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 38
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.
- Certain Heavenly Secrets, Visions, and Revelations.
- The Effects of Them in Her Soul.
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Discussion Topics/ Questions
1). What did St. Teresa say regarding the favors
which she received from God?
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 ]
2). What was her emotional response and
what prudent steps did St. Teresa take
regarding the experience of these favors?
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 2 ]
3). What were the effects on her soul
from the spiritual graces and knowledge
that she received from God ?
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 ]
4). What did God ask St. Teresa to tell others?
What was her concern?
[ Life: Ch. 38: #3, 4]
5). How did St. Teresa think
that rapture helped?
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 8, 9 ]
6). In Paragraph #10, St. Teresa said that
"The mercies (already) described,
are not so great...as those
which I am now going to speak of".
What were some of these greater graces?
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 13, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28 ]
7). What did St. Teresa say regarding
the "words of Consecration"?
[ Life: Ch. 38: #30]
______________________________
1). What did St. Teresa say regarding the favors
which she received from God?
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 ]
St. Teresa said regarding:
~ Flight of the Spirit / Transports and Visions
- that when God is pleased to grant this favor,
She could make no resistance
"These little precautions are of no use
when our Lord will have it otherwise.
...I was rapt in spirit
with such violence
that I could make no resistance whatever.
It seemed to me
that I was taken up to heaven
I saw there
were my father and my mother.
I saw other things also;
but the time was no longer than that
in which the Ave Maria might be said,
But as to the shortness of the time...
only it was all done
in a very short space."
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 1]
"This elevation of the spirit, and
the vision of things so high,
in these trances
seem to me to have a great likeness
to the flight of the soul from the body,
[ This experience,
in which God bears away the spirit
in these transports and shows it
such excellent things,
seems to me very much like that
in which a soul leaves the body
- Peer's translation ]
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 7]
~ Spiritual Wisdom
"our Lord showed me
still greater secrets.
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 3]
"our Lord showing me
wonderful things"
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 4]
~ The favors are granted by God
according to His Will and pleasure.
One can not acquire these favors or ever
earn or merit these graces.
- "The soul, even if it would, has
neither the means
not the power
to see more than
what He shows it...
I saw nothing more
than what our Lord was pleased
to let me see."
- the imagination...can
neither conceive
nor picture
to itself
... any one of the things
which our Lord showed me..."
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 3]
"God effects it all Himself;
for His Majesty reveals the truth
in such a way,
that it remains so deeply impressed
on our souls
as to make it clear
that we of ourselves
could not thus acquire it
in so short a time".
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 6]
"of His good pleasure,
I know something
of these great blessings, and
begin to have the fruition of them"
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 9 ]
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2). What was her emotional response and
what prudent steps did St. Teresa take
regarding the experience of these favors?
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 2 ]
~ St. Teresa described her response as:
- amazement at these visions and favors
- fear of being deceived
"the great fear I had of being deceived"
"I was afraid it might be an illusion;
but as I did not think so"
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 2]
- not humility but rather embarrassment and fear
at receiving a gift that only saints were given:
"I was very much ashamed
to go to my confessor about it.
It was not...because I was humble,
but because I thought
he would laugh at me, and say:
...what a St. Paul or ...St. Jerome. !
--she sees the things of heaven;
And because these glorious Saints
had had such visions,
I was so much the more afraid,
and did nothing but cry;
for I did not think it possible for me
to see what they saw.
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 2]
~ The actions she took:
- Prayer
- Consultation with her Confessor
"I went to my confessor;
for I never dared to keep secret
anything of this kind,
however much it distressed me
to speak of them,
owing to the great fear I had
of being deceived.
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 2]
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3). What were the effects on her soul
from the spiritual graces and knowledge
that she received from God ?
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 ]
~ Growth in Virtue, Correction of faults
"blessed be Thy compassion;
for I can trace,
at least in my own soul,
a visible improvement.
