The Relations
or
Manifestations
or
Spiritual Testimonies
or
Relations of the Spirit
Relation XI.
Discussion of Relation XI
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Relation 11
- Written from Palencia in May 1581, and
- Addressed to Don Alonzo Velasquez,
Bishop of Osma,
who Had Been,
when (he was) Canon of Toledo,
one of the Saint's Confessors.
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Topics/ Discussion Questions
1). Why is Relation 11 significant
in regard to the spiritual state
of St. Teresa?
[Relation 11: # 1 ]
2). How did St. Teresa discuss
the certainty of possession
of the fruition of God?
[Relation 11: # 1 ]
[Interior Castle: Mansion 7:
Chapter 2: Paragraph #2, 6, 7, 13]
3). What was St. Teresa's response
to this confidence and certainty?
[Relation 11: # 1, 2, 8 ]
4). What did St. Teresa say
regarding her visions?
[Relation 11: # 3 ]
5). What did St.Teresa say
regarding her interior locutions?
[Relation 11: # 4 ]
6). What is St. Teresa's greatest desire?
[Relation 11: # 5 ]
7). How are St. Teresa's
"acts and desires"
different now, compared to the past?
[Relation 11: #5, 6, 7 ]
8). What does she now say now
regarding the wish to die?
[Relation 11: #7, 8 ]
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__________________________
1). Why is Relation 11 significant
in regard to the spiritual state
of St. Teresa?
[Relation 11: # 1 ]
Relation 11 was written by St. Teresa
the year before she died.
It describes briefly
her spiritual concerns and prayer life
in that time period
which turned out to be the last year of her life.
her spiritual concerns and prayer life
in that time period
which turned out to be the last year of her life.
Relation 11 was a letter
in which she was relaying these matters
to Don Alonzo Velasquez, Bishop of Osma
in which she was relaying these matters
to Don Alonzo Velasquez, Bishop of Osma
who was once her Confessor
in Toledo.
Relation 11 was "written
from Palencia in May 1581"
[ Relation 11: Chapter Description]
"This letter... is probably
the latest account
of the state of her soul,
for she died on October 4
in the following year".
[ Relation 11: Foot Note #735 ]
St. Teresa died October 4, 1582.
_____________________
2). How did St. Teresa discuss
the certainty of possession
of the fruition of God?
[Relation 11: # 1 ]
[Interior Castle: Mansion 7:
Chapter 2: Paragraph #2, 6, 7, 13]
Regarding the "certainty
of the fruition of God"
She described her advanced state of prayer
and Union with God
and Union with God
in this letter to Don Alonzo Velasquez,
then Bishop of Osma,
who was once her Confessor.
This was a conversation by letter
of the current state of her soul
and her experiences at that time,
not a lesson on spiritual concepts.
of the current state of her soul
and her experiences at that time,
not a lesson on spiritual concepts.
She talked about
the peace and graces of Union
which she experienced and
the certainty
that she was not being deluded.
But as to a guarantee
of heaven and grace,
her writings always emphasized
- her dependence on the will of God,
- her own weakness and faults, and
- her fear of offending God.
St. Teresa clarified this
in the Interior Castle: Mansion 7:
Chapter 2: Paragraph # 13:
"...Whenever I say
that the soul seems in security,
I must be understood to imply
for as long as
- His Majesty thus holds it
in His care
- and it does not offend Him...
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:
Chapter 2: Paragraph # 13 ]
(See the entire Paragraph # 13 below)
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St. Teresa said:
"the peace and quiet
my soul has found!
for it has so great a certainty
of the fruition of God,
that it seems to be
as if already in possession, [736]
though the joy is withheld.
I am as one
to whom another has granted by deed
a large revenue,
into the enjoyment and use
of which he is to come
at a certain time,
but until then
has nothing
but the right already given him
to the revenue.
...Still, this confidence does
- not remove from it,
its great fear of offending God,
- nor make it less careful
to put away every hindrance
to His service,
- yea, rather,
it is more careful than before".
[Relation 11: # 1 ]
[736] See Inner Fortress, vii. ch. ii.
(See Interior Castle: Mansion 7: Ch.2 )
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Interior Castle / Inner Fortess:
Mansion 7: Chapter 2
Paragraph #6, 7, 13
The Interior Castle or The Mansions
By St. Teresa Of Avila
Translated By
The Benedictines Of Stanbrook
"6. Perhaps when St. Paul said,
‘He who is joined to the Lord
is one spirit,’
[1 Corinthians 6:17]
he meant this sovereign marriage,
presupposes His Majesty’s
having been joined to the soul
by union.
The same Apostle says:
‘To me,
to live is Christ and
to die is gain.’
