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 16
- In this chapter, St Teresa is finally ready to begin her discussion on prayer! After spending over a third of the book discussing the virtues necessary as a foundations for prayer, she is now ready to discuss vocal, mental and contemplative prayer. She compares what she’s been up to like a game of chess, in which setting up the pieces is analogous to developing the necessary virtues, particularly humility which is most powerful.
“Don’t think that what I have said so far is all I have to say, for I am just setting up the game, as they say. You asked me to mention something about the foundation for prayer. Even though God did not lead me by means of this foundation, for I still don’t have these virtues,[2] I know of no other. Now realize that anyone who doesn’t know how to set up the pieces for a game of chess won’t know how to play well. And if he doesn’t know how to check his opponent’s king, he won’t know how to checkmate it either.”
“The queen is the piece that can carry on the best battle in this game, and all the other pieces help. There’s no queen like humility for making the King surrender. Humility drew the King from heaven to the womb of the Virgin … For I cannot understand how there could be humility without love or love without humility.”
- St Teresa next turns to the distinction between contemplation and meditation. It’s not clear here if St Teresa takes “meditation” to mean the same as “mental prayer” (she uses the Spanish ‘meditacion’ for the former, and ‘oracion mental’ for the latter), but she goes on to say that contemplation is something altogether different. Meditation is the basis for acquiring all the virtues and essential for any Christian life. It is the starting point even if we don’t possess all the virtues. While contemplation is something beyond, comparing it to checkmate in her analogy between the prayer life and chess and something God gives us only when we give ourselves entirely to Him.
“I say that had you asked about meditation I could have spoken about it and counseled all to practice it even though they do not possess the virtues, for meditation is the basis for acquiring all the virtues, and to undertake it is a matter of life and death for all Christians.”
“But contemplation is something else, daughters … if a person spends a little time each day thinking about his sins … they immediately say he is a very contemplative soul … but [this] is mistaken. In the beginning he didn’t know how to set up the game. He thought it was enough to know the pieces in order to checkmate the King. But that was impossible, for this King doesn’t give Himself but to those who give themselves entirely to Him.”
- Just as St Teresa has had to explain the relationship between the virtues (humility in particular) and mental prayer, she now warns that she has more to explain before progressing from mental prayer to contemplation.
“Therefore, daughters, if you desire that I tell you about the way that leads to contemplation, you will have to bear with me if I enlarge a little on some other matters … And if you don’t want to hear about them or to put them into practice, stay with your mental prayer for your whole life, for I assure you and all persons who aim after true contemplation … that you will not thereby reach it.”
- At this point, St Teresa tries to turn to the question of mental prayer, “to explain — because some of you don’t know — what mental prayer is, and please God we shall practice this as it ought to be practiced” but she is immediately gets caught up in a digression about the impediment that a lack of virtue creates for mental prayer. A careful reading reveals a circularity in her reasoning. If we take “meditation” and “mental prayer” as essentially synonymous, then in paragraph 3 she says that “meditation is the basis for acquiring all the virtues”, while in paragraph 6 she asserts “that mental prayer also involves much labor if the virtues are not obtained”. So, which is first? Acquisition of the virtues or mental prayer?
The circularity here doesn’t seem insurmountable. When we first begin to pray, we lack much in the way of the virtues and may find mental prayer difficult, but as we persist, the virtues will grow making our mental prayer easier until we break out of the cycle. This is my particular reading of St Teresa and it is speculative, but it does describe my own experience in my prayer life.
“But I fear that mental prayer also involves much labor if the virtues are not obtained — although it’s not necessary that they be possessed in as high a degree as is required for contemplation. I say that the King of glory will not come to our soul — I mean to be united with it — if we do not make the effort to gain the great virtues.”
- St Teresa’s digression is understandable because she’s trying to express a complex thought here. Normally, great virtue is required for ease in mental prayer and even greater virtue before God grants us contemplation. But contemplation really is a gift from God and he does sometimes grant it briefly to those in a bad state to draw them out. So, we cannot presume on God’s ways. He fights the devil for us by any means he sees fit.
“I want to say, then, that there are times when God will want to grant some great favor to persons who are in a bad state so as to draw them by this means out of the hands of the devil … O my Lord, how often do we make You fight the devil in arm to arm combat!”
“there are souls that God thinks He can win to Himself by these means … And even though they are in a bad state and lacking in virtue, He gives them spiritual delight, consolation, and tenderness that begin to stir the desires … though He does so rarely and it lasts only a short while … so as to try them to see if with that favor they will want to prepare themselves to enjoy Him often.
