of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
Discussion of Chapter 6
Discussion of Chapter 6
Chapter 6 Contents:
Explains:
- the harm it may do spiritual persons
not to know
when they are to resist the spirit.
- Of the desire for Communion, and
of delusions involved in it.
- Important Matters for those
who rule over these convents
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█ Summary
St. Teresa continues to give advice
to the Prioresses of the Foundations:
"especially prioresses
and mistresses of novices
who have to direct the sisters
in the way of prayer;
for if they are not careful
in the beginning,
they will see
that they require much time afterwards
to redress weaknesses of this kind.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #10]
She teaches regarding:
█ Dreaminess (false raptures)
█ Delusive longings for Communion
█ Dreaminess (false raptures)
▪ "...Except in so far
as it has a good beginning (in prayer)
I see no good in this bodily weakness
...dreaming so long"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #6]
▪ often occurs in those
who strive in prayer
"whom our Lord gives
much sweetness in prayer, and
who do all they can to prepare themselves
for the reception of His graces"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #1]
But because of the human nature's fondness
for spiritual consolation and comfort
it becomes an attachment and self-love
manifested by languidness and lethargy
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #1]
■ Description:
▪ "often...it begins in a kind of prayer of quiet,
which is like a spiritual sleep, and
which throws the soul into a dreamy state
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #1]
▪ "... they say or think
that they are
absorbed in God,
unable to exert themselves,
so rapt are they, and
unable to change
the current of their thoughts, and
that it often happens..."
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #18]
▪ "the soul,
when our Lord begins
to caress it in this way
— and we are by nature so fond
of that which pleases us —
gives itself up
so much to that pleasure,
that it would
not stir, move,
nor on any account whatever
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #3]
▪ "On feeling any interior joy, [1]
their bodies being languid and weak"
▪ "seven or eight hours at a time,
thinking it all to be a rapture, and...
thinking it not right
to offer any resistance...
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #2]
▪ "...to be carried away too much by it"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #4]
"They fancy this is a trance and call it one,
but I call it nonsense"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 4: Ch. 3: #11 ]
▪ "...delusion"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #2]
▪ "Natural, not divine"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #3]
▪ "though the body
be a prisoner,
the will, memory, and understanding
are not;
yet their operations are disorderly,
and if by chance
they settle on a particular subject,
they will stay there"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #5]
▪ Not a true rapture:
- which is supernatural gift from God,
"during which His Majesty
lifts up the soul
and
carries it away in rapture"
"which forces us
to lose all control over ourselves (and)
lasts but a moment".
- discussed in "The Life": Ch. 20
- discussed in "Interior Castle: Mansion 6: Ch.4
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #1]
▪ Not Union or Contemplation
"a trance or
the union of all the powers of the soul
- lasts but a moment, and
- leaves
-- great fruit behind, and
-- an inward light,
-- with many other blessings:
-- the understanding does not work at all,
-- only our Lord is working in the will.
- discussed in "Life": Ch. 18: # 14 ]
"Life": Ch. 17: # 2 ]
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #5]
"if...a real trance
there would have been no help for it
until God wished it should cease;
because the vehemence of the spirit
is so great
that we have not strength enough
to withstand it,
... it leaves behind
- in the soul a great work, and
- in the body weariness;
the other (delusion) is
as if it had never taken place.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #16]
■ Associated factors:
weak constitutions;
debility of health;
naturally sluggish disposition;
with mind or imagination fixed on one thing;
Penances, prayer, and vigils of long duration;
or melancholia.
▪ "I wish to warn you...of a special danger
to which those who practise prayer are subject,
particularly... a weakness of constitution
makes them more liable to such mistakes"
▪ "... person of weak constitution, or
whose mind or...imagination,
is not naturally given to change,
but one that dwells upon a subject
without further distraction,
who, when they have
fixed their thoughts on anything...
become absent..."
"...people naturally sluggish,
who, through negligence,
seem to forget
what they were going to say,
— so is it in this case,
according to our nature, disposition,
or weakness"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #3]
▪ "(those) who,
though not subject to this faintness,
are too much carried away
by their imagination"
▪ "and that it is the result
either of great bodily weakness,
or of the imagination,
which is very much worse.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #8]
▪ "On account
of their penances, prayers, and vigils,
or...because of debility of health,
some persons cannot
receive spiritual consolation
without being overcome by it".
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 4: Ch. 3: #11 ]
▪ "and in those persons also
who are wasted by penance;
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #4]
▪ "Oh, if a soul of this kind
be given to melancholy !
it will become the prey
of a thousand pleasing delusions".
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #3]
■ Consequences:
▪ "- may lose much time,
and through our own fault
- waste our strength and
- merit little.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #1]
▪ "it does nothing but
- waste their time and
- injure their health"
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 4: Ch. 3: #11 ]
▪ "in this way they might
come by their death, or
become foolish".
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #2]
▪ "lest we should so ruin our health
as to lose the fruition of it.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #8]
▪ "if not (restrained)
the time will come
when she will learn
the harm she has done to herself...