[Philippians 1:21]
This...might here be uttered
by the soul,
for now the little butterfly
of which I spoke
dies with supreme joy,
for Christ is her life."
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:
Chapter 2: Paragraph #6 ]
"7. This becomes more manifest
by its effects as time goes on,
for the soul learns
that it is God Who gives it ‘life,’
by certain secret intuitions
too strong to be misunderstood,
keenly felt,
although impossible to describe.
These produce such over-mastering feelings
that the person experiencing them
cannot refrain from amorous exclamations,
such as: ‘O Life of my life...
For from the bosom of the Divinity,
where God seems ever
to hold this soul fast clasped,
issue streams of milk,
which solace the servants of the castle. "
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:
Chapter 2: Paragraph #7 ]
"13. Do I seem to imply
that after God has brought the soul
thus far
it is certain to be saved
and cannot fall into sin again ? *
I do not mean this:
Whenever I say that the soul
seems in security,
I must be understood to imply
for as long as His Majesty
- thus holds it in His care
- and it does not offend Him.
At any rate I know for certain
that though such a person realizes
the high state she is in
and has remained in it for several years,
she does not consider herself safe,
but is more careful than ever
to avoid committing the least offense
against God.
As I shall explain later on, she
is most anxious to serve Him and
feels a constant pain and confusion
at seeing how little she can do for Him
compared with all she ought.’
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* In a letter dated May 1581,
addressed to Don Alonso Velasquez,
then bishop of Osma,
St. Teresa writes as follows:
’She [herself] has received
such an assurance of coming one day
to the fruition of God
that she almost imagines
she has already come into possession
of Him,
without, however, the joy
that will accompany it.
She is in the same position as one
who by legal contract
has received a splendid property
which will become his,
and whose fruit he will enjoy
at a given date.
Until then he only holds the title-deeds,
without being able
to take possession of the property.
Nevertheless my soul would not like
to come immediately
into the possession of God,
for it does not believe
that it has deserved such a grace.
It only desires to continue in His service,
even at the cost of terrible sufferings.
It would not mind thus serving Him
to the end of the world,
after having received such a pledge.’
St. John of the Cross,
in treating of this subject
(Spir. Cant. stanza xxii. 3)
says:
‘I believe that no soul
ever attains to this state
without being confirmed in grace in it.’ "
See also Ribera,
in the Acta Ss. p. 554, circa finem.
[ Interior Castle / Inner Fortess:
Mansion 7: Chapter 2
Paragraph #13 ] |
She described her state in the
Interior Castle: Mansion 7;
Chapter 2: Paragraph #2
"Here God appears
in the soul’s centre,
...by an intellectual vision...
just as He appeared
to the Apostles
without having entered
through the door"
"As far as can be understood,
the soul,
I mean the spirit of this soul,
is made one with God".
[ Interior Castle: Mansion 7:
Chapter 2: Paragraph #2 ] |
Council of Trent
The nineteenth ecumenical council
opened at Trent on 13 December, 1545, and
closed on 4 December, 1563.
CANON XVI
forbade "an absolute and infallible certainty
of the great gift of perseverance unto the end,
-unless he have learned this by special revelation".
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3). What was St. Teresa's response
to this confidence and certainty?
[Relation 11: # 1, 2, 8 ]
St. Teresa responded with:
~ Gratitude
~ Humility
"In gratitude for this,
- my soul would abstain
from the joy of it,
because it has not deserved it;
~ Desire to serve God
~ Desire to suffer for God
- (the soul) "wishes only to serve Him,
even if in great suffering,
it is in some measure
no longer subject, as before,
to the miseries of this world;
though it suffers more...
my soul…does not lose its peace".
~ Detachment
from self-interest and worldly things
from self-interest and worldly things
- "The soul...
so forgetful of its own interests
so forgetful of self"
~ Conformity with the Will of God
- "Everything is directed
to the honour of God,
to the doing of His will
more and more, and
to the advancement of His glory."
[Relation 11: # 1]
~ Peace
~ Presence of God
"I am at peace within;
and my likings and dislikings
have so little power
to take from me
the Presence of the Three Persons,
of which,
while it continues,
it is so impossible to doubt,
that I seem clearly to know
by experience
what is recorded by St. John,
that God will make His dwelling
in the soul: [739]
[739] St. John xiv. 23:
"Mansionem apud eum faciemus."
Jesus answered, and said to him:
If any one love me,
he will keep my word, and
my Father will love him, and
we will come to him, and
will make our abode with him.
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and not only by grace,
but because He will have the soul
feel that presence,
and it brings with it so many blessings,
particularly this,
that there is no need
to run after reflections
to learn that God is there.
