The Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
. CHAPTER 4 - OF CERTAIN GRACES BESTOWED BY THE LORD ON THE NUNS OF THESE MONASTERIES - ADVICE IS GIVEN TO THE PRIORESSES CONCERNING THEM 1. A digression. — 2. Great prayers of the nuns. — 3. Dangers on the road of perfection. — 4. Confidence in God. — 5. Graces bestowed on the new Carmel. — 6. The graces of founders. — 7. Each nun in her day to be perfect. — 8. Graces of the first Carmelites. . |
1. A digression.
1. Not knowing how long
our Lord will give me
life or opportunity
— I seem to have some at present —
I think it well,
before I go on further,
to give certain directions
whereby the prioresses may
- understand and
- guide their subjects
with greater advantage to their souls,
though in a way less to their liking.
It is to be observed
that when 1 was commanded to write
the history of these foundations
— omitting the first,
that of S. Joseph in Avila,
the history ot which was
written immediately
after it was made —
seven others,
by the help of our Lord,
had been made,
including that of Alba de Tormes,
which is the last. [1]
The reason why
more foundations were not made is,
that my superiors compelled me
to undertake another work,
as will be seen further on. [2]
2. Great prayers of the nuns.
2. Considering, then,
what in the spiritual order
took place in these monasteries
during these years,
I see the necessity of saying
what I am about to say;
and may our Lord grant
that I may say it
so as to meet that necessity !
And, as that which has been wrought
is not a delusion,
there is no need for people's minds
to be alarmed;
for,
as I have said elsewhere, [3]
in a little work
which I wrote for my sisters,
'our Lord will not suffer Satan
to have so much power
as to deceive us at all
to the hurt of our souls
so long as we live under obedience
with a pure conscience':
on the contrary,
Satan will be deceived himself,
and, as he knows it,
I believe he does not do us
so much evil
as our own
as our own
imagination and perverse humours,
particularly if we yield to melancholy,
particularly if we yield to melancholy,
for we women are naturally weak,
and the self-love that rules us
is very subtle.
Many persons have come to me,
both men and women,
as well as the nuns of these houses,
and I have clearly seen
that they very often deceive themselves,
but without meaning it.
I really believe
that Satan must intrude himself here
to mock us;
but most of those who,
as I have just said,
had been seen by me,
I never knew,
through the goodness of our Lord,
to have been abandoned by Him.
It was His will,
perhaps, to try them by these fears,
that they might learn by experience.
3. Dangers on the road of perfection.
3. Prayer and perfection are,
because of our sins,
fallen so low in the eyes of the world,
that it is necessary for me
to explain myself in this way;
for if men are afraid
to walk on that road,
even without seeing its dangers,
what will it be
if we were to tell them
some of those dangers
— although it be true
there is danger in everything,
and
that it is needful,
while we live,
to walk in fear,
to pray to our Lord
to teach us
and
not to abandon us.
But, as I said before
— I think I said so —
if there be a state
wherein the danger is least,
it is theirs
who most frequently
- think of God
and
- labour to be perfect in their lives.
4. Confidence in God. —
4. O my Lord,
when we see
that Thou dost frequently
deliver us from dangers
into which we rush,
even so as to offend Thee,
how can any one believe
that Thou wilt not deliver us
when our only aim is
- to please Thee, [4]
and in Thee
- to find our joy.
I can never believe it.
God
in His secret judgment
may permit certain things
to have diverse issues,
but what is good
never ended in evil.
This, then, I am saying,
should be a means
- to make us strive
to travel on the road more diligently,
that we may
-- please the Bridegroom
the more
the more
and
-- find Him
the sooner,
the sooner,
but not to give up the attempt;
- to encourage us to journey bravely on
through the dangerous passes
of this life,
but not to make cowards
of us henceforth;
for in the end,
if we go onwards humbly,
we shall arrive,
by the mercy of God,
in the city of Jerusalem,
where all we shall have endured
will be little or nothing
in comparison with the joy
that is there. [5]
5. Graces bestowed on the new Carmel.
5. When these little dovecots
of the Virgin our Lady
began to be filled,
His Divine Majesty began also
to show His munificence
in these poor women
— weak certainly,
but strong
- in their good desires
and
- in their detachment
from all created things,
for that must be
what most unites a soul
with its Maker,
- the conscience
meanwhile being pure.
It is not necessary to prove this,
for if the detachment be real
I think it is impossible
for any one who has it
to offend our Lord;
for, as in all their words and actions
they never withdraw from Him,
so His Majesty seems to be unwilling
to withdraw from them.
This is the sight I see at present,
and I can truly say so.
