Carmelite Book Studies ~ The Way of Perfection ~ St Teresa of Avila ~ Teresa of Jesus: The Way of Perfection - Discussion of Chapter 41 - St. Teresa of Avila

Discussion of

CHAPTER 41

The Way of Perfection

Speaks

- of the Fear of God

and

- of how we must keep ourselves

from venial sins.
.

St. Teresa taught:

"that, with these two things

-- Love and Fear of God --

we can travel along this road

in peace and quietness,

and

not think at every step

that we can see some pitfall,

and

that we shall never reach our goal"

▀ This Love of God:

"...all love is false

but love of Thee"

"May I not depart from this life

till there is nothing in it that I desire,

till I have forgotten what it is

to love anything but Thee

and

till I deny the name of love

to any other kind of affection"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The love of the world is false.

"your love, itself, becomes your punishment"

"the reason why you are so upset about it

is that your will strongly resents

your involving it in such childish pastimes"

"These things will show you

what the world is"

▀ The Fear of God

"Yet we cannot be sure of reaching

( the journey's goal - Union with God )

so fear will always lead the way,

and then we shall not grow careless,

For, as long as we live,

we must never feel completely safe

or we shall be in great danger".

"And that was our Teacher's meaning

when at the end of this prayer

He said these words to His Father,

knowing how necessary they were:

"But deliver us from evil. Amen."

◘ "...At first

it is not very deep...

It is not recognizable...

As it increases,

it grows stronger each day,

and then, of course,

it can be recognized"

"for those who possess it

forsake

- sin, and

- occasions of sin, and

- bad company..."

◘ "in a few people,

to whom, the Lord grants

such great favours as

to make them rich in virtues and

to raise them, in a very short time,

to great heights of prayer"

"When at last the soul

attains to contemplation,...

its Fear of God is plainly revealed,

and

its Love is not dissembled even outwardly.

However narrowly we watch such persons,

we shall not find them growing careless;

for, close as our watch on them may be,

the Lord so preserves them

that they would not knowingly

commit one venial sin

even to further their own interests,

and, as for mortal sin,

they fear it like fire."

██ St Teresa Advises:

"Oh, what a great thing it is

not to have offended the Lord"

"Much care is needed

if this fear of God is to be

thoroughly impressed upon the soul;

though, if one has true love,

it is quickly acquired"

► "If you would gain this Fear of God,

• Remember the importance

- of habit and

- of starting to realize
what a serious thing

it is to offend Him.

• Do your utmost

to learn this and

to turn it over in your minds;

for our life,

and much more than our life,

depends upon this virtue

being firmly planted in our souls.

Until you are conscious within your soul

of possessing it,

you need always

• to exercise very great care and

• to avoid

- all occasions of sin and

- any kind of company

which will not help you

to get nearer to God.

• Be most careful, in all that you do,

to bend your will to it;

• See that all you say tends to edification;

• Flee from all places

where there is conversation

which is not pleasing to God".

► "Let us always beseech God

that temptation may not be strong enough

for us to offend Him

but that He may send it to us

in proportion to the strength

which He gives us to conquer it"

"the Fear

which I hope will never be taken from us,

...is that Fear

which will stand us in good stead"

"... if we please Him,

they (' the servants...of hell')

- will be kept at bay and

- will do nothing that can harm us,

however much they

lead us into temptation

and

lay secret snares for us".

► "If we keep a pure conscience,

we can suffer little or no harm"

so that

"we shall all serve Him...

we, with our whole heart...."

"never be careless about this"

► "Even when the soul has that firm (purpose)

not to offend God...

it may subsequently fall from time to time,

for we

are weak and

cannot trust ourselves,

and,

the more determined we are,

the less self-confidence

we should have,

for confidence must come from God".

"But,

we need not feel constrained or depressed,

for the Lord will help us

and

the habits we have formed

will be of assistance to us

so that we shall not offend Him"

"Keep this in mind,

for it is very important advice,

so do not neglect it

- until you find you have

such a fixed determination

not to offend the Lord

that you would rather

lose a thousand lives

and

be persecuted by the whole world,

than commit one mortal sin,

and

- until you are most careful

not to commit venial sins.

