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TERESIAN PRAYEREMMANUEL RENAULT, O.C.D.
JEAN ABIVEN, O.C.D.
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Teresian Prayer The major stages of Teresian Prayer will be examined along with the
soul’s role and God’s response in contemplative prayer.
Mystical life is the fulfillment of Baptismal grace and an increase of the virtues of faith, hope and charity in the heart of he who believes the Kingdom of God is found within.
For Teresa all who are baptized are invited into mystical life, not just a few elite souls.
Interior prayer is the path to union with God. This way of prayer is practiced two hours daily by all Discalced Carmelites.
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Interior Prayer is, in my opinion,simply an intimate exchange of friendship
where we speak often, one on one, with God who we know loves us.
St. Theresa of Avila (V 8, 5)
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The Royal Road to Heaven
Do not be frightened, daughters, by the many things you need to consider in order to begin this Divine Journey which is the Royal Road to Heaven. A great Treasure is gained by travelling this road; no wonder we have to pay what seems to us a high price. The time will come when you will understand how trifling everything is next to so precious a reward…how you begin is very important—in fact, all important. You must have a great and very resolute Determination to Persevere until reaching the end, come what may….
St. Teresa of Avila (W 21)
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Draw near, then, to this Good Master with strong determination to learn what He teaches you…He will not abandon you if you do not abandon Him. (W 26 10)
It is also a great help to take a good book…to recollect one’s thoughts … and little by little accustom the soul with coaxing and skill not to grow discouraged.
Imagine that many years have passed since the soul left the house of its Spouse and that until it returns to this house there’s a great need that it know how to deal with Him.
For so we sinners are: our soul and our thoughts are so accustomed to wandering about at their own pleasure– or grief…that the poor soul doesn’t understand itself.
In order that it get to love remaining at home once again, a great deal of skill is necessary. If little by little this is not accomplished, we shall never do anything.
…If we make the effort, practice this recollection for some days …the gain will be clearly seen; we will understand, when beginning to pray, that the bees are approaching and entering beehive to make honey. (W 28 7)
At the beginning since the recollection is not so deep—for there are greater and lesser degrees of recollection…
And this recollection(supernatural) will be effected without our effort because the Lord has desired that…the faculties are drawn inward…
When the soul does no more than give a sign that it wishes to be recollected, the senses obey it and become recollected.
Even though they go out again afterward, their having already surrendered is a great thing; for they go out as captives and subjects and do not cause the harm they did previously.
And when the will calls them back again, they come more quickly, until after many of these entries the Lord wills that they rest entirely in perfect contemplation.
Important DatesIn
Saint Teresa’s Life
1515 (March 28): The birth of Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada.1535 (November 2): Teresa enters the Incarnation Convent.
• 1554: Teresa’s Conversion (Saint Augustine, Christ’s wounds…)
• 1562 (August 24): Foundation of Saint Joseph’s Carmel.(December): Teresa begins The Way of Perfection.
• 1568 (November 28): The foundation of first male DiscalcedCarmelite monastery with John of the Cross.
• 1572 (November 16): Teresa experiences the Grace of Spiritual Marriage.
• 1582 (October 4/15): Teresa dies “Daughter of the Church” in Alba de Tormes.
• 1614 (April 4): Teresa’s Beatification by Paul V.
• 1622 (March 12): Teresa’s Canonization by Gregory XV.• 1970 (September 27): Teresa is named Doctor of the Church
by Paul VI.
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The Desert Fathers
- As a Christian Religious Community, the Carmel is only 800 years old, born in the1200’s on Mount Carmel by a spring known as the ‘fountain of Elijah’.
- The early Desert Carmelites, the Prophet Elijah being one of them, led disciplinedlives of unceasing prayer, reflection, fasting, silence, solitude, work, taking the Eucharist together, having weekly meetings to correct and encourage one another. They abstained from meat, lived in poverty, all was owned in common. The leader was elected and lived at the entrance to the site. The oratory was situated in the midst of their cells; it formed the center of their lives.
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The Rule of Albert
- Albert Avogadro, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, elaborated the Official Rule of the Order between 1206 -1214 based on the hermetical life of the early desert hermits.
- The Standard of Conduct for the Carmel Order.
- St. Theresa of Avila began her reform in the 16th century, rejecting the mitigated rule, and as other reformers before her, used the originalsetting on Mt. Carmel as her blueprint.
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LORD TEACH US TO
PRAY10
Lord, teach us to pray….
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More people than you would think would be capable of practicing interior prayer, but no one taught them. And, without an interior life, the baptized run out of breath, their actions become noisy gongs and even their religious practice, when it exists, dries up.”
John Paul II September 29, 1982
Lord, teach us to pray….
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“We need a Christianity that distinguishes itself above all in the art of prayer. {…}We also know that prayer must not be considered self-evident. It is necessary to
learn to pray, in other words always receiving something new in this art from the lips of the Divine Master, as the first disciples: ‘Lord, teach us to pray!” (Luke 11:1).
Through prayer a dialogue develops with Christ which allows us to become his intimate friends: “Remain in me and I in you” (John 15:4). This reciprocity is the essential element of the soul in the Christian life and the basis of all authentic pastoral life {…}
“Yes, our Christian communities must become authentic ‘schools’ of prayer,….. It is about intense prayer….. opening the heart to the love of God, …..to the love of one’s brother allowing history to be built according to God’s design. ‘
John Paul II Apostolic LetterJanuary 6, 2001, Novo Millenio Ineunte
Introduction
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Introduction
Teresa of Avila developed a ‘way’ of prayer, the secret to her success usable by either beginners or those more advanced in the way of perfection.
