Instructions for Those Who Have Attained to the Prayer of Quiet.
Many Advance So Far, but Few Go Farther.
1. Let us now go back to the subject. This quiet and
recollection of the soul makes itself in great measure felt in
the satisfaction and peace, attended with very great joy and
repose of the faculties, and most sweet delight, wherein the soul
is established. [1] It thinks, because it has not gone beyond
it, that there is nothing further to wish for, but that its abode
might be there, and it would willingly say so with St. Peter. [2]
It dares not move nor stir, because it thinks that this blessing
it has received must then escape out of its hands; now and then,
it could wish it did not even breathe. [3] The poor little soul
is not aware that, as of itself it could do nothing to draw down
this blessing on itself, it is still less able to retain it a
moment longer than our Lord wills it should remain.
2. I have already said that, in the prior recollection and
quiet, [4] there is no failure of the powers of the soul; but the
soul is so satisfied in God that, although two of its powers be
distracted, yet, while the recollection lasts, as the will abides
in union with God, so its peace and quiet are not disturbed; on
the contrary, the will by degrees brings the understanding and
the memory back again; for though the will is not yet altogether
absorbed, it continues still occupied without knowing how, so
that, notwithstanding all the efforts of the memory and the
understanding, they cannot rob it of its delight and
joy [5]--yea, rather, it helps without any labour at all to keep
this little spark of the love of God from being quenched.
3. Oh, that His Majesty would be gracious unto me, and enable me
to give a clear account of the matter; for many are the souls who
attain to this state, and few are they who go farther: and I know
not who is in fault; most certainly it is not God; for when His
Majesty shows mercy unto a soul, so that it advances so far, I
believe that He will not fail to be more merciful still, if there
be no shortcomings on our part.
4. And it is of great importance for the soul that has advanced
so far as this to understand the great dignity of its state, the
great grace given it by our Lord, and how in all reason it should
not belong to earth; because He, of His goodness, seems to make
it here a denizen of heaven, unless it be itself in fault.
And miserable will that soul be if it turns back; it will go
down, I think so, even to the abyss, as I was going myself, if
the mercy of our Lord had not brought me back; because, for the
most part, it must be the effect of grave faults--that is my
opinion: nor is it possible to forsake so great a good otherwise
than through the blindness occasioned by much evil.
5. Therefore, for the love of our Lord, I implore those souls to
whom His Majesty has given so great a grace--the attainment of
this state--to know and make much of themselves, with a humble
and holy presumption, in order that they may never return to the
flesh-pots of Egypt. And if through weakness and wickedness, and
a mean and wretched nature, they should fall, as I did, let them
always keep in mind the good they have lost; let them suspect and
fear--they have reason to do so--that, if they do not resume
their prayer, they may go on from bad to worse. I call that a
real fall which makes us hate the way by which so great a good
was obtained. I address myself to those souls; but I am not
saying that they will never offend God, nor fall into
sin,--though there are good reasons why those who have received
these graces should keep themselves carefully from sin; but we
are miserable creatures. What I earnestly advise is this: let
there be no giving up of prayer; it is by prayer they will
understand what they are doing, and obtain from our Lord the
grace to repent, and strength to rise again; they must believe
and believe again that, if they cease from praying, they run--so
I think--into danger. I know not if I understand what I am
saying; for, as I said before, I measure others by myself. [6]
6. The prayer of quiet, then, is a little spark of the true love
of Himself, which our Lord begins to enkindle in the soul; and
His will is, that the soul should understand what this love is by
the joy it brings. This quiet and recollection and little spark,
if it is the work of the Spirit of God, and not a sweetness
supplied by Satan, or brought about by ourselves, produces great
results. A person of experience, however, cannot possibly fail
to understand at once that it is not a thing that can be
acquired, were it not that our nature is so greedy of sweetness,
that it seeks for it in every way. But it becomes cold very
soon; for, however much we try to make the fire burn, in order to
obtain this sweetness, it does not appear that we do anything
else but throw water on it, to put it out. This spark, then,
given of God, however slight it may be, causes a great crackling;
and if men do not quench it by their faults, it is the beginning
of the great fire, which sends forth--I shall speak of it in the
proper place [7]--the flames of that most vehement love of God
which His Majesty will have perfect souls to possess.
7. This little spark is a sign or pledge which God gives to a
soul, in token of His having chosen it for great things, if it
will prepare to receive them. It is a great gift, much too great
for me to be able to speak of it. It is a great sorrow to me;
because, as I said before, [8] I know that many souls come thus
far, and that those who go farther, as they ought to go, are so
few, that I am ashamed to say it. I do not mean that they are
absolutely few: there must be many, because God is patient with
us, for some reasons; I speak of what I have seen.
