The Life of Holy Mother
Teresa of Jesus
The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus,
of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel.
CHAPTER 24
She continues
- the same subject and
- tells how her soul improved
since she began to practise obedience, and
- how little she was able to resist God's graces, and
- how His Majesty continued to give them
more and more abundantly.
- Progress Under Obedience.
- Her Inability to Resist the Graces of God.
- God Multiplies His Graces.
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Topics/ Questions
to keep in mind
as we read along:
1). How did she benefit from the
guidance of her Confessors and
Spiritual Directors?
[ Life: Ch24 # 2,3,8,9 ]
2). What recommendations
did she receive?
[ Life: Ch24 #2,4,6 ]
3). What did St. Teresa say
about her attachment
to a certain friendship?
[ Life: Ch24 #6,7,8 ]
4). St. Teresa emphasized that
she tried to give up her attachments
but was unable to be effective
by her own efforts;
It was God who changed her.
What did she say about this?
[ Life: Ch24 #6, 8, 9 ]
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Chapter 24
1. After this my confession,
my soul was so docile that,
as it seems to me,
there was nothing in the world
I was not prepared to undertake.
I began at once
to make a change in many things,
though my confessor
never pressed me on the contrary,
he seemed to make light of it all.
I was the more influenced by this,
because he led me on
by the way of the love of God;
he left me free, and
did not press me,
unless I did so myself,
out of love.
I continued thus nearly two months,
doing all I could to resist
the sweetness and graces that God sent.
As to my outward life,
the change was visible;
for our Lord gave me courage
to go through with certain things,
of which those who knew me
and even those in the community
said that they seemed to them extreme;
and, indeed,
compared with what
I had been accustomed to do,
they were extreme:
people, therefore,
had reason to say so.
Yet, in those things
which were of obligation,
considering
the habit I wore, and
the profession I had made,
I was still deficient.
By resisting the sweetness and joys
which God sent me,
I gained this,
that His Majesty taught me Himself;
for, previously,
I used to think that,
in order to obtain sweetness in prayer,
it was necessary for me
- to hide myself in secret places,
and so I scarcely dared to stir.
Afterwards, I saw how little
that was to the purpose;
for the more I tried to distract myself,
the more our Lord poured over me
that sweetness and joy
which seemed to me
to be flowing around me,
so that I could not in any way
escape from it:
and so it was.
I was so careful about this resistance,
that it was a pain to me.
But our Lord was more careful
to show His mercies, and
during those two months
to reveal Himself more than before,
so that I might the better comprehend
that it was no longer in my power
to resist Him.
2. I began
- with a renewed love
of the most Sacred Humanity;
- my prayer began to be solid,
like a house,
the foundations of which are strong; and
- I was inclined to practise greater penance,
having been negligent in this matter
hitherto because of my great infirmities.
The holy man who heard my confession
(*This and the Peers translation
indicates Fr Juan de Padranos
by foot note. )
told me
- that certain penances
would not hurt me and
- that God perhaps
sent me so much sickness
because I did no penance;
His Majesty would therefore
impose it Himself.
He ordered me to practise
certain acts of mortification
not very pleasant for me. [349]
I did so, because I felt
that our Lord was
-- enjoining it all, and
-- giving him grace to command me
in such a way
as to make me obedient unto him.
3. My soul was now sensitive
to every offence
I committed against God,
however slight it might be;
so much so, that
if I had any superfluity about me,
I could not recollect myself in prayer
till I had got rid of it.
I prayed earnestly
that our Lord
- would hold me by the hand, and
- not suffer me to fall again,
now that I was under the direction
of His servants.
I thought
- that would be a great evil, and
- that they would lose their credit
through me.
4. At this time, Father Francis,
( St. Francis de Borja )
who was Duke of Gandia, [350]
came here;
he had left all he possessed
some years before, and
had entered the Society of Jesus.
My confessor, and the nobleman
of whom I spoke before, [351]
(*Fr. Gaspar Daza and
Don Francisco de Salcedo )
(*The ICS version footnotes
say Fr. Diego de Cetina S.J.)
contrived that he
(St. Francis de Borja)
should visit me,
in order that I might
speak to him, and
give him an account
of my way of prayer;
for they knew him to be greatly favoured
and comforted of God:
he had given up much,
and was rewarded for it
even in this life.
When he (St. Francis de Borja)
had heard me,
he said to me
- that it was the work of the Spirit of God,
[352] and
- that he thought it was not right now
to prolong that resistance;
- that hitherto it had been safe enough,
- only, I should always begin my prayer
by meditating on some part
of the Passion and
- that if our Lord should then
raise up my spirit,
I should make no resistance,
but suffer His Majesty to raise it upwards,
I myself not seeking it.
He gave both medicine and advice,
as one who had
made great progress himself;
for experience is very important
in these matters.
He said
- that further resistance
would be a mistake.
would be a mistake.
I was exceedingly consoled;
so, too,was the nobleman,
rejoiced greatly when he was told
that it was the work of God.
He always helped me and
gave me advice according to his power,
and that power was great.
