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 28
She treats of
- the great favours God showed her, and
- how He appeared to her for the first time;
She explains
- what an imaginary vision is, and
- speaks of the powerful effects
it leaves and
- the signs whether it is from God.
This chapter is most profitable and noteworthy.
- Visions of the Sacred Humanity,
and of the Glorified Bodies.
- Imaginary Visions.
Great Fruits Thereof When They Come from God.
_______________________
Topics/ Questions
1). St Teresa talked about types of visions.
What were they ?
[ Life: Ch. 28; #2, 4, 5, 12, 14 ]
2). How did St. Teresa describe
her various responses
to her imaginary visions?
[ Life: Ch. 28; #2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 19, 22 ]
3). How does St. Teresa explain that
an imaginary vision,
seen "only with the eyes of the soul",
is not a product of the
human imagination ?
[ Life: Ch. 28; #1, 7, 8, 11,
12, 13, 14, 16, 17 ]
4 ). What does St. Teresa say about
the risk or lack of risks
of the Imaginative vision?
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 15, 16]
5). How did St. Teresa know that her
"Imaginative visions"
were not a deception of the devil?
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 19 ]
6). Why did St. Teresa describe in detail
the trials and distress which
she experienced as a result of
the response of others to reports
of her experience in prayer?
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 10, 24 ]_________________________
1). St Teresa talked about types of visions.
What were they ?
[ Life: Ch. 28; #2, 4, 5, 12, 14 ]
St. Teresa mentions:
- Intellectual visions,
- Imaginary vision,
- "Those visions which are seen
by the bodily eyes.
She also mentions visions that are
the results of delusions caused
by one's own self or
by the devil.
~ Intellectual vision
"And in the other way...
that of intellectual vision,
we learn how
He
- is God,
- is mighty,
- can do all things,
- commands all things,
- governs all things, and
- fills all things
with His love".
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 14 ]
- This is more perfect than
the imaginary vision.
"Those who understand these things
better than I do, say that
- the intellectual vision
is more perfect
than this" (imaginary vision).
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 5 ]
~ Imaginary vision
which she "saw"
"only with the eyes of the soul".
"This vision, though imaginary,
I never saw
with my bodily eyes,
nor, indeed, any other,
but only
with the eyes of the soul"
- The Imaginary vision is inferior
to the Intellectual Vision
but is much greater than visions
that are seen through the bodily eyes.
"this, the imaginary vision (is)
much more perfect
than those visions
which are seen
by the bodily eyes".
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 5 ]
Examples of the imaginary vision:
"...Him whom I saw so clearly present,
an eye-witness of my acts".
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 2 ]
"It pleased our Lord,
one day that I was in prayer,
to show me His Hands,
and His Hands only.
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 2 ]
"A few days later, I saw His divine Face
and I was utterly entranced".
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 2 ]
"A few days later, I saw His divine Face
and I was utterly entranced.
"...afterwards, He granted me the grace
of seeing His whole Person".
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 2 ]
"On one of the feasts of St. Paul,
when I was at Mass,
there stood before me
the most Sacred Humanity,
as painters represent Him
after the resurrection,
in great beauty and majesty"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 4 ]
"for if what I saw was an image,
it was a living image,
not a dead man,
but the living Christ:
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 12 ]
~ "Those visions which are seen
by the bodily eyes.
These are the "lowest" type of vision
and can be a source of delusion
from the devil.
"The latter kind of visions,
they say,
is the lowest;
and it is by these
that the devil
can most delude us"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 5 ]
_____________________________________
2). How did St. Teresa describe
her various responses
to her imaginary visions?
[ Life: Ch. 28; #2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 19, 22 ]
St. Teresa described:
~ Fear / Confusion because of the
extraordinary beauty and brightness
of the vision
"The beauty of them was so great,
that no language can describe it.
This put me in great fear;
for everything that is strange,
in the beginning
of any new grace from God,
makes me very much afraid".
[ Life: Ch. 28; #2 ]
"You will think, my father,
that it required no great courage
to look upon Hands and Face
so beautiful.
But so beautiful are glorified bodies,
that the glory which surrounds them
renders those,
who see that which
is so supernatural(ly) beautiful
beside themselves.
(bewilders them)
"I was in such great fear, trouble, and
perplexity at the sight"
[ Life: Ch. 28; #3 ]
"for, after every vision
which was strange to me,
our Lord permitted me
to remain in great fear.
All this was the result
of my being then, and
of having been,
a sinner.
[ Life: Ch. 28; #22 ]
"Afterwards there ensued
a sense of safety and certainty...
so that all fear passed
immediately away
[ Life: Ch. 28; #3 ]
~ Fear of delusions:
"...I was occasionally afraid,
because so much was said to me
about delusions
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 2 ]
- Afterwards she doubted the occurrence
of the vision.