8. I should like much to recommend these souls to take care that
they do not hide their talent; for it may be that God has chosen
them to be the edification of many others, especially in these
days, when the friends of God should be strong, in order that
they may support the weak. Those who discern in themselves this
grace, must look upon themselves as such friends, if they would
fulfil the law which even the honourable friendship of the world
respects; if not, as I said just now, [9] let them fear and
tremble, lest they should be doing mischief to themselves--and
God grant it be to themselves only!
9. What the soul has to do at those seasons wherein it is raised
to the prayer of quiet is nothing more than to be gentle and
without noise. By noise, I mean going about with the
understanding in search of words and reflections whereby to give
God thanks for this grace, and heaping up its sins and
imperfections together to show that it does not deserve it.
All this commotion takes place now, and the understanding comes
forward, and the memory is restless, and certainly to me these
powers bring much weariness at times; for, though my memory is
not strong, I cannot control it. Let the will quietly and wisely
understand that it is not by dint of labour on our part that we
can converse to any good purpose with God, and that our own
efforts are only great logs of wood, laid on without discretion
to quench this little spark; and let it confess this, and in
humility say, O Lord, what can I do here? what has the servant to
do with her Lord, and earth with heaven? or words of love that
suggest themselves now, firmly grounded in the conviction that
what it says is truth; and let it make no account of the
understanding, which is simply tiresome.
10. And if the will wishes to communicate to the understanding
any portion of that the fruition of which itself has entered on,
or if it labours to make the understanding recollected, it shall
not succeed; for it will often happen that the will is in union
and at rest, while the understanding is in extreme disorder.
It is better for it to leave it alone, and not to run after it--I
am speaking of the will; for the will should abide in the
fruition of that grace, recollected itself, like the prudent bee;
for if no bees entered the hive, and each of them wandered abroad
in search of the rest, the honey would hardly be made. In the
same way, the soul will lose much if it be not careful now,
especially if the understanding be acute; for when it begins to
make reflections and search for reasons, it will think at once
that it is doing something if its reasons and reflections
are good.
11. The only reason that ought to be admitted now is to
understand clearly that there is no reason whatever, except His
mere goodness, why God should grant us so great a grace, and to
be aware that we are so near Him, and to pray to His Majesty for
mercies, to make intercession for the Church, for those who had
been recommended to us, and for the souls in purgatory,--not,
however, with noise of words, but with a heartfelt desire to be
heard. This is a prayer that contains much, and by it more is
obtained than by many reflections of the understanding. Let the
will stir up some of those reasons, which proceed from reason
itself, to quicken its love, such as the fact of its being in a
better state, and let it make certain acts of love, as what it
will do for Him to whom it owes so much,--and that, as I said
just now, without any noise of the understanding, in the search
after profound reflections. A little straw,--and it will be less
than straw, if we bring it ourselves,--laid on with humility,
will be more effectual here, and will help to kindle a fire more
than many fagots of most learned reasons, which, in my opinion,
will put it out in a moment.
12. This is good for those learned men who have commanded me to
write, [10] and who all, by the goodness of God, have come to
this state; for it may be that they spend the time in making
applications of passages of the Scriptures. And though learning
could not fail to be of great use to them, both before and after
prayer, still, in the very time of prayer itself, there is little
necessity for it, in my opinion, unless it be for the purpose of
making the will tepid; for the understanding then, because of its
nearness to the light, is itself illuminated; so that even I, who
am what I am, seem to be a different person. And so it is; for
it has happened to me, who scarcely understand a word of what I
read in Latin, and specially in the Psalms, when in the prayer of
quiet, not only to understand the Latin as if it were Spanish,
but, still more, to take a delight in dwelling on the meaning of
that I knew through the Spanish. We must make an exception: if
these learned men have to preach or to teach, they will do well
to take advantage of their learning, that they may help poor
people of little learning, of whom I am one. Charity is a great
thing; and so always is ministering unto souls, when done simply
for God.
13. So, then, when the soul is in the prayer of quiet, let it
repose in its rest--let learning be put on one side. The time
will come when they may make use of it in the service of our
Lord--when they that possess it will appreciate it so highly as
to be glad that they had not neglected it even for all the
treasures of the world, simply because it enables them to serve
His Majesty; for it is a great help. But in the eyes of Infinite
Wisdom, believe me, a little striving after humility, and a
single act thereof, are worth more than all the science in the
world. This is not the time for discussing, but for
understanding plainly what we are, and presenting ourselves in
simplicity before God, who will have the soul make itself as a
fool--as, indeed, it is--in His presence, seeing that His Majesty
so humbles Himself as to suffer it to be near Him, we being what
we are.
14. Moreover, the understanding bestirs itself to make its
thanksgiving in phrases well arranged; but the will, in peace,
not daring to lift up its eyes with the publican, [11] makes
perhaps a better act of thanksgiving than the understanding, with
all the tropes of its rhetoric. In a word, mental prayer is not
to be abandoned altogether now, nor even vocal prayer, if at any
time we wish, or can, to make use of either of them; for if the
state of quiet be profound, it becomes difficult to speak, and it
can be done only with great pain.