She met the Living God thanks to her practice and experienced union withGod and drew strength to carry out her work as the reformer of the Carmelite order.
It took her a lot of time to identify the original characteristics of her manner of prayer --in between ordinary meditation and infused contemplation—compared to discursive meditation of which she will most often speak in a negative aspect, dismissing it: I am not asking you to reason, deliberate etc., she often repeated.
For a long time she wouldn’t be able to explain what she was living. She had to refer to Bernardino de Laredo’s book, The Ascent of Mount Sion. She later received the grace to explain her own interior movements.
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Introduction Teresa’s difficulty to explain herself clearly and concisely also came from the
variability of her of her spirit. She wasn’t able to discipline herself to logically develop an idea, but did have the ability to return to her original idea. She knew her shortcoming and asked to be forgiven for it. She didn’t know how to explain herself without using a lot of words. Sometimes she would include a detail, repeating herself, that would clarify the entire question.
Imprecise Vocabulary was another difficulty. Having received no formal training, she applied her own meaning to the word meditation. She gave the word entendimiento or intelligence four different meanings without making her reader aware. She confused intelligence with imagination. At times she would talk of recollection in the ordinary sense and at other times in the infused sense.
Rather than conclude contradiction, surely pointing out ambiguities to discover the truth Teresa was striving to convey is the best way to proceed as we follow the steps of her journey.
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Discursive Meditation&
The Osuna Method
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Session 1 Key PointsOverview
Mystical life is NOT reserved for a few elite souls; All Baptized Souls are invited into mystical life, in other words invited into the fulfillment of Baptismal grace along with an increase in the virtues of faith, hope and charity in souls who believe that the Kingdom of God is found within.
The Path to Union with God is attained through Interior Prayer
Interior Prayer is an intimate exchange of friendship with the Lord.
Interior Prayer is a divine journey, the Royal Road to Heaven. A determined determination is necessary to begin.
We must learn to pray.
IntroductionTeresa of Avila developed a ‘way’ of prayer
usable by either beginners or those mo re advanced in the way of perfection;
It took her a lot of time to identify the original characteristics of her manner of prayer--in between ordinary meditation and contemplation (supernatural prayer);
For a long time she wouldn’t be able to explain what she was living. She later received the grace to explain her own interior movements;
Teresa’s difficulty to explain herself clearly and concisely also came from the variability of her of her spirit. .. She did have the ability to return to her original idea. She knew her shortcoming and asked to be forgiven for it;
Imprecise vocabulary was another difficulty. Having received no formal training in philosophy & theology.
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Discursive Meditation Teresa received no special training in prayer during her novitiate in the
Tradition of the Order. Moreover there wasn’t any obligation to have a personal prayer time. Teresa had to teach herself.
As a novice, she practiced discursive prayer, or meditation using books of which there was no shortage of works on the subject. She would meditate on the Passion of Our Lord and on her sins. She considered what gave her insight into the briefness of everything in this world.
At the time of her final vows, after reading many books and practicing many hours, she still did not know how to proceed in prayer or how to be recollected. (V 4, 7) She said that she had read a lot of things and didn’t understand anything of what I read. (V 12 6) Her writings indicate that this method of prayer (meditation) did not suit her.
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Discursive Meditation To sum up her thoughts, it is clear that for her meditation is essentially an exercise
of intelligence. It is about thoughts to help the intellect….the whole business lies in thinking (F 5 2)
This type of exercise presupposes an ordered intelligence or a form of logical thinking requiring a visual form of imagination. Teresa felt that this mental gymnastic requires a lot of work; the intellect grows weary especially if one had an intuitive intelligence and poor imagination as she did.
Teresa could never get accustomed to this method. She had an intuitive and practical intelligence. for God didn’t give me talent for discursive thought or for a profitable use of the imagination. (V 4 7) …There are some souls and minds so scattered that they are like wild horses no one can stop...(W 19 2) Her attempts at meditation were torture for her.
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Discursive Meditation
There is nothing for me to say to anyone who can form the habit of following this method of prayer, or who has already formed it, for by means of so good a path the Lord will draw him to the haven of light.
And through such a good beginning the end will be reached. All who are able to walk along this path will have rest and security for when the
intellect is bound one proceeds peacefully (W 19,1).
Such measured praise betrays her distaste for this method of prayer…The souls in the previous dwelling places…do well because nothing
further has been given them (IC 4 1, 6).
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Discursive Meditation
She strongly recommended a ‘shortcut’ (to contemplation taught her by the Lord)…
…one reaches contemplation more quickly (V 4 7). In its progress it advances a great deal because it advances in love (V 9 5); and its divine
Master comes more quickly to teach it and give it the prayer of quiet than He would through any other method it might use (W 28 4).
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Osuna Method
After having read many works on prayer Teresa finally found one that suited her-The Third Spiritual Alphabet by Francisco de Osuna suggested finding union with God in prayer through the path of interior recollection.
He suggested becoming silent within, making oneself ‘deaf, blind and dumb’, emptying the intellect of all human thought of the created - to think of nothing-no pensar nada- in order to be attentive to God and His Divinity. Osuna said it was also important to make a big place in the ‘heart,’ for love.
This method completely agreed with Teresa’s temperament, leaning towards kindness and emotional activity and very little towards reasoning. Teresa completely gave herself to this method; in 6 months she experienced the prayer of union. This first experience of God will constitute the foundation of her
future pursuits.
