Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Discussion of Ch. 34 - The Life of Teresa of Jesus - Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila
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 34
She shows
- how at that time it happened
that she absented herself from this place and
- how her Superior commanded her to go away
at the request of a very noble lady
who was in great affliction.
She begins to tell
- what happened to her there, and
- the great grace God bestowed upon her
in determining through her instrumentality
a person of distinction to serve Him truly; and
- how that person found favour and help
in her (Teresa).
This is noteworthy.
- The Saint Leaves Her Monastery of the Incarnation
for a Time, at the Command of Her Superior.
- Consoles an Afflicted Widow.
______________________
Topics/ Questions
1). What did St. Teresa's say regarding
being summoned to visit
(Dona Luisa de la Cerda)
a recent widow
who was in distress?
[ Life: Ch34: #1, 2,3]
2). What were the benefits
of this visit?
[Life: Ch34:
#3,4,5,7,13,16,17,18,19]
3). How did St. Teresa describe the
"love that speaks" in prayer?
[ Life: Ch34: # 9 ]
4). What thought caused St. Teresa
to be "extremely distressed" ?
[ Life: Ch34: # 12 ]
5). What did St. Teresa say regarding
"the grace of contemplation" ?
[ Life: Ch34: # 14 ]
6). What advice does St. Teresa give
regarding supernatural knowledge
and those who would advise others ?
[ Life: Ch34: # 14,15, 16 ]
7). What did St. Teresa say
regarding Spiritual friendships ?
[ Life: Ch34: # 19, 20,21 ]
8). What did St. Teresa say
regarding love of God
and the value of
suffering and detachment?
[ Life: Ch34: # 19, 20 ]
______________________________
1). What did St. Teresa's say regarding
being summoned to visit
(Dona Luisa de la Cerda)
a recent widow
who was in distress?
[ Life: Ch34: #1, 2,3]
St. Teresa said:
~ Since her company was sought
because of her goodness,
this caused her suffering .
She saw herself as wicked and
worried that others were decived.
"..in the greatest confusion
when I thought of the reasons
why they sent for me, and
how very much
they were deceived"
[ Life: Ch34: # 3]
"It caused me some trouble
and much suffering
to see that they sent for me
because they thought
there was some good in me;
I, knowing myself
to be so wicked,
could not bear it."
[ Life: Ch34: # 2 ]
~ It was the will of God
"Our Lord told me
I must go without fail..."
"though I should have troubles,
...God would be served greatly"
[ Life: Ch34: # 2]
- God arranged matters as to
protect the plans for the
new monastery
"as to the monastery,
it was expedient
I should be absent
till the Brief came,
because Satan had contrived
a great plot
against the coming
of the Provincial"
[ Life: Ch34: # 2]
"I was in great fear
lest the Provincial
should be spoken to about it
when he came,
and find himself compelled
to order me to give it up
Our Lord provided against it
in this way".
[ Life: Ch34: # 1]
_____________________
2). What were the benefits
of this visit?
[Life: Ch34:
#3,4,5,7,13,16,17,18,19]
~ The widow, whom she visited,
received consolation and
improved in health and spiritual progress.
"It was the good pleasure
of our Lord
that the lady who sent for me
should be so much consoled
that a visible improvement
was the immediate result
she was comforted every day
more and more.
[ Life: Ch34: # 4 ]
"It was our Lord's pleasure
that the household of that lady
improved in the service
of His Majesty
during my stay there,
[ Life: Ch34: # 7 ]
~ St.Teresa received Spiritual Direction
from the Jesuit Fathers at that
new location
"It was a great comfort
that there was a house
of the Society of Jesus
there whither I was going,
and so I thought I should be
in some degree safe
under the direction
of those fathers"
[ Life: Ch34: # 3 ]
~ She received great graces from God
and advanced in detachment:
"for while I was there,
He bestowed the
greatest graces upon me
those graces
made me so free, and
filled me
with such contempt..."
