The Way of Perfection: St Teresa of Avila

I think our prayer/spiritual life can be compared to a nice old fashioned coal fire. The first and main thing a fire gives is heat, that is to say love a love, a fire which burns , melts and transforms us. This is the main effect of prayer, that if melts and remoulds us from one degree of glory unto the next into the image of Christ. Thus the coming of the Holy Spirit as at Pentecost is often seen as fire.

The second great gift of our little fire/prayer life is that it brings light, that is to says the gifts of the year ly spirit, Counsel, Wisdom and Understanding. The Light of this fire helps us see and discern, most especially our own sinfulness.

A third gift of the fire is that it brings great beauty, that is to say mystical gifts of which there are very many. Some of them supernatural. These are given to a greater or lesser degree according to the Will of God.

The fourth gift of the fire is the smoke of mystery. That is to say that God is very, very great and we are very, very little. In Scripture it is written that no one can see the Face of God and live. The Holy of Holies was often surrounded by smoke. We must be humble and understand that we might see a very little we will always, even in heaven be only at the very start of understanding.

 

There is one thing I have noticed down the years , especially in the Spiritual Life is how apt we are to judge others by our own lived experiences. So take a secUlar to extreme example. A very rich , successful , well groomed business woman pulls up outside her office in her new Porch. She seems a young Prostitute outside her office and regards her with disgust. If this girl had studied and applied herself more , if only she would get her act together she would and could be as successful like me. But that of course implies a whole wealth of assumptions about the poor young girl which might not apply. A for instance the family circumstances she came from.

In the Spiritual Life we can be inclined to think that anyone who does not take the exact same path as ourselves has gone off the right and proper road. An old priest told me this story years ago.

A priest , a Mother Superior and a novice were leaving Church one morning when they found a drunk lying at the door. The priest commented how disgusting the man was . The Mother Superior replied that there but for the grace of God go I. Then the young novice , looking very puzzled asked the question that she didn't understand, why did they think that we are any better than the poor drunk?

 

I read funny about a Brazlian nun , Sister Antonia who died in the 1930's and who by the way was able to see her Guardian Angel fromchildhood. She had a vision of the Mystical Espousals in which Jesus placed a good ring with a beautiful red jewel on her ring finger.But when the vision was over the sister had a panic attack when she thought she lost it.She tore her room to pieces looking for it.

Jesus appeared again and assured her the ring was invisible.

'Could you not have told me that at the time?' the exasperated sister said.