Contemplative Haven: A Wee Concern 
A Wee Concern
Over the last number of months, on blogs of everyday layfolk, I have come across descriptions of personal experiences with God: encounters with the Lord involving locutions, intellectual visions, water, dreams, embraces, mists and breath, to name a few. I even wrote about one of my own, with the Sacred Heart.
Are we an oddball bunch of mystics? I don't think so. I think it's more likely that we've simply reached the point where we have had ample time to analyze the "by their fruits ye shall know them" aspects of these experiences, and we have decided to share some of them. Why? Perhaps in hopes that others will see that they are not out of the ordinary, and to show the mercy and compassion of the Lord.
My only concern, in the context of this series, is that people should not assume that such experiences are necessary.
In the Sixth Mansions, St. Teresa speaks at length of such things; Father Dubay outlines them in Fire Within: ecstasy, rapture, transport, flight of the spirit, impulses, wounding, the betrothal and sometimes levitation.
Now, it is not that these phenomena cannot occur in any of the Mansions, because they can, and do. However, it is in the Sixth Mansions that St. Teresa discusses them, and so in this overview of Interior Castle, that is where they will be presented and discussed as well.
I would just like to ensure that anyone who may be reading this series does not equate the early stages of infused contemplation with having to "feel" any special presence or "experience" anything tangible. In fact, some people spend their whole lives in the practice of contemplative prayer and never experience any of these phenomena. It is entirely up to God - when, where and if.
Are we an oddball bunch of mystics? I don't think so. I think it's more likely that we've simply reached the point where we have had ample time to analyze the "by their fruits ye shall know them" aspects of these experiences, and we have decided to share some of them. Why? Perhaps in hopes that others will see that they are not out of the ordinary, and to show the mercy and compassion of the Lord.
My only concern, in the context of this series, is that people should not assume that such experiences are necessary.
In the Sixth Mansions, St. Teresa speaks at length of such things; Father Dubay outlines them in Fire Within: ecstasy, rapture, transport, flight of the spirit, impulses, wounding, the betrothal and sometimes levitation.
Now, it is not that these phenomena cannot occur in any of the Mansions, because they can, and do. However, it is in the Sixth Mansions that St. Teresa discusses them, and so in this overview of Interior Castle, that is where they will be presented and discussed as well.
I would just like to ensure that anyone who may be reading this series does not equate the early stages of infused contemplation with having to "feel" any special presence or "experience" anything tangible. In fact, some people spend their whole lives in the practice of contemplative prayer and never experience any of these phenomena. It is entirely up to God - when, where and if.
posted by Gabrielle at 7:29 PM
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