130: St Teresa of A 9/16: The Movement of Contemplative Prayer

It is an essential part of the Mission given by God to St Teresa to teach us how to practise the Prayer of the Heart. In truth she can be considered to be a major Prophet. Admittedly she is not the first one in history to do this, but, by an exceptional grace, God wanted her to leave a legacy greater in breadth and depth that would impact on the Church at a very critical moment in its history. In fact, when the Protestant Reformation claimed that each person needs to have a direct personal relationship with God, the Lord sent this great Prophet to the Church to show us the orthodox and therefore fuller way to have it. In every sense she embodies the perfect way to have a personal relationship with Jesus. She takes her time in her books (Autobiography, Way of Perfection, Interior Castle) to explain to us in a very practical, flexible and accessible way how to practise the Prayer of the Heart, indicating what happens, how we feel it, and how we can discern it. It will be of great benefit, now, to explore her precious teaching and learn from her how to practise the Prayer of the Heart.

St Teresa learned how to practise the Prayer of the Heart by reading some well-known authors of her time especially Francisco de Osuna (1497 – c. 1540), on his Third Spiritual Alphabet. In particular his explanation of the word 'recollection' was of great help. It might be useful, here, to recall what we emphasized in earlier chapters, that she had to be determined to give everything to Christ, to become totally his, in order to give a solid foundation to her prayer life so that the Prayer of the Heart would commence bearing fruit. It is worth remembering that before her conversion, she practised only intermittently what Francisco de Osuna described on how to recollect oneself. It is also helpful to reiterate here that the foundations of the Prayer of the Heart are laid, first, when there is a call from Christ to follow Him from close proximity, followed by an inflow of the Grace of the Holy Spirit, the total and determined gift of oneself, and lastly especially by the determination to follow Him, unconditionally and selflessly. The Prayer of the Heart is not a relaxation technique, a form of entertainment, or a quest of any kind! It does not occur just out of our pure initiative, it happens in a very precise context, the context of a relationship that starts with Christ, where we put our hand into His Hands, in order to walk with Him and follow Him. St Teresa teaches us that the Prayer of the Heart is a love encounter with Christ where we are immersed in Him, where He pours into us his Love, the very essence of the Holy Spirit. We can add without fear of betraying her teaching (see end of Way of Perfection) that the Prayer of the Heart is the extension of our most recent Communion, the 'digestive' process that comes with it! It is a substantial meal where the human being is fed, mostly in the very depths of his heart! What is more to the point, however, is that the effects of this food appear quite rapidly!

What now has to be considered is when to practise contemplative prayer. This covers the material aspect of the practice in space and time. According to St Teresa, we can practise the Prayer of the Heart in two forms: first, by dedicating to it short moments during the day, as if to nourish and sustain ourselves during the journey, and secondly, by choosing to dedicate one or two specific moments during the day for longer practice. As we know, St Teresa established the rule that her reformed nuns would practise one entire hour of Prayer of the Heart in the morning and another hour in the late afternoon.

The next consideration encompasses the method to be used. In her book, the Way of Perfection, in chapters 26, 28 through to 31, St Teresa offers her best description of 'how to practise the Prayer of the Heart'. But an important point must first be clarified. As we underlined in the previous chapters, the grace of God is offered to us in two different ways: first, through general ordinary help, and secondly, through personal and direct Grace. The journey of our heart (our very being) until it is immersed in the furnace of Christ's Love is then divided into two parts: the first part depends on us, when St Teresa invites us to activate and use the general help of the grace of God, but then she tells us that the second part is simply the free response from God.

God, it is to be remembered, is at the door of our being, He never violates our freedom and never forces us to enter into HIm. On the contrary, Almighty God waits for us to give ourselves to Him. If we offer ourselves to Him, if we entrust ourselves into his hands, if we throw ourselves into his very arms, his response will be immediate and He will possess us and we will be immersed in Him while his Holy Spirit is poured into us. As we have seen, according to St Teresa the process entails two 'steps' which she calls 'Prayer of Recollection' and 'Prayer of Quiet'. The first one is realised when we give ourselves to Him, thereby expressing our choice to Him, and the second one, in response to the gift of ourselves to Him, occurs when He gives himself to us, namely, when we are immersed in Him. In the Prayer of the Heart both of them are inseparable.

