208- CoronaVirus

Dear Friends, 

We live in difficult times and the news of not being able to attend Mass leaves the majority of us in shock. We don’t know what to think. Also, confinement changes everything in our life, daily routine, relationships, family, community, work and movement. After the initial shock, we are trying to make sense of this trial. If we allow God’s wisdom to guide us, we might even find in it a deep benefit. In fact, is a great opportunity for us to deepen the fact that our Christian Worship should always be not only physical but also “in Spirit and in Truth” (John 4:23-24); with our heart and not only with our lips (see Matthew 15:8, Isaiah 29:13); entering into our inner room, closing the door of our senses and praying to God (see Matthew 6:6) who is spirit (John 4:23-24).

We often take for granted that the Mass is a right, while in fact the Mass is a Present from God. We take for granted that we have Priests while in fact they also are a Present from God. Without Priests there are no Masses! We need to pray for our priests, seminarians and for vocations to the Priesthood.

Today, what is available and offered to us is to attend Mass via the internet. It a challenge for us but it is also, paradoxically, a huge blessing. God is inviting us to really appreciate the beauty and spiritual depth of the Mass. He wants us to go deeper into it. How can this happen?

1- We have been constantly aware of the direct link between the Liturgy of the Word and Lectio Divina. The latter is the digestive process of the Grace received during the Liturgy of the Word. Today, in our confinement, let us take the opportunity to receive the Grace of Jesus’ Word for us today. Let us renew our practice of Lectio Divina in order to enter deeper into the first part of the Mass.

2- Also, in the second part of the Mass, during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, when the moment of Communion arrives, when the Priest invites us to do a “Spiritual Communion”, we need to really do it, opening our heart to Jesus who wants to come and dwell in us. More so, we can take a silent time right after our Spiritual Communion, in a “Prayer of the Heart” like attitude, in order to benefit from the Sacrament of the Eucharist. We can also, at any other designated time, resume the Prayer of the Heart, continuing to benefit from our Spiritual Communion.

Lectio Divina and Prayer of the Heart are intimately connected to the two Liturgies of the Mass, they allow us to digest the Grace of God received and benefit spiritually from it, grow in our knowledge and love of Jesus and discover in Him new depths.

During this time of confinement, God is calling us to the desert. He wants to talk to our heart and wants to offer us exceptional graces, drawing us closer to Him and revealing to us new dimensions in our Christian life. (see Hosea 2:14)

After this time of desert, by the Grace of God, we will go back to normal life, but it will be a transfigured Christian life, having benefitted from many graces given during this special time. It will be a new start.

Let us pray for each other, entrust each other to Our Lady, entrust our Country and all countries to Her and the entire World. Let us entrust the sick and the prisoners. May the Grace of Our Lord be always with us. 

Please pray for me.

Jean Khoury

www.schoolofmary.org

Sunday 22^nd March 2020

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.

127: St Teresa of Avila 6/16: The Supernatural

There is a word that St Teresa repeatedly uses with the word 'contemplation' or 'pure contemplation', namely, 'supernatural', defined as meaning 'beyond the capacity of mere human nature', or better still: 'the direct personal action of the Holy Spirit'. It covers the same spectrum covered by the 'Particular help of the Grace of God'. In other words it is the Grace of God.

One simple example will serve to enhance the understanding of this, to be found in the the Gospel scene where Jesus outlines for the rich young man the real conditions necessary for following Him. He then comments to his disciples: 'it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:24). The disciples in turn are greatly astonished, because all human beings – and therefore they themselves – are rich in one way or another. One can be materially poor, but still continue to desire riches, and this is, in Jesus' eyes, to be rich: For where our treasure is, there our heart will be also (Matthew 6:21). This elicits a radical cry from the disciples summing up this great difficulty in following Jesus, when they lay bare to Jesus the honest truth saying: [if these are the conditions to follow you] who [then] can be saved? (Matthew 19:25) At this very juncture Jesus underlines the enormous chasm that lies between what fallen human nature can do, without the aid of the new Gift of the Grace of the Holy Spirit that Jesus came to bring us, and what God can accomplish in the human being, with this same Holy Spirit: But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26). This underlines effectively that what God desires and is able to perform in us is beyond our own feeble capacity. The normal action of the Grace of God is consistently miraculous, because it is beyond our reach, beyond our capabilities, hence its definition as 'super-natural'. Some more recent debates and books in the last century have even lobbied toward stopping the use of the word. At times Theology can in this way become so abstract that it loses track of reality resulting in sterility, in becoming incapable of doing any good, incapable of producing 'edible fruits', and in finally causing us to go astray from a fundamental dimension of Christian life: the Action of the Holy Spirit in us.

