The Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
.
CHAPTER 5
- CONTAINS DIRECTIONS
ABOUT PRAYER
- THIS IS MOST PROFITABLE
FOR THOSE
WHO LEAD THE ACTIVE LIFE
1. The Saint's sources of knowledge. —
2. Perfect prayer. —
3. Meditation. —
4. Self-love. —
5. Our own ease not to be preferred
to the Will of God. —
6. Blessings of obedience. —
7. Instance of obed-ience. —
8. Fruits of obedience. —
9. Vision of a religious. —
10. The sum of perfection —
11. Obedience stronger
than reasoning. —
12. Submission of the will. —
13. The sacrifice of the will. —
14. Always rewarded. —
15. Blessings of solitude. —
16. Trials show us what we are. —
17. Self-knowledge. —
18. Obedience of our Lord.
.
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1. The Saint's sources of knowledge.
1. I do not mean, and
I have never thought,
that what I am now going to say
is so accurate
that It should be held as an Infallible rule:
that would be folly
in matters so difficult.
But, as there are many ways
in the way of the Spirit,
it may be
that I shall say something
to the purpose concerning some of them;
and if they do not understand me
who are not travelling this way,
that will be because
they are travelling on another,
and if I do good to nobody
our Lord will accept my good will,
for He knows that,
if I have not experienced it all, myself,
I have observed it in other souls.
2. Perfect prayer
2. In the first place,
I wish to show,
so far as my poor understanding is able,
wherein lies the essence
of perfect prayer;
for some I have met with,
think the whole matter
lies in thinking,
and so,
if they can think long about God,
though by doing great violence
to themselves,
they believe forthwith
that they are spiritual people;
and if unable to hold out longer,
they turn to other occupations,
however good,
they fall immediately
into great discomfort,
and look upon themselves as lost.
Learned men do not labour
under ignorance like this,
yet I have found one who did so;
but for us women
it is well we should be warned
to beware of all ignorance
in these matters.
I am not saying
that it is not a grace
from our Lord
that a person should be always able
to persevere in meditation on His works,
and it is right to make an effort to do so;
but it must be understood
♦ that not every imagination is
by nature able to do it,
♦ but every soul is able to love Him,
[and
perfection lies in that (loving God)
rather than in thinking ]. [1]
I have already in another place [2]
spoken of the causes
of the disorder
of our imagination
— not of all, I believe,
for that would be impossible,
but of some —
and so I do not treat of them now,
but I would rather show:
♦ that the soul is not
the power of thinking, and
♦ that the will is not ordered by it,
for that would be a sad state,
as I said just now,
seeing that
♦ the good of the soul
does not consist
in its thinking much,
in its thinking much,
♦ but in its loving much.
And if you were to ask
how is this love to be had,
My answer is,
- by a good resolution
to do and suffer for God,
and
- by carrying out that resolution
into action
whenever the opportunity occurs.
3. Meditation
3. It is very true
that by meditating
on the debt we owe our Lord,
on His nature and on ours,
a soul may attain to a firm resolution
— and there is great merit
in doing so,
and it is most fitting
in the beginning;
but it must be understood
that what relates
to obedience, and
the good of our neighbour,
to the doing
of which charity constrains us,
must not be hindered thereby, [3]
for on such occasions,
when either of these two is required of us,
we must give up
for the time
that which we so much long
to give to God:
which, as we regard it,
is to be alone
- meditating upon Him, and
- rejoicing in His consolations.
To give this up
for either of the other two
is to
- give pleasure to our Lord, and
- do it for Him: [4]
so He Himself has said —
'What ye did for one of these little ones,
ye did for Me.' [5]
And as to that
which relates to obedience:
He will not have us walk
by any other way
than that
which He chose for Himself
— Obediens usque ad mortem. [6]
"Obedient unto death."
4. Self-love
4. If, then, this be true,
whence comes that inward dissatisfaction
which we generally feel
when we have not passed
the greater part of the day
alone and absorbed in God,
even though we were occupied
in other ways.
From two sources, I think:
(Blog Note - See #4 (here) and #15)
▪ one, and this is the chief,
is self-love,
which thrusts itself in here
in a most subtle way,
and accordingly escapes detection;
that is, we would please ourselves
rather than God.
