“The Way of Perfection” – Part 3 of 10

Let’s read St Teresa of Avila’s “The Way of Perfection”.
Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD.
A Study Edition Prepared by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD.
ICS Publications, ISBN 978-0-935216-70-7

Chapter 10

This is an important chapter in which St Teresa focuses more closely on what detachment really means. It’s not merely distancing oneself from the world and an indifference to worldly affairs, something achieved by entering a monastery, but a detachment from one’s self-will. This, she says, is more important than all else, and equates it to the virtue of humility. While detachment from worldly things may open up a space for the possibility of humility, detachment from self-will is true humility which gives us “holy freedom of spirit”.

“Once we have detached ourselves from the world and from relatives and have enclosed ourselves here under the conditions that were mentioned, it seems that we have done all there is to do and that we don’t have to struggle with anything … if each Sister is not alert in going against her own will as though doing so were more important than all else, there are many things that will take away this holy freedom of spirit by which you can fly to your Maker without being held down by clay or leaden feet.”

“Here true humility can enter the picture because this virtue and the virtue of detachment it seems to me always go together. They are two inseparable sisters. … He has no one to fear because he doesn’t care if he loses everything, nor would he consider this a loss. The only thing he fears is displeasing his God …”

St Teresa gives some advise on how to progress in removing self-will: by considering how vain and transient all things are, thus turning our attention back to the Eternal. She also gives us an important insight when reflecting on humility: humility is transparent to the one who possesses it because we never focus on how far we’ve progressed in humility, rather on how much farther we have yet to progress. But while we may not notice our humility, others will.

“A great aid to going against your will is to bear in mind continually how all is vanity and how quickly everything comes to an end. This helps to remove our attachment to trivia and center it on what will never end … When we begin to become attached to something, we should strive to turn our thoughts from it and bring them back to God — and His Majesty helps.”

“It is true that these virtues have the characteristic of so hiding themselves from the person who possesses them that he never sees them or manages to believe that he has them even though he is told he does. But he esteems them so highly that he always goes about striving to obtain them, and he gradually perfects them within himself. Yet, they are so manifest in the one who possesses them that without his desiring it, these virtues are at once recognized by others who deal with him.”

St Teresa next moves on from detachment to mortification, in particular mortification of the body. But before she does, she highlights an interesting paradox: its only in detachment from things that you enjoy them, that is, only when our passions are rightly ordered will we take true pleasure in them.

“But what foolishness that I should set about praising humility and mortification when they were so much praised by the King of Glory and so confirmed by His many trials. Now, my daughters, this is the work that must be done in order to escape from the land of Egypt, for in finding these virtues you will find the manna. All things will taste good to you. However bad a thing may taste to those who are in the world, you will find it sweet.”

When it comes to the body, we can become attached to our striving for comfort, and there is no end to the excuses we make in this regard. Discretion in mortification is called for, because the goal is free ourselves from any bodily self-will and not some heroic asceticism. We can often achieve these mortifications by means that cannot cause us any harm, such as keeping silence.

“Now, then, the first thing we must strive for is to rid ourselves of our love for our bodies, for some of us are by nature such lovers of comfort that there is no small amount of work in this area … Be determined, Sisters, that you came to die for Christ, not to live comfortably for Christ. The devil suggests that you indulge yourselves so that you can keep the observance of the order; and a nun will so eagerly want to strive to care for and preserve her health for the sake of keeping the observance of the order that she dies without ever having kept this observance entirely for so much as a month, nor perhaps for even a day.”

“Sometimes [some people] feel a desire to do penances without rhyme or reason … subsequently the devil makes them imagine that the penances did them harm … We don’t keep some of the very ordinary things of the rule, such as silence, which isn’t going to do us any harm.”

“I find for myself that the Lord wishes that we be sickly; at least in my case He granted me a great mercy in my being sick; for since I would have looked after my comfort anyway, He desired that there be a reason for my doing so.”

“For if the devil begins to frighten us about losing our health, we shall never do anything. May the Lord give us the light to be right about everything, amen.”

St Teresa closes with an insight into the social consequences of an inordinate concern for bodily health. Since others cannot judge the seriousness of your ailment, you will, wittingly or unwittingly, abuse their charity:

“You will ask why the prioress gives [permission to be excused due to illness] … She has a scruple that she might fail in charity.”

Chapter 11

This chapter is a continuation of her discussion of mortification, and St Teresa warns against complaining about light illnesses. Habitual complaining is burden to those who live with you. Rather, when one has no attachment to the body, any inordinate complaining is experienced as self-indulgence and you will naturally refrain from it. If, however, you do pursue comfort, you will find no end to your bodily needs.

“It seems to me an imperfection, my Sisters, to be always complaining about light illnesses. If you can tolerate them, don’t complain about them. When the sickness is serious, it does the complaining itself; this is different and the sickness is immediately obvious. Consider that you are few, and if one has this habit of complaining, it wears everyone out if you have love for one another and there is charity.”