It cannot be emphasised more that the direct and personal action of the Holy Spirit in the person is the 'supernatural'. This word appeared more frequently in Theology during St Teresa's time, therefore, having met many great Theologians and having received from them the explanation of the specific action of God in us, she employed it as they did. The beginning of the Fourth Mansion gives ample evidence of this:

Now that I commence writing about the fourth mansions, it is requisite, as I said,to commend myself to the Holy Spirit and to beg Him henceforth to speak for me, that I may be enabled to treat these matters intelligibly. Henceforth they begin to be supernatural and it will be most difficult to speak clearly about them, unless His Majesty undertakes it for me, as He did when I explained the subject (as far as I understood it) somewhat about fourteen years ago. (Interior Castle, Fourth Mansions, Chapter 1,1)

Her humble attitude is apparent in that she recognises when God starts to work in us, his action is beyond our capacity and beyond our understanding. This, in turn, necessitates the intervention of God himself in Teresa's mind in order to help her recognise, understand and explain His Grace. A closer look at the word 'super-natural' reveals this: 'super' means beyond or superior to us, more elevated, while 'natural' i.e. our nature, illustrates what we can accomplish by our own efforts i.e. what the human being can do only with the 'general help of the grace of God'. Or to express it as a former chapter does: to reach the meeting point with God, half-way between Christ and us in order to allow Jesus to grab us: Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him (Matthew 14:31).

When Christ 'grabs' our heart and settles it deep within his heart, immersing it in the Fire of His Love, this is a supernatural action that only He can perform, freely. The individual, any individual is strictly incapable of entering into God's very domain let alone move in it by his own volition: the Kingdom of God is in verity the Kingdom of God ! Emphatically this is beyond the capacity of the human being for it consists in super-natural action alone. Consequently, when Jesus starts preaching He speaks about this newness that He is introducing, a newness that is completely original in the history of humanity: the Kingdom of God is at hand (Matthew 4:17). The meaning does not entail our entering at will, but it means that the Gift of God, the door that beckons us into the Life of the Trinity is at hand. This reinforces the reason for Jesus' repetition of the teaching on how to enter the Kingdom and on the conditions of entering it. The kingdom is not something about the future, after death. It is present right now, and has been for the last 2000 years, at hand, at the door of our heart.

To enter it and move in it is something that belongs to the sovereignty of God, and has conditions. It is God's space, God's life, God's intimacy that is at stake. It is a unique reality and Jesus came to gain open access to it for us, to make it available to us.

To those who dislike the word 'super-natural', or if the word has unwelcome connotations, another word can be substituted providing it faithfully translates the sovereign freedom of God and the elevation of his saving action in us. In fact we see Jesus many times in the Gospel extending his helping and saving hands and healing not only the bodies but also the souls of his contemporaries. This saving hand, this Divine Energy (the Holy Spirit) that emanates from Him (think of the woman who touched his clothes from behind), is something that is beyond human capability. It is miraculous. If God does not always heal the body, He always wants to heal, sanctify, purify and transform our soul and our spirit. In a way, we can say that each of his miracles on the body can be understood also as a deeper miracle for the Soul: the blindness is not only the blindness of the body, it is first and foremost the blindness of the Soul, the incapacity to see God's light and life in it. The withered hand symbolises the withered quality of the soul mired in its own diseased will that is incapable of acting according to God's will. Paralysis, leprosy ,... are all first and foremost illnesses of the soul that Jesus with his 'super-natural' action wants to heal and bring to life. God's life is a gift that initially is beyond our reach.

By contrast, since God created us free, it can be said that He 'swore to himself' not to interfere in our freedom. To Him, we are sacred beings, made in his image and likeness, capable of saying 'yes' or 'no' to Him. In this sense we are 'super-natural' for Him, namely, different from his nature, beyond his being. It's as if He were addressing these words to us: I wait at the door of your heart, I do respect your free will, and I consider that you are 'beyond' what I would allow myself to reach!

Given this revealing insight into the magnanimous and loving heart of God, the fact remains that the action of God, his intervention in us is by definition more elevated than our own limited capacity. Putting it bluntly, it is quite beyond our means!

It is true that St Teresa talks about 'pure contemplation' or 'contemplation' pure and simple. But in her eyes and in the eyes of her experience it is the same thing as 'supernatural'. They are synonymous! Contemplation, too, is a reality seldom used today. However, without the supernatural dimension, or if preferred, without the Direct Personal Action of the Holy Spirit, there simply would be no christianity! This is exemplified admirably with the Apostle Paul (see Acts 19:1-7) when he meets some men, and in no uncertain terms notices the absence of signs of the action of the Holy Spirit (speaking in tongues and prophesying), begging the question he asks of them: Whose Baptism have you received? Their reply: 'John's one' confirms in St. Paul's eyes what he felt: not only had they not received Jesus' Baptism, but they had also not yet experienced an encounter with the Holy Sprit! In haste, he baptises them.