5. At this time, they changed
my confessor's residence.
I felt it very much,
for I thought
- I should go back to my wickedness, and
- that it was not possible to find another
such as he.
My soul was, as it were,
in a desert,
in a desert,
most sorrowful and afraid.
I knew not what to do with myself.
One of my kinswomen contrived
to get me into her house, and
I contrived at once
to find another confessor, [353]
in the Society of Jesus.
It pleased our Lord
that I should commence a friendship
with a noble lady, [354]
a widow, much given to prayer,
(Dona Guiomar)
who had much to do with the Fathers.
She made her own confessor [355]
(Fr. Baltasar Alvarez,
the confessor of Dona Guiomar)
hear me, and
I remained in her house some days.
She lived near, and
I delighted in the many conferences
I had with the Fathers;
for merely by observing the holiness
of their way of life,
I felt that my soul profited exceedingly.
6. This Father began by putting me
in the way of greater perfection.
He used to say to me,
- that I ought to leave nothing undone
that I might be wholly pleasing unto God.
He was, however, very prudent
and very gentle at the same time;
for my soul was
not at all strong,
but rather very weak,
especially as to giving up
certain friendships,
though I did not offend God by them:
there was much natural affection
in them, and
I thought it would be an act
of ingratitude
if I broke them off.
And so, as I did not offend God,
I asked him if I must be ungrateful.
He told me to
- lay the matter
before God
for a few days, and
- recite the hymn, "Veni, Creator,"
that God might enlighten me
as to the better course.
One day,
having prayed for some time, and
implored our Lord to help me
to please Him in all things,
I began the hymn;
and as I was saying it,
I fell into a trance
so suddenly,
that I was, as it were,
carried out of myself.
I could have no doubt about it,
for it was most plain.
7. This was the first time
that our Lord bestowed on me
the grace of ecstasy.
I heard these words:
"I will not have thee converse
with men,
but with angels."
This made me wonder very much;
for the commotion of my spirit
was great, and
these words were uttered
in the very depth of my soul.
They made me afraid, though,
on the other hand,
they gave me great comfort...
which remained with me
when I had lost the fear,
caused, I believe, by
the strangeness of the visitation...
8. Those words have been fulfilled;
for I have never been able
- to form friendship with,
- nor have any comfort in,
- nor any particular love for,
any persons whatever
except those
who, as I believe, love God, and
who strive to serve Him.
It has not been in my power to do it.
It is nothing to me
that they are my kindred, or my friends,
if I do not know them to be
lovers of God,
or persons given to prayer.
It is to me a painful cross
to converse with any one.
This is the truth,
so far as I can judge. [356]
From that day forth,
I have had courage so great
as to leave all things for God,
who in one moment,
and it seems to me,
but a moment
was pleased to change His servant
into another person.
Accordingly, there was no necessity
for laying further commands upon me
in this matter.
When my confessor saw
how much I clung to these friendships,
he did not venture to bid me distinctly
to give them up.
He must have waited
till our Lord did the work
as He did Himself.
Nor did I think myself that I could succeed;
for I had tried before,
and the pain it gave me was so great
that I abandoned the attempt,
on the ground that there was
nothing unseemly in those attachments.
Now our Lord
set me at liberty, and
gave me strength also to use it.
9. So I told my confessor of it,
and gave up everything,
according to his advice.
It did a great deal of good
to those with whom I used to converse,
to see my determination.
God be blessed for ever!
Who in one moment set me free,
while I had been for many years
making many efforts,
and had never succeeded,
very often also doing such violence
to myself
as injured my health;
but, as it was done by Him
Who is almighty, and
the true Lord of all,
it gave me no pain whatever.
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[349] The Saint now treated her body
with extreme severity,
disciplining herself even unto blood
(Reforma, vol. i. lib. i. c. xx. § 4).
[350] St. Francis de Borja came to Avila,
where St. Teresa lived, in 1557
(De la Fuente).
This passage must have been written
after the foundation of St. Joseph,
for it was not in the first Life,
as the Saint says, [287]
ch. 10 § 11,
that he kept secret the names of
herself and all others.
[351] [288] Ch. 23. § 6.
[352] See [289]Relation, viii. § 6.
[353] Who he was is not certainly known.
The Bollandists decline to give an opinion:
but F. Bouix thinks it was
Fr. Ferdinand Alvarez,
who became her confessor on the removal
of F. Juan de Padranos, and
that it was to him she confessed
till she placed herself
under the direction of
Fr. Baltasar Alvarez,
the confessor of Dona Guiomar,
as it is stated in the next paragraph,
unless the confessor there mentioned
was Fr. Ferdinand.
[354] Dona Guiomar de Ulloa.
See below, [290]ch. 32 § 13.
[355] If this confessor was
Fr. Baltasar Alvarez,
the Saint, F. Bouix observes,
passes rapidly over the history
of the year 1557, and
the greater part, perhaps, of 1558;
for F. Baltasar was ordained priest
only in the latter year.
[356] See [291]Relation, i. § 6.
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