- But for those who actually prepare themselves in the virtues and give themselves over with determination, God gifts them with contemplation and doesn’t stop until we reach a very high degree. However, if we don’t give ourselves over to him completely, he leaves us in mental prayer.
“For myself I hold that there are many to whom our Lord God gives this test, but few who prepare themselves for the enjoyment of the favor of contemplation. When the Lord grants it and we do not fail on our part, I hold as certain that He never ceases to give until we reach a very high degree. When we do not give ourselves to His Majesty with the determination with which He gives Himself to us, He does a good deal by leaving us in mental prayer …”
- Before closing, St Teresa exhorts her sisters to remain determined and keep our eyes always fixed on Christ. Even when we do something imperfect, we should not turn our eyes to the imperfection, but persist in our path to becoming saints.
“O Lord, how true that all harm comes to us from not keeping our eyes fixed on You; if we were to look at nothing else but the way, we would soon arrive …
“God deliver us, Sisters, when we do something imperfect, from saying: “We’re not angels, we’re not saints.” Consider that even though we’re not, it is a great good to think that if we try we can become saints with God’s help.
- St Teresa closes with an apology for her digression. For those who have become accustom to St Teresa’s style, her self-awareness is comical as she points out the shortcomings of the text within the text itself — something of a dramatization of self-detachment in textual form.
“I have digressed a good deal. I want to return to what I was saying, that is, explaining the nature of mental prayer and of contemplation. It may seem impertinent for me to be doing that, but for you everything is acceptable. It may be that you will understand the matter better through my rough style than through other more elegant styles. May the Lord help me, amen.”
Chapter 17
- St Teresa continues to build up the tension for the reader expecting her to finally begin explaining mental prayer and contemplation! This chapter focuses on yet one more important aspect of humility as it pertains to prayer: not everyone is called to contemplation, which is not necessary for our salvation, and the truly humble person will accept whatever path God chooses for us, whether that of an active or a contemplative. In fact, St Teresa shocks our modern sensibility by praising the absolute lowest position in the monastery, to serve the servants of the Lord!
“How could a truly humble person think he is as good as those who are contemplative? … Prepare yourself so that God may lead you along this path if He so desires. When He doesn’t, you can practice humility, which is to consider yourself lucky to serve the servants of the Lord and praise His Majesty because He brought you among them and drew you away from the devils in hell where you deserved to be a slave of these devils.
- St Teresa’s words should not be distressing, but a consolation, to someone who isn’t very contemplative. In fact this lowly path may even be higher in the eyes of the Lord and she may receive even greater rewards in heaven!
“it is important to understand that God doesn’t lead all by one path, and perhaps the one who thinks she is walking along a very lowly path is in fact higher in the eyes of the Lord.”
“So, not because all in this house practice prayer must all be contemplatives; that’s impossible. And it would be very distressing for the one who isn’t a contemplative if she didn’t understand the truth that to be a contemplative is a gift from God; and since being one isn’t necessary for salvation, nor does God demand this, she shouldn’t think anyone will demand it of her.”
- St Teresa remarks on the diversity of intellects and temperaments that make the contemplative path difficult for some, and even includes herself since she had difficulty in meditation for many years. The important thing is humility. This is always the safest path because spiritual delights can be deceptive, but humility is always certain.
“I spent fourteen years never being able to practice meditation without reading.”
“I know an elderly person who lives a good life, is penitential and an excellent servant of God, who has spent many hours for many years in vocal prayer, but in mental prayer she’s helpless … If humility is present, I don’t believe they will be any the worse off in the end but will be very much the equals of those who receive many delights; and in a way they will be more secure, for we do not know if the delights are from God or from the devil.”
“Those who do not receive these delights walk with humility, suspecting that this lack is their own fault, always concerned about making progress … In humility, mortification, detachment, and the other virtues there is always greater security. There is nothing to fear; don’t be afraid that you will fail to reach the perfection of those who are very contemplative.”
- Finally, St Teresa clarifies that she’s not suggesting that her nuns not strive to be contemplatives, but that it is not of one’s choosing, so you should leave your path in life up to God.
“I don’t say that we shouldn’t try; on the contrary, we should try everything. What I am saying is that this is not a matter of your choosing but of the Lord’s. If after many years He should give to each a certain task, it would be a nice kind of humility for you to want to choose for yourselves … Be sure that if you do what lies in your power, preparing yourselves for contemplation with the perfection mentioned, and that if He doesn’t give it to you (and I believe He will give it if detachment and humility are truly present), He will save this gift for you so as to grant it to you all at once in heaven.”
