Teresa of Jesus
The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus,
of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel
Discussion of Chapter 35
Continuation
- of the foundation of this house
of our glorious Father St. Joseph;
- in what manner our Lord ordained
that holy poverty should be observed there;
- the reason why she left the lady
with whom she had been staying, and
- some other things that happened.
- The Foundation of the House of St. Joseph.
- The Observation of Holy Poverty Therein.
- How the Saint Left Toledo.
______________________
Topics/ Questions
1). What did St. Teresa learn
regarding the Rule?
[Life: Ch.35: #2 ]
2). What were the concerns regarding
founding a monastery that was
without any revenue,
endowments or secure income
of its own?
[Life: Ch.35: #1,2,3,4,5,
6,7,10,12,13,14,15]
3). Regarding the election at her convent,
what was :
a). St. Teresa's initial concerns
[Life: Ch.35: #8 ]
b). Her first reaction to the news
of the election
[Life: Ch. 35: #8,9]
c). God's will
[Life: Ch. 35: #9 ]
d). The reason why
she later wanted to leave at once
[Life: Ch. 35: #10 ]
e). Her two contrary feelings
and their resolution
[Life: Ch. 35: #10, 11, 12 ]
__________________________
1). What did St. Teresa learn
regarding the Rule?
[Life: Ch. 35: #2 ]
St. Teresa learned that under the
original (primitive) Carmelite rule,
the nuns were not allowed
to own anything of their own.
St. Teresa stated
"Until I spoke to her,
( Maria of Jesus -
See Footnote #511
of The Life: Ch. 35 )
I never knew
that our rule,
before it was mitigated,
required of us
that we should possess nothing.
[Life: Ch. 35: #2 ]
See Footnote #514 of Ch. 35 The Constitutions which the Saint read in the Monastery of the Incarnation must have been the Constitutions grounded on the Mitigated Rule which was sanctioned by Eugenius IV. (Romani Pontificis, A.D. 1432). |
See Footnote #512 of Ch. 35 The sixth chapter of the Rule is: "Nullus fratrum sibi aliquid proprium, esse dicat, sed sint vobis omnia communia." |
The Rule of Saint Albert 12. None of the brothers must lay claim to anything as his own, but you are to possess everything in common; and each is to receive from the prior -- that is from the brother he appoints for the purpose -- whatever befits his age and needs. |
__________________________
2). What were the concerns regarding
founding a monastery that was
without any revenue,
endowments or secure income
of its own?
[Life: Ch. 35: #1,2,3,4,5,
6,7,10,12,13,14,15]
~ St. Teresa had a great desire
to live in poverty for God
"for His Majesty had already
given me
great longings for poverty".
[Life: Ch. 35: #2 ]
"it would have been my great joy
to think that I was observing
the counsels of Christ our Lord;
[Life: Ch. 35: #2 ]
"As for myself,
I never doubted
that this was the better part;
for I had now for some time
wished it were possible
in my state
to go about begging,
for the love of God --
to have
no house of my own,
nor anything else.
[Life: Ch. 35: #3]
"when I returned to my prayer,
and saw Christ on the cross,
so poor and destitute,
I could not bear to be rich,
and I implored Him with tears
so to order matters
that I might be poor as He was.
[Life: Ch. 35: #4]
"That holy friar,
Peter of Alcantara...was
a great lover of poverty, and
had lived in it
for so many years,
he knew well the treasures
it contains...
he charged me on no account
whatever to give up
my purpose.
Now, having
this opinion and sanction,
-- no one was better able
to give it,
because he knew
what it was
by long experience, --
[Life: Ch. 35: #6]
"it seemed to me nothing less
than the possession
of all the wealth of the world,
when I had resolved
to live in poverty for the love of God.
[Life: Ch. 35: #7]
~ The original Carmelite Rule
- supported poverty,
- prohibited ownership
- depended on God's Providence
"our rule,
before it was mitigated,
required of us
that we should possess nothing.
