Life of St Teresa of Jesus, Teresa of Avila [top ten books to read TXT] 📗

telling her that her way of prayer

was sound and the work of God. Under his direction she made

great progress, and for the further satisfaction of her

confessor, and of Don Francis, who seems to have still retained

some of his doubts, she told everything to St. Francis de Borja,

who on one point changed the method of direction observed by

F. Juan. That father recommended her to resist the supernatural

visitations of the spirit as much as she could, but she was not

able, and the resistance pained her; [9] St. Francis told her she

had done enough, and that it was not right to prolong

that resistance. [10]

The account of her life which she wrote before she applied to the

Jesuits for direction has not been preserved; but it is possible

that it was made more for her own security than for the purpose

of being shown to her confessor.

The next account is Relation I., made for St. Peter of Alcantara,

and was probably seen by many; for that Saint had to defend her,

and maintain that the state of her soul was the work of God,

against those who thought that she was deluded by Satan. Her own

confessor was occasionally alarmed, and had to consult others,

and thus, by degrees, her state became known to many; and there

were some who, were so persuaded of her delusions, that they

wished her to be exorcised as one possessed of an evil

spirit, [11] and at a later time her friends were afraid that she

might be denounced to the Inquisitors. [12]

During the troubles that arose when it became known that the

Saint was about to found the monastery of St. Joseph, and therein

establish the original rule of her Order in its primitive

simplicity and austerity, she went for counsel to the Father Fra

Pedro Ibañez, [13] the Dominican, a most holy and learned priest.

That father not only encouraged her, and commended her work, but

also ordered her to give him in writing the story of her

spiritual life. The Saint readily obeyed, and began it in the

monastery of the Incarnation, and finished it in the house of

Doña Luisa de la Cerda, in Toledo, in the month of June, 1562.

On the 24th of August, the feast of St. Bartholomew, in the same

year, the Reform of the Carmelites began in the new monastery of

St. Joseph in Avila.

What the Saint wrote for Fra Ibañez has not been found. It is,

no doubt, substantially preserved in her Life, as we have it now,

and is supposed to have reached no further than the end of

ch. xxxi. What follows was added by direction of another

Dominican father, confessor of the Saint in the new monastery of

St. Joseph, Fra Garcia of Toledo, who, in 1562, bade her “write

the history of that foundation, and other matters.”

But as the Saint carried a heavy burden laid on her by God, a

constant fear of delusion, she had recourse about the same time

to the Inquisitor Soto, who advised her to write a history of her

life, send it to Juan of Avila, the “Apostle of Andalucia,” and

abide by his counsel. As the direction of Fra Garcia of Toledo

and the advice of the Inquisitor must have been given, according

to her account, about the same time, the Life, as we have it now,

must have occupied her nearly six years in the writing of it,

which may well be owing to her unceasing care in firmly

establishing the new monastery of St. Joseph. The book at last

was sent to Blessed Juan of Avila by her friend Doña Luisa de la

Cerda, and that great master of the spiritual life wrote the

following censure of it:

“The grace and peace of Jesus Christ be with you always.

“1. When I undertook to read the book sent me, it was not so much

because I thought myself able to judge of it, as because I

thought I might, by the grace of our Lord, learn something from

the teachings it contains: and praised be Christ; for, though I

have not been able to read it with the leisure it requires,

I have been comforted by it, and might have been edified by it,

if the fault had not been mine. And although, indeed, I may have

been comforted by it, without saying more, yet the respect due to

the subject and to the person who has sent it will not allow me,

I think, to let it go back without giving my opinion on it, at

least in general.

“2. The book is not fit to be in the hands of everybody, for it

is necessary to correct the language in some places, and explain

it in others; and there are some things in it useful for your

spiritual life and not so for others who might adopt them, for

the special ways by which God leads some souls are not meant for

others. These points, or the greater number of them, I have

marked for the purpose of arranging them when I shall be able to

do so, and I shall not fail to send them to you; for if you were

aware of my infirmities and necessary occupations, I believe they

would make you pity me rather than blame me for the omission.

“3. The doctrine of prayer is for the most part sound, and you

may rely on it, and observe it; and the raptures I find to

possess the tests of those which are true. What you say of God’s

way of teaching the soul, without respect to the imagination and

without interior locutions, is safe, and I find nothing to object

to it. St. Augustine speaks well of it.