Let those who come after us
be afraid,
and
let them read this,
and if they do not see
what may be seen now,
let them not lay the blame on the times,
for all times are times
in which God will give His graces
to those who serve Him in earnest,
and then let them try to find out
where the fault is and amend it.
6. The graces of founders.
6. I have occasionally heard people say
of those who were the founders of orders
- that upon them,
our holy fathers gone before us,
our Lord poured down
more abundant grace
because they were
the foundation of the building.
And so it was. [6]
But then they must have looked
on themselves
as the foundations
whereon they were to be built up
who should come after thein;
and
if we who are now living
fall not away
from the fervour of those
who have gone before us,
and if those who may come after us
will not do so also,
the building will stand
strong for ever.
What good is it to me
that the saints
who have gone before us
were what they were,
if I,
who come after them
am so wicked
as to leave the building in ruins
through my evil habits ?
for it is plain enough
that those who are coming
do not think so much of those
who lived many years ago
as they do of those
whom they see before their eyes.
A pleasant thing indeed
to excuse myself
on the ground that I am not
one of the first,
without any reference to the difference
there is between
my life and virtues
and
theirs,
to whom God granted graces
so great !
7. Each nun in her day to be perfect.
7. O my God,
what excuses so false,
what delusions so clear !
I am not speaking
of the founders of orders,
for, as God chose them
for so high a work.
He gave them more abundant grace. [7]
I am sorry,
O my God,
to be
so wicked and
so worthless in Thy service,
but I know well
it is my fault
that Thou dost not give me the graces
which Thou gavest to those
who have gone before me.
My life is a burden to me
when I compare it with theirs,
and
I cannot say so without weeping.
I see
- I have wasted the fruit
of their labours,
and
- that I cannot anyhow complain of Thee,
- nor is it right
that anyone of us should complain;
but if any one should see her order
falling away in anything,
let her labour to become herself
such a stone as that
the building may be raised up anew
thereon,
for our Lord will help her in that work.
8. Graces of the first Carmelites.
8. Returning, then,
to the matter I had to speak of
— for I have wandered rar from it —
the graces wrought by our Lord
in these houses
are so great
that, if there be in them one sister
whom our Lord is leading
by the way of meditation,
all the rest are advancing by the way
of perfect contemplation;
some have gone so far
as to have had raptures; [8]
to others, our Lord gives His grace
in a different way,
together with revelations and visions,
which clearly are the work ot God.
There is not a single house at present
in which one, or two, or three,
may not be found
who are thus visited.
I know well
that holiness does not lie herein,
nor is it my intention
merely to tell this in their praise,
but rather to show
that the instructions I wish to give
are not without a purpose.
_________________
. Foot Notes: [1] Alba de Tormes was founded in 1571 (see ch. xx. below), on the 20th of February, while the next foundation, that of Segovia, was made (see ch. xxi.) on the 19th of March 1574. Thus the Saint had rest for three years from her own immediate work, but in reality no rest at all, for she was sent that year from Medina, whither she had returned from Alba, to be the prioress of her old home, the monastery of the Incarnation in Avila. _______________________ [2] This was her appointment as prioress of the monastery of the Incarnation, where she was professed (see below, ch. xix. 6, note). ______________________ [3] See The Way of Perfection, ch. 11: #3 ______________________ [4] See Ibid, ch. 11:#.2, ______________________ [5] Romans 8:18 "non sunt condignae passiones huius temporis ad futuram gloriam quae revelabitur in nobis" "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" ______________________ [6] S. Teresa wrote originally these words, ' those who know more than I do say so, it must be so . . . . ' ; The rest of the sentence is illegible. ______________________ [7] The preceding clause is on the margin, not in the text, but in the handwriting of the Saint. ______________________ [8] This passage has undergone extensive changes at the hands of a corrector, probably Father Jerome Gratian, who so effectively obliterated S. Teresa's writing as to render it all but illegible. P. Marcel Bouix endeavoured to restore the original reading in which he was followed by Don Vicente de la Fuente in the edition of l861, by the French Carmelite Nuns (Oeuvres, 3. 94) and by Mr Lewis. In the transcript of the photographic edition (1880) Don Vicente reproduced the interpolated text without a word of explanation. It reads thus : ' the graces wrought by our Lord in these houses are so great that while all the sisters are being led by the way of meditation, some are advancing by that of perfect contemplation, and others have reached so far as to experience raptures; to others again, our Lord gives His grace in a different way.' . |
. End of Chapter 4 of the Book of the Foundations of S. Teresa of Jesus of the Order of our Lady of Carmel . |