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Osuna Method
Osuna reacted against the rationalism of Erasmus, overly intellectual sermons, a scholastic approach. Teresa found his book full of richness that made her very happy such as his quest for simplicity and truth, use of Scripture, love of nature, reference to experience and action rather than theory.
Teresa would not lose esteem for him but was frustrated by his ‘preacher’ style, his confusing writing especially his imprecise vocabulary. In short, his doctrine was unreliable.
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Osuna MethodTwo points caused her to react: First Objection
He encouraged creating ‘absolute silence’ within that was premature and too radical, suppressing all activity of the mind before God could invite the person to do so. He compared recollection to a ‘hedgehog.’ Teresa response was that these creatures draw inward whenever they want. In the case of recollection it doesn’t come when we want it but when God wants to grant us the favor. (IC 4 3, 3)
Teresa understood ‘no pensar nada’ but she realized that trying to find God by emptying the senses and the intellect only caused the soul to be idle…The intellect ceases to work because God suspends it…trying to keep the soul’s faculties busy and thinking you can make them be quiet is foolish. (V 12 5)
The hand of God should not be forced. Be attentive to God alone. If God doesn’t recollect the soul, the spiritual faculties are put to work…Since God gave us our faculties that we might work with them and in this work they find their reward, there is no reason to charm them; we should let them perform their task until God appoints them to another greater one (C 4 3 6).
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Osuna Method
Two points caused her to react: Second Objection
In order to attain contemplation, Osuna suggested eliminating from one’s thoughts the human nature of Christ in order to concentrate on His divinity. Following this advice would cost Teresa dearly.
Teresa insisted on attaching oneself strongly to Christ’s humanity that provides man a friendship (W 26 2), a focal point for the faculties (V 22 9)…
but mainly because if we are going to please Him and receive His great favors, we must do so through the most sacred humanity of Christ in whom He takes His delight (V 22 6).
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Osuna Method Osuna’s method did not allow Teresa to blossom. He showed her that the essential
was not discussion but love and gave her a taste for the Living God.
But, unaware of the errors he had taught her, she persisted for almost 20 years in wanting to taste the recollection of infused contemplation she had known in the beginning. She would experience dryness making it hard for her to persevere in prayer. Not understanding the demands of a good conscience, she deliberately permitted herself venial sins; and even gave up interior prayer for a year and a half which she considered to be her greatest temptation.
After her conversion, Diego de Cetina, a Jesuit, taught her to practice the virtues, to attach herself to the Humanity of Christ, to meditate according the Company’s method (V 23 17). Yet Father Balthasar forbade her to experience infused recollection; this obstacle remained until the intervention of Saint Peter Alcantara and Saint Francis of Borgia.
It took her a long time to find what best suited her. It was only after much trial and error and a lot of suffering, she perfected habit of recollection within herself (V 13 5; W 29 7) taught her by the Lord, Himself. (W 29 7)
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PRAYER of RECOLLECTIONEMMANUEL RENAULT, O.C.D.
JEAN ABIVEN, O.C.D.
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Session 2 Key Points At the time of her final vows, Teresa said that she had read a lot of things and didn’t
understand anything of what she read, nor how to proceed in prayer nor how to be recollected. Her writings indicate that Discursive Meditation did not suit her.
For Teresa meditation is essentially an exercise of the intellect. This mental gymnastics requires a lot of work, the intellect grows weary. Her attempts at meditation were torture for her. Teresa recommended a ‘shortcut’ (to contemplation)for those like herself who couldn’t meditate.
Osuna suggested finding union with God through the path of interior recollection; ‘to think of nothing’. He suggested fixing your attention on the God’s divinity. This method agreed with Teresa’s temperament. She experienced the Prayer of Union within 6 months. This first experience will constitute the basis of all that she will look for from then on.
Teresa reacted to two points: creating absolute silence is too radical, God invites the person to suppress all activity of the mind; attach yourself to Christ’s humanity (not His divinity) which provides man friendship.
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The Prayer of RecollectionWhat is this Way of Prayer inspired by Osuna and distinct
from Discursive or Methodical meditation?3 Essential points:- Recollect oneself- Become aware, within oneself or near to oneself, of the Living Presence
of Jesus Christ- Converse in a heart to heart with Him- A few tips to recollect oneself will be added
I tried as hard as I could to keep Jesus Christ, our God and our Lord, present within me,
and that was my way of prayer. (V 4 7)
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The Prayer of Recollection1- Recollect Oneself:
Preliminary Steps: examination of conscience, the act of contrition and the sign of the cross. (W 26 1) Self-knowledge: to come before God it is necessary to recognize one’s misery, unworthiness and experience a real humility and admiration before Our Lord… however sublime the contemplation, let your prayer always begin and end with self-knowledge. (W 39 5)
Effort of Recollection…getting accustomed to caring nothing at all about seeing or hearing. (V11 9) This prayer is called ‘recollection,’ because the soul collects its faculties together and enters within itself to be with its God. (W 28 4)…It strives so as not to look at things here below. (W 28 6)
The Movement of the Soul to enter into itself can be sought anytime and anywhere since God is everywhere (W 28 2) It helped me also to look at fields, or water, or flowers (V 9 5)
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The Prayer of RecollectionIn the beginning….
- habit of silence (W 4 9): exterior solitude and withdrawal to enable interior silence and solitude.
