. Contemplative Haven: September 2006

Friday, September 29, 2006

St. Teresa's Love Wound


Before we move along to lucutions, I would like to share with you St. Teresa's own experience of receiving a love wound. She describes an encounter with an angel in Chapter 29 of her autobiography:

"I saw in his hands a large golden dart and at the end of the iron tip there appeared to be a little fire. It seemed to me this angel plunged the dart several times into my heart and that it reached deep within me. When he drew it out, I thought he was carrying off with him the deepest part of me; and he left me all on fire with great love of God. The pain was so great that it made me moan, and the sweetness this greatest pain caused me was so superabundant that there is no desire capable of taking it away."

This event is celebrated on August 26th, and is known as the Feast of the Transverberation of St. Teresa of Jesus. This type of occurrence is also known as transfixion.

Here is a lovely little poem, entitled, "Dilectus Meus Mihi", or, "My Beloved is Mine", written by St. Teresa herself. This translation is by Alvin Joaquin Figueroa, who tells us that St. Teresa, "uses the Song of Songs as a literary intertext" in her poem.


When the sweet Hunter shot and wounded me
My soul rested upon Love's arms.
And regaining a new life
I have changed in such a way,
That I am my Beloved's
And my Beloved is mine.

I have surrendered to Him
And to such a great extent
That I am my Beloved's
And my Beloved is mine.
He wounded me with a love arrow
And my soul became one with her Creator.
I do not want any other love,
For to my God I have surrendered.
I am my Beloved's
And my Beloved is mine.

posted by Gabrielle at 12:35 AM |

Monday, September 25, 2006

Love Wounds (A Snippet from the 6th)

One of the benefits of the trials in the Sixth Mansions is that the soul gains courage, enabling it to "make a higher flight". Before the soul enters into the Spiritual Marriage, which will take place in the Seventh Mansions, the Lord fills it with "fervent desire, by means so delicate that the soul itself does not understand them." These experiences come about in a very different manner than other consolations we have seen - for example, those which may be experienced in the Prayer of Quiet. The soul may be somewhat prepared for consolations during an actual time of prayer or reflection, but these ones often occur, "when a person is quite unprepared for such a thing, and is not even thinking of God."

St. Teresa describes how the soul may be suddenly awakened by the Lord, "as though by a rushing comet or a thunderclap", although no external sound is heard. It knows immediately that it has been called by God, and may begin to "tremble and complain". The soul becomes aware that it has been "delectably wounded". It knows that the Lord is very near, but is not manifesting His Presence in any way that the soul can grasp in union. The soul is in love, and this experience is such a combination of love and grief that it cries out to the Lord, and yet it is a suffering of which the soul would never desire to be healed. St. Teresa tells us that it is as if the Lord, Who is in the Seventh Mansions of the soul, is "calling the soul in a way which involves no clear utterance of speech."

St. Teresa likens this experience to two things: one, as if the soul has been wounded by an arrow; two, as if, from the Fire which is God, a spark has flown out and touched the soul. The spark produces heat, a burning desire, but not enough to fully set the soul on fire. The experience comes and goes, and "leaves the soul yearning once again to suffer that loving pain."

St. Teresa tells us that this is not something which can be counterfeited by the devil; although he is able to cause pain, and he is able to counterfeit spiritual delights, he is incapable of uniting the two. The devil cannot, according to St. Teresa, unite great pain in the soul with tranquillity and joy.

The effect of love wounds is that the soul, generally, "becomes filled with a determination to suffer for God's sake and to desire to have many trials to endure, and to be very much more resolute in withdrawing from the pleasures and intercourse of this world..."

posted by Gabrielle at 11:50 AM |

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Supernatural Phenomena: A Snippet from the 6th

St. Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy

In the Sixth Mansions, St. Teresa of Avila tells us of different ways in which God "awakens the soul" more fully. The Lord does this by means of such things as love wounds, locutions, ecstasies/raptures, flights of spirit, and sometimes levitation. Father Thomas Dubay, in "Fire Within", concedes that levitation is generally considered to be "extraordinary", but says that "the other experiences are all normal developments of a deepening communion with the Trinity."