- She would relay her experience and her
doubts to her Confessor
- She was distressed because of the
possibility of deceiving her Confessor
by her previous report of visions
which she now doubted ever took place.
- Through his counsel, she saw
that she had never any intention to deceive and
"he contrived to quiet me"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 6 ]
- God removed all doubts from her
regarding the truth
of the imaginary visions.
She understood them to be
a grace from God.
"that fear lasted not long,
because our Lord reassured me"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 2 ]
"But our Lord made such haste
to bestow this grace upon me, and
to declare the reality of it,
that all doubts of the vision
being a fancy on my part
were quickly taken away"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 7 ]
~ She noted the fruits of these graces
in herself.
She saw that she was much improved;
She was changed into a new person.
"for all who knew me saw clearly
that my soul was changed,
and so my confessor said;
for the difference
was very great in every way"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 19]
"rooting out my faults,
implanting virtues
and spiritual strength;
for I saw clearly
that I had become at once
another person
through the instrumentality
of these visions".
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 19]
"The soul is itself no longer…
it seems as if a living love of God,
of the highest kind,
made a new beginning within it;
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 14]
________________________
3). How does St. Teresa explain that
an imaginary vision,
seen "only with the eyes of the soul",
is not a product of the
human imagination ?
[ Life: Ch. 28; #1, 7, 8, 11,
12, 13, 14, 16, 17 ]
St. Teresa distinguishes between the
"Imaginary vision" and
a vision of the human/natural imagination.
She describes the imaginary vision as:
~ Beyond the capabilities of the
natural/human imagination:
"for it is the most impossible
of all impossible things
that all this may be the work
of the imagination"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 16 ]
"it far transcends anything
we can comprehend in this life?
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 16 ]
"beyond our imagination altogether"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 16 ]
"For if I were to spend many years
in devising how to picture to myself
anything so beautiful,
I should never be able,
nor even know how to do it
for it is beyond the reach
of any possible imagination
here below"
"the whiteness and brilliancy alone
are inconceivable"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 7 ]
"no man, however gifted he may be,
can ever,
in the whole course of his life,
arrive at any imagination
of what it is".
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 8 ]
"God puts it before us...
for when our Lord wills,
we must see it,
whether we will or not.
No distraction can shut it out,
no power can resist it,
nor can we attain to it
by any diligence or efforts
of our own".
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 8 ]
~ Extraordinary beauty / brightness
"for the very beauty and whiteness
of one of our Lord's Hands
are beyond our imagination altogether.
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 16 ]
"I thought it was Christ Himself,
judging by the brightness
in which He was pleased
to show Himself.
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 11]
"It is not a brilliancy which dazzles,
but a delicate whiteness
and a brilliancy infused,
furnishing the most excessive
delight to the eyes,
never wearied thereby,
nor by the visible brightness
which enables us
to see a beauty so divine"
" It is a light so different
from any light here below..."
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 7 ]
It is a light which knows no night;
but rather,
as it is always light,
nothing ever disturbs it".
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 8 ]
~ Living image or dynamic portrait
"for if what I saw was an image,
it was a living image,
not a dead man,
but the living Christ"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 12]
"but still not like a picture"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 11]
"for they differ as a living person
differs from his portrait,
which, however well drawn,
cannot be lifelike,
for it is plain that it is a dead thing"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 11]
"difference...between
a living subject and
the portrait thereof"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 12]
~ Effects on the soul:
Holy Wisdom,
Growth in Prayer and Virtue,
Effectiveness
- Holy Wisdom
"and He makes me see
that He is God and man... ,
as He was...risen from the dead".
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 12]
"The soul understands by that majesty
wherein Thou showest Thyself...
How utterly Thou art the Lord
of the whole world, and
of heaven..."
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 12]
"I see that
it is Thy will
(that) the soul should feel
the greatness of Thy Majesty, and
the power of Thy most
Sacred Humanity,
united with Thy Divinity.
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 13]
"the soul sees
that our Lord shows
how He loves it
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 13]
"afterwards the vision is forgotten;
but there remains
so deep an impression
of the majesty and beauty of God,
that it is impossible to forget it,
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 14]
- Growth in Prayer and Virtue
"we know that He is then present,
for faith says so.
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 12]
"we learn true humility,
imprinted in the soul
by the sight of its own wretchedness,
of which now it cannot be ignorant"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 13]
"Here, also, is
confusion of face, and
true repentance for sins"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 13]
"He shows Himself so clearly
to be the Lord
of that little dwelling-place,
that the soul seems to be
dissolved and
lost in Christ.
