. This chapter is extraordinarily beautiful. The following excerpts will preview and highlight some of the beautiful instructions which St. Teresa gives regarding prayer. Chapter 26 follows these excerpts. "I am not asking you now to think of Him, or to form numerous conceptions of Him, or to make long and subtle meditations with your understanding. I am asking you only to look at Him". "...turning the eyes of your soul ( just for a moment, if you can do no more ) upon this Lord?" "You are capable of looking at very ugly and loathsome things: Can you not, then, look at the most beautiful thing imaginable?" "Your Spouse never takes His eyes off you" "He is only waiting for us to look at Him, ...you will find Him". "He longs so much for us to look at Him..." . |
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. CHAPTER 26 The Way of Perfection - Continues the description of a method for recollecting the thoughts. - Describes means of doing this. This chapter is very profitable for those who are beginning prayer. . |
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Let us now return to our vocal prayer,
so that we may learn to pray
in such a way
that, without our understanding how,
God may give us everything at once:
if we do this, as I have said,
we shall pray as we ought.
As you know,
▲ the first things must be
˚ examination of conscience,
˚ confession of sin and
˚ the signing of yourself with the Cross.
Then, daughter,
as you are alone,
˚ you must look for a companion--
and who could be a better Companion
than the very Master
Who taught you the prayer
that you are about to say?
▲ Imagine that this Lord Himself
is at your side
and
See how lovingly and how humbly
He is teaching you--
and, believe me,
you should stay with so good a Friend
for as long as you can
before you leave Him.
If you become accustomed to
having Him at your side, and
if He sees that you
love Him to be there and
are always trying to please Him,
you will never be able, as we put it, to
send Him away,
nor will He ever fail you.
He will help you in all your trials
and you will have Him everywhere.
Do you think it is a small thing
to have such a Friend as that beside you?
O sisters,
those of you
whose minds cannot reason for long or
whose thoughts cannot dwell upon God
but are constantly wandering
must at all costs form this habit.
I know quite well
that you are capable of it--
for many years I endured this trial
of being unable to concentrate
on one subject,
and a very sore trial it is.
But I know the Lord does not leave us
so devoid of help
that if we
approach Him humbly and
ask Him to be with us
He will not grant our request.
If a whole year passes
without our obtaining
what we ask,
let us be prepared to try for longer.
Let us never grudge time so well spent.
Who, after all, is hurrying us?
I am sure we can
form this habit and
strive to walk at the side
of this true Master.
▲ I am not asking you now
to think of Him,
or
to form numerous conceptions of Him,
or
to make long and subtle meditations
with your understanding.
I am asking you
only to look at Him.
For who can prevent you
from turning the eyes of your soul
( just for a moment,
if you can do no more )
upon this Lord?
You are capable of looking
at very ugly and loathsome things:
can you not, then, look
at the most beautiful thing imaginable?
Your Spouse never takes His eyes off you,
daughters.
daughters.
He has borne with thousands
of foul and abominable sins
which you have committed against Him,
yet even they have not been enough
to make Him cease looking upon you.
Is it such a great matter,
then, for you
- to avert the eyes of your soul
from outward things
and sometimes
- to look at Him?
See,
He is only waiting for us to look at Him,
as He says to the Bride. [97]
you will find Him.
He longs so much
for us to look at Him once more
that it will not be for lack of effort
on His part
if we fail to do so.
A wife, they say,
. [97] A vague reminiscence of some phrase from Canticles: perhaps 2:14 "show me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice is sweet, and thy face comely. 2:16 "My beloved to me, and I to him who feedeth among the lilies 5:2 "I sleep, and my heart watcheth; the voice of my beloved knocking or 6:12 "...Return, return that we may behold thee". . |
A wife, they say,
must be like this
if she is to have a happy married life
with her husband.
If he is sad,
she must show signs of sadness;
if he is merry,
even though she may not in fact be so,
she must appear merry too.
See what slavery
you have escaped from, sisters!
Yet this, without any pretence,
is really how we are treated by the Lord.
He becomes subject to us and
is pleased
to let you be the mistress and
to conform to your will.
▲ If you are happy,
look upon your risen Lord,
and
the very thought
of how He rose from the sepulchre
will gladden you.
How bright and
how beautiful
was He then!
How majestic! [98]
How victorious!
How joyful!
He was like one emerging from a battle
in which He had gained a great kingdom,
all of which
He desires you to have--
and with it,
(He desires you to have) Himself.
Is it such a great thing
that you should
- turn your eyes but once and
- look upon Him
Who has made you such great gifts?
▲ If you are suffering trials, or are sad,
look upon Him on His way to the Garden.
What sore distress
He must have borne in His soul,
to describe His own suffering
as He did and
to complain of it!
Or look upon Him
bound to the Column,
full of pain,
His flesh all torn to pieces
by His great love for you.
How much He suffered,
persecuted by some,
spat upon by others,
denied by His friends, and
even deserted by them,
with none to take His part,
frozen with the cold and
left so completely alone
that you may well comfort each other!