- recollection is an effort of attention to God- which absorbs the soul’s strength to the point of evacuating everything that isn’t Him. Everyone can achieve this recollection with the ordinary help of grace.
…it is possible for us to acquire by our own means […]in obtaining this initial devotion we can help ourselves in some way.
This recollection is not something supernatural,it is something we can desire to achieve ourselves with the help of God….(W 29 4)
- supernatural prayer: we cannot procure through our own efforts (W 31 2)
depending on depth of recollection has various names.
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The Prayer of Recollection2- Become aware of the Presence of Christ :
- To Realize that Our Lord is there (in front of me, beside me , within me) is the most important step.
- Consideration: grasping the quality of the Lord compared to our situationas creature and sinner, is essential for the soul.
…a person who is not aware to whom he is speaking, what he is asking,who it is who is asking and of whom, I don’t call that prayer (C 1 7).
- To practice interior prayer it is not enough to ‘meditate on’ ---intellect grows weary there must be a Personal Relationshipwith the Lord, a direct face to face contact.
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The Prayer of Recollection2- Become aware of the Presence of Christ : cont’d.
How does one bring about this living contact? Teresa tells us by a representation of Christ in His Humanity.
What sort of image does Teresa mean since she suggests this method to souls who, like herself, were incapable of using their imagination this way…
Teresa could not achieve an image of Christ that was visual and continuous,in other words, like a painting or an image of Him …I was unableto keep Him as engraved in my soul as I desired (F 5 2)
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The Prayer of RecollectionWhat does she mean?
It was impossible for her to compose an image of Christ within herself…like an image seen with bodily eyes….she could only imagine in this way what she had seen with her senses.
The representation she proposed would not be an imaginative one but based on faith… a living faith perceived not seen …I was like one who is blind or in darkness;…he knows with certainty that He is there; such was the case with me when I thought of our Lord (V 9 6).
Teresa held an intermediary position between a vision of faith of the ‘pure divine essence’ of Osuna and the imaginative representation of methodical meditation.
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The Prayer of Recollection
Teresa, leaning on the certainty by faith of the living proximity of Christ, appreciated the truth of the Incarnation which brings
a warmth, consistency and dynamism tothe relationship of Our Lord with man
that the highest abstract elevations to the Divinity will never bring. This is why she insists on the physical reality of the Presence…however softly we speak, He is near enough to hear us (W 28 2).
Representation by faith (non-visual) plays a major role in interior prayer…
Do you think it is of little importance to know what heaven is and where you must seek your most sacred Father?
Well, I tell you that for wandering minds it is very important not only to believe these truths but to strive to understand them by experience.
Doing this is one of the ways of greatly slowing down the mind and recollecting the soul (W 28 1).
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The Prayer of RecollectionThe Representation of Christ…Teresa suggests that He be considered
sometimes next to you (V 13 22), sometimes in front of you (V 12 2)
and, sometimes within you (W 28 4)
Yet, she insists that He is preferably represented in the most intimate part of the soul as such a thought is much more alluring and fruitful than thinking of Him as outside of oneself (V 40 6)…enter the paradise within itself to be with its God (W29 4) or in the little heaven of our soul. ( W28 5)
Teresa’s preference for the representation of Christ in the soul is doctrinal.(Jn 15:4 Remain in me). She is insisting on a truth which constitutes afundamental principle of Teresian spirituality: Christ resides in the soul, in its center, as in a mansion. This idea, present throughout Teresianwritings, is developed in the Interior Castle.
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The Prayer of Recollection3/ What is the Nature of the Activity of the Soul Recollected in the Presence
of the Christ-Man going to be?
Represent the Lord Himself as close to you and behold how lovingly and humbly He is teaching you […] I’m not asking you now that you think about Him…
I’m not asking you to do anything more than look at Him (W 26 3).
A. This mutual look…or loving attention expresses a personal, living relationship of reciprocal presence. It is about a simple activity. This bold act of faith includes the hope, in the form of desire of union with God, mainly animated by love. Teresa’s significant formula…
I tried as hard as I could to keep Jesus Christ, our God and our Lord,present within me, and that was my way of prayer (V 4 7).
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The Prayer of RecollectionB. Conversation with Christ can take one of two variable forms:
First Form: Heart to HeartFor not only will you desire to look at Him
but you will also delight in speaking with Him,not with ready–made prayers
but with those that come from the sorrow of your own heart, for He esteems them highly (W 26 6)
Remain there in His presence with the intellect quiet. And if a person is able he should occupy himself in looking at Christ
who is looking at Him, and he should speak and petition,and humble himself, and delight in the Lord’s presence, and remember that he is unworthy of being there. (V 13 22)
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The Prayer of RecollectionThis One on One exchange is characterized by
Truth, Liberty and Love:
Truth- that it hide nothing, knowing it is loved by the Lord in spite of everything.
Liberty- It is about the simplicity of two friends.
Love- the Heart of Teresian Prayer
… it is important not to think much but to love much (IC 4 1 7).
…bodily strength is not necessary but only love and a habit (V 7 12)
…they are servants of love (V 11 1)
…If all imaginations are not capable of meditation, all souls are capable of loving (F 5 2)
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The Prayer of Recollection
To love God means to be willing to conform oneself to His will, whatever the cost… to please God in everything (IC 4 1 7).