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 12]
"the soul sees
that our Lord shows
how He loves it,
yet it knows not where to go,
and so is utterly dissolved".
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 13]
"The soul is itself no longer...
it seems as if a living love of God,
of the highest kind,
made a new beginning within it;
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 14]
- Effectiveness
-- Vision of the human imagination:
"If the vision were the work
of a man's own understanding,
(it)...would not accomplish the great (results)
of the true (vision),
nor, indeed, any at all,
...it will not support him,
nor supply strength...
on the contrary,
...be the worse for it"
"the soul will be dissipated,
neither sustained
nor strengthened;
on the contrary,
it will be wearied
and disgusted"
-- imaginary vision (from God)
"But, in the true vision,
the riches which abide in the soul
cannot be described;
even the body
receives health and comfort"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 17 ]
~ Certainty and Reassurance
"He comes at times in majesty so great,
that no one can have any doubt
that it is our Lord Himself,
especially after Communion:
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 12]
"He shows Himself so clearly
to be the Lord
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 12]
"But our Lord made such haste
to bestow this grace upon me, and
to declare the reality of it,
that all doubts of the vision
being a fancy on my part
were quickly taken away,
[ Life: Ch. 28; #7]
"And though I was occasionally afraid,
...about delusions,
that fear lasted not long,
because our Lord reassured me.
[ Life: Ch. 28; #1 ]
"we know that He is then present,
for faith says so.
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 12]
4 ). What does St. Teresa say about
the risk or lack of risks
of the Imaginative vision?
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 15, 16]
Regarding the dangers of the imaginative vision,
St. Teresa said:
- "that the devil has no power here"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 16]
- "Satan can do no harm to anyone
who has had experience of these things"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 16]
She stated that the soul,
if advanced in prayer or
having had the experience
of the true Imaginary vision from God,
would identify and resist a "Counterfeit"
because of the negative effects
of the false image.
(such as being troubled, disgusted, and restless)
She exhort the soul to "walk in
humility and
singleness of heart".
"nor is there...any risk in it,
because the fruits of it show
that the devil has no power here.
I think he tried three or four times
to represent our Lord to me,
in this way,
by a false image of Him.
He takes the appearance of flesh,
but he cannot counterfeit the glory
which it has
when the vision is from God.
Satan makes his representations...
but the soul
resists instinctively;
is troubled, disgusted, and restless;
it loses that devotion and joy
(which) it previously had,
and cannot pray at all.
These satanic visions
are very different things;
and even he who shall have attained
to the prayer of quiet only
will, I believe, detect them
by those results of them...
They are most easily recognised;
and if a soul consents not
to its own delusion,
I do not think that Satan
will be able to deceive it,
provided it walks in
humility and
singleness of heart.
He, who shall have had
the true vision, coming from God,
detects the false visions at once;
for, though they begin
with a certain sweetness and joy,
the soul rejects them of itself;
and the joy
which Satan ministers
must be, I think, very different:
It shows no traces
of pure and holy love:
Satan very quickly betrays himself.
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 15]
________________________
5). How did St. Teresa know that her
"Imaginative visions"
were not a deception of the devil?
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 19 ]
St. Teresa said
"...rather than (trust) my own eyes",
she would trust the learned and the
experienced in these matters.
She was reassured by her Confessor
as to the good effects she received ---
her growth of virtue and strength
St. Teresa described their effects in her soul:
"left with me certain jewels, and
...possessing none previously,
I held the jewels in my hand
as pledges of a great love
for all who knew me saw clearly
that my soul was changed,
and so my confessor said;
for the difference
was very great in every way
As I was formerly so wicked,
.. I could not believe
that Satan, if he wished to
deceive me and
take me down to hell,
would have recourse to means
so adverse to his purpose
as this, of
rooting out my faults,
implanting virtues
and spiritual strength;
for I saw clearly
that I had become at once
another person
through the instrumentality
of these visions.
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 19]
__________________________
6). Why did St. Teresa describe in detail
the trials and distress which
she experienced as a result of
the response of others to reports
of her experience in prayer?
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 10, 24 ]
St Teresa wanted to emphasize:
~ the importance and value of
the counsel of those who have
- experience of the way
of the Spirit,
- as well as learning.
"I relate this
in order that people may see
what a great trial it is
not to find any one
who knows this way of the spirit
by experience".
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 24 ]
~ that the trials that she underwent and
also the corrections that she received
from her Confessors and Spiritual Directors,
although distressful to her,
- pleased God and also
- assisted her in her spiritual progress.
"for I am sure that they pleased Him
who condemned and rebuked me,
and that it was all for my great good"
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 24 ]
"difficulties increase my devotion and
the greater the difficulty
the greater the increase".
[ Life: Ch. 28; # 10 ]
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