. CHAPTER 31 The Way of Perfection - Continues the same subject. - Explains what is meant by the Prayer of Quiet. - Gives several counsels to those who experience it. This chapter is very noteworthy. . |
Now, daughters,
I still want to describe
this Prayer of Quiet to you,
in the way I have heard it talked about,
and
as the Lord has been pleased
to teach it to me,
perhaps in order
that I might describe it to you.
It is in this kind of prayer,
as I have said,
that the Lord seems to me
to begin to show us
that He is hearing our petition:
He begins to give us
His Kingdom on earth
♦ "Thy kingdom come."
"Thy Kingdom come in us."
so that we may truly
◦ praise Him and
◦ hallow His Name and
◦ strive to make others do so likewise.
▲ This is a supernatural state,
and,
however hard we try,
we cannot reach it for ourselves;
for it is a state
in which the soul enters into peace,
or rather
▲ in which the Lord gives it peace
through His presence,
as He did to that just man Simeon.[106]
In this state
▲ all the faculties are stilled.
The soul, in a way
which has nothing to do
with the outward senses,
realizes
▲ that it is now very close to its God,
and
that, if it were but a little closer,
it would become
one with Him through union.
This is not because it sees Him
either with its bodily
or with its spiritual eyes.
The just man, Simeon, saw
no more than the glorious Infant
--a poor little Child,
Who, to judge
- from the swaddling-clothes
in which He was wrapped
and
- from the small number of the people
whom He had as a retinue
to take Him up to the Temple,
might well have been the son
of these poor people
rather than the Son
of his Heavenly Father.
But the Child Himself revealed to him
Who He was.
Just so, though less clearly,
does the soul know Who He is.
It cannot understand
how it knows Him,
yet it sees
◦ that it is in the Kingdom
◦ (or at least
is near to the King
Who will give it the Kingdom),
and
it feels such reverence
that it dares to ask nothing.
It is, as it were, in a swoon,
both inwardly and outwardly,
so that the outward man
(let me call it the "body",
and then
you will understand me better)
does not wish to move,
but rests,
like one who has almost reached
the end of his journey,
so that it may the better start again
upon its way,
with redoubled strength for its task.
▲ The body experiences
the greatest delight
and
the soul is conscious
of a deep satisfaction.
So glad is it merely to find itself
near the fountain
that, even before it has begun to drink,
it has had its fill.
There seems
nothing left for it to desire.
▲ The faculties
are stilled
and
have no wish to move,
for any movement they may make
appears to hinder the soul
from loving God.
They are not completely lost, however,
since, two of them being free,
they can realize
in Whose Presence they are.
▲ It is the will
that is in captivity now;
and,
if while in this state
it is capable of experiencing any pain,
the pain comes when it realizes
that it will have to resume its liberty.
▲ The mind (Intellect, Understanding)
tries to occupy itself
with only one thing,
and
▲ The memory has no desire
to busy itself with more:
they both see
that this is the one thing needful*
[ *See Luke:10;42 below ]
[ *See Luke:10;42 below ]
and
that anything else will unsettle them.
Persons in this state
prefer the body to remain motionless,
for otherwise their peace
would be destroyed:
for this reason they dare not stir.
Speaking is a distress to them:
they will spend a whole hour
on a single repetition
of the Paternoster.
They are so close to God
that they know
they can make themselves understood
by signs.
They are in the palace,
near to their King,
and
they see
that He is already beginning
to give them
His Kingdom on earth.
Sometimes tears come to their eyes,
but they weep
very gently and
quite without distress:
their whole desire is
the hallowing of this name.
They seem not to be in the world,
and
have no wish to see or hear anything
but their God;
nothing distresses them,
nor does it seem
that anything can possibly do so.
In short,
for as long as this state lasts,
they are so overwhelmed and absorbed
by the joy and delight
which they experience
that they
◦ can think of nothing else
to wish for,
and
◦ will gladly say with Saint Peter:
"Lord, let us make here
three mansions." [107]
Occasionally, during this Prayer of Quiet,
God grants the soul
another favour
which is hard to understand
if one has not had long experience of it.
But any of you
who have had this
will at once recognize it and
it will give you great comfort to know
what it is.