As will be noted, consequently, when reading St Teresa's writings two expressions stand out sharply when delineating these parts of the journey: 'Prayer of Recollection' and 'Prayer of Quiet'. One could be tempted to think that these are two consecutive stages and ways of practising the Prayer of the Heart. A beginner for instance, would be forgiven for thinking one would start with the practice of the 'Prayer of Recollection' and subsequently after a few months or even one or two years, according to God's will, he or she would then be moved on by God toward a more supernatural prayer, that is, 'Supernatural Recollection' or in fact right into the 'Prayer of Quiet'. This vision entailing successive sections is erroneous. The 'Prayer of Recollection' and the 'Prayer of Quiet' are two halves of one and only one fruit: the complete act of the Prayer of the Heart.

God's Desire to Give of Himself

It is a fact, however, that commentators are often misled and are even induced into thinking that these are successive stages. The reason is based on a partial understanding of the Supernatural, that is, the Theology of Grace. Theology is extremely firm that God gives himself to whom He wants, when He wants and in the way chosen by Him. However, the freedom of God the Giver of the Grace of God is but part of the Theology of Grace. The other more significant part that is not always taken into consideration, is the desire in God himself and his thirst to give himself to us. Indeed, God has an overwhelming thirst to give himself to us! The saints tell us, indeed, and from experience, about this all-consuming desire. Therefore it is imperative that the two aspects of the unequivocal truth on the Theology of Grace be joined to understand that if we offer ourselves to God, He will never delay in coming to possess us and pour his grace into us. When using the general help of His Grace we clarify our availability to God, and in turn He does not coldly stand back watching and waiting, detached and inactive. According to the knowledge of the saints - St.John of the Cross, St.Therese of Lisieux to name but a few - this is definitely not the real God. He is thirsty, He IS Thirst itself, and we are the water that can quench this great thirst. Therefore if we practise the Prayer of Recollection (Way of Perfection chapters 26, 28-29), his reply is immediately offering us the first stages of his supernatural action, mostly the Prayer of Quiet, where the in-dwelling of God commences. (Way of perfection, Chapters 30-31).

Theology of Grace

The following explanation deals with a delicate matter concerning the Theology of Grace and its interpretation, but it should be understood by everyone in order to understand what God really desires of us and how we are to implement this desire in order to grow steadily in the Spiritual Life.

When we say that 'God gives himself 'the way He wants, when He wants to whom He wants', this sounds very incomplete because it gives the impression that God, for some unfathomable and mysterious reason, or simply for the sake of safeguarding his total freedom, acts strangely, and and has no real desire to communicate with on a regular basis. It also gives the impression that the Grace of God is like a delicacy which He is in two minds about imparting to us. This is definitively not the case. Herein, lies the crux of the matter from which huge confusion results.

In order to clarify the matter, let us first of all state that no-one challenges the freedom of God, no-one interferes in his decisions. But it must not be forgotten that He died for us and this in itself reveals the insatiable thirst He has to give himself to us, all of us, all the time and abundantly. It is impossible to endure what He did for each one of us, as evinced by his sufferings, Passion, Death, without his being totally committed to love of us and without being consumed by his Thirst for us. Otherwise this would seem to contradict the received belief. Given this, then, wherein lies the difficulty? Two incorrect assumptions cause this difficulty to arise. First, the thirst of God is not clearly perceived, nor is his constancy in wanting to give himself to all of us, all the time and abundantly. Secondly, there is confusion between the perception of the Grace of God (which falls into the soul and or the body, being an extra and optional 'crumb' from the divine table), and the Grace itself (that is uncreated and communicated to our supra-conscious spirit, but imperceptible to the conscious soul and body).

A significant question now presents itself: why does God not give the 'perception of the Grace' with the Grace itself? The answer is important for it illustrates that the beginner tends to confuse the perception of it with the uncreated Grace itself and, as a consequence, will easily idolise the 'perception', and deviate from Faith, going astray from the True God. It is only faith that leads to the real Uncreated God.

As a conclusion, we can say that the truth that 'God gives himself the way He wants, when He wants to whom He wants' would generally apply not to the core of the grace – the condition, as we have seen, being the gift of oneself – but to the perception of the grace of God. Thus a fairer evaluation would be to say: 'God gives the perception of his grace in the soul/body the way He wants, when He wants to whom He wants'.

