Carmelite Book Studies ~ The Relations ~ St Teresa of Avila ~ Teresa of Jesus: Carmelite

The Relations

Manifestations

Spiritual Testimonies

Relations of the Spirit

Relation XI.

Discussion of Relation XI

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.

______________________________

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 ]

__________________________

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.

Relation 11 was a letter
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

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.

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)

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 )

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".

___________________________________

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

- "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.

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]

_____________________________

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 ]

___________________

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 ]

______________________

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?

[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 ]

_________________

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 ]
___________________

End of Discussion of Relation XI

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