Discussion of Chapter 19 - Begins to treat of prayer. - Addresses souls who cannot reason with the understanding. |
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▀ Knowing the many problems
that one will encounter on the journey to God,
St. Teresa wants to tell of the rewards
of perseverence and reaching the goal.
She "describe(s) the end of the battle
before it has begun and...
point(s) to its reward"
by telling ...of
"the blessing which comes from drinking
of the heavenly source of this living water".
She does this in order that persons
will not be confused and discouraged
by the difficulties and
will be encouraged to persevere since:
"the Lord invites us all"
and
"...that none will fail
to receive this living water
unless they cannot keep to the path".
"I have done this
so that you
may not be distressed
at the trials and annoyances
of the road, and
may tread it with courage
and not grow weary;
for...it may be
that when you
have arrived, and
have only to stoop and drink
of the spring,
you
may fail to do so and
lose this blessing,
thinking
- that you have not the strength
to attain it and
- that it is not for you..."
"May the Lord,
Who promises it,
give us grace...
to seek it as it must be sought"
▀ The goal of life's journey is - to seek God in "this Divine Union (which) is something quite supernatural" The "path" is - To persevere in prayer and to try to dispose oneself with the help of God to the grace "of this living water" "of this water of perfect contemplation" (Passive prayer ) The gift of Contemplation is "given us, and not acquired by our diligence". - The disposing of oneself to this grace with the help of God, consists of striving to to do what we can as much as possible in prayer, good works, and practice of the virtues. Active recollective Prayer, using the Understanding / Intellect in meditating (e.g. on the Lord's mysteries or life) to focus the thoughts and affect toward God. Because it is praying actively "through the "Intermediacy of the (human) Understanding", it is combined with the "baseness of our nature" it is not the "living water" not "completely free from earthly things". It can be "exhausting" and subject to many distractions. But St. Teresa states: "... grievous though it be and exhausting... how very precious it is." "it creates the very satisfaction by which this thirst is allayed" It quenches the desire for earthly things and strengthens the desire for God. It disposes one to graces. |
St. Teresa seems to say that after so much work along the road to God, many souls get past the first and second barrier, but are then impeded by the third barrier. The third barrier seems to be the busyness of the intellect / Understanding during prayer time. She wants them to persevere in prayer because they have come so far and have only a short distance to go but " - Their strength has come to an end; - their courage has failed them though perhaps they are only a couple of steps from the fountain of living water" water of perfect contemplation" "And when, after all their labour-- and the labour is tremendous-- - they have conquered the first of their enemies, - they allow themselves to be conquered by the second..." "... though some...are strong enough to conquer their second enemies as well as their first…" - "they prefer to die of thirst rather than drink water which is going to cost them so much trouble. -- Their strength has come to an end; -- their courage has failed them" - "when they meet the third group, their strength comes to an end, though perhaps they are only a couple of steps from the fountain of living water..." "...they seem to me like people who are very thirsty and see water a long way off, yet, when they try to go to it, find someone, who, all the time, is barring their path…" |
St. Teresa doesn't specifiy in this chapter , who/what the "enemies" are, which are met on the journey. But in the previous chapters, she urged souls to strive with the help of God toward: prayerfulness, humility, detachment, mortification, and the acquisition of virtue in order to battle against one's faults, pride, and attachment to self, honor and material goods. "I have insisted in this book that you should strive to obtain this freedom". So perhaps, here she saying that even after - one has developed the habit of prayer, - avoided sin, resisted temptations, and - made strides in detachment, (from physical sense satisfactions, self-seeking, and materialism) there is still the difficulties posed by the internal faculties. (eg Understanding/Intellect, Will, Memory) |
□ She talks about the Understanding / Intellect and its involvement in prayer. ◊ The Understanding can aid prayerfulness • "when the understanding is kept in restraint" the soul in its journey "will walk restfully and securely". • Also, the Understanding / Intellect in active prayer (meditation) can help focus the thoughts and the emotions (affect) on God and can enkindle love. This prayer can be assisted by books on "the mysteries of the life of the Lord and of His sacred Passion" * [ See footnote (*) at bottom of page) ◊ The Understanding /Intellect can hinder prayer: • when it is "ruminating", "never still", and "as unruly as horses not yet broken in No one can stop them" "now they go this way, now that way; they are never still". Although a skilled rider mounted on such a horse may not always be in danger, ...there will always be the risk of his stumbling, so that he has to ride with great care." • Since active prayer efforts ( through the intermediacy of our human Understanding ) "come from ourselves, they are never free from fault" "Any good that there may be in them comes from the help of the Lord" "....I should not say that this prayer... which comes from reasoning with the intellect, is living water-- For, despite our efforts, there is always something clinging to the soul, through the influence of the body and of the baseness of our nature, which we should prefer not to be there..." |
