Contemplative Haven: Portrait of a Soul in Love (A Snippet from the 6th) 
Portrait of a Soul in Love (A Snippet from the 6th)
What is a soul in the Sixth Mansions really like? How does one feel, what are one's desires, how does one relate to others, how does one function in the world? Well, the soul in the Sixth Mansions is finding it very difficult to accept its place in the world, desiring only complete fruition of union with God. The soul is unable, as yet, to comprehend that if it continues along this path to union and reaches the Seventh Mansions where the Spiritual Marriage will take place, all this unrest will dissipate, and it may desire to live on earth forever, praising and serving the Lord. St. Teresa paints us a picture of this restless soul in Chapter VI of the Sixth Mansions, so let us study her sketch:
- Desire for commencement of eternal life: “the soul is so anxious to have complete fruition of [the Lord] that its life becomes sheer, though delectable, torture. It has the keenest longings for death, and so it frequently and tearfully begs God to take it out of this exile.”
- Weariness with the world: “Everything in this life that it sees wearies it; when it finds itself alone it experiences great relief, but immediately this distress returns till it hardly knows itself when it is without it.”
- Increase in ecstatic prayer: “…her love is so full of tenderness that any occasion whatever which serves to increase the strength of this fire causes the soul to take flight; and thus in this Mansion raptures occur continually and there is no way of avoiding them, even in public.”
- Horror of sin: “…she feels that she would not intentionally commit so much as a venial sin, even were she to be cut in pieces; and thus she is greatly distressed to find that, without being aware of the fact, she cannot avoid committing a great many.”
- Conflicting desires: “…the soul would like to flee from other people, and greatly envies those who live, or have lived, in deserts. On the other hand it would like to plunge right into the heart of the world, to see if by doing this it could help one soul to praise God more…”
- Disheartened by impediments: “…a woman in this state will be distressed at being prevented from doing this [plunging right into the heart of the world] by the obstacle of sex and very envious of those who are free to cry aloud and proclaim abroad Who is this great God of Hosts.”
These, says St. Teresa, are the effects of ecstatic prayer, “without any kind of doubt.” One can understand then, when considering a soul who is this much in love with the Lord yet unable to go any further on its own, St. Teresa is moved to cry out:
"Have pity on her, my God; and dispose things so that she may be able to do something towards fulfilling her desires to Thy honour and glory."
- Desire for commencement of eternal life: “the soul is so anxious to have complete fruition of [the Lord] that its life becomes sheer, though delectable, torture. It has the keenest longings for death, and so it frequently and tearfully begs God to take it out of this exile.”
- Weariness with the world: “Everything in this life that it sees wearies it; when it finds itself alone it experiences great relief, but immediately this distress returns till it hardly knows itself when it is without it.”
- Increase in ecstatic prayer: “…her love is so full of tenderness that any occasion whatever which serves to increase the strength of this fire causes the soul to take flight; and thus in this Mansion raptures occur continually and there is no way of avoiding them, even in public.”
- Horror of sin: “…she feels that she would not intentionally commit so much as a venial sin, even were she to be cut in pieces; and thus she is greatly distressed to find that, without being aware of the fact, she cannot avoid committing a great many.”
- Conflicting desires: “…the soul would like to flee from other people, and greatly envies those who live, or have lived, in deserts. On the other hand it would like to plunge right into the heart of the world, to see if by doing this it could help one soul to praise God more…”
- Disheartened by impediments: “…a woman in this state will be distressed at being prevented from doing this [plunging right into the heart of the world] by the obstacle of sex and very envious of those who are free to cry aloud and proclaim abroad Who is this great God of Hosts.”
These, says St. Teresa, are the effects of ecstatic prayer, “without any kind of doubt.” One can understand then, when considering a soul who is this much in love with the Lord yet unable to go any further on its own, St. Teresa is moved to cry out:
"Have pity on her, my God; and dispose things so that she may be able to do something towards fulfilling her desires to Thy honour and glory."
posted by Gabrielle at 8:30 AM
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