■ After Fear of the Lord is received:

"Before we had this true fear of God

worldly people

would have helped to ruin our souls;

but now they will often help us

to love God more and

to praise Him

for having delivered us

from what we see

to be a notorious danger".

"These will do you no harm,

if you hate sin.

"And whereas

we, for our part,

may previously have helped

to foster their weaknesses,

we shall now

be helping to repress them,

because they will restrain themselves

in our presence"

.
█ St. Teresa discusses both

unplanned sin

and

deliberate planned sin:

◘ "But it is one thing

- to commit a sin

-- knowingly

and

-- after long deliberation,

◘ and quite another

- to do it so suddenly

that

-- the knowledge of

its being a venial sin and

-- its commission

are one and the same thing,

and

we hardly realize what we have done,

although we do to some extent realize it".

"as far as those...are concerned,

who can fail to commit them frequently?"

"From any sin, however small,

committed with full knowledge,

may God deliver us,

especially

- since we are sinning

against so great a Sovereign

and

- realizing that He is watching us!

That seems to me to be a sin

committed of malice aforethought;

it is as though one were to say:

"Lord, although this displeases Thee,

I shall do it.

I know that Thou seest it and

I know that Thou wouldst

not have me do it;

but, though I understand this,

I would rather follow

my own whim and desire

than Thy will."

If we commit a sin in this way,

however slight,

it seems to me

that our offence

is not small

but very, very great.

█ St Teresa teaches

what is not Fear of the Lord:

■ Scrupulosity

► "Do not be too strict with yourselves...

for, if your spirit begins to quail,

it will

- do great harm

to what is good in you

and

- may sometimes lead to scrupulosity,

which is a hindrance to progress

both in yourselves and in others".

"a person, however good in herself,

will not lead many souls to God

if they see

that she is so strict and timorous.

these characteristics will

frighten and oppress it and

lead people to avoid

the road you are taking,

even if they are quite clear

it is the best one"

► "So try... to

• bear in mind

that God does not pay great attention

to all the trifling matters

which occupy you,

and

• do not allow these things to make

your spirit quail and

your courage fade,

for if you do that

you may lose many blessings.

■ Judging others unfavourably

"Another source of harm is this:

we may judge others unfavourably,..

because they do not walk as we do,

though they may be holier than ourselves..."

"and if they are good

and yet at the same time

of a lively disposition,

you think them dissolute....

You think such people are imperfect"

► "It is a very dangerous state of mind,

leading

to great uneasiness and

to continual temptation,

because it is unfair to our neighbour.

It is very wrong to think

that everyone who does not follow

in your own timorous footsteps

has something the matter with her"

► "Try...

to be as pleasant as you can,

without offending God,

and

to get on as well as you can

with those you have to deal with,

so that they may

- like talking to you and

- want to follow your way

of life and conversation,

and

- not be frightened and put off by virtue.

Although you may be very sorry

if all your sisters' conversation is not

just as you would like it to be,

never keep aloof from them

if you wish

to help them and

to have their love"

"the holier (one is)

the more sociable (one) should be"

► "Let

• your intention be upright and

• your will determined

not to offend God.

• But do not let your soul dwell in seclusion,

or, instead of acquiring holiness,

you will develop many imperfections,

which the devil will implant in you...

you will not do the good

that you might,

either to yourselves

or to others."

■ Not performing your duty

due to fear of error

"Another danger is that,

when it is

- your duty to speak,

and

- right that you should speak,

you may not dare to do so

-- lest you say too much

and

-- may perhaps speak well of things

that you ought to hate".

► Pray for the courage and discernment

to perform one's duty prudently

for the good of all.

   .
   End of Discussion
   of Chapter 41
   The Way of Perfection
   .

Carmelite Book Studies ~ The Way of Perfection ~ St Teresa of Avila ~ Teresa of Jesus

Saturday, May 28, 2011

The Way of Perfection - Discussion of Chapter 41 - St. Teresa of Avila - Teresa of Jesus