or
Manifestations
or
Spiritual Testimonies
or
Relations of the Spirit
Relation IX.
Relation IX.
Relation 9
Of Certain Spiritual Graces She Received
in Toledo and Avila
in the Years 1576 and 1577. |
Topics/ Discussion Questions
to keep in mind
as we read along:
1). What did St. Teresa say about the
change of her Confessors
in approximately 1576?
[Relations 9: #1 ]
[Relations 4: #3]
[The Life: Ch28: #23]
2). Discuss St. Teresa's reference to
"the absence of God" and
"this land of exile" ?
[ Relations 9: #1 ]
[ Relations 8: #15]
[ Relations 7: # 20]
3). In Paragraph #2, St. Teresa was
concerned regarding
"a certain person"
because she thought
his possessions may hinder
his attainment to perfection.
How did God reassure her?
[Relations 9: #2]
4). In Paragraph #3, St. Teresa expresses
her concern regarding
her own lack of doing penances.
(Perhaps, here, implicitly, is another
concern with weak health as a cause
of this inability to do penances
and therefore a hinderance to
advancement in perfection)
What inspiration helped her
in resolving this concern?
[Relations 9: #3]
5). What did St. Teresa say regarding
the state of her Bethrothal to God?
[Relations 9: #8, 22 ]
6). Although St. Teresa often wrote
of life on earth as an "exile",
She wanted to follow God's will
for her in this life.
What did she say regarding this?
[Relations 9: #9, 12, 19, 20]
7). St. Teresa spoke about the graces
that she received by which
she was given Spiritual Wisdom
to understand spiritual concepts
in a way "very different
from that which I have by faith".
How did she discuss this?
[Relations 9: #5, 8, 9, 12, 13,
17, 19, 20, 22 ]
8). What did St. Teresa say regarding
the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
and the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist
when offered by a priest
who is not in the state of grace?
[Relations 9: #20]
9). What did St. Teresa say about
being the Bride of Christ ?
[Relations 9: # 25 ]
10). Are hermits
who dwell in deserted environs
free of distractions from prayer?
[Relations 9: #26]
11). What does St. Teresa discuss
regarding Fr. Gratian?
[Relations 9: # 7, 18, 21, 23, 26, 27]
[Relation 6: #1]
12). What conflict did St. Teresa
describe regarding
spending time with her relatives?
[Relations 9: #11]
[The Way of Perfection: Chapter 9]
|
_______________________________
1. I had begun to go to confession
to a certain person [709]
[ [709] Fr. Yepes ]
in the city
wherein I am at present staying,
when he,
though he had much good will
towards me, and
always has had
since he took upon himself
the charge of my soul,
ceased to come here;
and one night,
when I was in prayer, and
thinking how he failed me,
I understood that God kept him
from coming
because it was expedient for me
to treat of the affairs of my soul
with a certain person on the spot. [710]
[710] Don Alonzo Velasquez
I was distressed
- because I had to form new relations
it might be he
would not understand me, and
would disturb me and
- because I had a great affection for him
who did me this charity,
though I was always spiritually content
when I saw or heard the latter preach;
also, I thought it would not do
- because of his many occupations.
Our Lord said to me:
"I will cause him
to hear and understand thee.
Make thyself known unto him;
it will be some relief to thee
in thy troubles."
The latter part was addressed to me,
I think,
because I was then so worn out
by the absence of God.
His Majesty also said
that He saw very well
the trouble I was in;
but it could not be otherwise
while I lived in this land of exile:
All was for my good;
and he comforted me greatly.
So it has been:
he
comforts me, and
seeks opportunities to do so;
he has
understood me, and
given me great relief;
he is a most learned and holy man.
2. One day,
it was the Feast of the Presentation,
I was
praying earnestly to God
for a certain person, and
thinking that after all
the possession
of property and
of freedom
was unfitting
for that high sanctity
which I wished him to attain to;
I reflected
on his weak health, and
on the spiritual health
which he communicated to souls;
and I heard these words:
"He serves Me greatly;
but the great thing is
to follow Me
stripped of everything,
stripped of everything,
as I was on the cross.
