. Discussion of CHAPTER 34 The Way of Perfection - Continues the same subject. This is very suitable for reading after the reception of the Most Holy Sacrament. . |
St. Teresa continues to discuss the Lord's Prayer.
Here, she continues from chapter 33
to discuss the petition,
"Panem nostrum quotidianum
da nobis hodie"
"Our daily bread,
give to us today"
█ St. Teresa explained that by this petition:
♦ Christ will be forever present
daily in the Holy Eucharist.
St. Teresa wrote:
that in the Lord's Prayer
"...Jesus...asks His Father
to let us have Him daily--
which appears to mean "for ever".
"This bread, then,
is ours daily,
it seems to me,
because we have Him
here on earth,
since He has remained
with us here
and
we receive Him"
By " 'this day'
He seems...to be thinking
of a day
of the length
of this life".
"As His Majesty has already
given His Son to us,
by sending Him,
of His will alone,
into the world,
so now,
of that same will,
He is pleased not to abandon us,
but to remain here with us"
"we have Him as truly with us
in the Most Holy Sacrament
as people had Him then..."
(when He was with His mother
and the Apostles.)
♦ His Real Presence provides sustenance to us
in performing God's will.
"Thy will be done"
"the only reason He remains with us
is to help and encourage and sustain us
so that we shall do that will,
which, as we have said,
is to be fulfilled in us.
"...to strengthen them,
throughout the 'to-day' of this life..."
"He has given us this most holy Bread.
He has given it to us for ever,...
as the sustenance and manna of humanity.
. Post Communion Prayer WHEN ♦ The special importance of the time immediately after reception of the Holy Eucharist: ▪ St. Teresa stresses the importance of staying and praying with Jesus during the 60 minutes after Communion (when Christ is still physically present within us ) "Do not lose such an excellent time for talking with Him as the hour after Communion". "Remember that this is a very profitable hour for the soul; If you spend it in the company of the good Jesus, you are doing Him a great service. Be very careful, then,... not to lose it. "For we know that, until the accidents of bread have been consumed by our natural heat, the good Jesus is with us and we should [not lose so good an opportunity but should] come to Him". "If, while He went about in the world, the sick were healed merely by touching His clothes, how can we doubt that He will work miracles when He is within us, if we have faith, or that He will give us what we ask of Him since He is in our house? His Majesty is not wont to offer us too little payment for His lodging if we treat Him well". "Delight to remain with Him" ▪ "This is something which is happening now; it is absolutely true; and we have no need to go and seek Him somewhere a long way off". At the reception of the Eucharist, He is physically present now. His presence is experienced not just by meditation of the Passion and the Gospel events by the faculties of the intellect and imagination. "we cannot suppose that this is the work of the imagination, as it is when we - think of the Lord on the Cross, or of other incidents of the Passion, and - picture within ourselves how these things happened" (in the past, when He lived on earth.) "we have Him as truly with us in the Most Holy Sacrament as people had Him then,... when Christ walked on this earth" ▪ If one can not stay in the church after Communion, Try to keep the thoughts with the Lord. "If you are compelled by obedience to do something else, try to leave your soul with the Lord" "But if you take your thoughts elsewhere, and pay no more attention to Him than if you had not received Him, and care nothing for His being within you, how can He make Himself known to you? "But if we pay no heed to Him save when we have received Him, and go away from Him in search of other and baser things, what can He do?" "Hardly is the hour over which such a person has spent in fulfilling the Church's commandment than he goes home and tries to drive Christ out of the house. What with all his other business and occupations and worldly hindrances, he seems to be making all possible haste to prevent the Lord from taking possession of the house which is His own". HOW ♦ St. Teresa teaches how to pray after Communion ▪ St. Teresa teaches how she prayed after Communion. She meditated on Christ being in her home: She "always tried to strengthen her faith, when she communicated, by thinking that it was exactly as if she saw the Lord entering her house, with her own bodily eyes, for she believed in very truth that this Lord was entering her poor abode, and she ◦ ceased...to think of outward things... as far as she could, and ◦ went into her abode with Him. She tried to recollect her senses so that they might all become aware of this great blessing, or rather, so that they should not hinder the soul from becoming conscious of it. She imagined herself at His feet and wept with the Magdalen exactly as if she had seen Him with her bodily eyes in the Pharisee's house. Even if she felt no devotion, faith told her that it was good for her to be there. ▪ Focus on God's presence "When you have received the Lord, and are in His very presence, try to shut the bodily eyes and to open the eyes of the soul and to look into your own hearts. "This, then, is a good time for our Master to teach us and for us to listen to Him. ▪ "I do not tell you to say no prayers at all, "... contemplation... you need practise only if the Lord brings you to it." "You should say the Pater Noster, ◦ realize that you are verily and indeed in the company of Him Who taught it you and ◦ kiss His feet in gratitude to Him for having desired to teach you and ◦ beg Him to show you how to pray and never to leave you. ▪ Since Christ is truly present, a book or picture would be a hindrance would distract one from His presence: "You may be in the habit of praying while looking at a picture of Christ, but at a time like this it seems foolish to me - to turn away from the living image --the Person Himself-- - to look at His picture. Would it not be foolish if we had a portrait of someone whom we dearly loved and, when the person himself came to see us, we refused to talk with him and carried on our entire conversation with the portrait?" ▪ "Do you know when I find the use of a picture an excellent thing, and take great pleasure in it? When the person is absent and we are made to