Chapter 18
- St Teresa dedicates this chapter to expelling any illusions that those in the active life might have about contemplatives. While it may seem that the latter receive nothing but spiritual delights from the Lord, this is far from the case, and they often have to undergo trials that, without the grace of courage and determination, they would not be able to sustain. While St Teresa doesn’t expand on what these trials might be, except to say that “you would be surprised at the ways and modes in which God gives them crosses”, one can easily imagine the sort of inner trials contemplatives undergo. St Teresa describes theirs as “a rough and uneven path”, so much so that “at times they think they are lost and must return to begin again”.
“I know both paths, and I know clearly that the trials God gives to contemplatives are intolerable. These trials are of such a kind that if He didn’t give that food with its delights, these persons wouldn’t be able to endure the trials.”
“So, I see few true contemplatives who are not courageous and determined to suffer, for the first thing the Lord does, if they are weak, is to give them courage and make them unafraid of trials.”
“I believe that when those of the active life see the contemplative favored a little, they think there is nothing else to the contemplative’s life than receiving favors. Well, I say that perhaps these active persons couldn’t endure one day of the kind the contemplative endures. Thus, since the Lord knows what each one is suited for, He gives to each person a proper task …”
- There are many paths in the spiritual life, and we should trust the Lord to point out the path that plays to our strengths and be eager to serve. Even for her nuns called to contemplative life, those that can’t engage in mental prayer should turn to vocal prayer.
“Since the captain sees his soldiers present and eager to serve and has understood the capability of each one, he distributes the duties according to the strengths he sees … So it is with us, Sisters; let us give ourselves to mental prayer. And let whoever cannot practice it turn to vocal prayer, reading, and colloquy with God, as I shall say afterward.”
- She likens God’s guidance of path in the spiritual life to a captain distributing duties to his soldiers, and equates contemplatives to standard-bearers in battle. In the confusion of any battle, rallying points are needed, and these are the standard-bearers. They must hold high the cross, the “flag of humility”, in the midst of a battle in which they cannot defend themselves.
“Even though the standard-bearer doesn’t fight in the battle, he doesn’t for that reason fail to walk in great danger; and interiorly he must do more work than anyone. Since he carries the flag, he cannot defend himself; and even though they cut him to pieces he must not let it out of his hands. So it is with contemplatives: they must keep the flag of humility raised and suffer all the blows they receive without returning any. Their duty is to suffer as Christ did, to hold high the cross …”
- We really don’t have an overview of our lives and can’t understand what path is best for us, and so we should leave it up to the Lord, submitting humbly to his will, rather than demanding what we think we deserve. We really don’t know the chalice of which we are to drink, and only God can determine if we are ready to drink from it. In the next life, we will understand the value of our experiences in this, but we can’t understand that yet. Speaking of her nuns, St Teresa calls for obedience, and by extension humility, as the safest and most certain path, in contrast other devotions (more mystical in nature) in which there is the possibility of illusions from the devil.
“So, Sisters, we don’t know what we are asking for. Let us leave it to the Lord … There are some persons who demand favors from God as though these were due them in justice. That’s a nice kind of humility! Thus, He who knows all very seldom grants such persons favors, and rightly so. He sees clearly that they are not ready to drink from the chalice.”
“What each of you will understand, daughters, if you are advanced, will be that you are the most wretched of all … for we shall have to wait for the next world to see the value of such experiences.”
“I say that I don’t know why a nun under obedience by vow is in the monastery if she doesn’t make every effort to practice this obedience with greater perfection. At least I can assure her that as long as she fails in obedience she will never attain to being a contemplative.”
“I conclude by saying that these are the virtues I desire you to have [ie. obedience] … As for those other devotions … having them is an uncertain matter. It could be that in other persons they may be from God, whereas in your case His Majesty may permit them to be an illusion of the devil and that you be deceived by him …”
Chapter 19
- This chapter represents a break from St Teresa’s earlier train of thought, and she beings by admitting that “so many days have gone by since I wrote the above … I’ll have to let this work turn out in whatever way it does, without any order.” Nonetheless, she does bring her focus back to mental prayer and embarks on an extended metaphor in which she tries to explain the final goal, contemplation and divine union.
Since mental prayer is preparatory for contemplation, she laments the difficulty some people have in engaging in it due to unruly thoughts. For this, she advises determination to the very end, lest they stop just short of their final goal without even knowing it.
“There is nothing for me to say to anyone who can form the habit of following this method of prayer, or who has already formed it, for by means of so good a path the Lord will draw him to the haven of light … But what I would like to speak about and offer a remedy for … is the following. There are some souls and minds so scattered they are like wild horses no one can stop.”