We will look at some of these phenomena more closely over the next few posts, in order to examine what St. Teresa thinks are the reasons for them and their effects upon the soul. But let us keep in mind the words of St. Teresa herself, as she cautioned her Carmelite nuns:



"And let none of you imagine that, because a sister has had such experiences, she is any better than the rest; the Lord leads each of us as He sees we have need. Such experiences, if we use them aright, prepare us to be better servants of God; but sometimes it is the weakest whom God leads by this road; and so there is no ground here either for approval or for condemnation. We must base our judgments on the virtues."


The Ecstasy of St. Catherine of Siena

posted by Gabrielle at 11:30 AM |

Monday, September 18, 2006

Synchronicity


Some thoughts on journaling in the previous post's combox, as well as a recent reflection over at ccheryl's , brought to mind the enormous potential of creativity in our lives.

If you have not already done so, I would highly recommend reading a book by Julia Cameron, entitled, "The Artist's Way. A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity." It is a powerful and insightful work on how to recover and release the hidden artist within. While not "Catholic" in any denominational sense of the word, the author guides us through a program which will help us discover, or reawaken, our sense of the connectedness between art and spirituality. Here are two passages from Julia Cameron's book:

"The heart of creativity is an experience of the mystical union; the heart of the mystical union is an experience of creativity. Those who speak in spiritual terms routinely refer to God as the creator but seldom see creator as the literal term for artist. I am suggesting you take the term creator quite literally. You are seeking to forge a creative alliance, artist-to-artist with the Great Creator. Accepting this concept can greatly expand your creative possibilities." (pg. 2)

"Once you accept that it is natural to create, you can begin to accept a second idea - that the creator will hand you whatever you need for the project. The minute you are willing to accept the help of this collaborator, you will see useful bits of help everywhere in your life. Be alert: there is a second voice, a higher harmonic, adding to and augmenting your inner creative voice. This voice frequently shows itself in synchronicity." (pg. 119)

posted by Gabrielle at 12:28 PM |

Friday, September 15, 2006

Why?

Why this dark night of the soul, in particular this dark night of the spirit? We are told, by many contemplative saints and writers, it is because the soul needs to be purified completely before it can attain to the Spiritual Marriage, and the ego, the "false self" which has been layered on year by year, must "die". The Lord does this through his Light, through His Divine purifying fire of Love. The soul is overwhelmed by this Light; it is blinded, and can only move forward in faith. The soul cannot perceive the Lord's presence, but He is there, very close by.



"This is the reason the soul's suffering for God at this time is so intense: she is drawing nearer to Him, and so she has greater experience within herself of the void of God, of very heavy darkness, and of spiritual fire which dries up and purges her, so that thus purified she may be united with Him....He is intolerable darkness to her when He is spiritually near her, for the supernatural light darkens with its excess the natural light."

St. John of the Cross
(The Spiritual Canticle)



"We have to go through this painful experience to come to our true self. It is a harrowing journey, a death to self - the false self - and no one wants to die. But it is the only path to life, to freedom, to peace, to true love."

M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O.
(A Place Apart. Monastic Prayer and Practice for Everyone)



"The Night of Spirit feels like dying. But it isn't death. It is a liberation from the tyranny of the false self. It is the necessary preparation for the full transmission of divine light, life, and love. Lazarus as a symbol of Christian transformation is very close to us, and indeed is us in moments of deep purification, especially when that experience is prolonged and we feel as though there is no hope that the night will ever end. The Night of Spirit in particular is extremely searching. The Divine Therapist lovingly moderates the intensity of self-knowledge according to our state of life and capacity. Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus is only beginning the contemplative journey. Contemplation is not the reward of virtue. It is a necessity for virtue. It leads to the experience of the presence of God in pure faith. God then withdraws the divine presence seeming to abandon us in the tomb, as it were. God returns at the appropriate time to call us forth from our darkness, confinement, loneliness, dereliction, and grief."

Thomas Keating
(The Better Part. Stages of Contemplative Living)

posted by Gabrielle at 10:40 AM |

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Interior Trials: A Snippet from the 6th

In the Fifth Mansions we saw that the soul was "about to be betrothed" to the Lord. Here, in the Sixth Mansions, the betrothal will take place, but seldom without loneliness, heartache and soul-suffering.