[Life: Ch. 35: #2 ]
"when I saw
what the rule required, and
that poverty was
the more perfect way,
I could not persuade myself
to allow an endowment.
[Life: Ch. 35: #4 ]
~ The Will of God
"when I was very earnestly
commending the matter to God,
our Lord told me
that I must by no means
give up my purpose
of founding the monastery
in poverty;
it was
His will, and
the will of His Father:
He would help me.
[Life: Ch. 35: #7]
The Lord "said to me...other things
in praise of poverty;
[Life: Ch. 35: #7]
"Our Lord changed the dispositions"
of those in authority over her
and others, Priest and Consultants,
who previously said
"that I should not found
a monastery without an endowment"
[Life: Ch. 35: #7]
"the special help
which His Majesty gave me
towards the establishment
of this little cell of God...
the lodging wherein
His Majesty delights...
He told me
that this house was the paradise
of his delight.
It seems, then,
that His Majesty has chosen these
whom he has drawn hither...
for our Lord has called them
out of the vanity and dissipation
of the world
[Life: Ch. 35: #13]
"O my Lord!
how Thou dost show Thy power!
There is no need
to seek reasons for Thy will;
[Life: Ch. 35: #14]
_______________
- The Lord also made His will
known to St. Teresa
through the undertakings of
Marie of Jesus:
"Our Lord had moved her
( Maria of Jesus -
See Footnote #511
of The Life: Ch. 35)
in the same year, and
in the same month of the year,
that He had moved me,
to found another monastery
of the Order;
and as He had given her
this desire,
she
sold all she possessed, and
went to Rome to obtain
the necessary faculties.
our Lady
appeared to her, and
commanded her
to undertake this work.
She showed me Briefs
(Patents - Peers translation)
she brought from Rome...
we laid our plan
for the founding
of these monasteries.
[Life: Ch. 35: #1]
~ Without the security of funding,
the newly proposed convent
and its nuns would be at risk for:
- suffering and being displaced
if it should fail to sustain itself.
- distraction and
lack of poverty of spirit
if there was concerns regarding
hunger, lack of food and necessities
Previously, before learning
of the Order's original rule of poverty,
she thought:
"...nor was I going to found
a monastery without revenue,
for my intention was
that we should be
without anxiety about all
that was necessary for us"
[Life: Ch. 35: #2 ]
Her Priest Directors
and those whom she Consulted
advised her of the risks
and said:
"I was committing follies, and
that I ought not to do anything
whereby I might
bring suffering upon others.
If this concerned only myself,
nothing should have
kept me back
[Life: Ch. 35: #2 ]
"But I was afraid that others...
might live in discontent
if our Lord did not give them
the same desire
(for poverty).
Moreover, I feared
that it might be the cause
of some distraction:
for I knew
some poor monasteries
not very recollected"
- Then, she seems to defend poverty:
"...their not being recollected
was the cause
of their poverty
... their poverty
was not the cause
of their distraction"
distraction never
makes people richer,
and God never fails those
who serve Him.
[Life: Ch. 35: #3]
"to understand that
that to live away
from all things in this life
is to live in greater peace
even here below.
[Life: Ch. 35: #13]
~ Divine Providence and Faith
Abandonment to God with
Humility and detachment
The Lord "assured me
that whosoever served Him
would never be in want
of the necessary means of living"
[Life: Ch. 35: #7]
"God never fails those
who serve Him".
[Life: Ch. 35: #3]
At first she had misgivings
"I was weak in faith;
but not so this servant of God"
( Maria of Jesus -
See Footnote #511
of The Life: Ch. 35 )
[Life: Ch. 35: #3]
"for with Thee,
against all natural reason,
all things are possible:
there is no need of anything
but of
-- loving Thee in earnest, and
-- really giving up
everything for Thee,
in order that Thou, O my Lord,
might make everything easy.