For it is clear that
when a soul has begun to taste
how sweet our Lord is, [7]
it finds more pleasure in
being at ease,
abstaining from bodily labour,
and
receiving consolation.
5. Our own ease not to be preferred
to the Will of God
5. Oh, the charity of those
who truly love our Lord,
and
who understand their own state !
How scanty the rest
they will be able to take
if they but see
that they can in any degree
- help a single soul
to advance,
and
to love God more,
or
- be able to comfort it in any way,
or
- rescue it from any danger !
How ill at ease such souls will be
when they are at rest !
And when they cannot help them in act,
they have recourse to prayer,
beseeching our Lord
on behalf of the many souls
whom it grieves them
to see going to ruin;
they abandon their own comfort,
and look on it as well lost,
for they think
not of their own rest,
but only how they may more and more
do the will of our Lord.
It is the same in things
that relate to obedience:
it would be a strange thing
if, when God clearly told us
to betake ourselves to some work
that concerns Him,
we were to do nothing
but stand still and gaze upon Him
because that gives us a greater joy.
A pleasant progress this in the love of God !
— to tie His hands
through an opinion
that He can do us good
only in one way.
6. Blessings of obedience
6. I know of some,
and have lived among them
— I put on one side
my own experience,
as I said before — [8]
who taught me the truth of this;
when I was myself in great distress
because of the little time I had,
and accordingly was sorry
to see them always employed
and having much to do,
because they were under obedience,
and was thinking within myself,
and even said as much to them,
that spiritual growth was not possible
amidst so much hurry and confusion,
for they had then not grown much.
O Lord, how different are Thy ways
from what we imagined them to be ! [9]
and
how Thou,
if a soul be
determined to love Thee, and
resigned in Thy hands,
askest nothing of it but
- obedience;
- the sure knowledge
of what is for Thy greater honour,
and
- the desire to do it.
That soul need not seek out means,
nor make a choice of any,
for its will is already Thine.
Thou, O Lord,
hast taken upon Thyself
to guide it in the way
the most profitable to it.
And even if the superior
be not mindful of that soul's profit,
but only of the duties
to be discharged in the community.
Thou, O my God,
art mindful of it;
Thou preparest its ways,
and orderest those things
we have to do,
so that we find ourselves,
without our knowing how,
by faithfully observing,
for the love of God,
the commands
that are laid upon us,
- spiritually growing and
- making great progress,
which afterwards fills us with wonder.
7. Instance of obedience
7. So it was with one
whom I conversed with
not many days since.
He had been for fifteen years
under obedience,
charged with
laborious offices and
the government of others
— so much so
that he could not call to mind one day
that he had had to himself;
nevertheless he contrived to find,
the best way he could,
- some time every day for prayer,
and
- to have a conscience without offence.
[10]
He is one
whose soul is the most given to obedience
that I ever saw,
and he impresses that virtue
on every one he has to do with.
Our Lord has amply rewarded him,
for he finds himself,
he knows not how,
in possession of that liberty of spirit,
so prized and so desired,
which the perfect have, and
wherein lies all the happiness
that can be wished for in this life;
for, seeking nothing,
he possesses all things.
Such souls
fear nothing, and
desire nothing on earth;
no troubles disturb them,
no pleasures touch them;
in a word, nobody can rob them
of their peace,
for it rests on God alone,
and,
as nobody can rob them of Him,
nothing but the fear of losing Him
can give them any pain;
for everything else in this world
is,
in their opinion,
as if it were not,
because it can
neither make
nor mar
their happiness.
8. Fruits of obedience
8. O blessed obedience,
and blessed the distraction
caused thereby,
by which we gain so much.
That person is not the only one,
for I have known others like him,
of whom,
not having seen them
for very many years,
I asked how
they had been spending the time
that had gone by:
all of it had been spent
in the labours
of obedience and
of charity:
on the other hand,
I observed such spiritual prosperity
as made me marvel.
Well, then, my children,
be not discouraged,
for if obedience employs you
in outward things,
know that
even if you are in the kitchen
our Lord moves
amidst the pots and pans,
helping us both within and without.
