Contemplative Haven: Fifth Mansions (Part 1 of 4) 
Fifth Mansions (Part 1 of 4)
Despite St. Teresa's misgivings that she will not be able to help us with the Fifth Mansions, she perseveres, desiring to tell us of its "riches and treasures and delights". Few people, she says, "prepare" themselves for the Lord to reveal the "hidden treasure" within; this treasure, Father Thomas Dubay tells us, is the Indwelling Trinity.
As love grows, there is a corresponding intensification of infused prayer, and the "absorption" found in the Prayer of Quiet is heightened in the Fifth Mansions, becoming the Prayer of Union. The Lord desires our love, and St. Teresa tells us to what degree: "He would have you keep back nothing; whether it be little or much, He will have it all for Himself."
In this Prayer of Union, we are "fast asleep, to the things of the world, and to ourselves." We have no power to think, even though there may be a desire to do so. We do not have to struggle as before to suspend thought - God suspends it for us.
There is a strong love and desire, but we cannot understand what it is; sometimes, St. Teresa says, it is as if the soul has withdrawn from the body. The mind is "dumbfounded", and sometimes "neither hands nor feet can move." Father Dubay notes that here, St. Teresa is describing a type of ecstatic prayer, not as strong as the ecstasy or rapture which she will explain in the Sixth Mansions, but a milder type, which she says usually does not last as long as even half an hour. The Prayer of Union has its effects primarily on the interior, within the soul, while ecstatic prayer affects a person both interiorly and exteriorly. Sometimes there is a little slipping in and out of different types of prayer, and this is an example of being primarily in the Fifth Mansions enjoying the Prayer of Union, but slipping into the Sixth Mansions at times.
In the Fourth Mansions, after experiencing the Prayer of Quiet, one may wonder whether or not it had all been a dream, or just the imagination, or even be fearful that one had been deceived by the devil, who can transform himself into an angel of light. Not so in the Fifth Mansions, St. Teresa reveals, for in the Prayer of Union, all the faculties (imagination, memory and intellect) are suspended, along with the will. Here, in the Prayer of Union, she is quite certain that the devil cannot enter, because "His Majesty is in such close contact and union with the essence of the soul."
If we are still unsure as to whether or not we have attained the Prayer of Union, St. Teresa gives us a "clear indication", a "decisive one". The soul, she says, does not necessarily know this during the time of prayer, but "it sees it clearly afterwards":
"God implants Himself in the interior of that soul in such a way that, when it returns to itself, it cannot possibly doubt that God has been in it and it has been in God; so firmly does this truth remain within it that, although for years God may never grant it that favour again, it can neither forget it nor doubt that it has received it....This certainty of the soul is very material."
As love grows, there is a corresponding intensification of infused prayer, and the "absorption" found in the Prayer of Quiet is heightened in the Fifth Mansions, becoming the Prayer of Union. The Lord desires our love, and St. Teresa tells us to what degree: "He would have you keep back nothing; whether it be little or much, He will have it all for Himself."
In this Prayer of Union, we are "fast asleep, to the things of the world, and to ourselves." We have no power to think, even though there may be a desire to do so. We do not have to struggle as before to suspend thought - God suspends it for us.
There is a strong love and desire, but we cannot understand what it is; sometimes, St. Teresa says, it is as if the soul has withdrawn from the body. The mind is "dumbfounded", and sometimes "neither hands nor feet can move." Father Dubay notes that here, St. Teresa is describing a type of ecstatic prayer, not as strong as the ecstasy or rapture which she will explain in the Sixth Mansions, but a milder type, which she says usually does not last as long as even half an hour. The Prayer of Union has its effects primarily on the interior, within the soul, while ecstatic prayer affects a person both interiorly and exteriorly. Sometimes there is a little slipping in and out of different types of prayer, and this is an example of being primarily in the Fifth Mansions enjoying the Prayer of Union, but slipping into the Sixth Mansions at times.
In the Fourth Mansions, after experiencing the Prayer of Quiet, one may wonder whether or not it had all been a dream, or just the imagination, or even be fearful that one had been deceived by the devil, who can transform himself into an angel of light. Not so in the Fifth Mansions, St. Teresa reveals, for in the Prayer of Union, all the faculties (imagination, memory and intellect) are suspended, along with the will. Here, in the Prayer of Union, she is quite certain that the devil cannot enter, because "His Majesty is in such close contact and union with the essence of the soul."
If we are still unsure as to whether or not we have attained the Prayer of Union, St. Teresa gives us a "clear indication", a "decisive one". The soul, she says, does not necessarily know this during the time of prayer, but "it sees it clearly afterwards":
"God implants Himself in the interior of that soul in such a way that, when it returns to itself, it cannot possibly doubt that God has been in it and it has been in God; so firmly does this truth remain within it that, although for years God may never grant it that favour again, it can neither forget it nor doubt that it has received it....This certainty of the soul is very material."
posted by Gabrielle at 9:20 AM
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