He who loves Thee, O my God,
travels safely
he has scarcely stumbled at all,
when Thou stretchest forth
Thy hand to save him.
One fall -- yea, many falls --
if he does but love
- Thee, and
- not the things of the world,
are not enough
to make him perish;
he travels in the valley
of humility.
I cannot understand what it is
that makes men afraid
of the way of perfection".
[Life: Ch. 35: #14]
She felt that there was
more security
in following God in poverty
than living among the dangers
of attachment to the things
in the world.
May our Lord of His mercy
make us see
- what a poor security we have
in the midst of dangers
so manifest,
when we live like the rest of the world
- that true security consists
in striving to advance
in the way of God!
Let us
- fix our eyes upon Him, and
- have no fear
that the Sun of justice
-- will ever set, or
-- suffer us to travel
to our ruin by night,
unless we first look away
from Him.
[Life: Ch. 35: #15]
~ The endowments and the owning
of property also brings
many problems and anxieties
Previously, before learning
of the Order's original rule
of poverty, she thought:
"and I did not think
of the many anxieties
which the possession of property
brings in its train.
[Life: Ch. 35: #2]
"that so many inconveniences
resulted from an endowment...
that it was the cause
of so much trouble,
and even distraction…"
[Life: Ch. 35: #5]
The Lord "said to me
- that endowments bred confusion"
[Life: Ch. 35: #7]
~ The Possibility of taking resources
( Nuns, donations) from the present convent
when she departed for a new monastery.
"It was said...
that it would have been better
if I had procured greater resources
for (the present convent)
than for another" (new monastery)
[Life: Ch.33: #2]
Inevitably, the founding of and
departure to a new monastery
with strict enclosure
and strict rule of poverty
would result in the separation from
many nuns and lay persons,
as well as Fathers
who would miss her company and consultation.
She would miss their company and consultation.
There would be barriers
due to distance, visiting rules, etc.
"It was said
- I insulted my sisters;
- that I could serve God
among them
as well as elsewhere,
for there were many among them
much better than I;
- that I did not love the house"
[Life: Ch.33: #2]
For example, even before the
new convent was being founded,
when she had to leave suddenly,
Dona Luisa de la Cerda
was distressed at her departure
"The lady felt my departure
very much, and
that was another pain to bear;
for it had cost her
- much trouble, and
- diverse importunities
of the Provincial,
to have me in her house.
[Life: Ch. 35: #10]
"the pain of quitting that lady,
whom I saw suffering so keenly,
and others to whom I owed much
particularly my confessor
of the Society of Jesus,
[Life: Ch. 35: #12]
those whom I was leaving
felt my going so much,
[Life: Ch. 35: #12]
________________________
3). Regarding the election at her convent,
what was:
a). St. Teresa's initial concerns
[Life: Ch. 35: #8 ]
b). Her first reaction to the news
of the election
[Life: Ch. 35: #8,9]
c). God's will
[Life: Ch. 35: #9 ]
d). The reason
why she would leave at once
[Life: Ch. 35: #10 ]
e). Her two contrary feelings
and their resolution
[Life: Ch. 35: #10, 11, 12 ]
Regarding the election at her convent,
a). St. Teresa's initial concerns
[Life: Ch. 35: #8 ]
"the elections in my monastery
would take place and
I was told that many of the nuns
wished to lay on me
the burden of superiorship.
The very thought of this alone
was a great torment to me;
for though I was resolved
to undergo readily
any kind of martyrdom for God,
I could not persuade myself at all
to accept this"
Her reasons were:
- "the great trouble it involved,
because the nuns were so many,
- "I never wished for it,
nor for any other office,
on the contrary,
had always refused them, --
- it seemed to me that my conscience
would be in great danger;
[Life: Ch. 35: #8]
b). Her first reaction to the news
of the election
[Life: Ch. 35: #8,9 ]
- so I praised God
that I was not then in my convent.
[Life: Ch. 35: #8]
I was rejoicing
that I was not in that trouble,
[Life: Ch. 35: #9]
- I wrote to my friends and
asked them not to vote for me.
