Patrick Burke, O.Carm
‘Oh,
what a good friend You make, my Lord’
In
her writings St Teresa of Avila reflected theologically on her own spiritual
experiences. For her, mystical theology is a theology of love. Real prayer
is nothing other than the expression of a relationship of friends. Time and
again she mentions this as encouragement for persevering on the road leading
to heaven. ‘And if he perseveres, I trust then in the mercy of God who never
fails to repay anyone who has taken Him for a friend.’ she wrote in her
Life. She added, ‘For mental 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. In order that love be true and the
friendship endure, the wills of the friends must be in accord’ (Life 8,5).
About
her own experience, she wrote ‘A much greater love for and confidence in
this Lord began to develop in me when I saw Him as one with whom I could
converse so continually. I saw that He was man, even though He was God; that
He wasn’t surprised by human weaknesses; that He understands our miserable
make-up, subject to many falls on account of the first sin, which He came to
repair. I can speak with Him as with a friend, even though He is Lord’
(Ibid. 37,5). This relationship of Teresa with Jesus was at once real and
practical. In describing this experience, she could point out for ordinary
people, such as her Carmelite Sisters, how different it was from the
situation in the world around them. ‘I know that He isn’t like those we have
as lords here on earth, all of whose lordship consists in artificial
displays: They have to have designated times for speaking and designated
persons to whom to speak. If some poor little creature has any business to
be done, what roundabout ways they must go through and what trials and
favours it costs them in order to get to speak to this lord.’ And regarding
the King? For people who are poor or who don’t have noble connections, to
speak to him or get near him is impossible.
At
the beginning of such a relationship with Jesus as Teresa enjoyed, a path of
prayer, words and images express our faith. Aided by reflections on the
events of the gospels, one recites the usual prayers of our thinking and
imaging. As one grows in faith and knowledge, the prayer life becomes more
consoling and the friendship of which Teresa speaks becomes a reality in the
sense of a presence of God, leading to deeper faith. For Teresa, the most
important thing was imitation of Jesus and love of neighbour; more even
indeed than the sublime heights of prayer, which she had experienced. St
John of the Cross stresses this same point when instructing beginners of
prayer. ‘First, have a habitual desire to imitate Christ in all your deeds
by bringing your life into conformity with his. You must then study his life
in order to know how to imitate him and behave in all events as he would’
(Ascent I, 13,3). Teresa would tell her Sisters not to bother about the
ecstasies or mystic heights - but to sweep the corridors and wash the
dishes.
The
relationship of friends, in the sense that Teresa wishes to recommend, is
basically rooted in and sustained by love. The great theologian, Hans von
Balthasar, writing about prayer, states that ‘love wants to be in the
presence of the beloved and love desires to have the beloved before its
eyes.’ He is describing the noble aspirations of the human heart. But for
the one who wishes to contemplate Jesus, the Beloved, it is necessary to
employ the powers of his ‘inner senses’ to affect the image. ‘This picture’
he says ‘is not meant to be a realistic photograph, but love’s picture,
solely concerned with love, the divine love of the Father, which is here
manifested in the Son and in the concreteness of his whole earthly life.’
This would concur with the sentiment of Teresa. She explains in her Life
(22, 1) how she had mistakenly followed a path of prayer which was not for
her. It was based on ‘strong advice to rid oneself of all corporeal images
and to approach contemplation of the Divinity.’ Later she describes the
result. ‘When I began to experience something of supernatural prayer, I mean
of the prayer of quiet, I strove to turn away from everything corporeal’
(Ibid. 22, 3). She appeared to get consolation and felt some benefit so that
‘there was no one who could have made me return to the humanity of Christ.
As a matter of fact I thought the humanity was an impediment.’ She was to
learn how great a mistake this was. She realised that she hadn’t the
companionship of Christ to help her ‘in her trials and temptations.’ She
records that the Lord had rescued her from the path she was following.
Once
more the humanity of Jesus becomes important and she walks with Christ at
her side. ‘Whoever lives in the presence of so good a friend and excellent a
leader, who went ahead of us to be the first to suffer, can endure all
things. The Lord helps us and never fails; He is a true friend. I see
clearly, and I saw afterward, that God desires that if we are going to
please Him and receive His great favours, we must do so through the most
sacred humanity of Christ in whom He takes His delight. Many, many times
have I perceived this truth through experience’ (Ibid. 22, 6). Once she had
come to understand this truth, she studied then the lives of some of the
saints, the great contemplatives, and found that they had taken the same
path. St Francis through the stigmata, St Anthony with the Infant, St
Bernard, St Catherine of Siena etc. Now Teresa, instead of looking at Jesus
outside in whose presence she walked, allows the life of Jesus to fill
within; and with St Paul, she can say: ‘I live, now not I, but Christ lives
within me’ (Gal.2,20).
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