Among the consolations Teresa speaks of is the Prayer of Quiet. In the Prayer of
Quiet the soul, or the inner person, experiences a marked sense of peace and
rest accompanied by delight and pleasure in the Presence of God.
Teresa tells us
that the Prayer of Quiet flows from two sources, which by analogy she describes
as two fountains each having its own basin.
The basin is the supply of grace, the fountain is the outflow. She says,
Two large basins
can be filled with water in different ways: the water in the one comes from a
long distance, by means of numerous conduits, and through human skill; but the
other has been constructed at the very source of the water and fills it without
making any noise . . . [the former] is produced by meditation. It reaches us by way of the thoughts; we
meditate upon created things and fatigue the understanding; and when at last,
by means of our own efforts, it comes, the satisfaction which it brings to the
soul fills the basin.[i]
St. Diodochus of
Photiki tells us that, “It is therefore necessary to work upon the soul
forcefully for a while, so that we may come to taste divine love fully and
consciously . . . (2 Cor. 2:4)[ii] This
working upon the soul is described by Teresa,
Most of the
souls which dwell in the former Mansions already described [she is referring to
the first three: Entry through the Gate; The Room of Self-Knowledge, and the
illusion of False Security] are familiar with these feelings of devotion, for
they labour with the understanding almost continuously, and make use of it in
their meditations. They are right to do
this . . . they would do well, however to spend short periods of time in making
various acts, and praising God and rejoicing in His goodness and in His being
Who He is, and in desiring His honour and glory. They should do this as well as they can, for
it goes a long way towards awakening the will.
St. Benedict also instructs regarding
the length of prayers, saying, “”Prayer should be short and pure, unless
perhaps it is prolonged under the inspiration of divine grace.”[iii]
Teresa is also
sustained by the daily cycle of prayer within the community. The rhythm of the Hours of Prayer, the
frequency of Eucharist, her persistent habit of recollection and her running
dialogue with her Lord, weave together a background that stabilizes and
balances her life of prayer, and keeps her feet in motion even when her mind is
running on disconnect. She observes the
classic threefold way of prayer: The
Daily Offices; Informal Prayer and Habitual Recollection; and Attendance at the
Mass.
She knows from
long experience that it is necessary to hold one's soul aloft to God that He
may pour His blessing upon it. I am
reminded of a line from a hymn, “I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew he
moved my soul to seek him, seeking me; it was not I that found, O Savior true;
no, I was found, was found of thee.” [iv] All is of grace, and in all of our seeking He
moves within us drawing us upward.
While
the Daily Offices are the foundation of the life of prayer, the two-fold Prayer
of Recollection brings us deeper into that experience that Teresa refers to as
“spiritual sweetness.” This is a two-sided
experience. There are two basins and two
fountains. One is active, the other
passive. One is acquired grace, the other infused grace. Bear in mind that the active side also rests
on the gift of grace. She says, “This
spiritual sweetness arises from the actual virtuous work which we perform, and
we think that we have acquired it by our own labours.”[v]
But
there comes a break-point when God in His love and grace meets our upward
motions. She refers to Psalm 119:32 “I
have run the way of thy commandments, when thou didst enlarge my heart.”[vi] It is the last phrase that she emphasizes,
and refers to in Latin, Cum Dilatasti
cor meum, “when thou didst enlarge my heart.” As God in his love and grace meets us he
enlarges our hearts that we might experience more of his presence.
It
is here that passive recollection begins.
She cautions us not to “think too much, but to love much; do, then,
whatever most arouses you love.”[vii] This is not the time for the Daily Offices, for
lengthy prayers, or for active study and meditations, but rather a time for
short expressions of love, perhaps for only single words that help us stay
within the presence of God.
This
is illustrated by the practice of Lectio Divina. The four steps of Lectio Divina are Read,
Reflect, Respond, and Rest. The first
three steps are active. One reads the
passage through several times listening for what God is saying. Then one reflects on the meaning of the
passage, not exhaustive bible study, but rather just clarifying the meaning of
the text. One then responds to God in
prayer regarding what he has said. All
of that is active. The fourth is
passive, and is a form of the Prayer of Recollection. Having heard God speak, and having responded
in prayer, one then simply rests in the presence of God. This may be for a short period of time,
occasionally longer. In revisiting the
dialogue that arises from Lectio Divina the sense of the presence of God
frequently returns. That is one
experience of the Prayer of Recollection.
Our
experience of the Prayer of Recollection is both active and passive, but not
necessarily orderly. It is two fountains
drawing from two basins. It is acquired
grace and infused grace, by gift the infused grace overwhelming the acquired
grace. Teresa uses the term the Prayer
of Quiet at the beginning of the Fourth Mansion and the term the Prayer of
Recollection at the end.
She is not
systematic, but rather affective, sharing her experience from the heart, and
often going off in tangents, circling around, and finally returning to her
subject. Reading Teresa is like dodgem
cars, it is like entering into an exciting conversation, a dialogue, rather than
listening to a theological lecture.
[i] Teresa of Avila, trans. E. Allison Peers, Interior Castle, (New
York: Doubleday, 1989). p.81
[ii] Kallistos Ware, trans. “St. Diodochus of Photiki,” The Philokalia,
(London: Faber and Faber, 1979), Vol. 1, p. 289.
[iii] The Rule of St. Benedict, ed. Timothy Fry, (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1982),
Ch. 20, v. 4
[iv] Anonymous
[v] Teresa, p. 73
[vi] KJV