9. Vision of a religious
9. I remember being told
by a religious
- that he
was resolved, and
had made up his mind in earnest,
never to refuse to do anything
that his superior enjoined him,
whatever the labour might be;
and
- that one day,
wearied with work
and
unable to stand, in the evening
as he was going to rest himself a while,
his superior
met him, and
told him to take a spade and
go and dig in the garden.
He did not say a word,
though naturally greatly distressed,
so much so that he could do no work;
he took up a spade,
and going along a passage
which led to the garden
— I saw it many years
after he had told me of it,
when I was trying to found a house
in that place —
he saw our Lord before him
with His cross on His shoulders,
So worn and wearied
that he felt his own weariness
to be nothing in comparison with His. [11]
10. The sum of perfection
10. I believe myself
that when Satan sees
there is no road
that leads more quickly
to the highest perfection
than this of obedience,
he suggests many difficulties
under the colour of some good,
and makes it distasteful:
Let people look well into it,
and they will see plainly
that I am telling the truth.
Wherein lies the highest perfection ?
It is clear
that it does
not lie in interior delights,
not in great raptures,
not in visions,
not in the spirit of prophecy,
but in the conformity
of our will
to the will of God,
so that there shall be nothing
that we know that He wills
that we do not
- will ourselves
with our whole will,
and
- accept the bitter as joyfully
as the sweet,
knowing it to be His Majesty's will.
This seems to be very hard to do;
not the mere doing of it,
but the being pleased
in the doing of that which,
according to our nature,
is wholly and in every way
against our will;
and certainly so it is;
but love,
if perfect,
is strong enough to do it,
and
we forget our own pleasure
in order to please Him
Who loves us so much.
And truly it is so,
for our sufferings,
however great they may be,
are sweet
when we know
that we are giving pleasure unto God;
and it is in this way they love
who have attained to this state
by persecutions, by dishonour, and by wrongs.
11. Obedience stronger
than reasoning
11. This is so certain,
and remains so plain and evident,
that there is no reason
why I should dwell upon it.
What I aim at showing
is the reason, in my opinion,
why obedience furnishes
the readiest or
the best way for arriving
at so blessed a state.
That reason is this:
as we are never absolute masters
of our own will,
so as to employ it purely and simply
for God,
till we subject it wholly to reason,
▪ obedience is the true means
of bringing about that subjection;
which can never be brought about
by much reasoning,
because our nature and self-love
can furnish so much on their side
that we shall never come to an end,
and
very often will make
that which is most reasonable,
if we have no liking for it,
to seem folly
because we have no inclination to do it.
12. Submission of the will
12. There is so much to be said
of this inward struggle,
that we shall never come to the end,
and so many are the means
which Satan, the world, and our flesh
employs in order to warp our reason.
Is there, then, any help for it ?
Yes;
as in a very doubtful question of law men
go to an arbitrator,
and, weary of pleading,
put the matter in his hands,
so let the soul go to some one,
whether it be
the superior or
the confessor,
fully bent on pleading no further
or thinking of its cause,
but relying on the words of our Lord,
who saith,
'He that heareth you, heareth Me,' [12]
regardless of its own will.
Our Lord makes so much
of this submission,
and justly so,
for we make Him thereby
Master of the free will
He has given us;
for by the practice thereof,
now conquering ourselves wholly,
at other times
after a thousand struggles,
thinking the decisions given in our cause
to be folly,
we conform to that
which is commanded us
by the help of this painful exercise;
but at last, painfully or not,
we do it,
and our Lord on His part
helps us so much,
that as we submit our will and reason
for His sake,
so He makes us masters of them both.
13. The sacrifice of the will
13. We, then,
being masters of ourselves,
are able to
▪ give ourselves perfectly to God,
▪ offering to Him a pure will
that He may unite it to His own,
▪ praying Him
to send down from heaven
the fire of His love
to consume the sacrifice, [13]
and
▪ putting everything away
that may be displeasing unto Him:
for now there is nothing more
for us to do,
seeing that,
although with much labour,
we have laid our offering on the altar,
which, so far as it lies in our power,
no longer touches the earth.
14. Always rewarded
14. It is clear
that no man can give
that which he does not possess,
as it is necessary he should have it
before he can give it.
