Contemplative Haven: Tears and Laughter (A Snippet from the 6th) 
Tears and Laughter (A Snippet from the 6th)
There are many gifts bestowed upon souls in the Sixth Mansions, two more of which are the gift of tears and spiritual inebriation.
Although St. Teresa describes herself as, “not in the least emotional”, she tells us that there were times when the tears would flow. She writes, “when the fire within my soul is strong, however hard my heart may be, it distils as if in an alembic.” Let’s take a look at this imagery. An alembic was an apparatus formerly used in distillation, the process whereby gas or vapours are driven from liquids or solids by heat, ultimately causing them to condense into a liquid product. What a wonderful image, St. Teresa’s ‘hard’ heart in the fiery alembic of her soul in infused contemplation, being transformed, distilled, the resulting liquid being her flowing tears. She states that tears which come forth in this manner are “comforting and tranquillizing”, not disturbing, but that one should not strive to bring these tears about. Allow God to give them as He sees fit, she tells us, for these tears are, “water which comes from heaven.” St. Teresa warns us that these tears, though, must be distinguished from the tears of overly emotional people who, “weep for the slightest thing; again and again they will think they are weeping for reasons which have to do with God but this will not be so in reality.”
The second gift of which we speak is described by St. Teresa as, “a jubilation and a strange kind of prayer.” She feels the nature of the gift is that the Lord brings the soul into close union while allowing the faculties and the senses to ‘enjoy’ this blissful state. The soul cannot remain silent in this happiness, but is compelled to shout out its joy and to praise the Lord so that all will know of His greatness. The person may actually appear to be intoxicated. In, Fire Within, Father Thomas Dubay writes that St. Teresa had mentioned in a letter to her brother that, “latterly I have been going about almost as if I were drunk”, and Father Dubay gives us a further explanation:
“Mystics speak of this experience as a sober inebriation: one remains with the use of reason and thus is “sober” but at the same time is quite overcome with delight after drinking deeply of the divine. The aftereffect of having tasted this potent cup of God’s goodness is something akin to reeling from drunkenness without having any of the demeaning defects of that disagreeable state.”
In The Spiritual Canticle, St. John of the Cross also describes this gift, referring to it as, ‘spiced wine’.
As far as St. Teresa is concerned, we should not look askance at souls in this state or desire to be more “sensible” than they, for the bottom line is that it is a state of prayer bestowed by God, in which the soul is incapable of speaking anything which does not arise out of its joy and desire to praise the Lord.
Although St. Teresa describes herself as, “not in the least emotional”, she tells us that there were times when the tears would flow. She writes, “when the fire within my soul is strong, however hard my heart may be, it distils as if in an alembic.” Let’s take a look at this imagery. An alembic was an apparatus formerly used in distillation, the process whereby gas or vapours are driven from liquids or solids by heat, ultimately causing them to condense into a liquid product. What a wonderful image, St. Teresa’s ‘hard’ heart in the fiery alembic of her soul in infused contemplation, being transformed, distilled, the resulting liquid being her flowing tears. She states that tears which come forth in this manner are “comforting and tranquillizing”, not disturbing, but that one should not strive to bring these tears about. Allow God to give them as He sees fit, she tells us, for these tears are, “water which comes from heaven.” St. Teresa warns us that these tears, though, must be distinguished from the tears of overly emotional people who, “weep for the slightest thing; again and again they will think they are weeping for reasons which have to do with God but this will not be so in reality.”
The second gift of which we speak is described by St. Teresa as, “a jubilation and a strange kind of prayer.” She feels the nature of the gift is that the Lord brings the soul into close union while allowing the faculties and the senses to ‘enjoy’ this blissful state. The soul cannot remain silent in this happiness, but is compelled to shout out its joy and to praise the Lord so that all will know of His greatness. The person may actually appear to be intoxicated. In, Fire Within, Father Thomas Dubay writes that St. Teresa had mentioned in a letter to her brother that, “latterly I have been going about almost as if I were drunk”, and Father Dubay gives us a further explanation:
“Mystics speak of this experience as a sober inebriation: one remains with the use of reason and thus is “sober” but at the same time is quite overcome with delight after drinking deeply of the divine. The aftereffect of having tasted this potent cup of God’s goodness is something akin to reeling from drunkenness without having any of the demeaning defects of that disagreeable state.”
In The Spiritual Canticle, St. John of the Cross also describes this gift, referring to it as, ‘spiced wine’.
As far as St. Teresa is concerned, we should not look askance at souls in this state or desire to be more “sensible” than they, for the bottom line is that it is a state of prayer bestowed by God, in which the soul is incapable of speaking anything which does not arise out of its joy and desire to praise the Lord.
posted by Gabrielle at 11:20 AM
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