Tell him to trust in Me."
These last words were said
because I thought
he could not,
with his weak health,
attain to such perfection.
3. Once, when I was thinking of the pain
it was to me
to eat meat and
do no penance,
I understood that there was at times
more of self-love in that feeling
than of a desire for penance.
4. Once, when I was in great distress
because of my offences against God,
He said to me:
"All thy sins in My sight
are as if they were not.
For the future, be strong;
for thy troubles are not over."
5. One day, in prayer,
I felt my soul in God in such a way
that it seemed to me
as if the world did not exist,
I was so absorbed in Him.
He made me then understand
that verse of the Magnificat,
"Et exultavit spiritus meus,"
so that I can never forget it.
6. Once, when I was thinking
how people sought
to destroy this monastery
of the Barefooted Carmelites, and
that they purposed, perhaps,
to bring about the destruction of them
all by degrees,
I heard:
I heard:
"They do purpose it;
nevertheless, they will never see it done,
but very much the reverse."
7. Once, in deep recollection,
I was praying to God for Eliseus; [711]
[ [711] Fra Jerome Gratian ]
I heard this:
"He is My true son;
I will never fail him,"
or to that effect;
but I am not sure of the latter words.
8. Having one day conversed
with a person
who had given up much for God, and
calling to mind
that I
had given up nothing for Him, and
had never served Him in anything,
as I was bound to do, and
then considering the many graces
He had wrought in my soul,
I began to be exceedingly weary;
and our Lord said to me:
"Thou knowest
of the betrothal
of the betrothal
between thee and Myself, and
therefore all I have is thine; and
so I give thee
all the labours and sorrows I endured,
and thou canst therefore
ask of My Father
as if they were thine."
Though I have heard
that we are partakers therein, [712]
now it was in a way so different
that it seemed
as if I had become possessed
of a great principality;
for the affection with which
He wrought this grace
cannot be described.
The Father seemed to ratify the gift;
and from that time forth
I look at our Lord's Passion
in a very different light,
as on something that belongs to me;
and that gives me great comfort. [713]
9. On the Feast of the Magdalene,
when thinking
of the great love
when thinking
of the great love
I am bound to have for our Lord,
according to the words
He spoke to me
in reference to this Saint, and
having great desires to imitate her,
our Lord was very gracious unto me,
and said,
I was to be henceforward strong;
for I had to serve Him more
than I had hitherto done. [714]
[714] See … Paragraph # 4, above.
"For the future, be strong;
for thy troubles are not over."
|
He filled me with a desire
not to die so soon,
that I might have the time
to occupy myself therein; and
I remained with
a great resolution to suffer.
10. On one occasion,
I understood
how our Lord was in all things, and
how He was in the soul;
and the illustration of a sponge
filled with water
was suggested to me.
11. When my brothers came,
and I owe so much to one of them, [715]
I remained in conversation with him
concerning his soul and his affairs,
which wearied and distressed me;
and as I was
offering this up to our Lord, and
thinking that I did it all
because I was under obligations to him,
I remembered
that by our Constitutions [716]
we are commanded
to separate ourselves from our kindred, and
I was set thinking
whether I was under any obligation,
our Lord said to me:
"No, My daughter;
the regulations of the Order must be
only in conformity with My law."
The truth is,
that the end of the Constitutions is,
that we are not to be attached
to our kindred;
and to converse with them,
as it seems to me,
is rather wearisome, and
it is painful to have anything
to do with them.
12. After Communion,
on St. Augustine's Day,
I understood, and, as it were, saw,
I cannot tell how,
unless it was by an intellectual vision
which passed rapidly away,
how the Three Persons
of the most Holy Trinity,
whom I have always imprinted
in my soul,
are One.
This was revealed
in a representation so strange, and
in a light so clear,
that the impression made upon me
was very different
from that which I have by faith.
From that time forth
I have never been able to think
of One of the Three Divine Persons
without thinking of the Three;
so that to-day, when I was considering how,
the Three being One,
the Son alone took our flesh upon Him,
our Lord showed me how, though
They are One,
They are also distinct.