I believe God often grants
this favour
together with the other. (Prayer of Quiet)
When this quiet (Prayer of Quiet) is
felt in a high degree
and
lasts for a long time,
I do not think
that, if the will were not
made fast to something,
the peace could be of such long duration.
Sometimes it goes on
for a day, or
for two days,
and
we find ourselves
--I mean those
who experience this state--
full of this joy
without understanding the reason.
They see clearly
• that their whole self is not
in what they are doing,
but
▲ • that the most important faculty is absent
--namely, the will, which I think
is united with its God--
and
• that the other faculties are left free
to busy themselves with His service.
For this they have much more capacity
at such a time,
though when attending to worldly affairs
they are dull and sometimes stupid.
▲ It is a great favour
which the Lord grants to these souls,
for it unites
the active life
with
the contemplative.
At such times they serve the Lord
in both these ways at once;
the will,
while in contemplation,
is working without knowing
how it does so;
the other two faculties
are serving Him
as Martha did.
[ *See Luke:10 below ]
[ *See Luke:10 below ]
Thus Martha and Mary work together.
I know someone
to whom the Lord often granted
this favour;
she could not understand it
and
asked a great contemplative [108]
about it,
he told her
that what she described
was quite possible
and
had happened to himself.
I think, therefore,
that as the soul experiences
such satisfaction in this Prayer of Quiet,
the will must be
almost continuously united with Him
Who alone can give it happiness.
I think it will be well, sisters,
if I give some advice here
to any of you
whom the Lord,
out of His goodness alone,
has brought to this state,
as I know that this has happened
to some of you.
First of all,
when such persons experience this joy,
without knowing
whence it has come to them,
but knowing at least
that they could not have achieved it
of themselves,
they are tempted to imagine
that they can prolong it and
they may even try not to breathe.
This is ridiculous:
we can
no more control this prayer
than we can
make the day break, or
stop night from falling;
▲ It is
◦ supernatural
and
◦ something we cannot acquire.
The most we can do
to prolong this favour
is to realize
that we can
neither diminish
nor add
to it,
but, being most unworthy
and undeserving of it,
can only
▲ receive it with thanksgiving.
And we can best give thanks,
not with many words,
but by lifting up our eyes,
like the publican. [109]
▲ It is well to seek greater solitude
so as to
• make room for the Lord and
• allow His Majesty to do
His own work in us.
The most we should do is
occasionally, and quite gently,
to utter a single word,
like a person
giving a little puff to a candle,
when he sees it has almost gone out,
so as to make it burn again;
though, if it were fully alight,
I suppose the only result
of blowing it
would be to put it out.
I think the puff
should be a gentle one
because, if we begin
to tax our brains
by making up long speeches,
the will
may become active again.
Note carefully, friends,
this piece of advice
which I want to give you now.
You will often find
▲ that these other two faculties
are of no help to you.
It may come about
▫ that the soul is enjoying
the highest degree of quiet,
and
▫ that the understanding has soared
so far aloft
that what is happening to it
seems not to be going on
in its own house at all;
it really seems to
be a guest
in somebody else's house,
looking for other lodgings,
since
its own lodging
no longer satisfies it
and
it cannot remain there
for long together.
Perhaps this is
only my own experience
and
other people do not find it so.
But, speaking for myself,
I sometimes long to die
because I cannot cure
this wandering of the mind.
At other times
the mind seems
to be settled in its own abode
and
to be remaining there
with the will as its companion.
▲When all three faculties work together
it is wonderful.
The harmony is like that
between husband and wife:
if they are happy and love each other,
both desire the same thing;
but if the husband is unhappy
in his marriage
he soon begins
to make the wife restless.
▲ Just so, when the will finds itself
in this state of quiet,
it must take no more notice
of the understanding
than it would of a madman,
for, if it tries to draw
the understanding along with it,
it is bound
to grow preoccupied and restless,
with the result
- that this state of prayer will be
all effort and no gain
and
- the soul will lose
what God has been giving it
without any effort of its own.
Pay great attention
to the following comparison,
which the Lord suggested to me
when I was in this state of prayer,
and
which seems to me very appropriate.