Teresa insisted that one proves the authenticity of one’s love through actions.…what is more acceptable and certain is what leaves the best effects…
those confirmed by works and that the desires for the honor of God become apparent…
the intellect and memory be occupied in how best to please Him and show Him the love one has for Him (Letter 136 pg. 368)
During prayer, it is necessary to do everything to keep a lively contact with Christ and maintain the relationship of love active….
and so do that which best stirs you to love (IC4 1 7).
Speak with Him as with a father, or a brother, or a Lord, or as with a spouse; sometimes in one way, sometimes in another (W 28 3).
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The Prayer of RecollectionSecond Form : Conversation with an Evangelical theme:
- Teresa knew that the will often needs the help of the intellect so asto be enkindled (IC 6 7, 7)
- We choose a Bible scene that we enter into … interpreting the words of Christ asif spoken to us. St. Theresa’s preference was the Passion… It is from here that has come and continues to come every good (V 13 13). (Theater)
- In this Restrained Sense, she invites us into meditation but be careful not to prolong this meditative conversation…one should not weary oneself (V 13 22)…once the soul is wakened to love (See V 22 14) come back to the free and spontaneous conversation or to the simple look.
- We alternate periods of silence with exchange…..He doesn’t want us to be breaking our heads trying to speak a great deal to Him (W 29 6).
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The Prayer of Recollection
- St. Teresa’s manner of prayer allows much liberty provided the soul is active or awakened to love.
- It is possible in one prayer session to go from the simple look to a heart to heart and inversely, using at will the type of prayer that allows us to stay vigilante and loving.
- To preserve this interior liberty necessary for love, St. Teresa said that...it is very helpful not to drag the soul along, as they say, but to lead it gently for the sake of its greater advantage (V 11 16).
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The Prayer of Recollection4/ Methods to Recollect Oneself: To establish or reestablish contact with the Lord
St. Teresa suggests little ploys, skill (W26 10).
A Book …a good book written in the vernacular to recollect one’s thoughts…
little by little accustom the soul with coaxing and skill not to grow discouraged (W26 10).
For eighteen years, after Communion, I never dared to begin prayer without a book. For my soul was as fearful of being without it during prayer as it would have been
should I have had to do battle with a lot of people.With this recourse, which was like a partner or a shield by which to
sustain the blows of my many thoughts, I went about consoled (V4 9).
Reading offers a center of interest, something for my thoughts to focus on...and even for some replaces mental prayer that they cannot achieve (V 4 8).
In any case, for those who journey along this path, a book helps to promptlyrecollect oneself (V 9 5). I have always been fond of the words of the Gospels and found more
recollection in them than in very cleverly written books (W21 3).
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The Prayer of Recollection4/ Methods to Recollect Oneself cont’d.
Image or Painting of the Lord
…not so as to carry it about on your heart and neverlook at it but so as to speak often with Him (W 26 9).
Vocal Prayer
…Now, then, let us speak again to those souls I mentioned that cannot recollect or tie their minds down in mental prayer
or engage in reflection (W 24 1).
The intellect is recollected much more quickly with this kindof prayer even though it may be vocal;
it is prayer that brings with it many blessings (W 28 4).
I tell you that it is very possible that while you are reciting the Our Father or some other vocal prayer,
the Lord may raise you to perfect contemplation (W 25 1).
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A Last ObjectionTeresa heard murmurings about the reality of her having a real conversation with the Lord.
Even though we do not hear Him, He speaks well to the heart
when we beseech Him from the heart (W 24 5).
Concerning beginners and all those who begin,yet they never reach the end…thinking they are doing nothing,
she remarks that it is then perhaps that their will is being strengthened and fortified, although they may not be aware of this (V 11 15).
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The Prayer of Recollection
The Prayer of RecollectionA Last Objection
Though He comes disguised, the disguise …does not prevent Him from being recognized in many ways,
in conformity with the desire we have to see Him.And you can desire to see Him so much that He will reveal Himself to you entirely (W 34 12)
if we prepare ourselves to receive Him,He never fails to give in many ways which we do not understand (W 35 1)
The Lord’s answer may perhaps not be through words, but by His action in the most intimate part of the soul.
By the feelings that He gives…Sometimes a silence full of love…
Sometimes a feeling that He is there, that He is listening.More often nothing other than a
reinforced will to serve Him whatever the cost.
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Conclusion
Meditation vs. Prayer of Recollection: Teresa did not conceive the prayerof recollection as superior to meditation.
Confusion Resulting from Imprecise Vocabulary: Teresa did notconstruct a method of meditation. For Teresa the essence of prayer resided in a personal, loving relationship of the soul with God.
Need for Doctrine: The need for doctrine…search for truth in Scripture, will make itself felt as one advances in interior prayer.
Prayer without Ceasing: Teresa felt that prayer, it needed to be lived all day long. Prayer of Recollection- based on the person of Christ -is a habit to be acquired.
Contemplation—Goal of Interior Prayer : The prayer of recollection strives for perfect contemplation.
Friendship: Teresa definition of the Prayer of Recollection- Interior prayer, in my opinion, is nothing else than An intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us (V 8 5).
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The Anatomy of the SoulThe Foundations of
SUPERNATURAL PRAYER
EMMANUEL RENAULT, O.C.D.JEAN ABIVEN, O.C.D.
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Session 3 Key PointsThe 3 Essential Points of the Prayer of Recollection:
Recollect Oneself: preliminary steps (sign of cross, examination, act of contrition—Self Knowledge); this recollection is not supernatural;
Become aware of the Presence of Christ consideration of who I am, etc.; Teresa insists on a personal relationship with the Lord in His humanity; the image of the Lord is based on a living faith that perceives without seeing; Teresa preferred representing the Christ within her soul.
