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 32
She narrates
- how it pleased God to put her in spirit
in that place of Hell she had deserved by her sins.
She tells
- a little of what she saw there
compared with what there was besides.
She begins to speak
- of the manner and way of founding
the convent of St. Joseph
the convent of St. Joseph
where she now lives.
- Our Lord Shows St. Teresa the Place
Which She Had by Her Sins Deserved in Hell.
- The Torments There.
- How the Monastery of St. Joseph Was Founded.
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Topics/ Questions
1). "Some considerable time
after our Lord had bestowed
upon me the graces...and
others also of a higher nature,
I was one day in prayer
when I found myself...
plunged apparently into hell".
Why did she think that this vision
was a mercy for her ?
[Life: Ch32: # 6,7,8, 9,10,11]
2). When St. Teresa wrote regarding
thinking "what I could do for God",
what was "the first thing"
she thought of doing ?
[Life: Ch32: # 11 ]
3). What did St. Teresa say
about the current rule and
what did she want to change?
[Life: Ch32: # 11,12,13,14,15,21]
4). Although "the religious Orders
were then relaxed",
was God served by them?
[Life: Ch32: # 14 ]
5). What did St. Teresa say
about her belief or compliance to
visions or revelations?
[Life: Ch32: # 14, 16, 19 ]
____________________________
1). "Some considerable time
after our Lord had bestowed
upon me the graces...and
others also of a higher nature,
I was one day in prayer
when I found myself...
plunged apparently into hell".
Why did she think that this vision
was a mercy for her ?
[Life: Ch32: # 6,7,8, 9,10,11]
She gained as a result of the vision:
~ Thankfulness to God for His
mercy and compassion
for her conversion and deliverance:
St. Teresa said:
St. Teresa said:
"I understood distinctly
that it was a great mercy
that our Lord would have me
see with mine own eyes
the very place
from which His compassion saved me.
[Life: Ch32: # 6 ]
"to give thanks to our Lord,
who has been my Deliverer...
from such fearful and
everlasting pains"
[Life: Ch32: # 7 ]
"how manifest is it
that Thou didst love me
much more
than I did love Thee!
How often, O Lord,
didst Thou save me
from that fearful prison! and
how I used to get back to it
contrary to Thy will.
[Life: Ch32: # 8 ]
"I saw clearly
that it was the work of God, and
that His Majesty had furnished
my soul with fervour,
so that I might be able to digest
other and stronger food
than I had been accustomed...
[Life: Ch32: # 11 ]
~ Supernatural knowledge
which granted her the ability to grasp the truth.
She said that the fearful descriptions
which she heard or read of that place
did not help her to make spiritual progress.
which she heard or read of that place
did not help her to make spiritual progress.
She said that she had
"listened to people speaking of (hell)"
and read about it (before this vision)
but "my soul made no progress
by the way of fear"
[Life: Ch32: # 6 ]
"...the pains of hell,
I was not afraid of them,
nor made any account of them.
[Life: Ch32: # 8 ]
"In short, the one is a reality,
the other a picture;
[Life: Ch32: # 6 ]
~ She saw that any sufferings
she had in this world
are nothing in comparison
to those of hell.
are nothing in comparison
to those of hell.
It "destroyed (her) fear
of (worldly) trouble"
"It has made me strong enough
to bear up against them"
"amid all the pain and suffering,...
all we have to suffer in this world
is as nothing.
It seems to me
that we complain without reason.
I repeat it,
this vision was
one of the grandest mercies
of our Lord.
It has been to me
of the greatest service,
because it has destroyed my fear
of trouble and
of the contradiction of the world, and
because
it has made me strong enough
to bear up against them..."
[Life: Ch32: # 7 ]
"everything seems endurable
in comparison
with one instant of suffering
such as those I had then
to bear in hell.
[Life: Ch32: # 8 ]
~ Greater comprehension
of the seriousness of sin
"How could I possibly
take any pleasure in those things
which led me directly
to so dreadful a place?"
[Life: Ch32: # 8 ]
"It is true that,
considering my faults,
I had deserved
a still heavier chastisement;
we run a great risk
whenever we please ourselves.
No soul should take
either rest or pleasure
that is liable to fall every moment
into mortal sin.
Let us, then, for the love of God,
avoid all occasions of sin,
and our Lord will help us,
as He has helped me.
May it please His Majesty
never to let me out of His hands,
lest I should turn back and fall,
now that I have seen the place
where I must dwell if I do.
[Life: Ch32: #10 ]
~ Compassion for the souls in purgatory
"It was that vision that
- filled me
with the very great distress
which I feel at the sight
of so many lost souls
- gave me
the most vehement desires
for the salvation of souls..
to save even one from those
overwhelming torments,
I would most willingly
endure many deaths.
What...must it be
to see a soul in danger of pain,
the most grievous of all pains,
forever?
I know not
how we can be calm,
when we see Satan carry
so many souls daily away.
[Life: Ch32: # 9 ]
~ Strengthened her resolution
to persevere in her efforts
to please God
"makes me wish...
we did not rest satisfied
with doing less
than we can do on our part,
that we left nothing undone".
[Life: Ch32: # 10 ]
"When I
had seen this vision, and
had learned other great
and hidden things
which our Lord, of His goodness,
was pleased to show me,
I longed for
the way and the means
- of doing penance
for the great evil I had done, and
- of meriting in some degree,
so that I might gain so great a good"
She longed to grow in detachment:
"I wished
to avoid all society, and
to withdraw myself
utterly from the world"
"I tried to think
what I could do for God, and
"(I) thought that the first thing was
to follow my vocation
to a religious life,
which His Majesty had given me,
by keeping my rule
in the greatest perfection possible.