It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. There were in all about twelve men.'(Acts 19:1-7)

A beautiful, simple, and yet transcendent lesson on the supernatural Action of the Holy Spirit it must be said! As St Paul himself had crossed the divide between what is possible to man and what to God, he guided them also to make the crossing. In addition, this illustrates that there is a dividing line between being non-christian and becoming christian, namely, experiencing the Grace of God. It is, admittedly, true to say that one can be legitimately baptised, only for the Action of the Holy Spirit to lie dormant within one, thereby denying access to his supernatural action: Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given to you by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery (1 Timothy 4:14)

St. Paul enlarges on this more fully when he says later:

Wherefore I put you in remembrance that you stir up the gift of God, which is in you by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began(2 Timothy 1:6-9)

The above-mentioned episode involving St. Paul mirrors St Teresa's case perfectly. She had lived for almost forty years without the in-depth experience of God's Action within her. She had been baptised, confirmed, consecrated as a nun, but had had little and sporadic experience of the 'super-natural', the 'Holy Spirit', of, in fact, 'Christian Contemplation'.

That this might cause us discomfort as Christians, as Catholics, might be a question to ask ourselves. This might certainly be the case. Would it come as a surprise to us? The answer might surprisingly be in the affirmative! St Teresa, too, was just as surprised by the newness of the Action of God. She could flawlessly assess the difference between a life with or without that New Action of God in her. However, do not be deceived into thinking that life was untroubled afterwards! It created quite a stir, not only within herself but in those around her, and it soon became obvious that she had to clarify, for her own sake, what was happening within her. Fortunately this clarification was also to be most beneficial for the entire church. Having had the humility and honesty to expose to the Church what was happening to her reaped a huge reward: her experience became for others a possible yardstick for a real christian life. One can read her Autobiography and see the turmoil created in her by the Action of God, not to mention the creativity it generated in her: the reform of an entire religious order and all the persons coming into contact with it, both priests and lay persons. Furthermore, since 1970, her teaching has been recognised officially for the entire Church, while she is considered the 'mother of spirituals' - as it is stated on her statue in St Peter's in Rome.

Again, let us remind ourselves that when we say that her teaching is for everybody, that we mean the supernatural action of the Holy Spirit is for everybody, that her way is for everybody, and that we do not mean that the extraordinary phenomena (levitations, locutions, the external manifestations of ecstasy,...) are for all... No. Here we are talking about the normal spiritual growth of the Christian, up to the point where one reaches Union with Jesus and the fullness of Love, i.e. Holiness! In fact Holiness is not just for some only. It is for all.

Here a valid objection can be to raised as to whether there is any truth in the assertion that these heights can be fearful to more than one person, and that there is no way to discern between 'what is for everybody' and 'what is specific to this or that person, classified so to speak as 'extraordinary'. Arguably this is so - but to put it bluntly, one cannot take off to the moon on a bicycle. In order to reach God we need a rocket, we need the deployment of the Power of the Resurrection, we need the Action of the Holy Spirit. To find a discreet tranquil christian way will bear no fruit. A reasonable, 'good catholic', morally sound, faithful, charitable, helping here and there, does not necessarily lead anywhere, because what Christ wants to realise in us is a radical change and in order to do so, He sends the Holy Spirit!

Anyone can follow a 'reasonable way'. One has but to remember the description St Teresa makes in the Third Mansions of her Interior Castle: the human being finds himself comfortable in it and leads a good christian life. But crucially the Love of God (the Holy Spirit) has not made him exceed the bounds of all reason. A reading of St. Teresa, here, is revealing. She starts by stating a fundamental condition must be fulfilled in order to cross the red line of the supernatural, from the Third to the Fourth Mansions - we need to surrender totally to God, to submit our will in all things to the will of God:

Believe me, the question is not whether we wear the religious habit or not, but whether we practise the virtues and submit our will in all things to the will of God. The object of our life must be to do what He requires of us: let us not ask that our will may be done, but His. If we have not yet attained to this, let us be humble, as I said above. Humility is the ointment for our wounds; if we have it, although perhaps He may defer His coming for a time, God, Who is our Physician, will come and heal us. (3^rd Mansions 1:8)

Then, she describes what we would call the 'life of a good catholic':

The penances performed by the persons I spoke of are as well regulated as their life, which they value very highly because they wish to serve our Lord with it - in which there is nothing to blame - so they are very discreet in their mortifications lest they should injure their health. Never fear they will kill themselves: they are far too sensible! (3^rd Mansions 1:9)

Would such a committed catholic be to blame? Yet St. Teresa categorically does blame the person! She finds this way of being christian too 'reasonable', or as today's parlance would label it: 'having everything under control'. These christians do not commit grave sins, they go to Mass, they help in the parish, they even have their mortifications. Is this enough in the eyes of God? What is lacking? This is Teresa's view:

Their love is not strong enough to overcome their reason; I wish it were - that they might not be content to creep on their way to God: a pace that will never bring them to their journey’s end! (3^rd Mansions 1:9)

The key expression here is: 'love is not strong enough to overcome their reason'. The Spanish says love is not foolish enough to unhinge them, “hinges” denoting their security, comfort, supports, bearings. This type of person is convinced that his is the way to be a 'good catholic'. It is similar to what St Paul says in his first Letter to the Corinthians where he speaks about the foolishness of the Cross that is God's Wisdom. Reason can deceive us into living a life based on reason that is the enemy of God. Ironically the person appears to be doing very well, yet he or she does not have any inkling that this falls far short of what it is to be Christian! In fact the experience of the Love of God does not erupt in him. Meeting the Risen Lord has not yet taken place! A living relationship with Him, face to face, has not yet occurred! There is no opposition between the two states, but significantly they just belong to two completely different realms.

One can see St Teresa as an exalted person. But this is an unfair judgment on her. One has to only to consider how much she achieved during her lifetime: how many monasteries she has founded in her life (please see the outline at the beginning of the book) and how many sufferings she endured by the grace of God! There is not a day in her life when she was not at the mercy of pains in her body or in her head! In all fairness, then, let her be judged impartially, and let us understand that what she says is of the utmost importance for us! Let us remember, after all, that she did not write her books because she enjoyed writing, for she had other duties to perform as a nun. Instead she wrote about serious matters, done out of pure obedience to her confessors. Incredibly, too, she only wrote, in haste, in her spare time - against common belief, a nun's day is a full day.

Holiness and our endeavours to reach holiness, as we have considered, are serious matters. The journey and the means that lead us to holiness are as important as holiness itself, because without them the entire structure of our christian life would collapse. A sound understanding of what we can do and what God alone can do and wants to do, is of the utmost importance for our spiritual life. It is God who traces out our journey, and nobody else. If we fail to learn how to entrust ourselves totally into the hands of God, if our yardsticks are of poor quality, if our understanding of Christianity is impoverished then nothing will make us take off, rocket-like, towards God!

It is only the Action of the Grace of God in us that will help us both to realise this and to reach our goal.

Note: It is of utmost importance to notice the need to distinguish clearly between what falls within the domain of Psychoanalysis/Psychology and that appertaining to Spiritual Theology. Today, more than at any other previous time, there is a great temptation to replace Spiritual Theology (already in a seriously weakened state) by Psychology or Psychoanalysis, or even Personal Development and Therapies of all sorts, including 'meditation' and methods of that ilk. Nowadays it is no longer possible to distinguish the difference between what can be achieved by the actual tools of these sciences and therapies themselves (and sometimes we have to have recourse to these, when needed), from what can be achieved through the Grace of God. The weakness of Spiritual Theology today is of no help at all in realising this distinction. Consequently a huge vacuum is generated by this failing. The deeply spiritual analysis of St Teresa of Avila (and St John of the Cross) of the human being under the light of God's action is undeniably, therefore, of urgent need and is a real guide in our challenging times. We need to have a thorough knowledge of what God can do and what He desires to do and to transform in us. Otherwise we replace his work in us by a poor imitation of this.

126: St Teresa of Avila 5/16: The Particular Help of the Grace of God

In her teaching on the Prayer of the Heart, in Chapter 14, paragraph 6, St Teresa says something really striking: For many purposes it is necessary to be learned; and it would be very useful to have some learning here, in order to explain what is meant by general or particular help (for there are many who do not know this) and how it is now the Lord's will that the soul should see this particular help (as they say) with its own eyes; and learning would also serve to explain many other things about which mistakes may be made. (Life 14,6; see as well 3Mansions 1,2; 5Mansions 2,3) She will then explain that in order to practise the "prayer of recollection" we need to use the "general help of the Grace of God” that is being constantly given to us. And in the "Prayer of Quiet", we receive the "particular help of the Grace of God” that is supernatural (4Mansions 1,1) and infused.

The essence of what St Teresa wants to say, in other words, is that by not knowing the difference between the 'General help of the Grace of God' and the 'Particular help' of it, people fail to gain many graces and do not progress in their spiritual life! What surprises the reader is that while on the one hand it is a bold statement, St Teresa on the other hand does not seem to stop and explain this vitally important distinction. It is true that superficially this statement and apparent lack of explanation is somewhat puzzling. But the more one studies St. Teresa in depth and applies this distinction in its entirety, the more one starts to notice that in fact she does explain this golden difference, an explanation that will shed a great light on the issue of “contemplation”.