“I pity these souls greatly, for they seem to be like very thirsty persons who see water in the distance, but when they want to go there, they meet someone who prevents their passing from the beginning through the middle to the end … and perhaps they were no more than two steps from the fount of living water, of which the Savior said to the Samaritan woman, ‘whoever drinks of it will never thirst.'”
- St Teresa next turns to her extended metaphor in which she uses the images of fire and water to explain what contemplation and divine union are. The metaphor is complex and open to interpretation, so what follows is a reading that, I believe, is consistent with what St Teresa is trying to communicate. The difficulty comes because she uses the image of water and fire equivocally. The ambiguities, however, can be resolved if we take the images as referring to either to their earthly or heavenly variety and take “fire” as referring to some passion and “water” as that which satisfies it.
- She starts by noting three properties of water pertinent to the discussion:
- The first property of water is that it extinguishes its opposite, fire. Heavenly water extinguishes any earthly attachment (“a great fire”), but not desire for God (“fire … from pitch”). Then this heavenly water enhances it more.
“The first is that it refreshes; for, no matter how much heat we may experience, as soon as we approach the water the heat goes away. If there is a great fire, it is extinguished by water — unless the fire burns from pitch; then it is en-kindled more.”
- Then she inverts the imagery and has water refer to earthly satisfactions (“water … from the earth”), and pits it against the inextinguishable fire which is the love of God. One can even interpret this as divine union.
“So, as I say, the water that rises from the earth has no power over the love of God; the flames of this love are very high, and the source of it is not found in anything so lowly. There are other little fires of love of God that any event will extinguish. But extinguish this fire? No, not at all! Even though a whole sea of temptations comes, the fire will not be put out and thereby made to lose control over these temptations.”
- But when both the water and the fire are from heaven, they enhance one another
“Well, if it is water that rains from heaven, so much less will it extinguish this fire; the two are not contraries but from the same land. Have no fear that the one element will do harm to the other; rather, they help each other produce their effect. For the water of true tears, those that flow in true prayer, readily given by the King of heaven, helps the fire burn more and last longer; and the fire helps the water bring refreshment.”
- The second property of water is that it cleans us. The metaphor of water cleansing our sins is common — one has only to think of Baptism. But here St Teresa adds a profound insight regarding the attainment of perfection. While we can make some progress by our own efforts, we can’t fully remove all our imperfections. Since we always carry with ourselves some imperfection, and since you can’t attain to perfection using imperfect means, we can never attain perfection by our own efforts. Rather, the perfection of divine union is supernatural and not a matter of our own choosing.
- Here I quote paragraph six in its entirety as it conveys the insight so eloquently:
“Another property of water is that it cleans dirty things. What would the world be like if there were no water for washing? Do you know how clean this water is, this heavenly water, this clear water, when it isn’t cloudy, when it isn’t muddy, but falls from heaven? Once this water has been drunk, I am certain that it leaves the soul bright and cleansed of all faults. Since this divine union is something very supernatural, it is not a matter of our own choosing. As I have written, God doesn’t permit a soul to drink this water unless to cleanse it and leave it clean and free from all the mud and misery in which, through its own faults, it was struck. Other delights that come through the medium of the intellect, however much they may accomplish, come from water running on the ground; they do not come from drinking at the fount. There is never a lack of muddy things to detain one on this path, and the water is not so pure and clean. Living water is not what I call this prayer in which, as I say, there is reasoning with the intellect; I mean from the way I understand things. For something from the road that we don’t want will stick to our soul and be helped to cling there by our body and natural lowliness, however much we may want to avoid this.”
- St Teresa illustrates this point by showing us that, even in thinking about how to negate this world, our attention turns back to the world and we still affirm it! This is such an important point, and she does such a good job at conveying the idea, that I quote paragraph seven in its entirety.
“Let me explain myself further: suppose that in order to despise the world we are thinking about its nature and how all things come to an end. Almost without our realizing it we find ourselves thinking about the things we like in the world; and in desiring to flee them, we are at least hindered a little by thinking about how they were and how they will be and what we will do; in order to think of what we must do to free ourselves, we place ourselves in danger again. Not that this reasoning must be abandoned, but one must be fearful; it’s necessary to proceed with care.”
“By means of this living water the Lord Himself takes up these cares, for He doesn’t want to entrust them to us. He so esteems our soul that He doesn’t allow it to be occupied with things that can harm it during the time He wishes to favor it. Rather, He immediately places it near Himself and shows it in an instant more truths, and gives it clearer understanding of what everything is, than we could have here below in many years. For our eyes don’t see clearly; the dust blinds us as we walk. By this living water the Lord brings us to the end of the journey without our understanding how.”