[Life: Ch32: # 11 ]
_________________________
2). When St. Teresa wrote regarding
thinking "what I could do for God",
what was "the first thing"
she thought of doing ?
[Life: Ch32: # 11 ]
The first thing
that St. Teresa thought of doing was
that St. Teresa thought of doing was
to follow her vocation in the religious life.
This she would do by following
the Rule of her order
as well as she possibly could.
This she would do by following
the Rule of her order
as well as she possibly could.
"I tried to think
what I could do for God, and
(I) thought that the first thing was
to follow my vocation
to a religious life,
which His Majesty had given me,
by keeping my rule
in the greatest perfection possible".
[Life: Ch32: # 11 ]
________________________
3). What did St. Teresa say
about the current rule
and what did she want to change?
[Life: Ch32: # 11,12,13,14,15,21]
Regarding the Current Rule:
At that time, she was living
under a mitigated rule.
"The rule also was kept,
not in its original exactness,
but according to the custom
of the whole Order,
authorised by the Bull of Mitigation."
[Life: Ch32: # 12]
Regarding her concerns:
She said that under this relaxed rule,
and in the current "large and pleasant" convent
many comforts and distractions were present.
It also allowed nuns
and in the current "large and pleasant" convent
many comforts and distractions were present.
It also allowed nuns
to leave the convent and follow their
religious observances elsewhere.
"the nuns
left it very often and
went to other places..."
In addition to this, St. Teresa, herself,
was "commanded...to visit" persons
was "commanded...to visit" persons
outside the convent.
This interrupted her ability to
teach her Sisters.
"My superiors...commanded me
to visit these persons;
thus...I could not be long together
in the monastery.
Satan....must have had a share
in this,
in order that I might not be
in the house,
where I was of great service
to those of my sisters
to whom I continually
communicated the instructions
which I received
from my confessors".
"There were other
inconveniences also:
we had too many comforts,
as it seemed to me;
for the house was
large and pleasant.
[Life: Ch32: # 12 ]
Regarding the changes which she desired:
She wanted to change their rule
~ in order to make it more conducive
to prayer and detachment.
She "having this desire...
to become nuns like those
of the Barefooted Orders"
[Life: Ch32: # 13 ]
"I wished
to avoid all society, and
to withdraw myself
utterly from the world"
[Life: Ch32: # 11 ]
This evolved into plans to
found a new monastery
"as a means
of great perfection,
because the whole foundation
was laid in prayer.
[Life: Ch32: # 21 ]
Fr. Pedro Ibañez
"became convinced
that it was greatly
for the service of God, and
that we must not give it up".
~ in order to follow God's will
"our Lord spoke of it...to me,
and set before me
so many reasons and motives,
which
I saw could not be gainsaid,
I saw, too,
that such was His will"
[Life: Ch32: # 15 ]
"One day, after Communion,
our Lord commanded me
to labour with all my might
for this end.
"He made me great promises,
that the monastery
would be certainly built;
that He would take
great delight therein;
that it should be
called St. Joseph's;
[Life: Ch32: # 14 ]
__________________________
4). Although "the religious Orders
were then relaxed",
was God served by them?
[Life: Ch32: # 14 ]
Yes, God was served by them.
St. Teresa stated that Our Lord told her:
"that, though the religious Orders
were then relaxed,
I was not to suppose
that He was scantily served
in them,
-- for what would become
of the world,
if there were no religious in it? --
[Life: Ch32: # 14 ]
___________________________
5). What did St. Teresa say regarding
her belief or compliance to
visions or revelations?
[Life: Ch32: # 14.16, 19 ]
~ St. Teresa stated:
her belief and compliance with revelations
would always be in accord with
the sacred writings and
the laws of the Church,
and would not
offend God or
go against her conscience.
"my belief in the truth
of the revelation
went no further than
in so far as it was
not against what is contained
in the sacred writings,
nor against the laws
of the Church,
which we are bound to keep.
Though the revelation
seemed to me
to have come really from God,
yet, if that learned man
had told me
that we could not go on
without
offending God and
going against our conscience,
I believe I should have
given it up, and
looked out for some other way;
but our Lord showed me
no other way than this.
[Life: Ch32: # 19 ]
~ St. Teresa did not put forward to others
her visions and revelations
as primary reasons for the
founding of a new monastery.
In her discussions with her Provincial
Superior and Consultants
regarding the need for the new monastery
(and reformed rule),
she put forward
the reasons, motives, and benefits
of the undertaking.
the reasons, motives, and benefits
of the undertaking.
Although She did not specify
if she did speak to her confessor
regarding the vision,
"Our Lord spoke of it...to me,
and set before me
so many reasons and motives...
[Life: Ch32: # 14 ]
I was to tell my confessor
what He commanded me, and
that He asked him
not to oppose
nor thwart me in the matter"
[Life: Ch32: # 14 ]
she does specify
that she did not discuss the vision
with her Superior (Provincial)
with her Superior (Provincial)
to whom her Confessor referred her,
nor with her Consultant Father.
"I never spoke of my visions
to my superior"
(The Provincial of the Carmelites:
Fr. Angel de Salasar )
[Life: Ch32: # 16 ]
"I told (Fr. Peter Ibañez) myself
- all we intended to do, and
- some of my motives.
- all we intended to do, and
- some of my motives.
I never said a word
of any revelation whatever,
speaking only
of the natural reasons
which influenced me;
for I would not have him
give an opinion
otherwise than on those grounds".
[Life: Ch32: # 19 ]
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