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 4]
~ Great Detachment
"But such was the vision,
...to raise..my soul... so high
that it
esteems and
counts as nothing
all the things of this life.
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 3]
an abiding sense of contempt
for everything here below;
all seemed to be filth;
and I see
how meanly we employ ourselves
who are detained on earth"
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 4]
"A soul in this state attains
to a certain freedom,
[ has great dominion over itself
- Peer's translation ]
which is so complete...
It is a real and true detachment,
independent of our efforts;
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 6]
~ Lessened fear of death
"The fear of death, also,
was now very slight in me,
who had always been
in great dread of it;
now it seems to me
that death is a very light thing
for one who serves God,
because the soul is in a moment
delivered thereby out of its prison,
and at rest.
We put aside the agonies
of its dissolution,
of which no great account
is to be made"
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 7]
~ Dread of Offending God
"I implore His Majesty...
that it may not be with me
as it was with Lucifer,
who by his own fault forfeited it all.
I beseech Thee, for Thine own sake,
not to suffer this;
for I am at times in great fear,
though at others, and most frequently,
the mercy of God reassures me,
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 9]
~ Trust in God
"for He who has delivered me
from so many sins
will not withdraw His hand
from under me,
and let me be lost.
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 9]
_________________________
4). What did God ask St. Teresa to tell others?
What was her concern?
[ Life: Ch. 38: #3, 4]
St.Teresa said that God asked her
to tell others of the joys
of being with God and
of heaven.
"He said to me,
'See, My daughter,
what they lose who are against Me;
do not fail to tell them of it.' "
[ Life: Ch. 38: #3 ]
She attmpted to describe the joys:
"In a word, the imagination,
however strong it may be, can
neither conceive
nor picture
to itself, this light,
nor any one of the things
which our Lord showed me
in a joy so supreme
that it cannot be described;
for then all the senses exult
so deeply and
so sweetly
that no description is possible"
[ Life: Ch. 38: #3]
| "That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him. . . . . 1 Corinthians 2;9 Douay-Rheims Bible |
St. Teresa's concerns were:
- her inability to describe these joys
with words
- that no one would believe her because of
her past "wickedness" and bad example.
- the need for His grace to give them
this understanding as He did for her,
especially those who have blinded themselves
by their own faults and errors.
"Ah, my Lord,
how little good
my words will do them,
who are made blind
by their own conduct,
if Thy Majesty
will not give them light!
Some, to whom Thou hast given it,
there are,
who have profited
by the knowledge of Thy greatness;
but as they see it revealed
to one so wicked and base as I am,
I look upon it as a great thing
if there should be any found
to believe me".
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 4]
______________________________
5). How did St. Teresa think
that rapture helped?
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 8, 9 ]
St. Teresa said:
" it is a very great mercy
which our Lord gives to that soul
to which He grants the like visions,
for they help it
in much, and also
in carrying a heavy cross,
since
nothing satisfies (the soul) and
everything is against it;
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 9]
"that the rapture was a great help
- to recognise our true home, and
- to see that we are pilgrims here;
it is a great thing
- to see what is going on there and
- to know where we have to live;
it is a great help to him,
- that he has discovered it
to be a country
where he may live
in the most perfect peace.
- it makes it easy for us
to think of the things of heaven, and
to have our conversation there.
- It is a great gain,
because the mere looking up to heaven
makes the soul recollected;
for as our Lord has been pleased
to reveal heaven in some degree,
my soul dwells upon it in thought;
- ...that they...who are about me, and
with whom I find consolation,
are those
whom I know to be living in heaven,
and that I look upon them only
as really alive;
What I have seen
with the eyes of the soul
is that which my soul desires"
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 8]
____________________________
6). In Paragraph #10, St. Teresa said that
"The mercies (already) described,
are not so great...as those
which I am now going to speak of".
What were some of these greater graces?
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 13, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28 ]
St. Teresa described many grace:
~ Vision of the Dove
"Then I saw over my head a dove..."