...the madness, however, is pleasant.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #8]
▪ "...blunt the faculties and the senses
so that they shall not do
that which the soul requires of them,
and thereby rob them
of that blessing
which carefulness to please our Lord
ordinarily brings them.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #6]
▪ "The good side of this is,
that there is
no guilt of sin and
no loss of merit;
but it involves the inconveniences".
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #18]
■ Advice:
◘ Advice for the person
who experiences this dreaminess:
▪ Resist
◦ "their love would be more perfect
if they did not give way
to this dreaminess,
for they could very well resist it
at this point in their prayer".
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #4]
▪ Self - Knowledge
◦ "it behoves many persons,
whose heads or imaginations are weak,
to know themselves,
which is
a greater service to our Lord, and
most necessary.
◦ And if anyone sees
that when her imagination
- dwells
on a mystery of the Passion, or
on the glory of heaven, or
on any other matter of that kind,
and
- remains for many days
unable, though desirous of doing so,
to think on any other, or
to rouse herself from dwelling on it,
she must know
that she should distract herself
as well as she can;
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #8]
◦ "... they...think that they are
absorbed in God...,
unable to change...their thoughts...
let them look to it;
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #18]
◘ Advice for the Prioress
▪ Curtail this dreamy behavior
◦ "My advice...to the prioresses
is...the banishing of these protracted fits
of dreaminess"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #6]
◦ "For, as a person of disordered mind,
if he applies himself to anything,
- is not master of himself
- can
neither withdraw his mind
nor think of anything else,
nor be influenced by reason,
because his reason is
not under control
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #8]
◦ if it be so
for a day, or for four, or for eight,
there is no reason for fear,
because it is nothing wonderful
that a person of weak constitution
should remain so long
in a state of amazement;
if it continues longer,
measures must be taken.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #18]
▪ Employment in good works
◦ "assign them duties in the house
for the purpose of taking their attention
away from themselves.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #6]
◦ "far better to spend the time
in some good work
than to be thus dreaming so long".
◦ "There is much more merit
in a single act, and
in the frequent moving
of the will to love God,
than in leaving it at rest in this way"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #6]
▪ Removal of the associated causes
in susceptible persons:
◦ "If they find
it proceeds from weakness,
then they must
forbid fasting and mortification
— that is, when not of obligation;
and the time may come
when with a safe conscience
they may
forbid them altogether..."
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #6]
▪ Consult regarding prayer habits:
◦ "to strive to change the subject
of her meditation;
and provided she applies herself
to the things of God in her meditation,
there is nothing unseemly
in changing the subject
so long as she is intent
on the things of God;
for meditation
on the creature, and
on His power in creating them,
may be at times as pleasing unto Him
as meditation on Himself, the Creator.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #7]
◦ "why should the soul,
seeing that God is infinite,
remain the captive of one
of His attributes or mysteries,
when there is so much to occupy us ?
...the more of His works
we meditate upon,
the more we discern His greatness"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #7]
◦ St. Teresa clarifies this by advising
- not to jump from one topic to another
during a meditation
"I am not saying...
we should meditate
on many subjects,
for that perhaps would result
in fruit from none".
- but to change from that topic
which inclines one to this languidness.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #10]
◘ St. Teresa's Advise for a Confessor
who consulted her about a nun who
when "she communicated,
or when "quickening her devotion,
she fell down and there remained
eight or nine hours,
thinking it was a trance";
"I told him
- what I thought of the matter, and
- how it was loss of time;
- that it could not possibly be a trance,
and
- that it was only weakness;
- (that) he should
forbid the fast and the disciplines,
and
make her take some distraction.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #16]
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█ Delusive longings for Communion
Like the dreaminess mentioned above,
these longings occur in
people striving for holiness.
St. Teresa described these longing in nuns
who were
"mortified, humble, and good,
receiving many consolations from our Lord...
so detached and
so engrossed by His love,
...no appearance of negligence...
in answering to the graces
which our Lord gave them."
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #11]
■ Description:
▪ "They began with great impetuous longings
after our Lord,
which they were not able to control"
" they thought those longings
were satisfied at communion, and
so they obtained leave
from their confessor
to communicate frequently"
"and thereby their suffering grew
so much upon them
that they thought they were going to die
if they could not communicate every day."
"It did not stop here,
for the longings of one of them
became so vehement
as to make it necessary for her
to communicate early in the morning
to enable her, as she thought,
to live"
"...the prioress told me in a letter
- that she could do nothing with them"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #12]
■ Consequences:
▪ "The harm...reached so far,
— Satan must have had a hand in it —
that when they did not communicate,
they really seemed
as if they were going to die.
▪ "...they were
not submissive under obedience,
because they thought
they could not keep it,
"As to Communions,
there will be a very grave inconvenience
if a soul, because of its love,
is not obedient with it
to the Confessor and the Prioress...
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #18]
As the days progressed,
Their distress was " somewhat less
and thus it went on lessening,".
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #14]
■ Advice:
◘ Advice for the persons
who experienced this "delusive longings"
▪ "I gave them many reasons,
sufficient to make them see
- that it was a mere fancy:
their thinking,
(that) they should die
if they did not communicate.