Encounter with Christ: the ‘look’; important not to think much but to love much; spontaneous heart to heart or simple conversation; conversation with an Evangelical theme. In one prayer time it is possible to experience all three forms.
Methods to Recollect Oneself: To establish or maintain a living contact with Christ Teresa suggests using little ploys, skills; a Book Gospels, helps to focus the thoughts; a Picture to your liking allows you to practice speaking with the Lord; a
Vocal Prayer such as the Our Father prayed with devotion.
A Last Objection: In the Heart to Heart the Lord’s answer may not be in words, but by His action in the depths of the soul, usually though just a reinforced will to serve Him whatever the cost.
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The Sacrament of BAPTISM
1213 Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit, and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word.”
1213According to the Apostle Paul, the believer enters through Baptism into communion with Christ's death, is buried with him, and rises with him…. The baptized have "put on Christ.” Through the Holy Spirit, Baptism is a bath that purifies, justifies, and sanctifies.
1254 For all the baptized, children or adults, faith must grow after Baptism. For this reason the Church celebrates each year at the Easter Vigil the renewal of baptismal promises. Preparation for Baptism leads only to the threshold of new life. Baptismis the source of that new life in Christ from which the entire Christian life springs forth.
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The Grace of Baptism
1262 … Immersion in water symbolizes not only death and purification, but also regeneration and renewal… The two principal effects are purification from sins and new birth in the Holy Spirit.
1265 Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte "a new creature," an adopted son of God, who has become a "partaker of the divine nature,“ member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.
1266 The Most Holy Trinity gives the baptized sanctifying grace, the grace of justification (right with God): enabling them to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him through the theological virtues; giving them the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit; allowing them to grow in goodness through the moral virtues. Thus the whole organism of the Christian's supernatural life has its roots in Baptism.
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Sanctifying Grace enables the Baptizedthrough the Theological Virtues to…
To believe in GodFAITH
Humility
To hope in GodHope
Detachment
To love God & Neighbor
Charity
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Body’s Senses & Soul’s Faculties
Body’s External SensesSight
HearingSmellTouchTaste
Body’s Internal SenseImagination
Soul’s Faculties
Intellect
Will
Memory
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Theological Virtues & Soul’s Faculties
Theological Virtues
FAITHHumility
Charity& Neighbor
HopeDetachment
Soul’s Faculties
Intellect
Will
Memory
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Theological Virtues
a/ Faith: is a gift from God that attaches to the intelligence and allows it to be purified & transformed from an inaccurate understanding of things. The more we allow God to act in us the more ‘intelligent’ we become; the ‘intelligence of faith’. Faith gives us a vision of things, an understanding that by ourselves we wouldn’t be able to acquire. It renews our thinking.
(Mt. 16:16 Peter’s Answer: You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God)
b/ Charity: is a gift that attaches to our will. It is not ‘love’ (sensory), it is charity that transforms our way of wanting. God is not sensory love but charitable love. As our will is gradually transformed, we love God more and in turn this transformation allows us to love others more.
c/ Hope: is a gift that attaches itself to our memory. Memory concerns our relationship to time. I used to think that I didn’t have the time for this or that OR because of my past there was no hope for a decent future. Hope awakens in us another relationship with time that allows us to hope against all hope. Structure of Man Session 2
Introduction to Supernatural Prayer
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Introduction to Supernatural Prayer
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In Summary
Mystical life is the fulfillment of Baptismal grace and an increase of theological virtues of faith, hope and charity in the heart of he who believes the Kingdom of God is found within.
For Teresa all the baptized are invited into mystical life, not just a few elite souls.
Interior prayer is the front door opening to the path to union with God.
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SUPERNATURAL PRAYERPart 1
EMMANUEL RENAULT, O.C.D.JEAN ABIVEN, O.C.D.
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Session 4 Key PointsHoly Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life; two principal effects are
purification from sins & new birth in the Holy Spirit. The Most Holy Trinity givesthe baptized sanctifying grace, enabling them to believe, hope and love God throughthe theological virtues of Faith, Hope, Charity.
3 Faculties of the Soul are Intellect, Memory & Will: Faith attaches to Intellect;Hope attaches to Memory; Charity attaches to the Will.
4 Ways to Water the Garden & 7 Mansions: 1st Way (1st 3 Mansions)- ascetical or man’s effort; 2nd, 3rd, & 4th Way (Last 4 Mansions) Mystical or God intervenes.
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Theological Virtues & Soul’s Faculties
Theological Virtues
FAITHHumility
Charity& Neighbor
HopeDetachment
Soul’s Faculties
Intellect
Will
Memory
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Introduction to Supernatural Prayer
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Supernatural Prayer The Interior Castle, Teresa’s masterpiece, has a two-fold schema: -
- the first three mansions describe a person’s quest for God with the help of ordinary grace. His efforts are insufficient to reach infused or simply contemplation;
- the last four mansions God communicates Himself to man by free actsof grace.
Two very different forms of interior prayer: the first is the prayer of recollection, Teresa’s ‘way’ of prayer accessible through human effort; then there are the supernatural forms of prayer, free gift from God.
Through the schools of Teresa of Jesus and John of the Cross we will try to describe the supernatural prayer experience or recognize the divineinitiative followed by practical attitudes to adopt concerning it.