■ Contemplation St. Teresa teaches regarding Contemplation (the gift and grace from God of passive prayer) as the living water of St. John's Gospel 4:13: - "the fountain of living water, of which the Lord said to the Samaritan woman that 'whosoever drinks of it shall not thirst again' " - "this Divine Union is something quite supernatural" St. Teresa describes the living water of Contemplation in this way: ▀"Water has three properties-- three relevant properties... " ▲"One of them is that of cooling things..." "It cools the love of earthly things, Yet, causes the love for God to grow". "...water tempers the heat, and ...water should make (the fire of love of God) grow fiercer, ...not quench it but only cause it to burn the more!" "...genuine love of God, if it is really strong, and completely free from earthly things, and able to rise above them, is master of all the elements and of the whole world. ...there is no fear of its quenching this fire, which is the love of God"; "...For the water of genuine tears... tears which come from true prayer-- is a good gift from the King of Heaven" "...freezes all worldly affections, when it is combined with the living water which comes from Heaven, the source of the above-mentioned tears, which are given us, and not acquired by our diligence". ▲"The second property of water is that it cleanses things that are not clean already". "...what cleansing properties there are in this living water, this heavenly water, ...Once the soul has drunk of it ...it makes it pure and clean of all its sins" "...God does not allow us to drink of this water of perfect contemplation whenever we like: the choice is not ours" "this Divine union is something quite supernatural". ( - not acquired "through the intermediacy of the understanding", - "cannot be drunk directly from the source"; and - not acquired "from reasoning with the intellect" ) "In contemplation the Lord Himself relieves us of this care, for He will not trust us to look after ourselves". "So He - calls them to His side at once... - reveals more truths to them and - gives them a clearer insight into the nature of everything than they could otherwise gain in many years". "...in contemplation the Lord brings us to the end of the day's journey without our understanding how". ▲ "The third property of water is that it satisfies and quenches thirst". The love and desire for God is satisfied by the gift of contemplative prayer, yet the desire for God is ever increased. - quenches the thirst (desires) relating to the body and temporal life, - but quickens the thirst (Love) for God. "So intolerable does such a soul find the world that it seems to be overwhelmed but it comes to life again in God; and in this way His Majesty enables it to enjoy experiences" "one of the greatest favours He can bestow on the soul is to leave it with this longing (for God) so that it has an even greater desire to drink of this water again" |
St. Teresa discusses the many aspects of this intense longing for God: She teaches that since this desire for God - can be mixed with selfish motives - can "gr(o)w so greatly, that (one) might quite possibly die of thirst"... or even desire death because of these "immeasurable longings",... "Discretion is most necessary in everything" ˚ This desire for God, because of one's human nature, can be combined with self-seeking desires and motives: "As our desires for this water come from ourselves, they are never free from fault". St. Teresa advises that "any good that there may be in them ( these desires) comes from the help of the Lord" "For our own nature may be playing as great a part in producing these feelings as our love" "But we are so indiscreet that as the pain is sweet and pleasant, we think we can never have too much of it" ˚ The inability of human nature to withstand an ever increasing desire for God and love for God "if only one could be plunged so deeply into this living water that one's life would end! ...this love and desire for God can increase so much that human nature is unable to bear it" ˚ "Assailed by these strong impulses stimulating the increase of our desire", the desire can be further fostered by one's self-seeking nature and feelings rather than by love. This can lead to temptation of desire for death and to impulses of indiscreet penance. "I am not saying that the desire should be uprooted-- only checked; one may be able to do this by stimulating some other desire which is equally praiseworthy" St. Teresa again, as in previous chapter, discusses the desire to leave this earthly prison and to be with God "How happy is such a death!" but she always concludes with her desire to follow God's will for her on earth as long as He wills it. and her acknowledgment that by living she may be able to do good works and help others: "And yet by living one might perhaps have helped others to die of the desire for it". "I believe the devil has something to do with this: knowing how much harm we can do him by living, he tempts us to be indiscreet in our penances and so to ruin our health, which is a matter of no small moment to him." She discusses this desire in the light of true humility and charity: "...to change our desire by reflecting that, if we live, we have more chance of serving God, and - that we might do this by giving light to some soul which otherwise would be lost; as well as - that, if we serve Him more, we shall deserve to enjoy Him more, and grieve that we have served Him so little". She advises: - "have patience and - leave (oneself) in God's hands so that His will might be fulfilled in (them): it is always best to leave ourselves in God's hands". - "if the desire had come from God,... such desires bring with them illumination, moderation and discretion. |
Foot Notes: (*) St. Teresa gives a general description of good books "for those with orderly minds" and "who practise prayer" "books,... in which the mysteries of the life of the Lord and of His sacred Passion are described in short passages, one for each day of the week; there are also meditations on the Judgment, on hell, on our own nothingness and on all that we owe to God, and these books are excellent both as to their teaching and as to the way in which they plan the beginning and the end of the time of prayer." "There is no need to tell anyone who is capable of practising prayer in this way, and has already formed the habit of doing so, that by this good road the Lord will bring her to the harbour of light". |
End of Discussion of Chapter 19 The Way of Perfection |