Believe me, then,
there is no better way
of finding this treasure
than that of toiling and digging
so as to draw it forth
out of the mine of obedience;
for the more we dig
the more we shall find,
and
the more we subject ourselves to men,
having no other will
but that of those
who are over us,
the more we shall master our will
so as to conform it to the will of God.
Consider, my sisters,
whether the pleasures
of solitude abandoned
be not amply repaid.
I tell you
that you will be none the worse
for the loss of solitude
in your preparation for attaining
to that true union
of which I am speaking,
which is that of
♦ making our own will
one with the will of God.
This is the union
which I desire,
and
would have you all possess,
and not certain raptures,
full of delight,
to which some are liable,
and which they call union:
and those raptures may be union,
if, when they are over,
they are followed by obedience;
but if after the raptures,
there ensues
but scanty obedience,
and self-will remains,
this latter, as it seems to me,
will be joined
to self-love and
not to the will of God.
May His Majesty grant
that I may act
according to the knowledge
I have in the matter !
15. Blessings of solitude
15. The second source
of this dissatisfaction,
in my opinion,
( See § 4, above )
is that the soul seems to live
in greater purity
when left in solitude,
because there are fewer opportunities
therein of offending God;
some, however, there must be,
for
the evil spirits and
we, ourselves,
are everywhere.
For if the soul is afraid
of offending God,
it is a very great consolation
for it to meet with nothing
to make it fall;
and certainly this seems to me
a stronger reason
for desiring to avoid
all intercourse with the world
than is that
which is grounded on the fact,
that solitude ministers
great consolations and
sweetness in God.
16. Trials show us what we are
16. It is here, my children,
love must be made known;
not in secret places,
but in the midst of temptations:
and trust me,
our gain will be incomparably greater,
though there may be
more faults committed, and
even some slight falls.
Remember,
in all I say
I am taking for granted
that you run these risks
under obedience
and
out of charity,
and if it be not so,
my conclusion always is
that to be alone is better;
and, moreover,
we ought to desire to be alone
even when employed
in the way I am speaking of;
in truth, this desire is ever present
in those souls which really love God.
Why I say it again is this:
it makes us know
- what we are, and
- how far our virtue can reach.
A person always alone,
however holy he may think himself to be,
- does not know
whether he possesses
patience and humility, and
- has no means of learning.
A man may be very courageous,
but how is it to be known
if he has not been seen in battle ?
S. Peter considered himself very brave,
but look at him
when he was tried:
he, however, rose again after his fall,
not trusting at all to himself;
and from henceforth
placed all his confidence in God,
and
afterwards suffered martyrdom,
as we know.
17. Self-knowledge
17. O my God,
if we but knew
how great is our wretchedness !
There is danger in everything
if we do not know it,
and for that reason
it is a great blessing to us
that we are under authority,
so that we may discern
our own meanness.
And I consider
one day of humbling self-knowledge,
which may have cost us
much sorrow and distress,
to be a greater grace of our Lord
than many days of prayer;
Moreover,
he who is a true lover
loves everywhere,
and
always remembers
the object of his love.
It would be hard
if we could pray only in secret places.
I see now that I cannot be alone
for many hours.
But, O my Lord !
how mighty before Thee
is a single sigh rising up from the heart,
because of the pain it gives to us
to see
that we have
not only to tarry in this our exile,
but also that we find
no opportunity of being alone,
so that we might alone
have the fruition of Thyself.
18. Obedience of our Lord
18. Here it is plain
that we are His slaves,
sold for love of Him,
with our own consent,
to the virtue of obedience,
seeing that for its sake
we give up,
in a certain way,
the fruition of God Himself;
and it is nothing,
if we consider
that He, in obedience,
came down from the bosom
of the Father
to make Himself a slave to us.
How then
can He be recompensed for this,
or
what service can we give Him
in return for this grace ?
It is necessary
to be on our guard
in our employments,
though laid upon us
by obedience and charity,
lest we should be careless therein,
not lifting up our hearts
continually unto God.
And, believe me,
it is not length of time
that enables a soul
to make progress in prayer;
if it is given up to active work also,
that is a great help
whereby the soul
in a very short time
may attain to a better preparation
for the enkindling of its love
than it could attain to
by many hours spent in meditation.
