Welcome
to the Reading of
The Relations
by Teresa of Jesus
of the Order of
Our Lady of Carmel
The Relations ~ St Teresa of Avila ~ Teresa of Jesus ~ "Manifestations of her Spiritual State which St.Teresa Submitted to Her Confessors"
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 ]
|
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)
|
[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".
|
[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.
|
End of Discussion of Relation XI |