These are marvels
which make the soul desire anew
to be rid of the hindrances
which the body interposes
between it and the fruition of them.
Though this passes away in a moment,
there remains a gain to the soul
incomparably greater than any
it might have made
by meditation during many years;
and all without knowing how it happens.
13. I have a special joy
on the Feast of our Lady's Nativity.
When this day was come,
I thought it would be well
to renew our vows;
and thereupon I saw our Lady,
by an illuminative vision;
and it seemed
- as if we made them before her and
- that they were pleasing unto her.
I had this vision constantly
for some days,
and our Lady was by me
on my left hand.
One day, after Communion,
it seemed to me
- that my soul was really one
with the most Holy Body of our Lord,
then present before me; and
- that wrought a great work and blessing
in me.
14. I was once thinking
whether I was to be sent
to reform a certain monastery; [717]
and, distressed at it,
I heard:
I heard:
"What art thou afraid of?
What canst thou lose?
only thy life,
which thou hast so often offered to Me.
I will help thee."
This was in prayer,
which was of such a nature as to ease
my soul exceedingly.
15. Once, having a desire
to render some service to our Lord,
I considered that I could serve Him
but poorly,
and said to myself:
"Why, O Lord,
dost Thou desire my works?"
And He answered:
"To see thy good will, My child."
16. Once our Lord gave me light
in a matter
that I was very glad to understand,
and I immediately forgot it,
so that I was never able
to call it again to mind;
and so, when I was trying to remember it,
I heard:
"Thou knowest now
that I speak to thee from time to time.
Do not omit to write down what I say;
for, though it may not profit thee,
it may be that it will profit others."
As I was thinking whether I,
for my sins,
had to be of use to others,
and be lost myself,
He said to me:
"Have no fear."
17. I was once recollected
in that companionship
which I ever have in my soul,
and it seemed to me
that God was present therein
in such a way
that I remembered how St. Peter said:
"Thou art Christ,
the Son of the living God;" [718]
for the living God was in my soul.
This is not like other visions,
for it overpowers faith;
so that
it is impossible to doubt
of the indwelling of the Trinity
in our souls,
by presence, power, and essence.
To know this truth is
of the very highest gain;
and as I stood amazed to see His Majesty
in a thing so vile as my soul,
I heard:
"It is not vile, My child,
for it is made in My image." [719]
I also learnt something of the reason
why God delights in souls
more than in any other creatures:
it is so subtle that,
though the understanding
quickly comprehended it,
I cannot tell it.
18. When I was in such distress,
because of the troubles
of our father, [720]
[720 Fra Jerome Gratian ]
that I had no rest,
and after Communion one day
was making most earnestly
my petition to our Lord
that, as He had given him to me,
I might not lose him,
He said to me:
"Have no fear."
19. Once, with that presence
of the Three Persons
which I have in my soul,
I was in light so clear
that no doubt of the presence
of the true and living God
was possible;
and I then came to the knowledge of things
which afterwards I could not speak of.
One of these things was,
how the person of the Son only
took human flesh.
I cannot, as I have just said,
explain it at all;
for some of these things were wrought
in the secret recesses of the soul, and
the understanding seems to grasp them
only as one who is
in his sleep, or half awake,
thinks he comprehends
what is told him.
I was thinking how hard it was
to remain alive,
seeing that it was living on
that robbed us
of that marvellous companionship;
and so I said to myself:
"O Lord, show me some way
whereby I may bear this life!"
He said unto me:
"Think, my child,
when life is over,
thou canst not
serve Me
as thou art serving Me now, and
eat for Me, and
sleep for Me.
Whatsoever thou doest,
let it be done for Me
as if thou wert no longer living,
but I;
for that is what St. Paul said." [721]
20. Once, after Communion,
I saw how His Father
within our soul
accepts the most Holy Body of Christ.
I have understood and seen
how the Divine Persons are there, and
how pleasing is this offering of His Son,
because He has His joy and delight in Him,
because He has His joy and delight in Him,
so to speak,
here on earth;
for it is not the Humanity only
that is with us in our, souls,
but the Divinity as well, and
thus is it
so pleasing and acceptable unto Him,
and gives us graces so great.