This is almost always
the state I am in,
except when my great infirmities
oppress me.
Sometimes, God will have me suffer
without any inward comfort;
but my will never swerves,
not even in its first movements,
from the will of God.
[Relation 11: #8 ]
~ Regarding her care of her body
She discusses motivation:
- Obedience to her superiors
"I must not neglect
what my superiors command"
- Maintaining strength and health
in order to
to continue to do her work and
to serve God
"All this is done
that I may be the better able
to serve God in other things,
"that I am more careful than I was,
that I mortify myself less
in my food,
and do fewer penances"
"...acts of mortification
after all...cannot be done
without losing health"
"for I offer to Him very often,
as a great sacrifice"
- "...in the wish for health,
much self-love
also must insinuate itself;
"it would give me more pleasure,
when I was strong,
to do penance,
for, at least, I
- seemed to be doing something,
- was giving a good example...
- was free from the vexation
which arises out of the fact
that I am not serving God at all.
[Relation 11: # 2]
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4). What did St. Teresa say
regarding her visions?
[Relation 11: # 3 ]
~ Occurrence
"The imaginary visions have ceased,
but the intellectual vision
of the Three Persons and
of the Sacred Humanity
seems ever present"
"that...is a vision
of a much higher kind;
~ Source:
"...I understand now...
that the visions I had
came from God,
because they prepared my soul
for its present state;
~ Reason for these gifts and graces:
"they were given only
because I was
so wretched and
so weak:
God led me by the way
which He saw was necessary"
[Relation 11: # 3 ]
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5). What did St.Teresa say
regarding interior locutions?
[Relation 11: # 4 ]
Regarding interior locutions,
St. Teresa said:
- "The interior locutions
have not left me,
- ...whenever it is necessary,
our Lord gives me
certain directions;
....were it not for these,
there would have been committed
a great blunder,
though not a sin"
[Relation 11: # 4 ]
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6). What is St. Teresa's greatest desire?
[Relation 11: # 5 ]
St. Teresa's greatest desire is that
- "the will of God accomplished and
- His glory increased"
[Relation 11: # 5 ]
"I am not under the sway
of any strong attachment
to any created thing,
not even to all the bliss of heaven,
but only to the love of God;
and this does not grow less,
on the contrary,
I believe it is growing,
together with the longing
that all men may serve Him.
[Relation 11: # 5 ]
_________________________
7). How are St. Teresa's
"acts and desires"
different now,
compared to the past?
compared to the past?
[Relation 11: #5, 6, 7 ]
St. Teresa wrote:
"The acts and desires do not seem
to be so vigorous
as they used to be"
"...the soul
- is well aware
that His Majesty knoweth
what is expedient herein, and
- is so far removed
from all self-seeking,
these acts and desires
-- quickly end, and...
-- have no strength.
Hence
the fear
- that my soul is dulled, and
- that I am doing nothing,
because I can do no penance;
(have no strength in them)
(and)
acts of desire
for suffering,
for martyrdom, and
of the vision of God,
have no strength in them,
and...I cannot make them.
I seem to live only for
eating and drinking, and
avoiding pain in everything;
[Relation 11: #5 ]
"I have not the feelings
I had formerly,
so strong and so interior,
which tormented me
- when I saw souls go to their ruin,
- when I used to think
I had offended God.
I cannot have these feelings now,
though I believe my desire
that God be not sinned against
is not less than it was.
[Relation 11: #6 ]
I can do no more, and
that it is not in my power
to serve Him better:
I might do so,
if I were not so wicked.
"nor can I make the acts
I used to make,
nor feel the pains I felt
for having offended God,
nor the great fears
I had for so many years
when I thought I was
under a delusion"
"and accordingly,
I have no need
of learned men, or
of speaking to anybody at all,
only to satisfy myself
that I am going the right road now,
and whether I can do anything".
[Relation 11: #7 ]
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8). What does she now say
regarding the wish to die?
[Relation 11: #7, 8 ]
St. Teresa said:
"if I were now
to make great efforts to wish to die,
I could not,
[Relation 11: #7 ]
Sometimes, God will have me suffer
without any inward comfort;
but my will never swerves,
not even in its first movements,
from the will of God.
This resignation to His will
is so efficacious,
that I desire neither life nor death,
except for some moments,
when I long to see God;
and then the Presence
of the Three Persons
becomes so distinct
as to relieve the pain of the absence,
and I wish to live
if such be His good pleasure
to serve Him still longer.
And if I might help,
by my prayers,
to make but one soul
love Him more, and
praise Him,
and that only for a short time,
I think that
of more importance
than to dwell in glory.
[Relation 11: #8 ]
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End of Discussion of Relation XI |