Note: It must be remembered that last century, during the renewal in Spiritual Theology, a huge debate arose on the nature of Contemplation: on the one hand one group said that contemplation was acquired (through our own efforts) while on the other hand another group said that it was infused (given only by God, when He wants, the way He wants, to whom He wants). The two groups fought fiercely, through the medium of journals, and the fight ended in the late 1940s early 1950s not out of having found a clear practical answer to the question but through the sheer exhaustion of the fighters. This was a sad day for the Church because we still yearn for a clear, substantial and practical definition of Contemplation; it is so essential for the Church's life. This is why Teresa of Avila is of the utmost importance.

In fact all her teaching on the Prayer of the Heart rests on the knowledge of those two modes of functioning of the Grace of God. This distinction between the 'general' and the 'particular' help of the Grace of God is simply decisive. In this light, then, what St Teresa of Avila calls in her writings 'Prayer of Recollection' is in fact the best way to 'use' the 'general help of the grace of God.' This effort of recollecting ourselves will immediately invite a reply from God. These replies will vary in intensity and depth, but all of them ('supernatural recollection', 'prayer of quiet', 'prayer of union', 'ecstasy',...) are different forms of the action of the 'particular help of the grace of God' in us.

In fact, the teaching on the Prayer of the Heart that she offers is an illustration of the practical aspect of this great truth and distinction in the Theology of Grace.

It has to be recognised that we desperately need this practical teaching, presented in an scholarly way.

A simple example to explain it will suffice. In the Gospel, a fundamental requirement for holiness is to receive the Holy Spirit. He is the third Person of the Trinity, and to receive Him and be guided by Him is a basic necessity. Even more than this is the fact that He is the One who, par excellence, incarnates Jesus in us. He first incarnated Jesus in Mary, true, but subsequently, day after day, He incarnates Jesus, step by step, in us! Indeed, Christ invites us to ask for the Holy Spirit. He even explains to us that praying the Our Father is equivalent to asking this of the Holy Spirit (see Luke 11:13 as a continuation and explanation of the Our Father).

Practising the Prayer of the Heart with this in mind creates an appropriate inner 'space' , in order to receive the Holy Spirit and to expose ourselves to His purifying and transformative action. This action of the Holy Spirit in us is what Theology calls 'the particular help of the Grace of God'. More significantly, this action is the direct and personal action of the Holy Spirit within us, - a sanctifying action. We need this action of the Holy Spirit and Christ invites us to ask for it all the time: ask, and it will be given to you (Luke 11:9).

We believe that any action and movement by the individual towards God is also a Grace. But there are various forms of the Grace of God. Asking for the Holy Spirit itself requires a grace (please see St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I-II Q.109 a. 6). It constitutes a preparation for this Grace, or if you prefer it is a 'cry' for the Grace to come.

The next question to address, then, is the difference between the grace that prepares us (that helps us to ask for the Holy Spirit) and the Holy Spirit himself (the 'particular help of the Grace of God')? The difference is enormous and it solicits our free will:

If we start at the beginning we see that the general help of the Grace of God is always present in us, always offered by God to us and is constantly in us waiting for us to use, and if we fail to make use of it nothing supernatural will take place in us as a result. It could be compared to the blood coursing through the veins in our muscles! The blood is present in them, given to them, but it depends on us to activate our muscles! There is no need to ask God to give us the 'general help of his grace', we only need to humbly acknowledge its presence within us! It is there, constantly given, constantly available, within a hand's reach! This is why we see in St Teresa's explanation of what she calls the 'Prayer of Recollection' (see chapters 26, 28 and 29 of Way of Perfection) her enormous insistence on the fact of deciding ourselves, with determination, to start to practise the Prayer of the Heart with recollection definitively playing a regular part when doing so, until it becomes a new habit in us. When we do our part, we do it with the 'general help of the Grace of God'. It must be recognised that St. Teresa insists very much on repeating the acts of recollection so that it becomes a new habit in us, because she inherently knows (and states it) that it is given to us and that it is the will of God that we practise it.

The immediate effect of this is to make it seem as if we are getting closer to a friend who is extending his hand, waiting for ours to shake. This is what God does: his hand is constantly extended, waiting for us to use the 'general help of his Grace', present in our soul, waiting for us also to extend our hand and to express to Him our desire and choice. God stands at the door of our freedom. He never forces the door, never violates our freedom, the handle of the door being on our side alone. Rather, He awaits patiently to see us express our choice by an act: He waits to see our hand reach the mid-distance in order to take it in his! Extending our hand towards Him, putting our hand (our will, our freedom, our life, our heart) in his, then, is an act that leans on the 'general help of the Grace of God' and without this act, normally there is no meeting between God and us.