“If you have lost self-love, you will feel any self-indulgence so keenly that there is no fear you will take anything without necessity or complain needlessly.”

“A fault this body has is that the more comfort we try to give it the more needs it discovers.”

St Teresa also reminds us that we should be willing to bear some trials for our Lord because of our sins

“shouldn’t we suffer just between ourselves and God some of the illnesses He gives us because of our sins? And even more so because by our complaining the sickness is not alleviated.”

Regarding serious illness and death, St Teresa counsels us to practice self-forgetfulness and abandoning yourself totally to God, come what may. We can even “mock” (ie take lightly) our body and death. With determination and God’s graces, we can gain dominion over our bodies. The rewards are well worth it.

“There will be enough Sisters to look after what is necessary; forget about yourselves except in what concerns a definite need. If we do not determine once and for all to swallow death and the lack of health, we will never do anything. Strive not to fear them; abandon yourselves totally to God, come what may. So what if we die? If our body has mocked us so often, shouldn’t we mock it at least once?”

“And believe that this determination is more important than we realize. For little by little as we grow accustomed to this attitude we shall, with the Lord’s help, remain lords of our bodies.”

“May the Lord conquer him as He alone can. I truly believe that the benefits coming from this practice are not known except by one who already enjoys the victory. They are so great, from what I believe, that no one would feel he was undergoing trial if he could remain in this calm and dominion.”

She writes this despite having suffered much illness herself. Kavanaugh notes “Detachment from the body would be inauthentic if it would end up in a lack of compassion for others in their illnesses.”

Chapter 12

St Teresa begins this chapter with a hopeful message about interior mortification (interior = things we might be attached to inside ourselves). While it is a heavy burden, God does lighten the burden. As we grow spiritually, our whole life becomes an act of martyrdom. Our focus turns away from those things which pass, like our life here on earth, and our attention is directed to the Eternal. Focusing on God rather than ourselves frees us spiritually.

“Everything seems to be a heavy burden, and rightly so, because it involves a war against ourselves. But once we begin to work, God does so much in the soul and grants it so many favors that all that one can do in this life seems little.”

“… the whole matter … lies in losing concern about ourselves and our own satisfaction. The least that any of us who has truly begun to serve the Lord can offer Him is our own life … he must not turn his back upon the desire to die for God and suffer martyrdom … all life is short … there is no reason to give importance to anything that will come to an end. And who will not work hard if he thinks that each hour is the last? Well, believe me, thinking this is the safest course.”

In practice, this leads to interior mortification, which brings with it its own pleasure: not pleasure in the self, but pleasure in liberation from the self.

“So, let us try hard to go against our own will in everything. For if you are careful, as I said, you will gradually, without knowing how, find yourselves at the summit. But how extremely rigorous, it seems, to say that we shouldn’t please ourselves in anything when we do not also mention the pleasure and delight this going against our will carries in its wake and what is gained by it even in this life.”

St Teresa closes off the chapter with some modes, common to her time, but also applicable to ours, in which we might assert our self-will. We might focus on privilege, social standing (honor) or wealth. Rather, humility requires that we consider and imitate how the Lord emptied himself, something one can practice anywhere, not only in a monastery.

“Take careful note of interior stirrings, especially if they have to do with privileges of rank.”

“the perfect soul can be detached and humble anywhere … if there is any vain esteem of honor or wealth (and this can be had inside monasteries as well as outside, although inside the occasions for it are more removed and the fault would be greater), you will never grow very much or come to enjoy the true fruit of prayer. And this is so even though you may have many years of experience in prayer — or, better, I should say reflection because perfect prayer in the end removes these bad habits.”

“Clearly, a humble person will reflect on his life and consider how he has served the Lord in comparison with how the Lord ought to be served and the wonders the Lord performed in lowering Himself so as to give us an example of humility; and he will consider his sins and where he merited to be on account of them.”

As a remedy to these acts of pride, St Teresa recommends acts of humility, not just interiorly but exteriorly too. This is also an example for others to follow.

“do not strive only in an interior way … but strive also in an exterior way that the Sisters draw some benefit from your temptation … ask the prioress as soon as the temptation comes to give you orders to do some lowly task; or, if possible, do it on your own and go about studying how to double your willingness to do things that go contrary to your nature.”

St Teresa locates the danger in the small offenses against honor which grow and draw others into the rivalry. Rather we should cut this in the bud immediately and not indulge other’s feelings of being offended.

