Prayer as the Door

“…prayer is the door to favors as great as those He granted me. If this door is closed, I don’t know how he will grant them…” (Life, 8:9)

“…the door of entry to this castle is prayer and reflection…” (Interior Castle I:1:7)

It should almost go without saying, but Saint Teresa insists in multiple places that before one can be united with God, one must pray. Saint Teresa did not require an esoteric or extraordinary method of prayer in order to reach union with God. In fact, she advocates the use of the ordinary, everyday prayers of the Catholic faith, so-called vocal prayer, recited with attention and love: the Psalms, the Rosary, and above all, the prayer that Jesus Himself gave us, the Our Father. She devotes 16 of the 42 chapters of her Way of Perfection to an exposition of this simplest of prayers, and holds up as an example an elderly nun who was unable to practice mental prayer, but nevertheless was raised to the highest contemplation through her assiduous practice of vocal prayer (see chapter 30 of the Way of Perfection). Saint Teresa’s view is that prayer can and should be accessible to all, no matter what their state in life: “The Lord doesn’t look so much at the greatness of our works as at the love with which they are done.” (Interior Castle VII:4:15)

Prayer as Friendship

“…prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us.” (Life 8:5)

Saint Teresa, with her great capacity for friendship, channeled that capacity into a deep and loving relationship with Christ. Before her “conversion,” she struggled to balance her affectivity; endless hours in the parlor engaged in conversation caused her to become tepid in the spiritual life. For twenty years, she sailed on “this tempestuous sea…neither did I enjoy God nor did I find happiness in the world.” (Life 8:2) She was, so to speak, caught in both worlds. In much affliction, she came before a statue of the “much wounded Christ,” refusing to leave until the Lord gave her the grace to leave behind all that held her back. She began to strive to represent Christ within herself, especially “in those scenes where I saw Him more alone…and afflicted, as a person in need.” This companionship with the Sacred Humanity of Christ became the hallmark of her spiritual life. Saint Teresa always proposed this friendship with Jesus as the way to the innermost dwelling places.

Prayer and fraternal charity

“This is the reason for prayer, my daughters, the purpose of this spiritual marriage: the birth always of good works, good works.” (Interior Castle VII:4:6)

In the beginning of her Way of Perfection, Saint Teresa lays out three basic principles in order to arrive at the heights of contemplative prayer: humility, detachment, and love of neighbor. These three fundamental virtues lay the foundation for a serious spiritual life. In her greatest work, the Interior Castle,  she guides the reader through the seven “dwelling places” which represent the whole gamut of the interior life, from the first timid beginnings all the way to the summit, culminating in the spiritual marriage. Throughout her works, she stresses “determined determination” and dedication to the life of prayer.  However, Saint Teresa, always with both feet planted firmly on the ground, did not want her daughters, regardless of their progress in the spiritual life, to “build castles in the air,” imagining good deeds carried out “somewhere else,” while neglecting to care for those with whom they lived. Rather, she emphasizes fraternal charity in the here and now, saying that the mark of true mystical prayer, of true love of God, is love of neighbor: “Martha and Mary must join together.” (Interior Castle VII:4:12) This safeguards against contemplation as an elitist mindset; instead, the gift of contemplation is in service of Christ in His Church.

The Book of the Mercy of God

“May God be blessed forever, He who waited for me so long!” (Life, Prologue 2)

Saint Teresa’s writings are full of the praises of God’s merciful love in her life. Far from resting on her laurels as a contemplative and a mystic, she saw herself as a sinner, full of misery, brought back to life by God’s lavish, unlimited mercy. She stresses that He is not a stern and exacting judge, waiting for the slightest reason to condemn, but rather is a patient and loving friend: enduring, faithful, encouraging us along the way,  and forgetting offenses in one instant of repentance. “…before I grew tired of offending Him, His Majesty began to pardon me. He never tires of giving, nor can he exhaust His mercies. Let us not tire of receiving.” (Life 19:15) She puts forth the story of her life in order to encourage and spur readers on in the life of prayer, as if to say, “If the Lord, in His mercy, worked such marvels in my life, think of what He will do for you, if only you allow Him!”

“His Majesty commanded me…He would be highly served in it…it would be a star shining with great splendor…” (Life, 32:11)

After her conversion, Saint Teresa strove to “keep [her] rule as perfectly as possible” in order to serve God in the best way possible. However, she was unable to do this as perfectly as she wanted, because of the conditions at the Incarnation: mitigated Rule, no enclosure, etc. Shortly afterwards, in a conversation with Maria de Ocampo (a cousin of Saint Teresa) and some others who had gathered around her and regularly met in her cell at the Incarnation, the idea was put forth to found a new monastery. Teresa delayed for a time because “I was so perfectly content in the house in which I was…” Jesus appeared to her one day after Communion and “earnestly commanded me to strive for this new monastery with all my powers…” She told her confessor, and plans were set in motion for the new foundation. Not long afterwards, there was a general outcry from the city officials, because the house would be founded in poverty and be dependent on alms. At one point, she was even ordered to give up the plan; later, another confessor gave permission for her to proceed, but in secret. After many trials, tribulations, and delays (including a six-month stay with Doña Luisa de la Cerda, which turned out to be very providential), all was at last made ready, and on August 24, 1562, the Monastery of Saint Joseph, was founded. Saint Teresa described those first years at St. Joseph’s as “the most restful of my life.” In 1567, the General of the Order, Juan Bautista Rubeo (Rossi), visited St. Joseph’s. Far from being angry (as Teresa had feared he would be), he was delighted with their way of life, and gave orders for her to found as many of these communities “as there were hairs on her head.” Later that same year, she founded her second monastery in Medina del Campo. This was the first of many foundations, all springing from the first humble beginning at St. Joseph’s. From then on, her monasteries spread throughout Spain, totaling seventeen houses at the time of her death in 1582.

For Teresa, Carmel was the Order of the Virgin. “Let us daughters, in some way, imitate the humility of the Blessed Virgin whose habit we wear.” Her immense devotion to Our Lady began in her childhood. When she was twelve, her mother died. Grief stricken, she turned to Mary. “In my distress I went to an image of Our Lady and with many tears besought her to be a mother to me. Though I did this in my simplicity I believe it was of some avail to me; for whenever I have commended myself to this sovereign Virgin I have been conscious of her aid.”

St. Teresa experienced the Blessed Virgin’s special maternal care for her monasteries of nuns.  She recounts the following in the book of her Life:  “On the eve of the feast of St. Sebastian…at the beginning of the Salve Regina, I saw the Mother of God descend with a great multitude of angels and sit in the prioress’s choir stall where there was a statue of our Lady… She remained for the whole of the Salve, and she told me: ‘You were indeed right in placing me here; I shall be present in the praises they give my Son, and I shall offer these praises to Him.’ ”