(for the world's possessions
honors, and comforts)
[ Life: Ch34: # 4 ]
"I derived
very great advantages"
[ Life: Ch34: # 5 ]
"but all was as it were
a cross for me;
for the comforts of her house
were a great torment,
...her making so much of me
made me afraid.
I kept my soul
continually recollected
I did not dare to be careless:
nor was our Lord careless of me"
[ Life: Ch34: # 4 ]
"I saw...
that rank is of little worth...
the higher it is,
the greater the
anxiety and
trouble
it brings.
[ Life: Ch34: # 5 ]
"and He was pleased
to deliver me out of it all
with great profit to my soul"
[ Life: Ch34: # 7 ]
~ She was reacquainted with a
holy Priest whom she had met before.
( Fr. Vicente Barron or
Fr. Garcia of Toledo )
- She benefited from his counsel
"His Majesty seems
to have provided
that, when He took away...
some of those who directed me,
others might remain,
who helped me
in my great afflictions, and
rendered me great services.
[ Life: Ch34: # 16 ]
"My interview with him
did me great good,
it seems as if
it left a new fire in my soul,
burning with desire
to serve our Lord
as in the beginning.
[ Life: Ch34: # 19]
- He benefited from her prayers
and her talk about prayer
"our Lord would have
given him in so short a time
graces so matured, and
filled him so full of God,
that he seemed to be alive
to nothing on earth.
[ Life: Ch34: # 13 ]
"Our Lord wrought
a complete change
in this father...
that he scarcely knew himself
...so that he seems
to have received
a most special vocation
from our Lord.
[ Life: Ch34: # 17 ]
"All these blessings, I believe,
came to him
through the graces
our Lord bestowed upon him
in prayer"
[ Life: Ch34: # 18 ]
"in my soul and spirit
I felt what great love burned
within him...
God... had raised that soul
in so short a time
to a state so high.
"I saw him listen
with so much humility
to what I was saying
about certain matters
of prayer,
when I had so little myself
that I could speak
on the subject
to one like him.
[ Life: Ch34: # 19 ]
_____________________
3). How did St. Teresa describe the
"love that speaks" in prayer?
[ Life: Ch34: # 9 ]
St. Teresa said:
"I went back to my place
where I was in the habit
of praying alone, and
began to pray to our Lord,
being extremely recollected,
in that my simple, silly way,
when I speak without knowing
very often what I am saying.
It is love that speaks,
and my soul is so beside itself,
that I do not regard
the distance between it and God.
That love which I know
His Majesty has for it
makes it forget itself, and
think itself to be one with Him;
and so, as being one with Him,
and not divided from Him,
the soul speaks foolishly".
[ Life: Ch34: # 9 ]
________________________
4). What thought caused St. Teresa
to be "extremely distressed" ?
[ Life: Ch34: # 12 ]
St. Teresa said:
"I was extremely distressed
by the thought
- whether I was in the grace of God, and
- that I could never know
whether I was so or not,
-- not that I wished to know it;
I wished, however,
to die,
in order that I might not live a life
in which I was not sure
that I was not dead in sin,
for there could be no death
more dreadful for me
than to think
that I had sinned against God.
I was in great straits at this thought.
I implored Him not to suffer me
to fall into sin,
with great sweetness,
dissolved in tears.
Then I heard
that I might
console myself, and
trust
that I was in a state of grace,
because a love of God like mine,
together with the graces and feelings
with which His Majesty filled my soul
was of such a nature
as to be inconsistent with
a state of mortal sin".
[ Life: Ch34: # 12 ]
_____________________
5). What did St. Teresa say regarding
"the grace of contemplation" ?
[ Life: Ch34: # 14 ]
Regarding the grace of contemplation,
St. Teresa said:
- "that is a gift of God,
- which He gives
when He will and as He will...
- it depends
not on length of time
nor extent of service.
- I do not mean
that time and service,
are not great helps,
- but very often our Lord
will not give...
the grace of contemplation,
to some
in twenty years ...
while He gives it
to others
in one (year)
- His Majesty knoweth why"
[ Life: Ch34: # 14 ]
_____________________
6). What advice does St. Teresa give
regarding supernatural knowledge
and those who would advise others ?