One of the main reasons for the existence of a teaching on 'Mental Prayer' is to show the individual the part that is his in order for the meeting (communication) with Christ-God to take place! God respects our freedom and awaits at the door of our freewill: Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20) This is the reason for the Lord often insisting on the necessity of 'asking', 'seeking', 'knocking' at God's door, simply because He respects our freedom and waits for us to express it by the offering of ourselves to Him, by our asking, insisting, being determined to be present to Him, offering ourselves entirely into His Hands! If this is not the case and we do not move towards him, He will stand still and will continue to wait! He will not invade our personal space in order to grab our hand and shake it! No, this is not God's way.

This is why we are often warned and advised by St Teresa to be acutely aware of this!

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? (Luke 11 :9-13)

Our way of expressing this would be: 'Ask [for the Holy Spirit] and [He] will be given to you', as if the Lord is saying to us: 'use the 'general help of my Grace', that is constantly given to you in order to 'ask' of Me. I can't force you, I need to see your decision and choice first. Then I will be able to give you my Gift, the Holy Spirit, my direct and personal action in order to transform you.'

It is significant to note that 'asking', which means to use the 'general help', is in fact something that implies involving all our being! When the blind man of the Gospel, seated on the side of the road, asks the Lord to heal him so he will be able see, he was not wasting his time, doubting, or closing himself to the action of the Holy Spirit! On the contrary, he was doing it with all his being, all his strength! It was a matter of life and death for him. It was he, it must be recognised, who so well expressed his desire and signified his will.

To sum up then, it can be seen that the whole structure of our relationship with God, during our prayer time but even throughout the day, leans on the distinction of these two types of Graces. It must also be noted that the one type is Grace par excellence, while the other prepares us for it, opens us to it and draws us toward it. In like manner, God's Hand takes ours and shakes it! The Supernatural movement of God is activated and the intervention of the Holy Spirit takes place. Without this occurring there is no real prayer, no real contact with God! Without it, dealing with God is like dealing with a very remote Being, from far away! By great contrast, when the Holy Spirit gives Himself to us (and this should happen every day), contact with God takes place and what we live belongs really to another realm, a new world, totally designed by God.

122: St Teresa of Avila 1/16: Is Mysticism for Everybody?

In the history of mankind there are people whose lives are given to everybody as an example to follow, imitate and emulate. Think of St Augustine in his Confessions, think of St Francis of Assisi, or even closer to us St Therese of Lisieux. The light of these people is not meant to remain hidden under a bushel, but it is placed by God on the lampstand (Matthew 5:15) so they can shine forth, or better said, the Light of the Risen Lord can shine through them. St Teresa of Avila is a saint of this nature, offered to everybody as an example: her life, her journey are full of teachings for us. All the graces she received were certainly for her, but filter in addition through her, to her nuns, and to all of us. The fact that Pope Paul the Vlth declared her "Doctor of the [universal] Church" is a sign that in her life there is encapsulated an important teaching for all of us.

From the start when we look at her, we have to say, that it is not uncommon to find a gap between what really happened in her life – often recounted by her - and what people think and project about her. We know that many times she had fallen into ecstasy, fallen onto the floor, that she was subject to levitation, transverberation, spiritual marriage,... Seeing the extraordinary graces she received, popular opinion is attracted, but often retains what is secondary to these graces. As a consequence, some might hastily conclude: "this is not for me", or even worse: "this woman is not really of sound mind".

It seems advisable, therefore, to look at both sides of the coin regarding what really happened. One has to recognise that she never really sought the extraordinary external effects of the graces she received, that she often felt very embarrassed about receiving graces in public, being the object of laughter, accusations and denigration from many. However, there was a reason for this to happen: God wanted to show his Mercy in her and wanted to tell us what His Grace can achieve in us.

It is very important to understand that what St Teresa went through is not that uncommon. If the description she offers of the Graces she received seems a bit exaggerated we need to understand the reason: she acts like a magnifying glass for us, greatly enlarging the effect so we can perceive it. God was “zooming in” on her soul to show us the effects of His Grace in her, with the hope of the same effect resulting in us. Why so? Because God has the earnest desire to give himself to us, to give us "grace upon grace" as Saint John puts it in his Prologue (John 14:16), or without measure (John 3:34) as he says in his Gospel.

It is good, now, to take the opportunity to distinguish what is in St Teresa’s experience of God “for everybody” and what is rather more exceptional, “for her only” or for lesser numbers of people. The majority of the Graces she received are “for all”. I suggest putting them into three categories:

1- What we can do in our lives without the personal direct intervention of the Holy Spirit.

2- What God achieves through direct intervention on His part.

3- Some secondary effects of the Grace of God in her.

