us among His secret councillors...
- we must go willingly;
if not, we must
- serve Him in the lower offices
of His house, and
- not sit down on the upper seats".
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 18 ]
"...still more difficult and hard
for our spirit to rise upwards,
if God does not raise it,
seeing that it is burdened with earth,
and hindered in a thousand ways.
Its willingness to rise
is of no service to it"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 4 ]
___________________________________
4 ). What did St. Teresa say about her
experience with this prayer method
that she learned from books?
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 2,3,4,5,8,9 ]
St. Teresa stated that
"...because I would comply
with the directions I was reading,
....I was in...danger..."
"and if I had continued in it...
I should never have reached
the state I am in now.
I hold it to be a delusion"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 2 ]
~ Initially, she thought the books'
method of prayer did help:
"I thought....that
I had a sense of the presence of God…
I contrived to be in a state of recollection
before Him.
This method of prayer is full of sweetness,
if God helps us in it,
and the joy of it is great.
And so, because I was conscious
of the profit and delight
which this way (had) furnished me,
no one could have brought me back
to the contemplation
of the Sacred Humanity;
for that seemed to me
to be a real hindrance to prayer.
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 3 ]
~ Afterwards she said:
"I never think of this opinion,
which I then held,
without pain;
I believe it was an act of high treason,
though done in ignorance.
I wish I could have His picture and image
always before my eyes,
since I cannot have Him graven in my soul
as deeply as I wish.
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 4 ]
Is it possible, O my Lord,
that I could have had the thought...
that Thou couldst be a hindrance
to my greatest good?
Whence are all my blessings?
Are they not from Thee?...
[ Life: Ch. 22: #5 ]
"but how could I,
having once known Thee,
ever think I should gain more
in this way?"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 8]
And so it pleased Thee, in Thy goodness,
to succour me,
by sending me
one who has delivered me
from this delusion".
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 5]
"I see clearly, and
since then
have always seen,
that
if we are to please God, and
if He is to give us His great graces,
everything must pass
through the hands
of His most Sacred Humanity"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 9]
_____________________________
5). What does St. Teresa recommend now
in regard to prayer method?
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 8, 9,11, 20, 21]
~ Regarding the prayer method which
she found in books which discussed
"lifting up the spirit...draw near
to the contemplation of the Divinity":
She said:
“If you see people
who are beginning to taste of God,
do not trust them
if they think that they
- advance more, and
- have a deeper fruition of God,
when they make efforts
of their own.
“it seems to me (it is)
still more difficult and hard
for our spirit to rise upwards,
if God does not raise it,
Its willingness to rise
is of no service to it;
for, though an aptness for flying
be more natural to it...
yet is it so sunk in the mire
as to have lost it by its own fault.
[ Life: Ch. 22: #20 ]
"it is a little failure in humility,
in that the soul
desires to rise of itself
before our Lord raises it…
we must not be
self-invited guests"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 13 ]
"This...want of humility...
does a great deal of harm
to those who wish
to advance in contemplation".
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 13 ]
~ Regarding the prayer method which
she found in books that recommended one to "withdraw from all bodily imagination"
She said:
"This withdrawing from bodily objects...
ought to be done only
when the soul has made
very great progress;
for until then it is clear
that the Creator must be sought for
through His creatures.
All this depends on the grace
which our Lord distributes to every soul.
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 11]
But "the most Sacred Humanity of Christ
is not to be counted
among the objects
among the objects
from which we have to withdraw".
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 11]
~ St. Teresa taught:
"if we are to please God, and
if He is to give us His great graces,
everything must pass
through the hands
of His most Sacred Humanity
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 9]
~ Regarding instruction on meditating
on the Sacred Humanity of Christ:
She taught:
"if our constitution or perhaps sicknesses
will not permit us always
to think of His Passion,
because it is so painful,
who is to hinder us from
- thinking of Him
risen from the grave,
- seeing that we have Him so near us
in the Sacrament,
where he is glorified, and
where we shall not see Him
in His great weariness
scourged, streaming with blood,
faint by the way, persecuted
by those to whom He had done good,
and not believed in by the Apostles?
Certainly it is not always that
one can bear to meditate on sufferings
so great as were those He underwent.
Behold Him here,
before His ascension into heaven,
without pain, all-glorious,
giving
strength to some and
courage to others.
In the most Holy Sacrament,
He is our companion..."
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 8]
"Whenever we think of Christ,
we should remind ourselves
- of the love that made Him
bestow so many graces
upon us and also
- how great that love is
which our Lord God has shown us,
in giving us such a pledge
of the love He bears us;
for love draws forth love.
And though we are
only at the very beginning, and
exceedingly wicked,
yet let us always labour to
- keep this in view, and
- stir ourselves up to love"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 21 ]
__________________________________
6). To further illustrate the importance of
never abandoning the devotion
to the Sacred Humanity of Christ,
St. Teresa referred to many saints
who always kept this devotion.
Who were the saints that she mentioned?
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 1o]
St. Teresa wrote of:
- "the glorious St. Paul, who seems
as if Jesus was never absent from his lips,
as if he had Him deep down in his heart.
- St. Francis with the stigmata proves it,
- St. Antony of Padua with the Infant Jesus;
- St. Bernard rejoiced in the Sacred Humanity..
- St. Catherine of Siena, and many others"
[ Life: Ch. 22: #10 ]
_________________________________
7). In Paragraph #22, St. Teresa asked
"when our Lord begins to bestow
...the grace...of perfect contemplation,
upon a soul", why does this soul
not become "perfect at once"?
What does she later say about this?
[ Life: Ch. 22: #22, 23, 25 ]
St. Teresa stated that:
~ Striving for detachment will help dispose
the soul to graces.
"the more it is detached"
the more graces and fruits
the soul receives.
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 22 ]
"Very often, when thinking of this,
have I imagined
the reason might be,
that the soul does not despise itself
all at once,
till our Lord
- instructs it
by degrees, and
- makes it resolute, and
- gives it the strength of manhood,
so that it may trample
utterly upon everything"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 23 ]
"He gives...grace
according to the measure
of their abandonment
of themselves
into the hands of His Majesty,
that He may do with them as He will.
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 23 ]
~ These graces from God, in turn, increase
the soul's detachment,
which, again, in turn,
disposes the soul to graces.
Virtue is perfected in the soul by degrees.
- She also stated that in the beginning,
the grace of rapture/trance may
be given for a very short duration.
The effects it produces then
and its "degree of strength"
will be stronger
"when this grace is a trance
of longer duration"
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 22 ]
~ St. Teresa observed that
God brings a soul
" to the perfection of virtue
only in the course of time"
or "in a moment".
It depends on His will
and, she advises,
on the soul's cooperation with His graces.
"...The whole matter
is as His Majesty wills".
"He gives His grace
to whom He pleases;
But much depends on this:
He who begins to receive this grace must
- make a firm resolution
to detach himself from all things and
- esteem this grace according to reason.
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 25 ]
He gave this strength to the Magdalene
in a moment".
[ Life: Ch. 22: # 23 ]
_________________________
