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 33
She continues
- the subject of the foundation of the glorious St. Joseph.
- How she was commanded to have nothing (further)
to do with it,
- how she abandoned it,
- also the troubles it brought her and
- how God consoled her in all this.
- The Foundation of the Monastery Hindered.
- Our Lord Consoles the Saint.
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Topics/ Questions
1). How did St. Teresa describe the
reaction in her convent
to her wish "to found another
(monastery) with stricter enclosure" ?
[Life: Ch33: # 2]
2). How did St. Teresa respond
to these reactions?
[Life: Ch33: # 2]
3). St. Teresa had encountered
many trials and obstacles
while trying to found a new monastery.
Despite this, why did she remain
"exceedingly happy and joyful" ?
[Life: Ch33: # 3, 4, 5 ]
4). How did St. Teresa describe her
spiritual relationship
with the new rector?
(Fr. Gaspar de Salazar)
[Life: Ch33: # 11, 12]
5). In pursuing the founding
of a new monastery,
St. Teresa said she intended
to reject an available house
because it "was too small".
What did she say Our Lord
said regarding this ?
[Life: Ch33: # 14]
6). What did St. Teresa say
regarding St. Claire?
[Life: Ch33: # 15]
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1). How did St. Teresa describe the
reaction in her convent
to her wish "to found another
(monastery) with stricter enclosure" ?
[Life: Ch33: # 2]
St. Teresa described these reactions:
"It was said
- (that) 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, and
- that it would have been better
if I had procured greater resources
for it than for another.
[Life: Ch33: # 2]
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2). How did St. Teresa respond
to their reactions?
[Life: Ch33: # 2]
By her account, St. Teresa:
- Considered their observations
and felt to a large extent
that they were correct
that they were correct
- She tried to explain her intentions
and reasons for the founding
of a stricter enclosure.
- She did not report
the visions and revelations
("her chief reasons")
which she received from God.
"I saw well enough
that they were
for the most part right,
and now and then
I made excuses for myself;
though, as I could not tell them
the chief reason,
which was the commandment
of our Lord,
I knew not what to do,
and so was silent.
[Life: Ch33: # 2]
________________________
3). St. Teresa had encountered
many trials and obstacles
while trying to found
a new monastery.
Despite this, why did she remain
"exceedingly happy and joyful" ?
[Life: Ch33: # 3, 4, 5 ]
St. Teresa said:
"I remained in the house
where I was,
exceedingly happy and joyful" because:
~ In following God's will, she strived
to do as much as she was able:
- "I had done,
as it seemed to me,
all that was in my power.
I thought myself obliged
to do no more
than I had done
to fulfil our Lord's commandment"
"though, at the same time,
I was never able
to give up my conviction
that the work would be done...
but I firmly believed
in its accomplishment"
[Life: Ch33: # 3]
~ She trusted in God
and received strength from Him
"our Lord, who never failed me
in all the trials...
so frequently consoled
and strengthened me...
the persecution
which had befallen me
seemed to be as nothing at all.
[Life: Ch33: # 4]
Our Lord now showed me
what an exceedingly great blessing
it is to be tried and persecuted
for His sake"
[Life: Ch33: # 5]
______________________
4). How did St. Teresa describe her
spiritual relationship
with the new rector?
(Gaspar de Salazar)
[Life: Ch33: # 11, 12]
"It was a spiritual joy, and
a conviction in my soul
that his soul must understand mine,
that it was in unison with it,
and yet... I knew not how.
[Life: Ch33: # 11]
"...my relations with him
were in every way
of the utmost service
of the utmost service
to me and my soul,
because his method of direction
is proper for those persons
whom our Lord seems to have led
far on the way,
seeing that He makes them
run, and
not to crawl step by step.
His plan is to render them
His plan is to render them
thoroughly detached and mortified,
and our Lord has endowed him
and our Lord has endowed him
with the highest gifts herein
as well as in many other things beside.
As soon as I began
to have to do with him,
I knew his method at once, and saw
that he had a pure and holy soul,
with a special grace of our Lord
for the discernment of spirits.
He gave me great consolation
[Life: Ch33: # 12]
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5). In pursuing the founding
of a new monastery,
St. Teresa said she intended
to reject an available house
because it "was too small".
What did she say Our Lord
said regarding this ?
[Life: Ch33: # 14]
St. Teresa said that:
St. Teresa said that:
"The house offered me
was too small...
that it seemed...
it could never be made
into a monastery
and I wished to buy another..."
"One day, after Communion,
Our Lord said to me,
'I have already bidden thee
to go in anyhow...
Oh, covetousness of the human race,
thinking that even the whole earth
is too little for it!
how often have I slept
in the open air,
because I had no place
because I had no place
to shelter Me!'
[Life: Ch33: # 14]
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6). What did St. Teresa say
regarding St. Claire?
[Life: Ch33: # 15]
Regarding St. Claire, St. Teresa said:
- that St Claire appeared to her
and supported her in the founding
of a stricter (and poorer) enclosure
(like the Franciscan Poor Clare Nuns)
-- "As I was going to Communion
on her feast,
St. Clare appeared to me…
-- (she) bade me
take courage, and
go on with what I had begun;
(that) she would help me"
-- "I began to have a great devotion
to St. Clare"
-- "she has so truly kept her word,
that a monastery of nuns
of her Order
in our neighbourhood
helped us to live…
she so perfectly fulfilled my desire,
that the poverty which the blessed Saint
observes
observes
in her own house
is observed
in this, and
(that) we are living on alms.
perhaps we owe it to the prayers
of this blessed Saint;
for, without our asking anybody,
His Majesty supplies
most abundantly
all our wants.
all our wants.
[Life: Ch33: # 15]
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