Discussion of Ch. 3: the Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila - The Life of Teresa of Jesus

THE LIFE OF THE HOLY MOTHER
     TERESA OF JESUS

The Life of St. Teresa of Avila  

The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel

Discussion of CHAPTER 3

Describes:
In which she sets forth
- how good company was the means
    of her resuming good intentions, and
- in what manner God began to give her some light
    on the deception to which she was subjected.

- The Blessing of Being with Good People.
- How Certain Illusions Were Removed.


Questions / Topics
 being discussed:

1). How did Teresa benefit from
        good companionship ?
         [ Life: Ch 3: #1]

2a). At her uncle's home, what made an
         impression on her heart ?
          [ Life: Ch 3: #6 ]

2b). What did Teresa begin to understand there?
        [ Life: Ch 3: #6 ]

3). Teresa, spoke of faults
       which she observed in herself.
      What were these faults?
       [ Life: Ch 3: #2, 5 ]

4). What book does St. Teresa say inspired her?
       [ Life: Ch 3: #8 ]

5). When Teresa looks back on her life,
       what were the providential events
       by which God prepared her
           for her future state in life?
            [ Life: Ch 3: #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 ]

6). After her experience at her uncle's home,
      what prompted Teresa's decision
        to enter religious life?
         [ Life: Ch 3: #6, 7, 8, 9 ]

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1). How did Teresa benefit from
       good companionship ?
        [ Life: Ch 3: #1 ]

"This good companionship began

- to root out the habits
     which bad companionship had formed, and

- to bring my thoughts back
      to the desire of eternal things,

- to banish in some measure the great dislike
      I had to be a nun,
      which had been very great;
       ...[ Life: Ch 3: #1 ]

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2a). At her uncle's home, what made
        an impression on her heart ?
        [ Life: Ch 3: #6 ]

An impression was made on her heart by

- by the words of God both heard and read, and

- by the good conversation of my uncle
   ...[ Life: Ch 3: #6 ]


2b). What did Teresa begin to understand there?
      [ Life: Ch 3: #6 ]

There she began to understand the truth,
               which she learned as a child

     - that "all things are nothing"  and
     - that "the world (is) vanity,
               and (is) passing rapidly away"
               ...[ Life: Ch 3: #6 ]

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3). Yet Teresa, spoke of faults
         which she observed in herself.
      She gave examples of these faults in her comments
      about her initial time at the convent
      and when first visiting her uncle.

      What were these faults?
        [ Life: Ch 3: #2, 5]

St. Teresa described her faults in these ways:

     - I looked more to the pleasure of sense and vanity
           than to the good of my soul. .
            ...[ Life: Ch 3: #2 ]

     - While at her uncle's home,
            she read his good books to him
       "though I did not much like them,
            I appeared as if I did;

        for in giving pleasure to others
            I have been most particular,
        though it might be painful to myself
             so much so,

        that what in others might have been a virtue
             was in me a great fault,
        because I was often extremely indiscreet
        ...[ Life: Ch 3: #5 ]

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4). What book does St. Teresa say inspired her?
      [ Life: Ch 3: #8]

"I   read the Epistles of Saint Jerome; 
    which filled me with so much courage,

    that I resolved to tell my father
    of my purpose..." to become a nun.
     ...[ Life: Ch 3: #8]
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5). When Teresa looks back on her life,
      what were the providential events  by which
      God prepared her for her future state in life?
      [ Life: Ch 3: #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 ]

Convent School:

- Her family arranged for her
     to stay at the convent school
  where she enjoyed the good company
     and teaching of the nuns.

  "I began gradually to like
     the good and holy conversation of this nun
   ...a person of great discretion and sanctity.

   How well she used to speak of God!
     I listened to her with delight.

  She began by telling me how she came to be a nun
     through the mere reading of the words of the Gospel

            'Many are called but few chosen'. [MT 20:16]

  She would speak of the reward which our Lord gives
     to those who forsake all things for His sake.
     ...[ Life: Ch 3: #1 ]

  I remained in the monastery a year and a half,
     and was very much the better for it.