The soul is like an infant
still at its mother's breast:
such is the mother's care for it
that she gives it its milk
without its having to ask for it
so much as by moving its lips.
That is what happens here.
The will simply loves,
and
no effort needs to be made
by the understanding,
for it is the Lord's pleasure
that, without exercising its thought,
the soul
◦ should realize
that it is in His company,
and
◦ should merely
- drink the milk
which His Majesty puts into its mouth
and
- enjoy its sweetness.
▲The Lord desires it to know
• that it is He Who is granting it
that favour
and
• that in its enjoyment of it
He too rejoices.
• But it is not His will
that the soul should try to understand
how it is enjoying it,
or
what it is enjoying;
it should lose all thought of itself,
and
He, Who is at its side,
will not fail to see
what is best for it.
If it begins to strive with its mind
so that the mind
may be apprised
of what is happening
and thus
induced to share in it, [110]
it will be quite unable to do so,
and
the soul will perforce
lose the milk [111]
and
forgo that Divine sustenance.
This state of prayer is different
from that (state)
(Regarding Contemplation)
in which the soul
is wholly united with God,
for in the latter state
it does not even swallow its nourishment:
the Lord places this within it,
and
it has no idea how.
(Regarding Prayer of Quiet)
But in this state
it even seems to be His will
that the soul should work a little,
though so quietly
that it is hardly conscious of doing so.
What disturbs it
is the understanding
and
(Regarding Contemplation)
this is not the case
when there is union
of all the three faculties,
since He Who created them
suspends them:
He keeps them occupied
with the enjoyment
that He has given them,
without
their knowing, or
being able to understand,
the reason.
Anyone who has had experience
of this kind of prayer
will understand quite well
what I am saying
if, after reading this,
she
considers it carefully,
and
thinks out its meaning:
otherwise it will be Greek [112] to her.
(Regarding Prayer of Quiet)
Well, as I say,
the soul is conscious of having reached
this state of prayer,
which is a
quiet, deep and Peaceful happiness
of the will,
without being able to decide precisely
what it is,
although it can clearly see
how it differs from the happiness
of the world.
To have dominion over the whole world,
with all its happiness,
would not suffice to bring the soul
such inward satisfaction
as it enjoys now
in the depths of its will.
For other kinds of happiness in life,
it seems to me,
touch only the outward part of the will,
which we might describe
as its rind.
When
- one of you finds herself
in this sublime state of prayer,
which, as I have already said,
is most markedly supernatural,
and
- the understanding
(or, to put it more clearly,
the thought)
wanders off
after the most ridiculous things
in the world,
she should
laugh at it
and
treat it as the silly thing it is,
and
remain in her state of quiet.
For thoughts will come and go,
but the will
- is mistress and all-powerful,
and
- will recall them without your having
to trouble about it.
But if you try
to drag the understanding back by force,
you lose your power over it,
which comes from
your taking and receiving
that Divine sustenance,
and
neither will
nor understanding will gain, [113]
but both will be losers.
There is a saying
that, if we try very hard to grasp all,
we lose all;
and
so I think it is here.
Experience will show you
the truth of this;
and
I shall not be surprised
if those of you
who have none
(have no experience of the Prayer of Quiet)
think this very obscure and unnecessary.
But, as I have said,
if you have only a little experience of it
you will
understand it
and
be able to profit by it,
and
you will praise the Lord
for being pleased
to enable me to explain it.
Let us now conclude by saying
that, when the soul is brought
to this state of prayer,
it would seem
that the Eternal Father has already
granted its petition
that He will give it
His Kingdom on earth.
O blessed request,
in which we ask for so great a good
without knowing what we do!
Blessed manner of asking!
It is for this reason, sisters,
that I want us
to be careful
how we say this prayer,
the Paternoster,
and
all other vocal prayers,
and
what we ask for in them.
For clearly,
when God has shown us this favour,
we shall have to forget worldly things,
all of which the Lord of the world
has come and cast out.
I do not mean
that everyone
who experiences the Prayer of Quiet
must perforce be detached
from everything in the world;
but at least
I should like all such persons
to know what they lack and
to humble themselves
and
not
- to make so great a petition
as though they were asking for nothing,
and,
- if the Lord gives them
what they ask for,
to throw it back in His face.