I understood also
that He accepts the sacrifice,
though the priest be in sin;
but then the grace of it
is not communicated to his soul
as it is to their souls
who are in a state of grace:
not that the inflowings of grace,
which proceed from this Communion
wherein the Father accepts the sacrifice,
cease to flow in their strength,
but because of his fault
who has to receive them;
as it is not the fault of the sun
that it does not illumine
a lump of pitch,
when its rays strike it
as it illumines a globe of crystal.
If I could now describe it,
I should be better understood;
it is a great matter to know this,
because there are grand secrets
within us when we are at Communion.
It is sad that these bodies of ours
do not allow us
to have the fruition thereof.
21. During the Octave of All Saints, [722]
I had two or three days
of exceeding anguish,
the result of my remembrance
of my great sins,
and I was also in great dread
of persecutions,
which had no foundation
except that great accusations
were brought against me,
and all my resolutions
to suffer anything for God
failed me:
though I sought to encourage myself,
and made corresponding acts,
and saw that all would be
a great pain for me,
it was to little purpose,
for the fear never left me.
It was a sharp warfare.
I came across a letter,
in which my good father [723]
had written
[ [723] Jerome Gratian ]
that St. Paul said
that our God does not suffer us
to be tempted
beyond our power to bear. [724]
[724] 1 Cor. x. 13:
"Fidelis autem Deus est
qui non patietur vos tentari
supra id quod potestis."
And God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted
above that which you are able:
but will make also with temptation issue,
that you may be able to bear it. |
This was a very great relief to me,
but was not enough;
yea, rather, on the next day
I was in great distress at his absence,
for I had no one to go to
in this trouble,
for I seemed to be living
in great loneliness.
And it added to my grief to see
that I now find no one but he
who can comfort me,
and he must be more than ever away,
which is a very sore trouble.
22. The next night after this,
reading in a book,
I found another saying of St. Paul,
with which I began to be comforted;
and being slightly recollected,
I remained thinking
how I had our Lord before present
within me,
so that I truly saw Him
to be the living God.
While thinking on this
He spoke to me,
and I saw Him in my inmost being,
as it were beside my heart,
in an intellectual vision;
His words were:
"I am here,
only I will have thee see
how little thou canst do without Me."
I was on the instant reassured,
and my fears left me;
and while at Matins that very night
our Lord Himself,
in an intellectual vision
so clear as to seem almost imaginary,
laid Himself in my arms,
as He is painted in the pictures
of our Lady of Anguish. [725]
( Our Lady of Dolors; Our Lady of Sorrows)
The vision made me very much afraid,
for it was
so clear, and
so close to me,
that it made me think
whether it was an illusion or not.
He said to me,
"Be not afraid of it,
for the union of My Father
with thy soul
is incomparably closer than this."
The vision has remained with me till now.
What I have said of our Lord continued
more than a month:
now it has left me.
23. I was one night in great distress,
because it was then a long time
since I had heard anything
of my father; [726]
[ [726] Fra Jerome Gratian]
and, moreover, he was not well
the last time he wrote to me.
However, my distress was not so great
as that I felt before,
for I had hopes, and distress
like that I never was in since;
but still my anxiety hindered my prayer.
He appeared to me on the instant;
it could not have been
the effect of imagination,
for I saw
a light within me,
and himself coming by the way joyous,
with a face all fair.
It must have been the light
I saw that made his face fair,
for all the saints in heaven
seem so;
and I considered
whether it be
the light and splendour
proceeding from our Lord
that render them thus fair.
I heard this:
"Tell him to begin at once without fear,
for the victory is his."
24. One day, after he came,
when I was at night
giving thanks to our Lord
for the many mercies
He had given unto me,
He said to me:
"O my child,
what canst thou ask
that I have not done?"
25. Our Lord said to me one day,
in the monastery of Veas,
that I was to present my petition to Him,
for I was His bride.