Theology of Grace and St Teresa

A brief aside is indicated here to clarify some points St. Teresa makes on the Theology of Grace. When St Teresa of Avila reminds us what theology says concerning the freedom of God to give of himself 'when He wants, to whom He wants, and in the way He wants', we must be aware that she is at an early stage of her spiritual life (Autobiography). At this early stage she cannot distinguish between first, the core of the grace poured into the spirit, secondly, the perception of the grace in the soul and/or the body and lastly a possible particular effect on the body – tears. When explaining this supernatural action of God in prayer, Teresa uses the allegory of watering the garden, where water is the Grace of God, with the human being himself as the garden. However, here, 'water' comprises these three realities and they have become fused together, without Teresa consciously realising it in her mind, namely, receiving the grace in the spirit, second, feeling the grace (soul/body), third, having tears as a more common effect in the body. This may be misleading, hence the explanation given above which comes from St John of the Cross' teaching. This is a further reason that seems to reinforce the aforementioned partial understanding of how the Grace of God works. In addition to what has just been outlined, therefore, we have to bear in mind the difference between the General help of the Grace of God and the Particular help of the Grace of God, as seen in previous chapters.

In conclusion, it must be realised that it is necessary to remember the crucial fact that the foundation of the Theology of Prayer should be based on a complete and clear understanding of its vital component – the Theology of Grace.

The Nature of Contemplation

Added to this is the fact that having a correct understanding of all the above-mentioned concepts would immeasurably aid the proper understanding of the nature of contemplation. As a previous chapter illustrates, during the first part of last century, theologians discussed and argued interminably about the nature of contemplation. One group stressed the importance of the human element in it, which makes it something that is acquired by human effort, and the other group laid great stress on the importance of the supernatural (infused) aspect of it. As it happens, both are right: both stress the decisive aspects of contemplation, the human part and the divine part. Both are vital for its success. It is the story of the meeting of two beings: God and the human being... The Prayer of the Heart, it is important to realise, is essentially the story of an expressed love between them (and to love means to give oneself), and that it is impossible to take into consideration only one of them and ignore the other. Both beings have free will, both can give themselves. The Prayer of the Heart is the mutual gift of each of them to the other. A similar mutual gifting occurs during Communion: God gives himself to us, and we give ourselves to Him. Communion should remain a very important point of reference for us in our practice of the Prayer of the Heart – we cannot afford to neglect it.

God, being in his very nature love, comes out of himself, and stands at the door of our being and, incredibly, He waits. He does not enter. He never forces the door. With divine respect and love, Almighty God knocks and waits. If we are really willing to love Him, if we really want to give ourselves to Him, then a 'union', a 'meeting', an 'embrace' will result. The meeting of two free beings, in an élan of mutual love, presupposes the use of two mutual freedoms! Christian contemplation is this meeting, this sacred kiss, the supernatural embrace! In no way can it exclude the personal initiative of both beings! The solution to having a correct orthodox understanding of the nature of contemplation, consequently, comes through recognising the two modalities of the action of the Grace of God: the grace that prepares us to receive God and the Grace itself of receiving Him within us. Christian contemplation, it must be emphasized enough, cannot be either acquired or infused, it is both: it consists of two parts of one unique journey that goes from where our heart initially beats to the Furnace of Love in Christ.

125: St Teresa of Avila 4/16: The Way of Contemplative Prayer

To make a start, a keen sense of challenge must fill those aspiring to grow closer to St. Teresa and her method of praying!

In the last chapter we ended by mentioning Prayer of the Heart, or to give it the other names by which it is known: 'Contemplative Prayer' or 'Mental Prayer' or 'Silent Prayer' or the 'Jesus' Prayer'. St Teresa is perceived by the universal Church as a Mistress of Contemplative Prayer, and of prayer life in general. This was Pope Paul VI^th 's intention when he declared St Teresa 'Doctor of the Church' in 1970, in particular as in most of her books she talks about 'Contemplative Prayer'. What, therefore, can she reveal to us concerning this form of prayer ?

The Prayer of the Heart embodies the core of her new life in Christ after her second conversion. She is now more constant in practising it, plus, she is very vigilant in practising the virtues. In fact, in a decisive confession around the time of her conversion she received a piece of excellent advice from a knowledgable priest: first, to lay a solid foundation for her practice of the Prayer of the Heart, i.e. to practise virtues as we will be seeing in the coming chapters.

Before her conversion she had read the Third Spiritual Alphabet of the Franciscan Francisco of Osuna (1497 – c. 1540), where he speaks about the method of recollecting ourselves while praying in order to get closer to God and receive his Grace. But one has to say that without her conversion, the practice of the Prayer of the Heart was impeding the divine waters to gush forth from the fount of its source, and therefore she was left to rely almost solely on her own strength. However, the reality must be faced that without Christ and without His Grace, especially in a matter like the Prayer of the Heart, the human being can do very little – in fact almost nothing.