St. Teresa tells us that "the soul has been wounded with love for the Spouse and seeks more opportunity of being alone", but that "the Spouse disregards its yearnings for the conclusion of the Betrothal, desiring that they should become still deeper and that this greatest of all blessings should be won by the soul at some cost to itself."

Here one experiences what is now generally referred to as the Dark Night of the Soul, based on the writings of St. John of the Cross. St. Teresa uses the term interior trials. This dark period varies from person to person in duration and intensity, as the Lord sees fit.

St. Teresa describes periods of dryness or aridity in prayer, the soul's perception that it has never known God and can never know Him, and the feeling that there is a great distance now between them: "...the soul seems not to feel the smallest spark of any love for God, nor has it ever done so."

During this period, the Lord allows the devil to test the soul, says St. Teresa, even to the point where the soul believes it has been completely abandoned. She writes: "For there are many things which assault her soul with an interior oppression so keenly felt and so intolerable that I do not know to what it can be compared, save to the torment of those who suffer in hell, for in this spiritual tempest no consolation is possible."

posted by Gabrielle at 11:55 PM |

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Misunderstood: A Snippet from the 6th

A soul in the Sixth Mansions will have trials to bear, and St. Teresa begins with what she calls, "the least of them", that being, the reaction of other people.

When someone desires sanctity, has a deepening prayerlife, and has possibly even had experiences of God in public (not of the person's own volition), others will often react negatively. Accusations will be made, by mere acquaintances, that the person has a "holier-than-thou" attitude, is deluded, is deceiving many, or is trying to make others look sinful in comparison. Even worse, these trials may come from the people who are closest: "Then people whom she had thought her friends abandon her and it is they who say the worst things of all..."

As hurtful as this may be, St. Teresa says it is less painful than the opposite reaction, which is praise. People in the Sixth Mansions are acutely aware that any good they have within themselves or any good thing they accomplish is a gift from God and not due to themselves; praise is almost abhorrent to these souls, because they can see how comparatively recently and how deeply they have been in the state of sin: "So this praise is an intolerable torment..."

But with time and experience, the soul learns not to concern itself with either praise or criticism, and continues on its way. If praised, the soul accepts it as a way of glorifying the Lord, and if criticized, realizes that the Lord is permitting this, in order to help it make progress in the virtues.

The soul actually comes to prefer the criticism, since it is a means for growth. Concerning her detractors, she "conceives a special and most tender love for them and thinks of them as truer friends and greater benefactors than those who speak well of it."

posted by Gabrielle at 10:55 PM |

Friday, September 08, 2006

Not Just Another Love Story

Come and see this gentle, young woman, who just wants to be alone with Him. She is Living the Surrendered Life. Tiptoe, please.

posted by Gabrielle at 1:15 AM |

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Sixth Mansions



The Love story continues as we enter the Sixth Mansions, wild and passionate, leading the soul very nearly into the depths of despair, and back up again to the heights of ecstasy. St. Teresa needs eleven chapters to describe it.

Yes, eleven.

This is where the betrothal occurs, where interior trials are at their worst, and where all sorts of "ordinary" and "extraordinary" phenomena transpire. Or not.

I really encourage you to read the book if you have time, since we cannot cover as many points here as St. Teresa did.

If you like, you can read it online, at Interior Castle .

I do want to highlight some areas of particular importance though, in what I will call, "Sixth Mansions Snippets". How many there will be, or how long it will take, I cannot say.

The Wedding Day is approaching, but there are so many details still to iron out, so many tiffs, hurt feelings, misunderstandings and lovers' secrets to get through first. But after all, doesn't everyone just love a good Love story?

posted by Gabrielle at 11:10 PM |

Monday, September 04, 2006

Thrive!

Some of you already know Owen; some of you may not yet have had the pleasure. His poetry can be found at smithereens, and his art, a sampling of which you see here, can be viewed at Onionboy.ca


Owen and his family were officially received into the Catholic Church in January 2006.

Previous to that, Owen was a Protestant minister for 21 years.
He gave up his livelihood to enter the Church.

A man of courage and faith, with a family to match, he only wants to do the Lord's will. Could we unite in prayer, could we storm the heavens, that our loving God would open the right doors for Owen soon.

posted by Gabrielle at 12:25 AM |