[Life: Ch. 35: #8]
c). God's will
[Life: Ch. 35: #9 ]
Our Lord said to me
- that I was on no account
to keep away;
- that as I longed for a cross,
there was one ready for me, and
that a heavy one:
- that I was not to throw it away,
- but go on with resolution;
- He would help me, and
- I must go at once.
[Life: Ch. 35: #9]
I was
very much distressed, and
did nothing but weep,
because I thought that my cross
was to be the office of prioress;
I could not persuade myself
that it would be at all good
for my soul
-- nor could I see any means
by which it would be.
I told my confessor of it, and
he commanded me
- to return at once:
- that to do so was clearly
the most perfect way...
(but) I might wait a few days...
because the heat was very great...
in order that my journey
might do me no harm.
[Life: Ch. 35: #9]
d). The reason why
she later wanted to leave at once
[Life: Ch. 35: #10 ]
"I had to go at once,
because
- the uneasiness I felt
was very great; and
- I was unable to pray, and
- thought I was failing in obedience
to the commandments
of our Lord
- that as I was happy and contented
where I was,
I would not go to meet trouble.
- All my service of God there
was lip-service:
- why did I, having the opportunity
of living in greater perfection,
neglect it?
- If I died on the road, let me die.
- Besides, my soul was
in great straits,
and our Lord had taken from me
all sweetness in prayer.
In short, I was in such
a state of torment,
that I begged the lady to let me go;
[Life: Ch. 35: #10]
I was distressed
because I had not
already begun the fight,
since it was our Lord's will
that I should be in it.
that I should be in it.
[Life: Ch. 35: #11]
e). two contrary feelings
and their resolution
[Life: Ch. 35: #10, 11, 12 ]
"I had a clear consciousness
of these two contrary feelings
-- pleasure, consolation, and joy
in that which weighed down my soul
with sadness.
[Life: Ch. 35: #11]
"The lady felt my departure
very much
and that was another pain to bear"
[Life: Ch. 35: #10]
the pain of quitting that lady
[Life: Ch. 35: #11]
I was joyful and tranquil,
and had opportunities
of spending many hours in prayer;
and I saw that I was going
to throw myself into a fire;
for our Lord had already told me
that I was going to carry
a heavy cross...
yet I went forth rejoicing
I was distressed
because I had not
already begun the fight,
since it was our Lord's will
that I should be in it.
[Life: Ch. 35: #11]
I could not understand
how this (two contrary feelings)
...could be.
I thought of this illustration:
if I were possessed of a jewel...
which gave me great pleasure,
and it came to my knowledge
that a person
whom I loved
more than myself, and
whose satisfaction I preferred
to my own,
wished to have it,
it would give me great pleasure
to deprive myself of it,
because I would give
all I possessed
to please that person.
Now, as the pleasure
of giving pleasure
to that person
surpasses any pleasure
I have in that jewel myself,
I should not be distressed
in giving away that
or anything else I loved,
nor at the loss of that pleasure
which the possession of it
gave me.
[Life: Ch. 35: #12]
I was now not sorry myself
at coming away,
for I knew
that it was an act
of greater perfection, and
for the service of God.
So the pleasure
I had in pleasing God
took away the pain
of quitting that lady,
whom I saw suffering so keenly,
and others
to whom I owed much,
particularly my confessor
of the Society of Jesus,
in whom I found all I needed.
But
the greater the consolations
I lost for our Lord's sake,
the greater was my joy
in losing them.
[Life: Ch. 35: #11]
So now, though I wished
to feel some distress
when I saw
that those whom I was leaving
felt my going so much,
yet, notwithstanding
my naturally grateful disposition
which under other circumstances
would have been enough
to have caused me great pain,
at this time,
though I wished to feel it,
I could feel none.
[Life: Ch. 35: #12]
End of Discussion of Chapter 35 |