He promised to grant
whatever I might ask of Him,
and, as a pledge,
gave me a very beautiful ring,
with a stone set in it like an amethyst,
but of a brilliancy very unlike,
which He put on my finger.
I write this to my own confusion,
considering
- the goodness of God, and
- the goodness of God, and
- my wretched life;
for I have deserved hell.
Ah! my daughters,
pray to God for me, and
be devout to St. Joseph,
who can do much.
This folly I write . . . folly I write. . . .
26. On the eve of St. Laurence,
at Communion,
I was so
distracted and
dissipated in mind,
that I
had no power over it, and
began to envy those
who dwell in desert places;
thinking that,
as they see and hear nothing,
they are exempt from distractions.
I heard this:
"Thou art greatly deceived,
My daughter;
on the contrary,
the temptations of Satan
are more violent there.
Have patience
while life lasts,
it cannot be helped."
While dwelling on this,
I became suddenly recollected, and
I saw a great light within me,
so that I thought I was in another world,
and my spirit found itself interiorly
in a forest and
in a garden of delights,
which made me remember
those words of the Canticle: [727]
"Veniat dilectus meus in hortum suum."
[727] Cant. v. 1.
"Let my beloved come into his garden…"
|
I saw my Eliseus [728] there,
[ [728] Fra Jerome Gratian ]
not at all swarthy,
but in strange beauty:
around his head was
a garland of precious stones;
a multitude of damsels went before him
with palms in their hands,
all singing hymns of praise unto God.
I did nothing
but open my eyes,
to see whether
I could not distract myself
from the vision,
but that failed to divert my attention;
and I thought there was music also,
the singing of birds and of angels,
which filled my soul with joy,
though I did not hear any.
My soul was in joy,
and did not consider
that there was nobody else there.
I heard these words:
"He has merited to be among you,
and all this rejoicing
which thou beholdest
will take place on the day
he shall set aside for the honour
of My Mother; [729]
and do thou make haste,
if thou wouldst reach the place
where he is."
This vision lasted
more than an hour and a half.
In this respect differently
from my other visions
I could not turn away from it,
and it filled me with delight.
The effect of the vision was
a great affection for Eliseus, and
a more frequent thinking of him
in that beauty.
I have had a fear of its being a temptation,
for work of the imagination
it could not possibly be. [730]
27. The day after the presentation
of the Brief, [731]
as I was in the most eager expectation,
which utterly disturbed me,
so that I could not even pray,
for I had been told
- that our father was in great straits
because they would not
let him come away, and
- that there was a great tumult,
I heard these words:
"O woman of little faith, be quiet;
everything is going on perfectly well."
It was the Feast of the Presentation
of our Lady, in the year 1575.
I resolved within myself,
if our Lady obtained from her Son
that we might see
ourselves and our father
free of these friars,
to ask him (Fr Gratian) to order
the solemn celebration
of that feast
every year in our monasteries
of the Barefooted Carmelites.
When I made this resolution,
I did not remember
what I had heard in a former vision,
that he would establish this solemnity.
Now, in reading again this little paper,
I think this must be the feast
referred to. [732]
[732] See [521] § 26.
See Relation: Paragraph #26
|
Blogger's Note:
Footnote [732] See [521] § 26.
See Relation 9: Paragraph #26
indicates that the last sentence of #27
"Now, in reading again this little paper,
I think this must be the feast
referred to. [732]"
refers the reader to Paragraph #26.
In Paragraph #26,
St. Teresa describes her state and a vision
of Fr. Gratian and the words she heard:
"all this rejoicing
which thou beholdest
will take place on the day
he shall set aside for the honour
of My Mother; [729] "
Foot note, "[729] See [518] the last section",
occurring in Paragraph #26,
refers back to the last paragraph,
Paragraph # 27
Paragraph #27:
references "the Feast of the Presentation
of our Lady, in the year 1575".
and describes St. Teresa's intention"
to ask him (Fr Gratian) to order
the solemn celebration
of that feast ..."
"When I made this resolution,
I did not remember
what I had heard in a former vision,
that he would establish
this solemnity".