- The third property of water is that it satisfies. You can die from too little, but you can also die from too much heavenly water “because the love of God and desire for Him can increase so much that the natural subject is unable to endure it, and so there have been persons who have died from love.” St Teresa herself says she knows of a woman “who would have died if God hadn’t succored her immediately with such an abundance of this living water, for she was almost carried out of herself with raptures.” But since God can never give us something that will harm us, He will increase our capacity to receive what he gives us. All desire comes from the self, and the longing to completely forsake this world to be with God is moderated by the desire to help others along the same path.
“It should be understood here that since there can be nothing imperfect in our supreme Good, everything He gives is for our good; and however great the abundance of this water He gives, there cannot be too much in anything of His. If He gives a great deal, He gives the soul, as I said, the capacity to drink much; like a glass-maker who makes the vessel a size he sees is necessary in order to hold what he intends to pour into it.”
“In desiring this water there is always some fault, since the desire comes from ourselves; if some good comes, it comes from the Lord who helps. But we are so indiscreet that since the pain is sweet and delightful, we never think we can have enough of this pain … we foster this desire as much as we can, and so sometimes it kills … But perhaps by continuing to live we can help others die of desire for this death. And I believe the devil causes this desire for death, for he understands the harm that can be done by such a person while alive; and so at this stage he tempts one to perform indiscreet penances so that one’s health will be lost …”
- St Teresa closes this chapter by explaining that, by making the goal of contemplation and divine union explicit right from the beginning, her nuns would not despair and abandon the path when they encounter trials along their way, but rather would persist with determination until the end. Thus she ends the chapter addressing the difficulty that she commented on in the beginning, and exhorts her sisters to trust that the Lord’s invitation to divine union is open to all.
“Why do you think, daughters, that I have tried to explain the goal and show you the reward before the battle, by telling you about the good that comes from drinking of this heavenly fount, of this living water? So that you will not be dismayed by the trial and contradiction there is along the way, and advance with courage and not grow weary … Behold, the Lord invites all … If this invitation were not a general one, the Lord wouldn’t have called us all … He could have said, ‘Come all of you, for in the end you won’t lose anything, and to those whom I choose I will give to drink.’ But since He spoke without this condition to all, I hold as certain that all those who do not falter on the way will drink this living water.”
Closing Remarks: In these chapters, St Teresa finally turns her attention from the virtues, which are the necessary for prayer, to prayer itself and discusses vocal, mental and contemplative prayer. Mental prayer, which on my reading she also calls meditation, is the basis of acquiring the virtues, and the acquisition of the virtues make mental prayer easy. Contemplation, on the other hand, is something altogether different. It is a pure gift from God which he gives us when we give ourselves entirely to Him. Typically, contemplation requires a very high degree of virtue, but sometimes he grants it briefly to those in a bad state to draw them out. But for those who are ready, God doesn’t stop gifting us with contemplation until we reach a very high degree. However, if we don’t give ourselves over to him completely, he leaves us in mental prayer.
St Teresa, however, does take on more digression on the importance of humility as in our prayer life: not everyone is called to contemplation. It is not necessary for our salvation and the truly humble person accepts whatever path God chooses, whether active or contemplative. In fact, the active, as a servant of the servants of God (ie of the contemplatives) may be following the higher path! Humility is always the safest path because spiritual delights might be deceptive. Nor should the active think that contemplatives receive only spiritual delights from the Lord. The latter undergo many trials and require special graces to sustain them. They are like standard-bearers in battle who cannot defend themselves, yet must still hold high the “flag of humility” despite blows. Only God knows what chalice we are to drink of, and so we should leave the decision of our calling in his hands.
St Teresa ends her digression and returns to her discussion on prayer. Mental prayer is the path to contemplation, but since it is difficulty, especially for those whose minds are restless, they give up before they reach the final goal, which is contemplation and divine union. To encourage them to persist with determination, she makes the goal explicit from the onset and assures them that it is well worth the trials. To describe contemplation, she compares it to heavenly water: 1. Heavenly water (contemplation) extinguishes any earthly fire (attachment to creatures) but increases heavenly fire (love for God). 2. Heavenly water cleanses us. We cannot use our own faculties (intellect) which are themselves dirty, to clean ourselves, and so the final step of perfection can only come from God by this heavenly water. 3. Heavenly water satisfies. In fact, too much can kill us, but since no evil can come from God, he expands our souls to accommodate it.