Contemplative Haven: Fourth Mansions (Part 1 of 2) 
Fourth Mansions (Part 1 of 2)
In the first three Mansions, relative to prayer, St. Teresa only briefly mentions recollection and vocal/mental prayer accompanied by meditation. This is prayer in the "human mode", as Father Thomas Dubay puts it. Here in the Fourth Mansions, St. Teresa tells us that "we now begin to touch the supernatural", and Father Dubay explains that by this, she is referring to "the inner experiences of infused contemplation."
St. Teresa tells us that the "poisonous creatures" seldom enter the Fourth Mansions. The bulk of the work of separating ourselves from these things has been done in the first three Mansions. However, she teaches that temptations can actually "do the soul good" for two reasons: if we do not experience temptations with which we have to do battle we may fall into spiritual pride, and Satan can then mislead us concerning consolations we might be receiving; also, without temptations, "the soul would be deprived of all occasions of merit."
The importance of knowing the difference between "sweetness in prayer" and "spiritual consolations" is also stressed. St. Teresa describes sweetness in prayer as coming from our meditations, our petitions and our virtuous works. God has a hand in this, she says, but it mainly comes out of our own nature. It is an emotional kind of satisfaction, similar to pleasant emotions which arise from many rewarding worldly activities or events, which "have their source in our own nature and end in God."
Spiritual consolations, however, "have their source in God, but we experience them in a natural way". Spiritual consolations "enlarge the heart" in a way that sweetness in prayer does not.
Here we are introduced to St. Teresa's famous water imagery. She offers us another metaphor: the soul as a large basin. On the one hand, the basin can be filled with water which is brought to it, from the source, through many conduits and by human skill; that is, we can work at prayer, through the conduits of words, thoughts, or meditations on created things and we will receive a "sweetness" in prayer, but the human effort which it requires creates spiritual "noise", and "fatigues the understanding".
On the other hand, if the basin is at the source, the water is always flowing, always noiselessly filling the basin with no need of conduits, and this is "spiritual consolation". She tells us it is "accompanied by the greatest peace and quietness and sweetness within ourselves", and so, St. Teresa calls it the "Prayer of Quiet".
St. Teresa tells us that the "poisonous creatures" seldom enter the Fourth Mansions. The bulk of the work of separating ourselves from these things has been done in the first three Mansions. However, she teaches that temptations can actually "do the soul good" for two reasons: if we do not experience temptations with which we have to do battle we may fall into spiritual pride, and Satan can then mislead us concerning consolations we might be receiving; also, without temptations, "the soul would be deprived of all occasions of merit."
The importance of knowing the difference between "sweetness in prayer" and "spiritual consolations" is also stressed. St. Teresa describes sweetness in prayer as coming from our meditations, our petitions and our virtuous works. God has a hand in this, she says, but it mainly comes out of our own nature. It is an emotional kind of satisfaction, similar to pleasant emotions which arise from many rewarding worldly activities or events, which "have their source in our own nature and end in God."
Spiritual consolations, however, "have their source in God, but we experience them in a natural way". Spiritual consolations "enlarge the heart" in a way that sweetness in prayer does not.
Here we are introduced to St. Teresa's famous water imagery. She offers us another metaphor: the soul as a large basin. On the one hand, the basin can be filled with water which is brought to it, from the source, through many conduits and by human skill; that is, we can work at prayer, through the conduits of words, thoughts, or meditations on created things and we will receive a "sweetness" in prayer, but the human effort which it requires creates spiritual "noise", and "fatigues the understanding".
On the other hand, if the basin is at the source, the water is always flowing, always noiselessly filling the basin with no need of conduits, and this is "spiritual consolation". She tells us it is "accompanied by the greatest peace and quietness and sweetness within ourselves", and so, St. Teresa calls it the "Prayer of Quiet".
posted by Gabrielle at 1:16 AM
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