It is not difficult to sort out the graces because 1 and 2 are quite frequent: “1” covers the first part of her life, till the age of thirty-nine, till her “second conversion”; “2” is what will happen in her life from that moment on up to her death. Therefore it is more important to pay closer attention to “2” because this is what really interests us, this is God’s message to the Church: the necessity of His Grace, of His action in us, and the goal His action is achieving: a journey of sanctification in order to reach “Union with Christ” and to serve Him, as the Apostles and Disciples did.

It is true that just mentioning St Teresa’s name triggers the notion of “mysticism” and can put off many of us. “Mysticism” did not always have a good press in the Church, while many think that it certainly does not embody the mainstream of Catholic experience. But God through St Teresa seems to say the contrary to us: mysticism is the common way for Him. Let us examine this more closely.

First let us clarify one point about her initial intention: has she sought after all these graces? Definitely not. She often felt embarrassed, as if she were standing out from the courting fame: some even told her that this was from the Devil, so her suffering can only be imagined. She certainly would have preferred to be away from such manifestations of the Grace of God. So what is their meaning? And why are we attached to a popular vision of her and do not search for what happened to her spiritually, as she relates it in the book of her Life?

Mysticism often alludes to a very powerful and intimate relationship with God, a life filled with plentiful received Graces. In what we put under “mysticism”, therefore, we need to distinguish between two kinds of graces: on the one hand the “normal” ordinary graces destined for “everybody” and focused on within St Teresa’s writings, and on the other hand “extra-ordinary” ones that are not destined for everybody. In fact, we are all invited by Christ to have a personal relationship with him (CCC 2558) and to receive grace upon grace (John 1:16), to experience the Risen Lord and grow spiritually until we reach Union with Him – undeniably the case for “everybody”!

Let us examine the lives of the Apostles for a start: their entire mission rests on the fact that they were the Lord’s companions and that they saw Him Risen. He sends them the Holy Spirit, who will be constantly present with them and guiding them. They are essentially witnesses of the Risen Lord. This is so evident in the book of the Acts of the Apostles and in the life of a man like St Paul who received powerful graces. Why then do we give credit to St Paul and not to what the Lord achieved in St Teresa’s life, and wants to achieve in the life of each one of us?

Some people, in their negation of “mysticism”, go to the point of saying that St Therese of Lisieux is different from St Teresa, that she never received extra-ordinary graces, and that therefore the way God offers through St Teresa’s life is an extra-ordinary life, not for everybody. Let us not be deceived by such inaccurate statements. First, it is important primarily to take into account all the graces St Therese mentions in her writings. It is true that she seems psychologically “stronger”, therefore she does not faint easily as St Teresa does, but the core of what she receives is identical to what St Teresa received.

Furthermore, thinking that they are different (or worse that they have different spiritualities) leads very easily to errors in the reading and understanding of their lives. This is seriously unhealthy. The great advantage with St Therese is that strictly speaking all that is extraordinary (and not the core) in mysticism is clearly discarded. This is not the case with St Teresa. Therefore in order to read St Teresa’s writings to greater advantage, we can comfortably discard all that is extraordinary in the Action of God in her and deal with the rest: much will remain, and it is the essence of her work.

To be fair, it is true that for the average reader it is very difficult to sort out the graces. What is extraordinary, then, in mysticism and in St Teresa’s life? Levitation to start with, i.e. where her body is elevated from the floor while receiving a strong grace. Next, the visible part of the grace of transverberation (when an Angel pierces her heart with a fiery arrow).Then certain exterior manifestations of her ecstasies: falling on the floor and fainting. Or Certain visions she received. All these could be discarded, as not being destined for the everyday Christian. But let us keep all the rest.

The rest could still seem extra-ordinary, but in fact it is not. The Grace of God is an action of God in us which is greater than our own capacities (With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. (Mt 19:26)), and in this sense the Grace of God is by definition extra-ordinary, or better said: super-natural, i.e. above the normal capacity of our faculties. It elevates our way of doing things to a divine level. Let us not reduce the Grace of God and what it achieves in us. When God acts in us, His action has a real effect on us. If some consider that this “mysticism” is not part of christian life, they are emptying Christianity of of its essential constituent: the experience of the Risen Lord.

Here a valid objection of many arises: “but we live by faith and in faith”!

It is important, then, for us to go back once more to the experience of the Apostles and of the Saints. This is our criterium, the way we should measure our faith, and what constitutes a life of faith. If “faith” means absence of the experience of the Risen Lord and forgetting the experience of the Holy Spirit, then there is a serious problem. This is the basic attitude of the individual, moved by the Grace of God, open to the direct Action of the Holy Spirit. One has only to re-read the Gospel and make a note of all the passages that allude to an experience of the Holy Spirit to see that, if removed, nothing will be left.

Here further objections may arise: Christ said in St John’s Gospel: blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. (John 20:29) and St Paul mentions that we live our life in faith i.e. without seeing! For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror ; then we shall see face to face. (1 Cor 13:12). Are these objections really truer?