feel his loss by our great aridity, it is then that we find it a great comfort to look at the picture of Him Whom we have such reason to love. This is a great inspiration" ▪ You must complain, not of Him, but of yourself. WHY ♦ The benefits of Post Communion prayer: ▪ Jesus in the The Eucharist sustains us in our trials and helps us to do God's will. ▪ Jesus in the Eucharist gives us graces which support the growth of virtue, detachment, and advancement in prayer. "He reveals Himself to those who He knows will profit by His presence; Though unseen by bodily eyes, He has many ways of revealing Himself to the soul through deep inward emotions and by various other means" "Beneath those accidents of bread, we can approach Him; for, if the King disguises Himself, it would seem that we need not mind coming to Him By disguising Himself, He has, as it were, obliged Himself to submit to this. Who, otherwise, would dare to approach Him so unworthily, with so many imperfections and with such lukewarm zeal?" "if you ▫ practise this habit of staying with Him, not just once or twice, but whenever you communicate, and ▫ strive to keep your conscience clear so that you can often rejoice in this your Good, He will not...come so much disguised as to be unable to make His presence known to you in many ways, according to the desire which you have of seeing Him". "So great, indeed, may be your longing for Him that He will reveal Himself to you wholly". "So He grants us an exceeding great favour when He is pleased to show us that it is He Who is in the Most Holy Sacrament" ▪ "For He is your Master, and, Though it be in a way you may not understand, He will not fail to teach you. "we know not what we ask! much better does His Wisdom know what we need!" ▪ The Eucharist also aids bodily health "Do you suppose that this most holy food is not ample sustenance even for the body and a potent medicine for bodily ills?" "the wondrous effects produced by this most holy bread in those who worthily receive it are very well known" "If, while He went about in the world, the sick were healed merely by touching His clothes, how can we doubt that He will work miracles when He is within us, if we have faith, or that He will give us what we ask of Him since He is in our house?" ♦ Loss of benefits due to our faults "But He will not reveal Himself openly and communicate His glories and bestow His treasures save on those whom He knows greatly desire Him, for these are His true friends. "But if we pay no heed to Him... Will He have to drag us by force to look at Him and be with Him because He desires to reveal Himself to us?" I assure you that anyone who - is not a true friend and - does not come to receive Him as such, after doing all in his power to prepare for Him, must never importune Him to reveal Himself to him. . |
█ St. Teresa advises:
▲ Daily attendance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
Daily Reception of the Sacrament
of the Holy Eucharist
(or as much as possible)
"for, in whatever way the soul desires
to partake of food,
it will find joy and comfort
in the Most Holy Sacrament.
We can have it
whenever we please and
we shall not die of hunger
save through our own fault"
▲ Post Communion Prayer
(see above)
▲ Praying with attention to:
- Whom we are praying
- What we are saying
- Who we are who is praying to God
"...trying to understand
what we are praying for,
let us think carefully
what this means,
so that we may
pray rightly, and
thank Him
Who is taking such care
about teaching us".
▲ "Keep (prayer content) on the level
of the highest contemplation"
"Join with the Lord...
in begging the Father
to let you have your Spouse to-day,
so that, as long as you live,
you may never find yourself
in this world
without Him".
◘ Meditate on the Passion of Christ
"There is no need or trial or persecution
that cannot be easily borne
if we begin
- to partake and taste of those
which He Himself bore,
and
- to make them the subject
of our meditations".
◘ Rather than spend so much time
praying for "bodily necessaries":
"With regard to other bread
the bread of bodily
necessaries and sustenance--
I neither like to think
that the Lord is always
being reminded of it
nor would I have you
remember it yourselves".
"Would (God) have us trouble
about so petty a matter
as praying for food?
As if He did not know
that, once we begin to worry
about the needs of the body,
we shall forget the needs of the soul!"
"As for that other bread,
have no anxiety about it
if you have truly resigned yourselves
to God's will."
"at these hours of prayer
you are dealing
with more important matters"
"Try never at any time
to let your thoughts dwell on this;
...let your soul be at rest"
"the wondrous effects
produced by this most holy bread
in those who worthily receive it
are very well known"
"...cures are recorded"
▀ "Keep on the level
of the highest contemplation,
for anyone who dwells there
no more remembers
that he is in the world
than if he had already left it--
still less does he think about food"
"let our own task be
to beg the Eternal Father
that we may merit our heavenly bread,
so that...He
may reveal Himself
to the eyes of the soul
and
may make Himself known to us
as another kind of food,
full of delight and joy,
which sustains our life".
▲ Detachment
"He teaches us
• to fix our desires
upon heavenly things
and
• to pray that we may begin
to enjoy these things
while here on earth:
"The more food we are given,
the less we shall get
of the water from Heaven".
"Let it suffice to temper your great joy
that He should remain disguised
beneath these accidents
of bread and wine,
which is a real torture to those
who have
nothing else to love
and
no other consolation".
"Once having seen this Eternal Truth,
people would realize
that all the things we prize here
are mockery and falsehood".
▲ Dispose oneself to the state of grace
by Confession; Striving to avoid sin and fault;
Striving to practice virtue
"Entreat Him not to fail you
but to prepare you to receive Him worthily".
"after doing all in his power
to prepare for Him"
▲ Strive to conform to God's will
"Do not fear
that He will fail you
if you do not fail
to do what you have promised
and
to resign yourselves to God's will".
"If, then, you are really
surrendering yourselves to God,...
cease to be anxious for yourselves,
for He
bears your anxiety,
and
will bear it always.
| . End of Discussion of Chapter 34 The Way of Perfection . |