They must try to become
more and more detached from everything,
for otherwise they will only remain
where they are.
If God gives a soul such pledges,
it is a sign
that He has great things in store for it.
It will be its own fault if it does not
make great progress.
But if He sees
that, after He has brought
the Kingdom of Heaven into its abode,
it returns to earth,
not only will He refrain from showing it
the secrets of His Kingdom
but He will grant it this other favour
only for short periods and rarely.
I may be mistaken about this,
but I
have seen it
and
know that it happens,
and, for my own part,
I believe this is
why spiritual people
are not much more numerous.
They do not respond
to so great a favour in a practical way:
instead of preparing themselves
to receive this favour again,
they
- take back from the Lord's hands
the will
which He considered His own
and
- centre it upon base things.
So He seeks out others
who love Him
in order to grant them His greater gifts,
although He will not take away
all that He has given from those
who live in purity of conscience.
But there are persons
--and I have been one of them--
to whom the Lord gives
tenderness of devotion
and
holy inspirations
and
light on everything.
He
bestows this Kingdom on them
and
brings them to this Prayer of Quiet,
and
yet they deafen their ears to His voice.
For they are so fond
of talking and
of repeating a large number
of vocal prayers in a great hurry,
as though they were anxious to finish
their task of repeating them daily,
that when the Lord,
as I say,
puts His Kingdom
into their very hands,
by giving them
this Prayer of Quiet
and
this inward peace,
they do not accept it,
but think
that they will do better
to go on reciting their prayers,
which only distract them
from their purpose.
Do not be like that, sisters,
but
• be watchful
when the Lord grants you this favour.
• Think what a great treasure
you may be losing
and
• realize that you are doing much more
by occasionally repeating a single petition
of the Paternoster
than by
repeating the whole of it
many times in a hurry
and
not thinking what you are saying.
He, to Whom you are praying,
is very near to you
and
will not fail to hear you;
and
you may be sure
that you are truly
praising Him and
hallowing His name,
since you are
glorifying the Lord
as a member of His household
and
praising Him with increasing
affection and desire
so that it seems
you can never forsake His service.
So I advise you
to be very cautious about this,
for it is of the greatest importance.
_______________________
. Foot Notes: [106] The allusion is, of course, to St. Luke ii, 25 ("just and devout"), 29. Luke 2: 25 And behold there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was in him. 26 And he had received an answer from the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. 27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, 28 He also took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said: 29 Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace; 30 Because my eyes have seen thy salvation, 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: 32 A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. 33 And his father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning him. 34 And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother: Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; 35 And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed. [107] Moradas. The "three tabernacles" of St. Matthew xvii, 4. Mt 17: 2 And he was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun: and his garments became white as snow. 3 And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him. 4 And Peter answering, said to Jesus: Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. [108] In the margin of T. the author adds, in her own hand, that this contemplative was St. Francis Borgia, Duke of Gandia. No doubt, then, the other person referred to was St. Teresa herself. The addition reads: "who was a religious of the Company of Jesus, who had been Duke of Gandia," and to this are added some words, also in St. Teresa's hand, but partially scored out and partially cut by the binder, which seem to be: "who knew it well by experience." [109] St. Luke xviii, 13. St. Teresa apparently forgot that the publican "would not so much as lift his eyes towards heaven". Luke 18: 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven; but struck his breast, saying: O God, be merciful to me a sinner. 14 I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather that the other: because every one that exalteth himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted. [110] Lit.: "and drawn along with it"; the same phrase is found at the end of the preceding paragraph. [111] Lit. "let the milk fall out of its mouth." [112] Algarabia. Cf. n. 96 above. [unknown language, meaning, or custom; foreign /unfamiliar] [113] Lit.: "neither the one, nor the other, will gain." . |
| . End of Chapter 31 The Way of Perfection . |
. * References to "the active life with the contemplative" "Thus Martha and Mary work together" Luke 10: 38 Now it came to pass as they went, that he entered into a certain town: and a certain woman named Martha, received him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord's feet, heard his word. 40 But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: Lord, hast thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her therefore, that she help me. 41 And the Lord answering, said to her: Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things: 42 But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her. . |