[ Life: Ch34: # 14,15, 16 ]
St. Teresa said:
~ that it can not be attained
by one's own labors,
even by years of efforts,
if God does not grant this experience.
"We are under a delusion
when we think
that in the course of years
we shall come to the knowledge
of that which we can
in no way attain to
but by experience"
[ Life: Ch34: # 14 ]
- that supernatural knowledge
and contemplation is a gift of God
"...is a gift of God,
which He gives
when He will and as He will...
[ Life: Ch34: # 14 ]
- that one can dispose oneself
to these graces and gifts
through prayer and good works.
But it is received passively,
if God grants it,
and is not attained through study
or the understanding / intellect.
"and thus many are in error...
when they would
understand spirituality
without being spiritual themselves"
[ Life: Ch34: # 14 ]
~ However, a learned man
without experience,
but having Faith and Humility,
can counsel a spiritual man
by using rationale/reason in natural matters
and through the Bible
and sacreed writing
in regard to spiritual topics.
"I do not mean that a man
who is not spiritual,
if he is learned,
may not direct one
that is spiritual;
but it must be understood that
-- in outward and inward things,
in the order of nature,
the direction must be
an act of reason; and
-- in supernatural things,
according to the teaching
of the sacred writings.
In other matters,
let him
not distress himself,
nor think that he can understand
that which he understandeth not
neither let him quench the Spirit"
[ Life: Ch34: # 14 ]
"he must strive rather to
strengthen his faith, and
humble himself...
Being thus humble,
he will profit souls and himself
more than if he affected
to be a contemplative
without being so"
"if he have no experience,
if he have not
a most profound humility,
whereby he may see
that he does not understand...
he will do
himself but little good, and
still less to his penitent.
But if he is humble,
let him have no fear
that our Lord will allow
either the one
or the other
to fall into delusion.
[ Life: Ch34: # 15 ]
St. Teresa said of one learned Priest
before he received the grace
of contemplation from God:
"he laboured to find out by study
that which in this matter
can be by study ascertained;
for he is a very learned man,
and that of which he has
no experience himself
he seeks to find out
from those who have it"
[ Life: Ch34: # 16 ]
_____________________________
7). What did St. Teresa say
regarding Spiritual friendships ?
[ Life: Ch34: # 19, 20,21 ]
Regarding Spiritual friendships,
St. Teresa said:
"It is a great help to one
who is seeking to advance
in love of God, detachment,
and all the virtues
to spend time with others who are
also seeking God in this way.
It is a great thing for a person
ill of this disease
to find another struck down by it,
-- it comforts him much to see
that he is not alone;
they help one another greatly
to suffer and
to merit.
[ Life: Ch34: # 20 ]
My interview with him
did me great good,
-- it seems as if it left
a new fire in my soul,
burning with desire
to serve our Lord
as in the beginning.
O my Jesus!
what is a soul on fire with Thy love!
How we ought to
prize it, and
implore our Lord to let it
live long upon earth!
He who has this love
should follow after such souls,
if it be possible".
[ Life: Ch34: # 19 ]
How much (God) was pleased
when people thus found their delight
in speaking of Him".
[ Life: Ch34: # 21 ]
_____________________
8). What did St. Teresa say
regarding love of God
and the value of
suffering and detachment?
[ Life: Ch34: # 19, 20 ]
St. Teresa described
"a soul on fire with Thy love":
[ Life: Ch34: # 19 ]
- "They...are resolved
to risk a thousand lives for God...
- This is their work -- to suffer.
Oh, what a blessing it is
when our Lord gives light to understand
how great is the gain
of suffering for Him!
- This is never understood
till we have left all things;
for if anybody is attached
to any one thing,
that is a proof
that he sets some value upon it; and
if he sets any value upon it,
it is painful to be compelled
to give it up.
In that case, everything
is imperfect and lost.
he who follows what is lost,
is lost himself; and
what greater loss,
what greater blindness,
what greater calamity,
can there be
than making much of
that which is nothing!
[ Life: Ch34: # 20 ]
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