My spirit grew calm with such a guest...
... delivered from all fear,
and with the joy came peace,
The joy of this rapture
was exceedingly great;
I did
not know what I was doing,
nor how I could have received
so great a grace.
I perceived in myself
a very great progress
in the highest love of God,
together with a great increase
in the strength of my virtues.
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 13]
~ Words of God reminded her of her past errors
- Being Humbled prior to receiving
a special grace
- Growth in self-knowledge
"When our Lord made me
remember my wicked life,
I wept;
for as I considered
that I had then never done any good,
I thought He might be about to bestow
upon me some special grace;
"most frequently,
when I receive any particular mercy
from our Lord,
it is when I have been
previously greatly humiliated,
in order that I may the more clearly see
how far I am from deserving it.
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 21]
"in prayer, our Lord spoke to me...
He made me remember
the great wickedness of my past life.
They filled me with shame and distress...
we make greater progress
in the knowledge of ourselves
when we hear one of these words,
than we can make
by a meditation of many days
on our own misery,
because these words (of God)
impress the truth upon us...
in such a way
that we cannot resist it.
[ A single word of this kind
makes a person more keenly aware
of his advance in self-knowledge
than do many days
spent in meditating
upon his own wretchedness,
for it bears a stamp of truth
the reality of which none can deny.
- Peers translation ]
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 19]
~ "the highest vision of all the visions
which our Lord in His mercy showed me"
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 23]
- a vision of the most Sacred Humanity
"I was so raised up in spirit
...as it were, out of the body...
I had a vision
of the most Sacred Humanity
in exceeding glory
for I saw myself, without seeing...
in the presence of God.
I had continually before me, as present,
the Majesty of the Son of God,
though not so distinctly
as in the vision.
it is a great comfort to me,
and also a great blessing.
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 22]
it is...the highest vision of all the visions
which our Lord in His mercy
showed me.
The fruits of it are the very greatest,
for it seems to
- purify the soul in a wonderful way, and
- destroy... altogether
the strength of our sensual nature.
It is a grand flame of fire,
which seems to burn up and annihilate
all the desires of this life.
... now...I had no desire after vanities,
I saw clearly in the vision
how all things are vanity, and
how hollow are all
the dignities of earth;
it was a great lesson,
teaching me to raise up my desires
to the Truth alone.
It impresses on the soul
a sense of the presence of God
it is very different
from that which it is in our own power
to acquire on earth.
It fills the soul
with profound astonishment
at its own daring...
to offend His most awful Majesty.
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 23]
... the effects of visions and
the blessings they bring with them
are of various degrees;
but those of this vision
are the highest of all.
When I went to Communion once
I called to mind
the exceeding great majesty of Him...
that it was He who is present
in the most Holy Sacrament,
...very often our Lord was pleased
to show Himself to me in the Host;
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 24]
but as I can have no good thought
if Thou givest it not,
no thanks are due to me;
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 28]
_____________________________
7). What did St. Teresa say regarding
the "words of Consecration"?
[ Life: Ch. 38: #30]
St. Teresa said;
- That, at the Consecration
of the Mass,
God was always present.
-That that was true even if the Priest
who was saying the Words
was not in the state of grace.
"Our Lord Himself told me
- That, at the Consecration
of the Mass,
God was always present.
-That that was true even if the Priest
who was saying the Words
was not in the state of grace.
"Our Lord Himself told me
- to pray for that priest;
- in order that I might understand
-- the power
of the words of consecration, and
-- how God failed not to be present,
however wicked
the priest might be
who uttered them"
I understood clearly
- how the priests are
under greater obligations to be holy
than other persons..."
- what a horrible thing it is
to receive this most
Holy Sacrament unworthily, and
- how great is the devil's dominion
over a soul in mortal sin.
It did me a great service, and
made me fully understand
what I owe to God.
[ Life: Ch. 38: # 30]
End of Discussion of Chapter 38 |