After her conversion, after by the Grace of God having understood that all her heart had not been given to Christ, after having been turned by the Lord towards Himself and Himself alone, Prayer of the Heart began to flow more freely. The next challenge now had to be faced. In the Scriptures God asks us to pray incessantly (1 Thessalonians 5:17 and Luke 18:1-8), and the Rule of the Carmelite Order also states it: 'Each one of you is to stay in his own cell or nearby, pondering the Lord’s Law day and night and keeping watch at his prayers unless attending to some other duty.' (§ 10). But how can one pray incessantly? To take time to meet the Lord personally, 'heart to heart', eye to eye, is essential in order to receive the Living Water of his grace. One needs to go to the Divine Well – Christ - in order to draw the Waters of the Holy Spirit.

St Teresa's practice of the Prayer of the Heart then became more determined and regular, and because of the fervour generated by the Gift of herself, Christ started to pour into her grace upon grace (John 1:17). In the beginning of that new journey, however, and for a long while afterwards, she lacked the understanding of what was happening within her! The manifestations of the Grace of God in her were unusual, new! Visions, ecstasies, feelings,... The fears she endured were indescribable! Moreover, she unfortunately mentioned her experiences to some indiscreet people, each interpreting it according to his own thinking, while many feared she was being misled and that it was the work of the Devil! Admittedly it is well recognised that the devil can present himself in the shiny clothes of an angel of light (see 2 Corinthians 11:14). The issue was further complicated by the spiritual trends in Spain at that time, as embodied in, for example, the Alumbrados, literally translated as the Enlightened, not to mention the trouble generated by Luther in France which only served to exacerbate the situation. The Church in Spain had to contain all this in order not to deviate from the purity and orthodoxy of faith. Teresa, consequently, suffered immensely by not understanding what was happening to her! But all this trial was beneficial: what was happening to her paved the way for many after her and her suffering was in the service of others!

Furthermore all the meetings she had with the greatest theologians of her time opened a way for two other graces to manifest themselves in her: first, understanding and recognising what was happening within her, what type of graces she was receiving, and secondly discerning and expressing what was happening within her! In this way, her experience instead of being isolated became, day by day, an experience for the Church, valid for others! As mentioned in the first chapter, it is very tempting to think that what she experienced is valid only for the few in number, or worse, uniquely for her! This is in fact the challenge her experience and teaching brings to us! It is certainly a new area, and the first reaction can be at times defiance and fear, the fear of change being deep-rooted in mankind. And it is more than a mere change, it is cataclysmic! Sadly it is more comforting to say to oneself: what she says is not for everybody! By contrast, in fact, the majority of what she describes, if looked at under a magnifying glass, encapsulates what the Lord desires to give to everybody. The magnification can be frightening, but in fact it induces more acute vision! Some, admittedly, will be fearful just because of the unknown! The fear of opening a Pandora's box and not knowing how to close it again, or better still, how to 'control' what is happening! A more positive approach is to have greater trust in the Lord!

While practising Prayer of the Heart, and often after having received Communion (the link between will be enlarged upon later), St. Teresa started to receive powerful graces. The more she continued in this direction, it must be mentioned, the more she consulted Theologians, and the more God made available to her the best of the theology of her time in a condensed form (a one to one consultation), at the service of Spiritual Life! In fact she herself stresses these were not the half-knowledgable theologians or priests, which she states did much harm to her formerly and whom she now strongly advises are to be avoided! God alone can appreciate the difficulty of this science, Spiritual Theology as it is called today.

Spiritual Theology embodies the essence of St Teresa's Doctorate. It is the most useful science and the most necessary one for mankind and for his efforts at holiness. But it is the most difficult science because it presupposes a conjunction and integration of two other qualities: first, personal spiritual experience of the Graces of growth God wants to give us and two, discernment between what comes from God and all the rest. In total, these three qualities (Science, Experience, Discernment) harmoniously blended in time, contribute to the formation of a Master of the Spiritual Life. Seen from a practical viewpoint, this science implies inevitably a personal involvement in the Theologian or the Master: the personal practice of spiritual life and the reception of the graces that come with it. Teresa often endorses this in her writings, when she reiterates that the person who has experienced the influx of these graces will readily understand what she has been expressing!