“… there is nothing so small in which there is so obvious a danger as this concern about honor and whether we have been offended … this concern begins in someone as something small and amounting to hardly anything, and then the devil stirs another to think it is something big, and this other will even think she is practicing charity by going and saying to the offended nun, ‘How do you put up with such an offense? …’ The devil puts such malicious talk on the other Sister’s tongue that though you barely overcome the offense, you are still tempted to vainglory, when in reality you did not suffer with the perfection with which you should have suffered … May no one be moved by an indiscreet charity to show pity for another in something that touches upon these false injuries, for such pity is like that of Job’s wife and friends.”

Chapter 13

St Teresa is still not done discussing the danger of honor and advises us how to recognize and over come it. Attachment to honor is a great spiritual danger, and its remedy is to unite it with the humiliation that Christ received and imitate him and his mother. The cross we bear, like the Cross of our Lord, is never reasonable.

“you should run a thousand miles from such expressions as: ‘I was right.’ ‘They had no reason for doing this to me.’ ‘The one who did this to me was wrong.’ God deliver us from this poor way of reasoning. Does it seem to have been right that our good Jesus suffered so many insults and was made to undergo so much injustice? I don’t know why the nun who doesn’t want to carry the cross, except the one that seems to her reasonable, is in the monastery.”

“Either we are brides of so great a King or we are not. If we are, what honorable woman is there who does not share in the dishonors done to her spouse even though she does not will them? In fact, both spouses share the honor and the dishonor. Now, then, to enjoy a part in His kingdom and want no part in His dishonors and trials is nonsense.”

“Let us, my daughters, imitate in some way the great humility of the Blessed Virgin, whose habit we wear, for it is embarrassing to call ourselves her nuns. However much it seems to us that we humble ourselves, we fall far short of being the daughters of such a Mother and the brides of such a Spouse.”

St Teresa next turns to the question of bad customs. The fact that we imitate one another is not in itself a bad thing, but it can lead to bad customs just as rivalry over honor can poison a community. She understands that it takes effort for a community to maintain its virtues, but its vices are propagate with little effort!

“And if we could understand what great harm is done when a bad custom is begun, we would rather die than be the cause of it. For such a death would be a bodily one, but the loss of souls is a great loss, and it doesn’t seem there is any end to the loss. Once some are dead, others follow after; and all, perhaps, are hurt more from a bad custom we have started than from many virtues. For the devil does not allow the bad custom to cease, but natural weakness causes the virtues to be lost.”

“For the devil does not allow the bad custom to cease, but natural weakness causes the virtues to be lost.”

For the remedy against the imitation of bad habits, St Teresa turns to the primitive rule of the Carmelites and reminds her sisters of their hermitic origins. The community was only there to support the solitary relationship of each member to God, and not more. The detachment is to be from all creatures, including the other members of the community, so there is little danger of too much closeness leading to the imitation of bad habits. It is a radical life, and not everyone is called to it, but for those who are, it is a heaven on earth.

“For the style of life we aim to follow is not just that of nuns but of hermits, and thus you detach yourselves from every creature. I see the Lord gives this favor of detachment in a special way to the one He has chosen for this life. Even though the detachment may not be entirely perfect from the beginning, it is seen that she is advancing toward it by the great contentment and happiness she finds in not having to deal again with anything of the world and by how she relishes everything about the religious life … Here we have a very happy life if one is pleased only with pleasing God and pays no attention to her own satisfaction. If a nun desires something in addition to pleasing God, all will be lost because that something cannot be had … interiorly it takes time to become totally detached and mortified, exteriorly it must be done immediately.”

Chapter 14

In this short chapter, St Teresa develops a thread from the previous where she advises that any nun that “is inclined to the things of the world and not seen to be making progress” should leave. Only those whose intentions are pure will pursue it with determination. Also, they must be intelligent enough to understand the charism of the order and the advise of those wiser than her. A nun with such intelligence will at least be able to give back to the community, even if she herself doesn’t advance much. Since this must be a deep understanding, not merely superficial, it takes time to discern.

“I truly believe that the Lord highly favors the one who has real determination. Thus, the intention of the new member should be considered, lest she merely be looking for a secure future,”

“the Lord can bring this intention to perfection if she has good intelligence; but if she doesn’t, in no way should she be accepted, for neither will she understand why she is entering, nor afterward will she understand those who desire to lead her along the best spiritual path. For the most part those who have this fault always think they know more about what suits them than do those who are wiser.”

“When a nun with good intelligence begins to grow attached to good, she takes hold of it with fortitude because she sees that doing so is most appropriate. And if her intelligence doesn’t help her to attain a high degree of spirituality, it will be useful for giving good counsel and for many other services without being a bother to anyone.”

“This lack of intelligence is not so quickly noticed. For many speak well but understand poorly; others speak little and without polish but they have the intelligence for a great deal of good. In fact, there is a holy simplicity that knows little about the affairs and style of the world but a lot about dealing with God.”