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Types of Supernatural Prayer In the telling of her life around 1565, Teresa introduced a
description of the (four) different degrees of prayer in the form of a fable; (v11-21)
To spoke of the four ways to water the garden to describe the degrees of prayer. The garden is the soul. The watering represents the diverse forms of prayer. (V 11-21)
Four Ways: draw water manually from the well; water wheel using a little mule; aqueducts to bring water from a river or stream ; rain.
In 1577, Teresa, now master of her subject, realized 2nd & 3rd ways were different in intensity, based on virtues, but not in nature—Prayer of Quiet; a rarer gift or the 4th way—Prayer of Union.
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Types of Supernatural Prayer Supernatural prayer is a form of prayer where all the initiative belongs to
God.
When it pleases God to grant us this grace, we feel seized, captured in a way we cannot reproduce;
We are blessed with joy or pain; we get insights that seem to be explicitly for us. Our activity has a taste of the divine. We experience what it is to live in unison with God - to function God’s way.
These divine interventions assume a receptivity to the action of the Holy Spirit who prays in us. Everything happens as if the soul were blesses with a supernatural mind permitting it to capture divine waves.
When one accepts it, the soul experiences a passivity making it flexible to God’s action and so recipient of experiences that have the taste of the divine.
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The First Supernatural Prayer- Quiet and Recollection
Two Different Ways of enjoying God’s Company
Contentos (Consolations) : associated with the first three Mansions; natural satisfactions.
Gustos (spiritual delights) : characteristic of the fourth Mansions, supernatural satisfactions.
I was now thinking, while writing this, that the verse mentioned above, Dilatasti cor meum, says the heart was expanded. I don’t think the
experience is something, as I say, that rises from the heart,but from another part still more interior, as from something deep.
I think this must be the center of the soul…(IC 4 2)
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The First Supernatural Prayer: Quiet & Recollection
The Prayer of Quiet
There is an awareness and joy that invade the devotee during prayer or anytime sometimes followed by sadness without apparent reason.
It is only after the fact that we can discern a visit from the Lord. It is important to avoid thinking you ‘have a direct line’ to the Holy Spirit, but it is good to be able to recognize a relatively common, basic form of supernatural prayer.
The third way to water the garden is analogous to the Prayer of Quiet-Sleep of the Faculties, but is of greater intensity…where the souls would only want to be tongues to praise the Lord…(V 16 4)
Reminiscent of the Charismatic movement.
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The First Supernatural Prayer: Quiet & Recollection
Supernatural Recollection: This prayer often happens before the Prayer of Quiet-
It is a Gift, there is no recipe to bring it about.
Let’s suppose that these senses and faculties have …gone outside and have walked for days and years with strangers…once the
great King, in the center dwelling place of this castle, sees their good will, He desires in His wonderful mercy to bring them back
to Him. Like a good shepherd, with a whistle so gentle…He makes them recognize His voice and stops them from going astray so that they will return to their dwelling place…they abandon the
exterior things …and enter the castle. (IC 4 3, 2)
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The First Supernatural Prayer: Quiet & Recollection
The Prayer of Quiet and Supernatural Recollectionare two forms of Supernatural Prayer
that are elementary and relatively common.
They confirm the joke of the novice master:
“A few little drops of contemplation happen to everyone!”
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Supernatural Prayer: The NightsA Few Signs to recognize another form by which
God can communicate in a Supernatural Way
Passive Night of the Senses
The soul goes through a dryness, a sort of emptiness, worry sets in, suspects a punishment for unfaithfulness to God; an increasing desire to serve the Lord, to be loyal to Him, even as the dryness continues.
An authentic form of infused contemplation; God allows the person to experience who He is in a negative way.
We were living out our faith in the human manner of functioning when God infuses His light—we are blinded, immersed in a dark night called the Passive Night of the Senses.
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Supernatural Prayer: The Nights
Passive Night of the Soul
A more difficult night can occur simultaneously or after the Passive Night of the Senses.
The Divine Light exposes our sinful nature. The soul experience intolerable pain realizing its resistance to God.
Unable to adapt to divine light, & soiled by sin, it feels impure contrasted with God- it is sort of an insight into its own hell.
It is a sort of purgatory as infinite love communicates with soul to allow it to realize its isolation from love ---before a log, thrown on a fire, becomes a lively source of flames, it must weep, blacken, smoke and crackle.
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Supernatural Prayer: The Nights
Dry Contemplation: Passive Night of the Senses & of the Soul
These Dry Forms of Contemplation are more common today than those spoken of by Teresa.
These Nights, in light of their character of purification, can manifest in all sorts of trials. It is possible to overlook their spiritual dimension.
manifest in trials (professional & personal) with the risk of a natural reading of the events.
‘Nights’ describe the state of the soul, a general climate rather than a description of what happens during prayer.
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SUPERNATURAL PRAYERPart 2
EMMANUEL RENAULT, O.C.D.JEAN ABIVEN, O.C.D.
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Session 5 Key PointsTeresa describes two very different forms of interior prayer: the first is the prayer of recollection, Teresa’s ‘way’ of prayer accessible through human effort; then there are the supernatural forms of prayer.
4 Ways to Water the Garden: manually (ascetical), water wheel (prayer of quiet), river (sleep of the powers), rain (union)
Two different ways of enjoying God’s company: Contentos are natural satisfactions associated with the first three Mansions; Gustos are supernatural satisfactions, also called spiritual delights, characteristic of the fourth Mansions.