Or look upon Him
bending under the weight of the Cross
and
not even allowed to take breath:
He will look upon you
with His lovely and compassionate eyes,
full of tears,
and in comforting your grief
will forget His own
because you are
- bearing Him company
in order to comfort Him and
- turning your head to look upon Him.
"O Lord of the world,
my true Spouse!"
you may say to Him,
if seeing Him in such a plight
has filled your heart
with such tenderness
that you
not only desire to look upon Him
but love to speak to Him,
not using forms of prayer,
but words issuing
from the compassion
of your heart,
which means so much to Him:
'Art Thou so needy,
my Lord and my Good,
that Thou wilt accept
poor companionship like mine?
Do I read in Thy face
that Thou hast found comfort,
even in me?
How can it be possible, Lord,
that the angels are leaving Thee alone
and
and
that Thy Father is not comforting Thee?
If Thou, Lord,
art willing to suffer all this for me,
what am I suffering for Thee?
What have I to complain of?
I am ashamed, Lord,
when I see Thee in such a plight,
and
and
if in any way I can imitate Thee
I will
suffer all trials that come to me and
count them as a great blessing.
Let us go both together, Lord:
whither Thou goest, I must go;
through whatsoever Thou passest,
I must pass.'
Take up this cross, sisters:
Never mind if (opponents) trample upon you
provided you can save Him
some of His trials.
Take no heed of what they say to you;
Be deaf to all detraction;
Stumble and fall with your Spouse,
But do not
draw back from your cross
or
give it up.
Think often
of the weariness of His journey and
of how much harder His trials were
than those which you have to suffer.
However hard you may imagine
yours to be, and
however much affliction
they may cause you,
they will be a source of comfort to you,
for you will see
that they are matters for scorn
compared with the trials
endured by the Lord.
You will
ask me, sisters,
how you can possibly do all this, and
say that,
if you had seen His Majesty
if you had seen His Majesty
with your bodily eyes at the time
when He lived in the world,
you would have
- done it willingly and
- gazed at Him for ever.
Do not believe it:
Anyone who will not make
the slight effort
necessary for recollection
in order to gaze upon this Lord
present within her,
which she can do without danger and
with only the minimum of trouble,
would have been far less likely
to stand at the foot of the Cross
with the Magdalen,
who looked death (as they say)
straight in the face.
What the glorious Virgin
and this blessed saint
must have suffered!
What threats,
What malicious words,
What shocks,
What insults!
For the people they were dealing with
were not exactly polite to them.
No, indeed;
theirs was the kind of courtesy
you might meet in hell,
for they were the ministers
of the devil himself.
Yet, terrible as the sufferings
of these women
must have been,
they would not have noticed them
in the presence of pain so much greater.
So do not suppose, sisters,
that you would have been prepared
to endure such great trials then,
if you are not ready
for such trifling ones now.
Practise enduring these and
you may be given others
which are greater.
Believe that I am telling the truth
when I say that you can do this,
for I am speaking from experience.
▲ You will find it very helpful
if you can get an image or a picture
of this Lord
-- one that you like--
not to wear round your neck
and never look at
but to use regularly
whenever you talk to Him, and
He will tell you what to say.
If words do not fail you
when you talk to people on earth,
why should they do so
when you talk to God?
Do not imagine that they will--
I shall certainly not believe
that they have done so
if you once form the habit.
For when you never have communication
with a person
he soon becomes a stranger to you, and
you forget how to talk to him;
and before long,
even if he is a kinsman,
you feel as if you do not know him,
for both kinship and friendship
lose their influence
when communication ceases.
▲ It is also a great help
to have a good book,
written in the vernacular,
simply as an aid to recollection.
With this aid
you will learn
to say your vocal prayers well,
I mean, as they ought to be said--
and little by little,
persuasively and methodically,
you will get your soul used to this,
so that it will no longer be afraid of it.
Remember that many years have passed
since (the soul) went away from its Spouse,
and
it needs very careful handling
before it will return home.
We sinners are like that:
We have accustomed our souls and minds
to go after their own pleasures
(or pains,
it would be more correct to say)
until the unfortunate soul no longer knows
what it is doing.
When that has happened,
a good deal of skill is necessary
before it can be inspired
with enough love
to make it stay at home;
but unless we can gradually do that
we shall accomplish nothing.
Once again I assure you
that, if you are careful to form habits
of the kind I have mentioned,
you will derive such great profit from them
that I could not describe it
that I could not describe it
even if I wished.
Keep at the side
of this good Master, then, and
be most firmly resolved to learn
what He teaches you;
His Majesty will then ensure
your not failing to be good disciples,
and
and
He will never leave you
unless you leave Him.
Consider the words uttered
by those Divine lips:
the very first of them
will show you at once
what love He has for you,
what love He has for you,
and it is no small blessing and joy
for the pupil to see
that his Master loves Him.
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. Foot Notes: [97] A vague reminiscence of some phrase from Canticles: perhaps ii, 14, 16, v, 2, or vi, 12. [98] Lit.: "With what majesty!" . |
| . End of Chapter 26 The Way of Perfection . |
