Contemplative Haven: Ecstatic Prayer (Part 1 of 2): A Snippet from the 6th 
Ecstatic Prayer (Part 1 of 2): A Snippet from the 6th
Through all of the dryness, heartache and yearning desires, we have been leading up to this: the spiritual betrothal. St. Teresa tells us that, “now you are going to see what His Majesty does to confirm this betrothal, for this, as I understand it, is what happens when He bestows raptures, which carry the soul out of its senses; for if, while still in possession of its senses, the soul saw that it was so near to such great majesty, it might perhaps be unable to remain alive.”
St. Teresa believes that rapture, ecstasy and trance are basically the same thing. This is supported in a footnote by E. Allison Peers, the translator of Interior Castle, who writes: “The mystics concur with St. Thomas in holding that ecstasy, rapture, transport, flight of the spirit, etc., are in substance one and the same, though there are accidental differences between them…”
What is the reason for ecstatic prayer? St. Teresa teaches that, because the soul desires “ever-increasing fruition of its Spouse”, the Lord grants it ecstatic prayer in order to strengthen it and give it courage to attain complete union.
Sometimes a rapture will occur because a soul is, “struck by some word, which it either remembers or hears spoken by God.” The Lord takes pity on the suffering soul, and the “spark”, which we learned of in an earlier Snippet, grows and “catches fire and springs into new life.” St. Teresa believes that a soul is forgiven of its sins at that moment, “assuming that it is in the proper disposition and has used the means of grace, as the Church teaches.” Then the Lord brings the soul into union with Himself, “in a way which none can understand save it and He, and even the soul itself does not understand this in such a way as to be able to speak of it afterwards…”
St. Teresa tells us that, even though the senses and the faculties, “are so completely absorbed that we might describe them as dead”, the soul itself, “has never before been so fully awake to the things of God or had such light or such knowledge of His Majesty.”
When the soul is in ecstatic prayer, imaginary and/or intellectual visions are sometimes granted. These will be dealt with in separate Snippets, but for the moment, let us just note that St. Teresa says imaginary visions are, “so deeply impressed upon the memory that they can never again be forgotten,” and that afterwards, one is able to describe them. Intellectual visions, however, are so “sublime” that they cannot be described afterwards, but they are “clearly imprinted in the very depths of the soul.”
According to St. Teresa, when a soul is enraptured, one temporarily loses the power of breathing, cannot speak and sometimes grows so cold in the hands and feet that it appears there is no soul left in the body. One can go in and out of this state, each time for short periods, but the ecstasy is giving, “fuller life to the soul.”
Even after coming out of ecstatic prayer, St. Teresa writes that the will is left completely absorbed and the understanding remains completely transported, sometimes for a day or even several days. The person is, during this time, completely incapable of grasping anything in its world that, “does not awaken the will to love.”
The ongoing effects of ecstatic prayer are significant. The soul desires to be used by God for any purpose, longs now to have “a thousand” lives to use for the Lord, and wishes only to praise Him. The soul desires to do penance, is never satisfied with the penance it performs, begins to understand how and why the martyrs were able to suffer, and complains to the Lord when, “He offers [it] no means of suffering.”
When ecstatic prayer occurs in public, as it sometimes does, St. Teresa is aware that it causes shame, confusion, distress and anxiety, but she teaches that this is really a lack of humility, and that the soul should be content whether it receives criticism or whether the Lord receives praise. She has her own opinion as to why the Lord would allow ecstatic prayer to be witnessed, and it should bring us much comfort:
“It seems that Our Lord wants everyone to realize that such a person’s soul is now His and that no one must touch it. People are welcome to attack her body, her honour, and her possessions, for any of these attacks will be to His Majesty’s honour. But her soul they may not attack, for unless, with most blameworthy presumption, it tears itself away from its Spouse, He will protect it from the whole world, and indeed from all hell.”
St. Teresa believes that rapture, ecstasy and trance are basically the same thing. This is supported in a footnote by E. Allison Peers, the translator of Interior Castle, who writes: “The mystics concur with St. Thomas in holding that ecstasy, rapture, transport, flight of the spirit, etc., are in substance one and the same, though there are accidental differences between them…”
What is the reason for ecstatic prayer? St. Teresa teaches that, because the soul desires “ever-increasing fruition of its Spouse”, the Lord grants it ecstatic prayer in order to strengthen it and give it courage to attain complete union.
Sometimes a rapture will occur because a soul is, “struck by some word, which it either remembers or hears spoken by God.” The Lord takes pity on the suffering soul, and the “spark”, which we learned of in an earlier Snippet, grows and “catches fire and springs into new life.” St. Teresa believes that a soul is forgiven of its sins at that moment, “assuming that it is in the proper disposition and has used the means of grace, as the Church teaches.” Then the Lord brings the soul into union with Himself, “in a way which none can understand save it and He, and even the soul itself does not understand this in such a way as to be able to speak of it afterwards…”
St. Teresa tells us that, even though the senses and the faculties, “are so completely absorbed that we might describe them as dead”, the soul itself, “has never before been so fully awake to the things of God or had such light or such knowledge of His Majesty.”
When the soul is in ecstatic prayer, imaginary and/or intellectual visions are sometimes granted. These will be dealt with in separate Snippets, but for the moment, let us just note that St. Teresa says imaginary visions are, “so deeply impressed upon the memory that they can never again be forgotten,” and that afterwards, one is able to describe them. Intellectual visions, however, are so “sublime” that they cannot be described afterwards, but they are “clearly imprinted in the very depths of the soul.”
According to St. Teresa, when a soul is enraptured, one temporarily loses the power of breathing, cannot speak and sometimes grows so cold in the hands and feet that it appears there is no soul left in the body. One can go in and out of this state, each time for short periods, but the ecstasy is giving, “fuller life to the soul.”
Even after coming out of ecstatic prayer, St. Teresa writes that the will is left completely absorbed and the understanding remains completely transported, sometimes for a day or even several days. The person is, during this time, completely incapable of grasping anything in its world that, “does not awaken the will to love.”
The ongoing effects of ecstatic prayer are significant. The soul desires to be used by God for any purpose, longs now to have “a thousand” lives to use for the Lord, and wishes only to praise Him. The soul desires to do penance, is never satisfied with the penance it performs, begins to understand how and why the martyrs were able to suffer, and complains to the Lord when, “He offers [it] no means of suffering.”
When ecstatic prayer occurs in public, as it sometimes does, St. Teresa is aware that it causes shame, confusion, distress and anxiety, but she teaches that this is really a lack of humility, and that the soul should be content whether it receives criticism or whether the Lord receives praise. She has her own opinion as to why the Lord would allow ecstatic prayer to be witnessed, and it should bring us much comfort:
“It seems that Our Lord wants everyone to realize that such a person’s soul is now His and that no one must touch it. People are welcome to attack her body, her honour, and her possessions, for any of these attacks will be to His Majesty’s honour. But her soul they may not attack, for unless, with most blameworthy presumption, it tears itself away from its Spouse, He will protect it from the whole world, and indeed from all hell.”
posted by Gabrielle at 1:03 AM
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