“A few little drops of contemplation happen to everyone!”: supernatural prayer of recollection & prayer of quiet are both elementary, relatively common. (4th Mansion)-
Passive Night of the Senses, Passive Night of the soul: dry forms of contemplation described by St. John of the Cross. (handout available upon request)
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Supernatural Prayer: The Prayer of Union
Supernatural Prayer of Recollection & Prayer of Quiet, even the passive night of the soul, present relatively frequency but a bottleneck occurs in the Fifth Mansions- The Prayer of Union is a much rarer gift. Teresa uses the famous image of the Silkworm – an ugly worm transformed into a gracious butterfly -- to describe the process. (IC 5 2)
The soul is grasped by God, completely taken over at its essence. The whole being is captured, all psychological activity is suspended normally resulting in a loss of consciousness. There is no awareness of ‘me’.
Coming to the soul realizes it was thrust into another world and came out literally transformed. The gift of union results in a new life in unison with Christ’s life; willing submission to the Holy Spirit.
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Supernatural Prayer: The Prayer of Union The Prayer of Union is a much rarer experience, one that is more difficult
to recognize and explain. Teresa was mainly interested in its effects, loyal to the Gospel Principle—You know a tree by its fruit. This gift of union is a new life for the person, a life in unison with Christ’s life.
In the Sixth Mansions, Teresa described the graces she received from the Prayer of Union. She insisted on the emotional repercussions that the whole being was consumed. She enumerated all sorts of experiences not compatible with a loss of consciousness.
Some of the Graces St. Teresa received along with the Prayer of Union: visions in images (deep inside); intellectual visions or profound insights into certain mysteries; and the impression of Christ at her side or intellectual visions per her confessors but Teresa was reticent about merging the two visions.
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Supernatural Prayer: The Prayer of Union
As for the graces of the prayer of union, should we really talk about exceptional gifts or rare experience? Not all canonized saints have had these gifts.
New insights or profound truths of faith are sometimes gained reading the Gospel or a familiar Bible passage Supernatural and completely free gifts given us by the Lord when He wants.
Grace of visions given the mystics has for goal to allow us to recognize, the more modest gifts….the ‘little drops of contemplation’ that might go unnoticed, if the more exceptional visions of Teresa of Jesus—or others–did not allow us to see them as if through a magnifying mirror.
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What attitude should be adopted towardsthese Graces?
No black and white answer but two opposite pitfallsmust be avoided:
These graces are not a sign of holiness so they aren’t important.
We should be asking these graces from God.
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What attitude should be adopted towardsthese Graces?
These graces are not a sign of holiness:
The graces of supernatural prayer hold a variable place;
There is a natural predisposition to mystical life and even to its different forms…
We can conclude with St. Teresa: …God doesn’t lead all by one path…so, not because all in this house practice prayer must all be contemplatives; that’s impossible…(W 17 2)
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What attitude should be adopted towardsthese Graces?
These graces are helpful and even precious:
If these graces are a way as we have seen that God intimately communicates withsouls to consider them unimportant would be to ignore God’s love and His desirefor union with His creature….
These gifts are precious because God is communicating Himself and because of the fruits they produce… prayer of union -a fat worm into a butterfly.
The fruits or effects of supernatural prayer and their usefulness to the recipient or to God’s people determine their value. These divine gifts foster spiritual progress in the recipient but no man is an island; these spiritual gifts or graces are given for the people of God.
What attitude should be adopted towardsthese Graces?
These graces are helpful and even precious: cont’d.
The recipient of these gifts becomes a witness
To do the will of God in each instance is sainthood and St. Teresa tells us that the prayer of union is a ‘shortcut’ to sainthood. To reach liberty where, the old man being dead, the soul is perfectly delivered into the hands of God.
The recipients of this love do not necessarily have a desirable lot in life. Exceptional difficulties abound. Love, when it is real in this world, is always joy and suffering. Both love and suffering will be exceptional.
Be grateful for mystical graces which are no indication of perfection but entrusted only for use for the good of His people.
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Conclusion
Practical Indications of the ways to consider supernatural forms of prayer:
Caution and Care: feeling the effects of secularization; tempted by anything extraordinary; best antidote would be to be convinced that supernatural graces are not indicative of holiness of a high degree of spiritual life.
Caution and Care do not mean contempt or rejection: Teresa was living in an era much like ours, however she claimed the right to practice mental prayer and for all baptized the right to a complete development of baptismal graces in whatever form the Lord would give them to a person. She also insisted on the importance of a spiritual director to interpret these experiences with docility and warn against vain glory.
It is always important to return to what is within our reach:…the Teresian mode of the Prayer of Recollection. If God wants to give us supernatural gifts we can’t do anything about it, but outside of these experiences, let’s always return to the prayer of recollection in the presence of the Lord.
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Session 6 Key PointsThe Prayer of Union is a much rarer gift. Teresa uses the famous image of the Silkworm to describe the process. The soul realizes it was thrust into another world and came out literally transformed.
Teresa was mainly interested in the effects of the prayer of union were loyal to Gospel Principle—You know a tree by its fruit. This gift of union is a new life for the person, a life in unison with Christ’s life.
Graces given the mystics have for goal to allow us to recognize our ‘little drops of contemplation’ that might go unnoticed as if through a magnifying mirror.
Two Pitfalls: These graces are not a sign of holiness so they aren’t important; We should be asking these graces from God.
Practical Indications when considering supernatural forms of prayer--Caution and Care that does not mean contempt or rejection; it is always important to return to what is within our reach …Teresa’s prayer of recollection in the presence of the Lord.
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