It is valid at this point to question whether the others who have not had this experience will derive any benefit at all. Admittedly it will be more difficult for them to understand her, because without the Grace of God one cannot understand or internalise the account of the experience of a Grace! But, what is to be hoped is that those who have not had the experience will trust Teresa and so will be allured to practise her what she is putting forward in order to receive what she describes. In the final analysis, experience here is fundamental. The presence of 'experience' in St Teresa's teaching is one more reason to think how she is so attractive to the modern mind, one avid for experience. She is a true witness of the risen Lord telling us how He earnestly desires to meet us and she explains, in addition, what to do in order to have this experience! For her, this is the core of christian life.

However, what exactly does experience imply? It implies having two things at least: first, the practice of the Prayer of the Heart, and secondly, the practice of a life of prayer, which she calls in her writings, the work of the virtues. 'Prayer' and 'prayer life' cannot be separated, just as the New Wine and the New Skin (Matthew 9:17), or The Divine Seed and The Good Earth (Matthew 13:8).

One cannot fall into a 'spiritual schizophrenia', where on the one hand one claims to practise the Prayer of the Heart and on the other hand one does not listen to Jesus and does not follow Jesus by doing his will during the day. This is exactly what the Lord warns us to do various times in the Gospel: If anyone loves me, he will keep my Word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him (John 14:23). In this verse of St John everything is summarised: we have the Prayer of the Heart (we will come to him and make our home in him) and Prayer Life (keep my Word ) whereby we put into practice the Lord's Words. The same logic is to be seen in His other piece of advice: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.(Matthew 7:21). A similar way of thinking is the case concerning the two parts of the Mass. In fact not only does the 'Liturgy of the Eucharist' not stand alone, but also we do not attend Mass for the second part of the Mass only, i.e. to receive Communion. One goes to Mass to receive Christ the Living Bread in his twofold forms: first, as a Word uttered by Him and put into practice (the liturgy of the Word) and secondly, in Communion with Him (receiving the Body and Blood of Christ).

St Teresa often states in her writings that if we practise this form of 'schizophrenia' (of course she does not use the word), i.e. practising only the Prayer of the Heart while neglecting the work of the virtues by giving ourselves fully and faithfully to the Lord during the day, we will remain like 'dwarfs', an expression she actually uses, implying no growth, no transformation, no becoming closer to full Union with Christ. This means that we are deluding ourselves! It is our determination to listen to Christ and to put his Word into practice that allows the deployment of the Powerful Graces of God during the Prayer of the Heart. Let us make a mental note here that it is because of her conversion and determination to follow Christ with all her heart that the Living Water of the Graces of God started to flow in Teresa abundantly!

The virtues she wants us to practise and grow in are actually stated in the Gospel and are not a new invention of hers: humility, fraternal love, detachment from creatures and from oneself! One can easily notice that these three virtues she focuses on are in direct relationship to the three evangelical counsels respectively: obedience, chastity and poverty!

All this, then, deals with the concept of experience.

Now, what about discernment, the third important quality to develop within ourselves in order to have a solid spiritual life? According to St Teresa, discernment is received progressively, while 'walking the walk' of spiritual life. In order to do so we need to understand first that our Main Guide in the journey of growth is the Holy Spirit. He is our true Spiritual Master as St John of the Cross states clearly: we need therefore to entrust ourselves totally to Him, to listen to Him from within and be guided by him constantly. Not only this, but one needs His guidance while being in the hands of a Spiritual Guide during Spiritual Direction. Spiritual Direction (or Spiritual Accompaniment) is the main place where discernment is transmitted to us, throughout the weeks, months, and years. Without discernment it is simply impossible to grow in Spiritual Life, because the obstacles are countless! The necessary humility leads to the understanding that the Holy Spirit who talks to us directly and generates in us the experience of God, is the same Spirit who talks to us in and through the Church. A particular need here is the Act of Faith, an openness to the extension of the logic of the Incarnation in the Church, whereby Jesus leaves his authority to the Church.

The Jesus Christ who calls us is the same Jesus Christ who guides us in and through the Church. But here too prudence is very important: into whose hands do we entrust ourselves is the question. As expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2690, 'according to St. John of the Cross, the person wishing to advance toward perfection should take care into whose hands he entrusts himself, for as the master is, so will the disciple be, and as the father is so will be the son.' And further: 'In addition to being learned and discreet a director should be experienced. . . . If the spiritual director has no experience of the spiritual life, he will be incapable of leading into it the souls whom God is calling to it, and he will not even understand them.'

This is an important reason for St Teresa of Avila who considered it to be a huge grace in her life to have had, as well as the many excellent and knowledgeable priests and religious, St John of the Cross as her spiritual guide.