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
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 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 ]
_____________________________
Discussion:
In chapter 24, St. Teresa
described how she benefited from
the teachings of the various spiritual directors
who were in her locale
(perhaps over the period of 1557-1558).
In this chapter, although she doesn't
refer to her spiritual directors by name,
it seems:
- that her regular Confessor
( F. Juan de Padranos (?) )
was transferred to another locale.
"At this time, they changed
my confessor's residence"
[ Life: Ch24 #5 ]
- that when Fr Francis
(St. Francis de Borja)
came to Avila, her former
spiritual directors,
( Fr. Gaspar Daza (?) &
Don Francisco de Salcedo )
"My confessor, and the nobleman
...contrived that he should visit me"
[ Life: Ch24 #5 ]
- Footnote [353] suggests that
"Fr. Ferdinand Alvarez...
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"
Dona Guiomar, "a noble lady,
a widow, much given to prayer,
...made her own confessor hear me"
(Fr. Baltasar Alvarez)
[ Life: Ch24 #5 ]
___________________
1). How did she benefit from the
guidance of her Confessors and
Spiritual Directors?
[ Life: Ch24 # 2,3,8,9 ]
St. Teresa stated:
- "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;
- I was inclined to practise
greater penance,
having been negligent in this matter
hitherto because of my
great infirmities.
[ Life: Ch24 #2 ]
- 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.
[ Life: Ch24 # 3]
- She explains how she was
able to grow in detachment,
not by her own efforts
but by prayer:
"I have had courage so great
as to leave all things for God,
who in one moment...
was pleased to change His servant
into another person.
[ Life: Ch24 # 8]
"while I had been for many years
making many efforts,
and had never succeeded...
but, as it was done by Him
Who is almighty, and
the true Lord of all...
[ Life: Ch24 # 9 ]
_______________________________
2). What recommendations
did she receive?
[ Life: Ch24 #2,4,6 ]
~ Prayer; Meditation on
the Sacred Humanity of Christ
When Fr. Francis (St. Francis de Borja)
"had heard me, he said to me that
- "...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".
[ Life: Ch24 # 4 ]
~ Penance and sacrifice
"Embrace the Cross"
"The holy man
who heard my confession 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."
[ Life: Ch24 #2 ]
~ The confessor of Dona Guiomar
(Fr. Baltasar Alvarez )
"used to say to me,
- that I ought to leave nothing undone
that I might be wholly pleasing
unto God"
[ Life: Ch24 #6 ]
~ Detachment
Pray for God's help and graces
Regarding the problem of
her attachment
to a friendship
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.
[ Life: Ch24 # 6 ]
__________________________
3). What did St. Teresa say
about her attachment
to a certain friendship?
[ Life: Ch24 #6,7,8 ]
St. Teresa said:
St. Teresa said:
"...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".
(Her Confessor) "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.
[ Life: Ch24 # 6 ]
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."
[ Life: Ch24 # 7 ]
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 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…
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.
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.
[ Life: Ch24 # 8 ]
_______________________
4). St. Teresa emphasized that
she tried to give up 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 ]
St. Teresa said:
"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"
[ Life: Ch24 # 9 ]
"From that day forth,
I have had courage so great
as to leave all things for God,
who in one moment...
was pleased to change His servant
into another person".
Her Confessor advised her to
rely on God and pray to God:
"When my confessor saw
how much I clung
to these friendships,
he did not venture
to bid me distinctly
to give them up."
[ Life: Ch24 # 8 ]
"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."
[ Life: Ch24 # 6 ]
"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"
[ Life: Ch24 # 8 ]
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