  I began to say many vocal prayers,
     and to ask all the nuns to pray for me,
  that God would place me in that state
     wherein I was to serve Him;
     ...[ Life: Ch 3: #2 ]

Good companionship began
  - to root out the habits
      which bad companionship had formed, and
  - to bring my thoughts
       back to the desire of eternal things,
  - to banish in some measure
       the..dislike I had to be a nun
       ...[ Life: Ch 3: #1 ]

Serious Illness:

   At this time, though I was not careless
      about my own good,
   Our Lord was much more careful
      to dispose me for that state of life
   which was best for me.

   He sent me a serious illness,
      so that I was obliged
    to return to my father's house.
    ...[ Life: Ch 3: #3 ]

   Her illness brought her
       into the company of her uncle, from whom
       - she learned more about the temporality
          of possessions and of life, itself,
       - she gained a great fondness for good books.

   "His practice was to read good books in Spanish;

       and his ordinary conversation was
    about God and the vanity of the world.
    ...[ Life: Ch 3: #5 ]

   An impression was made on her heart by
      - by the words of God both heard and read, and
      - by the good conversation of my uncle
         ...[ Life: Ch 3: #6 ]

   There she began to understand the truth,
      which she had heard as a child
      - that all things are as nothing,
      - the world (is) vanity, and (is) passing rapidly away.
         ...[ Life: Ch 3: #6 ]

     - I had become by this time fond of good books,
         and that gave me life.

       I read the Epistles of St. Jerome,
         which filled me with so much courage,
       that I resolved to tell my father of my purpose
       ... taking the habit
       ...[ Life: Ch 3: #8]

O my God,
  in how many ways did His Majesty
      prepare me for the state
  wherein it was His will I should serve Him

   how, against my own will,
     He constrained me to do violence to myself!
     ...[ Life: Ch 3: #5 ]
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6). After her experience at her uncle's home,
       what prompted Teresa's decision
       to enter religious life?
       [ Life: Ch 3: #6, 7, 8, 9 ]

Teresa , attributes her decision to enter religious life to:

~ "servile fear" (fear of hell)

   - "I was more influenced
            by servile fear, I think,
            than by love,
        to enter religion".

   - "I used to press this reason against myself:

       -- The trials and sufferings of living as a nun
            cannot be greater than those of purgatory, and

       -- I have well deserved to be in hell.

       -- It is not much to spend the rest of my life
             as if I were in purgatory,
          and then go straight to Heaven
             which was what I desired.
             ...[ Life: Ch 3: #7 ]

   - I also began to be afraid that,
          if I were then to die,
          I should go down to hell.

   - Though I could not bend my will to be a nun,
         I saw that the religious state
             was the best and the safest.
        And thus, by little and little,
             I resolved to force myself into it
              ...[ Life: Ch 3: #6 ]

   - The devil put before me that
        I could not endure the trials of the religious life,
             because of my delicate nurture.

       I defended myself against him
          -- by alleging the trials which Christ endured, and
          -- that it was not much for me
                to suffer something for (God's) sake;
          -- besides, He would help me to bear it.
               ...[ Life: Ch 3: #8 ]

~ Good Books which inspired and encouraged her:

    - the Epistles of St. Jerome.
        ..filled me with so much courage,
       that I resolved to tell my father of my purpose

       which was almost like taking the habit;
          for I was so jealous of my word,
       that I would never, for any consideration,
          recede from a promise
       when once my word had been given.
        ...[ Life: Ch 3: #8 ]

~ Self-doubts about her tenacity of purpose,
      if she postponed it:

    - Realizing that her father would postpone
         her entry into the convent, she said,

      "I now began to be afraid of myself,
         and of my own weaknesses for I might go back.

       So, considering that such waiting was not safe for me,
         I obtained my end in another way...
         ...[ Life: Ch 3: #9 ]
 
       She also reported a knowledge and
         distrust of her own weakness and,

       that once she advised her father of her decision,
         she said she felt
         honor-bound not to change her decision.

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