All has to come from His hand.
May He be blessed for ever and ever!
_________________
.
Foot Notes:
[1]
The words in brackets are
an interpolation of Father Gratian.
_________________
[2]
See Life, ch. xvii. 10.
10. I say that it happens to me
from time to time,--
it has done so this very day,
and so I remember it well,--
to see my soul tear itself,
in order to find itself there
where the greater part of it is,
and to see, at the same time,
that it is impossible:
because the memory and the imagination
assail it with such force,
that it cannot prevail against them;
yet, as the other faculties
- give them no assistance,
- they are not able to do it any harm--
none whatever;
they do enough
when they trouble its rest.
When I say they do no harm,
my meaning is,
that they cannot really hurt it,
- because they have
not strength enough, and
- because they are
too discursive.
As the understanding
- gives no help,
neither much nor little,
in the matters put before the soul,
- they never rest anywhere,
but hurry to and fro,
like nothing else but gnats at night,
troublesome and unquiet: and so they
go about from one subject to another.
(The Memory and Imagination)
11. This comparison seems to me
to be singularly to the purpose;
for the memory and the imagination,
though they
- have no power to do any harm,
- are very troublesome.
I know of no remedy for it;
and, hitherto, God has told me of none.
If He had, most gladly
would I make use of it;
for I am, as I say, tormented very often.
- This shows our wretchedness and
- brings out most distinctly
the great power of God,
seeing that the faculty
which is free
hurts and wearies us so much;
while the others,
occupied with His Majesty,
give us rest.
[ Life Ch. 17 #10, 11 ]
____________________
[3]
Oratio impediens obligationem, est illusio:
et oratio quae nescit relinquere
Deum propter Deum,
nec subvenire fraternae caritati obligatoriae,
et poenitentiam praefert obedientiae,
vel amentia est,
vel manifesta illusio (§ 448),
[ Schram, Theolog. Mystic. § 472.]
Blog Note:
Institutiones Theologiae mysticae
By Dominique Schram
Blogger's note - Rough translation:
Prayer, when it impedes
the fulfillment of obligations,
is an illusion of prayer.
And prayer
which is not put aside
for the sake of God
or
to come to the necessity
of fraternal love
and prefers penance to obedience is
senseless/absurd/nonsense
and becomes an illusion.
_______________________
[4]
St. Philip expressed it thus —
'Leaving Christ for Christ.'
See his Life, by Bacci, bk. ii. ch. v.
______________
[5]
S. Matt. XXV. 40.
Mt 25:40
Quam diu fecistis uni
de his fratribus meis minimis,
mihi fecistis.
______________________
[6]
Philippians 2:8
He humbled himself,
becoming obedient unto death,
even to the death of the cross
______________
[7]
Ps. xxxiii. 9.
Gustate ct videte quoniam
suavis est Dominus.
Blog note:
O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet:
Blessed is the man that hopeth in him
______________
[8]
§ 1, supra.
Blog note:
(See above; Foundation: Ch5: #1)
__________________
[9]
Is. Iv. 8.
Non enim cogitationes meae,
cogitationes vestrae;
neque viae vestrae, vias meas,
dicit Dominus.
Blog note:
Is 55:8
For my thoughts
are not your thoughts:
nor your ways my ways,
saith the Lord
_________________
[10]
Acts xxiv. 16.
studeo sine offendiculo conscientiam
habere ad Deum
et ad homines semper
Blog Note:
And herein do I endeavour
to have always a conscience
without offence
toward God, and
towards men
_________________
[11]
According to the Reforma
(bk. iv. ch. xvii. 5)
this religious would have been
Francis of the Conception,
of the convent of La Roda,
but as chronological difficulties
render this identification doubtful,
others have thought,
with, perhaps, greater probability,
it was S. John of the Cross.
________________
[12]
S. Luc. X. 16,
Qui vos audit, me audit.
________________
[13]
3 Regg. xviii. 58.
Cecidit autem ignis Domini
et voravit holocaustum.
Blog Note:
1 Kings : 18:38
Then the fire of the Lord fell,
and consumed the holocaust
.
|
.
End of Chapter 5
of the
Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
.
|