St Paul can talk with authority. He underwent the experience of the Risen Lord, he heard His voice, he received hundreds of Graces, he was taken to the third heaven (see 2 Cor 12:2),... Therefore, let us be prudent in our reading of the texts, and let us view them together in a coherent way, not quoting one text while forgetting the others. Between the very narrow idea some have of “faith” and the experience of St Paul and the Faith he preaches, there is an abyss. Let us be objective.

For St John (blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed) the same applies: does he not talk about the necessity to receive “grace upon grace” (John 1:16)? Does he not speak about the fact that God gives his Holy Spirit without measure (John 3:34)? What we need to understand in the text (blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed), is not the negation of the experience that the act of faith brings to us, but the priority of that act over the experience: believe first, and secondly you will see, you will have the experience. On the one hand we cannot put experience before faith, and on the other hand, the act of faith, opens us to the action of the Grace of God and therefore offers an experience of God: if you believe, you will see the glory of God. (John 11:40)

In the Gospel of St John, in fact, “to believe” is a progressive journey: from the faith of the first disciples in the first chapter, through their faith in Cana of Galilee, up to the Faith of St. John at the foot of the Cross seeing Jesus’ side opened, there is growth and progress. This is the teaching of St John. Believing leads to a vision of the Glory of God. First we see Jesus, in his human nature, secondly we believe that in Him there is more than just what we first see or notice. Then with the act of faith we enter deeper within Him, in order to reach new layers/dimensions of His Divine being. Finally we have the experience of His Divinity, leading to the experience of the Risen Lord. This is the core of St John’s Gospel, underlined in his first conclusion: “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his Name.” (John 20:30-31) What is written is a journey of growth in Faith, a Faith that leads to the experience of the Divine Life, during this lifetime.

The fact that the experience during this lifetime is not a total vision, can be universally acknowledged, but from that assertion to discarding the existence of a journey of growth, would be to offer an impoverished reading of the Gospel.

Returning to St Teresa once more, it can be said that her experience of Jesus is a way for everybody to undergo. Of course, by saying that one seems to go against the mainstream! To offer a mysticism like hers to everybody seems unsettling. But St Teresa is adamant in sending a clear message to the entire Church because what is at stake is the core of Christianity. If one removes the experience of the Risen Lord and the experience of the Holy Spirit that comes with it, what will remain? The same applies to her life: if we remove all the graces the Lord gave her, out of His pure mercy, we empty her life completely of its meaning and purpose. Her achievements become but a human endeavour.

The fact that she seems to go against the trend is not her fault. St Paul in a similar way, when talking to the Greeks in the Areopagus was going against the trend: when he mentioned the Resurrection of Jesus they laughed at him and stopped listening to him. Christianity at its core is an openness to the One who is Present amongst us, acts, loves us, and is searching for us. Christ offers his friendship, his Love! For some, Christ is absent, away, dead! This is not the case for St Teresa and for Christians: on a daily basis they have an experience of him: otherwise christians would be a collection of liars.

This, emphatically, is christian life and indeed talking this way puts people out of their comfort zone. Some easily take St Teresa for a mentally or psychologically deranged person. But let us not forget what happens to St Paul after his experience of the Risen Lord, when he talks to his fellow Jews. Will they listen to him? When he will talk to the Gentiles, in Greece, will they listen to him? Is he trying to cajole them? If we remove from Christianity the “experience of the Risen Lord as something common offered to all Jesus’ followers” we empty it completely.

To this the objection may be raised that many do not have this experience and are surprised to hear this. It seems excessive!

But Teresa did not actively seek out such an experience, she did not even know it existed. She was a nun for almost twenty years without this experience, at least without a steady growth spiritually. And God in His infinite Mercy took pity on her, shook her powerfully so she could completely turn all her being towards Him and start to receive a great abundance of graces. When we read her then, we find her very sincere. She cannot lie. Her authenticity endorses more forcibly what she has to say. Those almost twenty years of having a “normal” life as a consecrated person speak loudly to us, because they highlight all that comes afterwards. Her life is an invitation sent by Jesus to each one of us to receive what she received, to learn how to prepare ourselves - removing all obstacles - in order to receive the Lord. It is a matter of experience: to dive into the pool is exceedingly more useful than to discuss at length the nature of its water!

St Teresa offers us a huge challenge, a challenge that is capable of changing our Christian lives. All her life is here to tell us the difference between before and after meeting the Risen Lord. In this light it resembles St Paul’s life a little. As with him, it was certainly a huge effort for her to accept the challenge and undergo the journey. But she learned to let the Lord lead her, to be attentive to Him and to receive His Graces.

It will not be to our detriment if we lose hold of our resistance and make an attempt and follow her example. On the contrary – the adventure starts here!