Chapter 15

In this chapter, St Teresa narrows her focus down on a particular kind of mortification, not excusing yourself even if falsely blamed, and begins by self-ironizing in a manner that shows how self-aware she is! After making excuses for the disordered nature of the work and blaming her nuns for asking her to write it, she adds

“Now it is wrong for me to ask you to avoid doing what I have just finished doing, that is, making excuses. For I see that not making excuses for oneself is a habit characteristic of high perfection, and very meritorious; it gives great edification. And although I have often taught it to you, and by God’s goodness you practice it, His Majesty has never given it to me.”

And yet she fully recognizes that

“Indeed, it calls for great humility to be silent at seeing oneself condemned without fault. This is a wonderful way to imitate the Lord who took away all our faults. So, I ask you to take great care about this practice; it brings with it great benefits. I see no reason at all for us to try to excuse ourselves, unless, as I say, in some cases where not telling the truth would cause anger or scandal. When to excuse oneself will be recognized by those who have more discretion than I.”

St Teresa praises this virtue highly because it such a close imitation of our Lord. It can do no bodily harm and in fact needs no bodily strength, but looks only to God for strength.

“The truly humble person must in fact desire to be held in little esteem, persecuted, and condemned without fault even in serious matters. If she desires to imitate the Lord, in what better way can she do so? For here there is no need of bodily strength or help from anyone but God.”

“and let us do this penance, for you already know that I am rather strict when there is question of your doing too many penances. They can do harm to one’s health if done without discretion. In this practice there is nothing to fear.”

In fact, we really can’t complain because

“we are never, never blamed without there being faults on our part, for we always go about full of them since the just man falls seven times a day, and it would be a lie to say we have no sin. Thus even though we are blamed for faults we haven’t committed, we are never entirely without fault, as was the good Jesus.”

“O my Lord, when I think of the many ways You suffered and how You deserved none of these sufferings, I don’t know what to say about myself, nor do I know where my common sense was when I didn’t want to suffer, nor where I am when I excuse myself … Give me light and grant that I may truly desire to be abhorred by all since I have so often failed You who have loved me so faithfully.”

Rather the important thing is that we be faultless in the eyes of God, not man, and allowing yourself to be falsely blamed can even be a way of preaching Christ to others:

“What is this, my God? What do we expect to obtain from pleasing creatures? What does it matter if we are blamed a lot by all of them if in Your presence we are without fault? … For when you have no other gain than the embarrassment of the person who after having blamed you sees that you are in fact without fault and yet allow yourself to be condemned, that gain is extremely great … We must all try to be preachers through our deeds …”

St Teresa both consoles and warns her sisters that the good or evil they do will not remain a secret. If they are wrongly accused, then God will provide someone to defend you if it is necessary. It may seem impossible to someone who is not mortified, but you should actually rejoice at being blamed because of the benefit it has for your soul. You should not worry about being defended; rather, you should be indifferent about what they are saying about you, and have detachment from yourself.

“However enclosed you are, never think that the good or evil you do will remain a secret. And do you think, daughters, that when you do not excuse yourselves there will be lacking someone to defend you? … But I wouldn’t want you to be thinking about being defended, but that you rejoice in being blamed; and time will be the witness to the benefit you will see in your soul. For one begins to obtain freedom and doesn’t care whether they say good or evil of him but rather thinks of what is said as though it were another’s affair. … In the beginning it is difficult; but I know that such freedom, self-denial, and detachment from ourselves can, with God’s help, be attained.”

Closing Remarks: In these chapters, St Teresa is still not ready to teach us about prayer but continues to prepare us by discussing detachment and humility. While detachment from worldly goods opens up the possibility for humility, detachment from self-will is true humility and gives us “holy freedom of spirit”.

In practice, humility requires that we imitate how the Lord emptied himself. Exteriorly, we should take on lowly tasks and, interiorly, we should root out any sense of entitlement. Manifesting indignation because of some offense can poison a community, as can bad habits. St Teresa reminds her nuns that they are called to be hermits and practice detachment even from other members of the community. In this way the propagation of bad customs is mitigated. This is not a life for anyone, but only for those who can understand it and pursue it with determination.

St Teresa advises on the need to mortify our bodies which know no limit to their desire for comfort. The aim should be freedom from bodily self-will and not heroic asceticism. This can be done without danger of harm by such practices as keeping silence. Inordinate complaining about discomforts is disordered; rather, we should bear these trials because of our sins. Our whole life is to be one prolonged martyrdom in which we loose concern for ourselves and offer our life to God, even unto death. This has its own pleasure: not pleasure in the self, but pleasure in liberation from the self.

Finally, we should practice humility by not excuse ourselves when falsely accused. While this may be unjust, we can’t complain because we are never without some fault. In fact we should rejoice because it is beneficial for our souls to so closely imitate Christ who was falsely condemned. No good or evil deed remains hidden, so God will provide you a defense if necessary. Rather, we should remain indifferent to what others say about us.