“4. Interior locutions in these days have been a delusion of

many, and exterior locutions are the least safe. It is easy

enough to see when they proceed from ourselves, but to

distinguish between those of a good and those of an evil spirit

is more difficult. There are many rules given for finding out

whether they come from our Lord or not, and one of them is, that

they should be sent us in a time of need, or for some good end,

as for the comforting a man under temptation or in doubt, or as a

warning of coming danger. As a good man will not speak

unadvisedly, neither will God; so, considering this, and that the

locutions are agreeable to the holy writings and the teaching of

the Church, my opinion is that the locutions mentioned in the

book came from God.

“5. Imaginary or bodily visions are those which are most

doubtful, and should in no wise be desired, and if they come

undesired still they should be shunned as much as possible, yet

not by treating them with contempt, unless it be certain that

they come from an evil spirit; indeed, I was filled with horror,

and greatly distressed, when I read of the gestures of contempt

that were made. [14] People ought to entreat our Lord not to

lead them by the way of visions, but to reserve for them in

Heaven the blessed vision of Himself and the saints, and to guide

them here along the beaten path as He guides His faithful

servants, and they must take other good measures for avoiding

these visions.

“6. But if the visions continue after all this is done, and if

the soul derives good from them, and if they do not lead to

vanity, but deeper humility, and if the locutions be at one with

the teaching the Church, and if they continue for any time, and

that with inward satisfaction—better felt than described—there

is no reason for avoiding them. But no one ought to rely on his

own judgment herein; he should make everything known to him who

can give him light. That is the universal remedy to be had

recourse to in such matters, together with hope in God, Who will

not let a soul that wishes to be safe lie under a delusion, if it

be humble enough to yield obedience to the opinion of others.

“7. Nor should any one cause alarm by condemning them forthwith,

because he sees that the person to whom they are granted is not

perfect, for it is nothing new that our Lord in His goodness

makes wicked people just, yea, even grievous sinners; by giving

them to taste most deeply of His sweetness. I have seen it so

myself. Who will set bounds to the goodness of our

Lord?—especially when these graces are given, not for merit, nor

because one is stronger; on the contrary, they are given to one

because he is weaker; and as they do not make one more holy, they

are not always given to the most holy.

“8. They are unreasonable who disbelieve these things merely

because they are most high things, and because it seems to them

incredible that infinite Majesty humbles Himself to these loving

relations with one of His creatures. It is written, God is love,

and if He is love, then infinite love and infinite goodness, and

we must not be surprised if such a love and such a goodness

breaks out into such excesses of love as disturb those who know

nothing of it. And though many know of it by faith, still, as to

that special experience of the loving, and more than loving,

converse of God with whom He will, if not had, how deep it

reaches can never be known; and so I have seen many persons

scandalized at hearing of what God in His love does for His

creatures. As they are themselves very far away from it, they

cannot think that God will do for others what He is not doing for

them. As this is an effect of love, and that a love which causes

wonder, reason requires we should look upon it as a sign of its

being from God, seeing that He is wonderful in His works, and

most especially in those of his compassion; but they take

occasion from this to be distrustful, which should have been a

ground of confidence, when other circumstances combine as

evidences of these visitations being good.

“9. It seems from the book, I think, that you have resisted, and

even longer than was right. I think, too, that these locutions

have done your soul good, and in particular that they have made

you see your own wretchedness and your faults more clearly, and

amend them. They have lasted long, and always with spiritual

profit. They move you to love God, and to despise yourself, and

to do penance. I see no reasons for condemning them, I incline

rather to regard them as good, provided you are careful not to

rely altogether on them, especially if they are unusual, or bid

you do something out of the way, or are not very plain. In all

these and the like cases you must withhold your belief in them,

and at once seek for direction.

“10. Also it should be considered that, even if they do come from

God, Satan may mix with them suggestions of his own; you should

therefore be always suspicious of them. Also, when they are

known to be from God, men must not rest much on them, seeing that

holiness does not lie in them, but in a humble love of God and

our neighbour; everything else, however good, must be feared, and

our efforts directed to the gaining of humility, goodness, and

the love of our Lord. It is seemly, also, not to worship what is

seen in these visions, but only