▪ "Since nothing moved them...
in the way of reasoning with them.
(I) told them that I, too,
- had these desires
and
- yet would abstain from communion...
that they might believe
that we would all three die together"
▪ "they were not to communicate
except when all (the nuns) did
for I thought that better
than that a custom of this kind
should be brought into these houses
wherein lived those
who loved God
as much as they did, and
who might wish to do
what they were doing"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #13]
▪ "...it was a temptation"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #14]
▪ St. Teresa "wished to see her
- obeying one confessor
- rather than going often to communion.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #20]
◘ Advice for the Prioress
▪ "It is necessary, also, herein,
as in other ways,
- to mortify them, and
- to make them understand
that it is better for them
not to do their own will
than to have this consolation."
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #18]
"...I understood the evil that comes
from doing our own will in anything"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #21]
"... if a person draws near
to receive our Lord so often,
it is only reasonable
he should be so aware
- of his own unworthiness
as not to do so of his own will,
and
- that our shortcomings,
necessarily great,
which make us unfit
to approach our Lord...
can be supplied only by obedience,
which bids us receive Him.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #21]
▪ "Obedience is better than sacrifice".
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #21]
- "that the prioress
may be on her guard, and
- that the sisters may
fear and consider,
and
examine themselves
why they draw near
to receive so great a gift. (Communion)
If to please God,
they know already
that He is better pleased
by obedience
than
by sacrifice"
Samuel: 1:15:22
"For obedience is better than sacrifices"
Mark 12:33
"To love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding and
with all your strength, and
to love your neighbor as yourself
is more important
than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
"...if the will is perfectly detached
from all selfish considerations,
it is clear that
there will be no sense of pain ;
on the contrary,
there will be a great joy
because the opportunity has arrived
for giving pleasure to our Lord
by so costly a sacrifice;
the soul will humble itself,
and be satisfied
with communicating spiritually.
...it is of the goodness of our Lord
that we have these great desires
of drawing near unto Him,
souls may be allowed
to feel some uneasiness and pain
when they are refused communion,
yet they must
possess their souls in peace, and
make acts of humility
because of that refusal.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #24]
But if there should be
any trouble...anger, or impatience
with the prioress or confessor...
the desire for communion
is a plain temptation.
(Or) if any one is bent on communicating
when the confessor has forbidden her
to go to communion.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #25]
▪ "True devotion is calm.
"if it stirs our feelings
in such a way
as to end
in some offence against Him,
or
in so troubling the peace
of the loving soul
that it cannot listen to reason,
is plainly self-seeking only"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #23]
"whatever masters us
in such a way as to make us feel
that our reason is not free,
- should be looked on as:
-- suspicious,
and
-- that we shall never
in that way
attain to liberty of spirit;
-- is subjection of spirit,
-- it confines the soul
and hinders its growth...
-- besides the harm it does to the body..."
St. Teresa describes Liberty of Spirit as:
◦ "finding God in all things,
and
◦ being able to think of Him
in the midst of them".
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #17]
▪ "Our self-love
also may thrust itself in here.
It has been so with me;
for it has happened to me often
when I had first communicated,
the Host being still almost whole,
to wish I had not communicated myself !
when I saw others do so,
in order that I might communicate again.
As this happened so often, I
- reflected on it after a time,
for then there seemed no reason
for dwelling on it, and
- saw it came
more from my own satisfaction
than from any love of God;
for when we go to communion,
there is a sense,
for the most part,
of tenderness and joy,
and I was carried away thereby.
If I went to communion
- in order to have God in my soul,
-- I had Him already ;
and
- if out of obedience to those ^
who enjoined communion,
-- I had done so,
- if for the purpose of receiving
those graces which in the Most
Holy Sacrament are given us,
-- these also I had received.
In short,
I came clearly to understand
that it was nothing else
but a desire to obtain
that sensible sweetness over again.
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #19]
▪ St. Teresa counseled all to
"prefer...the honour of God
to (their)..own"
[ Foundations: Ch. 6: #22]
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Foot Notes:
[1] Excerpt from
"The Interior Castle":
Mansion 4: Ch. 3: #11
"...I wish to warn you here of a special danger
to which those who practise prayer are subject,
particularly women,
whose weakness of constitution
makes them more liable to such mistakes.
On account
of their penances, prayers, and vigils,
or even merely because of debility of health,
some persons cannot receive spiritual consolation
without being overcome by it.
On feeling any interior joy,
their bodies being languid and weak,
they fall into a slumber—
they call it spiritual sleep—
which is a more advanced stage
of what I have described;
they think the soul shares in it
as well as the body,
and abandon themselves to a sort of intoxication.
The more they lose self-control,
the more do their feelings get possession of them,
because the frame becomes more feeble.
They fancy this is a trance and call it one,
but I call it nonsense;
it does nothing but
waste their time and
injure their health..."
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End of the Discussion
of Chapter 6
of the
Book of the Foundations
of S. Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of our Lady of Carmel
|