Paragraph #26 refers to:
- the vision in which
Fr. Gratian would "set aside
(a day) for the honour of My Mother":
- Paragraph #27
"[729] See the last section" ( #27)
Paragraph #27 refers to:
- "the Feast of the Presentation
of our Lady"
- the intention "to ask him (Fr Gratian)
to order the solemn celebration
of that feast
- " a former vision, that he would
establish this solemnity.
- paragraph #26
"I think this must be the feast
referred to. [732]
[732] See Relation 9: Paragraph #26
|
Foot Notes:
[709] F. Yepes,
then prior of St. Jerome's,
Toledo (De la Fuente).
[710] Don Alonzo Velasquez,
canon of Toledo,
to whom [514]Relation xi.
is addressed.
The Saint speaks of this in a letter
to Fra Gratian in 1576.
The letter is numbered
82 in the edition of Don Vicente, and
23 in the fourth volume
of the edition of Doblado.
[711] Fra Jerome Gratian (De la Fuente).
[712] 1 St. Peter iv. 13:
"Communicantes Christi passionibus,
gaudete."
"But if you partake
of the sufferings of Christ,
rejoice
that when his glory shall be revealed,
you may also be glad with exceeding joy".
[713] This took place in 1575,
when she was going to found
her monastery in Seville
(Ribera, l. iv. c. v. n. 110).
[714] See [515] § 4, above.
"For the future, be strong;
for thy troubles are not over."
[715] This was in 1575,
when the Saint was founding
the monastery of Seville;
and the brother was Don Lorenzo,
returned from the Indies, and who
now placed himself under the direction
of his sister (De la Fuente).
[716] In the Chapter "De la Clausura," § 16:
"De tratar con deudos se
desvien lo mas que pudieren."
[717] The monastery of Paterna,
of the unreformed Carmelites.
This was in 1576 (De la Fuente).
[718] St. Matt. xvi. 16:
"Tu es Christus, Filius Dei vivi."
[719] Gen. 1. 26:
"Ad imaginem et similitudinem Nostram."
And he said:
Let us make man
to our image and likeness:
[720] Fra Jerome Gratian.
This took place during the persecution
that fell on the reformed Carmelites
at the end of the year 1575,
and during the following year.
See [516]the last paragraph
of this Relation
(De la Fuente;
see, also, [517]Relation vi. § 1 ).
[721] Galat. ii. 20:
"Vivo autem, jam non ego:
vivit vero in me Christus."
And I live, now not I;
but Christ liveth in me.
And that I live now in the flesh:
I live in the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me, and
delivered himself for me.
[722] A.D. 1577 (De la Fuente).
[723] Jerome Gratian (id.).
[724] 1 Cor. x. 13:
"Fidelis autem Deus est
qui non patietur vos tentari
supra id quod potestis."
And God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted
above that which you are able:
but will make also with temptation issue,
that you may be able to bear it.
[725] Don Vicente says,
that here is a proof if any were wanting
that the Saint wrote this
after her sojourn in Seville;
because in Avila and in Castile and Aragon
the expression is, "our Lady of Dolors;"
while in Andalucia it is
our Lady of Anguish
Nuestra Senora de las Angustias."
[726] Fra Jerome Gratian.
[727] Cant. v. 1.
Let my beloved come into his garden,
and eat the fruit of his apple trees.
I am come into my garden,
O my sister, my spouse,
I have gathered my myrrh"
[728] This was the name given
to Fra Jerome Gratian,
when the Saint was driven,
by the persecution raised against her,
to distinguish her friends by
other designations than those
by which they were usually known:
this fragment cannot have been written
before the year 1578
(De la Fuente).
[729] See [518]the last section.
[730] Don Vicente published
[519] § 25 and
[520] § 26 as fragments separately
(vol. i. pp. 524-526);
but, as they seem to form a part
of the series of events spoken of
in this Relation, they have been placed here.
[731] Fra Jerome Gratian exhibited the brief
which made him Visitor-Apostolic
to the unreformed Carmelites,
who were very angry thereat,
and rude in their vexation.
[732] See [521]§ 26.
See Relation: Paragraph #26 |
End of Relation 9 |