15. I believe myself that we know whether this proceeds from the
Spirit of God, or is brought about by endeavours of our own, in
the commencement of devotion which God gives; and we seek of
ourselves, as I said before, [12] to pass onwards to this quiet
of the will. Then, no effect whatever is produced; it is quickly
over, and aridity is the result. If it comes from Satan, the
practised soul, in my opinion, will detect it, because it leaves
trouble behind, and scant humility and poor dispositions for
those effects which are wrought if it comes from God; it leaves
neither light in the understanding nor steadiness in
the truth. [13]
16. Here Satan can do little or no harm, if the soul directs unto
God the joy and sweetness it then feels; and if it fixes the
thoughts and desires on Him, according to the advice already
given, the devil can gain nothing whatever--on the contrary, by
the permission of God, he will lose much by that very joy which
he causes in the soul, because that joy will help the soul,
inasmuch as it thinks the joy comes from God, to betake itself
often to prayer in its desire for it. And if the soul is humble,
indifferent to, and detached from, all joy, however spiritual,
and if it loves the cross, it will make no account of the
sweetness which Satan sends. But it cannot so deal with that
which comes from the Spirit of God; of that it will make much.
Now, when Satan sends it, as he is nothing but a lie, and when he
sees that the soul humbles itself through that joy and
sweetness--and here, in all things relating to prayer and
sweetness, we must be very careful to endeavour to make ourselves
humble,--Satan will not often repeat his work, when he sees that
he loses by it.
17. For this and for many other reasons, when I was speaking of
the first degree of prayer, and of the first method of drawing
the water, [14] I insisted upon it that the great affair of souls
is, when they begin to pray, to begin also to detach themselves
from every kind of joy, and to enter on it resolved only on
helping to carry the cross of Christ like good soldiers, willing
to serve their King without present pay, because they are sure of
it at last, having their eyes directed to the true and
everlasting kingdom at the conquest of which we are aiming.
18. It is a very great matter to have this always before our
eyes, especially in the beginning; afterwards, it becomes so
clear, that it is rather a matter of necessity to forget it, in
order to live on. Now, labouring to keep in mind that all things
here below are of short duration, that they are all nothing, that
the rest we have here is to be accounted as none,--all this, I
say, seems to be exceedingly low; and so, indeed, it is,--because
those who have gone on to greater perfection would look upon it
as a reproach, and be ashamed of themselves, if they thought that
they were giving up the goods of this world because they are
perishable, or that they would not be glad to give them up for
God--even if they were to last for ever. The greater the
perfection of these persons, the greater their joy, and the
greater also would that joy be if the duration of these worldly
goods were greater.
19. In these persons, thus far advanced, love is already grown,
and love is that which does this work. But as to beginners, to
them it is of the utmost importance, and they must not regard
this consideration as unbecoming, for the blessings to be gained
are great,--and that is why I recommend it so much to them; for
they will have need of it--even those who have attained to great
heights of prayer--at certain times, when God will try them, and
when His Majesty seems to have forsaken them.
20. I have said as much already, and I would not have it
forgotten, [15] in this our life on earth, the growth of the soul
is not like that of the body. We, however, so speak of it--and,
in truth, it does grow. A youth that is grown up, whose body is
formed, and who is become a man, does not ungrow, nor does his
body lessen in size; but as to the soul, it so is by our Lord's
will, so far as I have seen it in my own experience,--but I know
nothing of it in any other way. It must be in order to humble us
for our greater good, and to keep us from being careless during
our exile; seeing that he who has ascended the higher has the
more reason to be afraid, and to be less confident in himself.
A time may come when they whose will is so wrapt up in the will
of God--and who, rather than fall into a single imperfection,
would undergo torture and suffer a thousand deaths--will find it
necessary, if they would be delivered from offending God, and
from the commission of sin, to make use of the first armour of
prayer, to call to mind how everything is coming to an end, that
there is a heaven and a hell, and to make use of other
reflections of that nature, when they find themselves assailed by
temptations and persecutions.
21. Let us go back to what I was saying. The great source of our
deliverance from the cunning devices and the sweetness which
Satan sends is to begin with a resolution to walk in the way of
the Cross from the very first, and not to desire any sweetness at
all, seeing that our Lord Himself has pointed out to us the way
of perfection, saying, "Take up thy cross and follow Me." [16]
He is our example; and whosoever follows His counsels only to
please Him has nothing to fear. In the improvement which they
detect in themselves, they who do so will see that this is no
work of Satan and if they fall, they have a sign of the presence
of our Lord in their rising again at once. They have other
signs, also, of which I am going to speak.
22. When it is the work of the Spirit of God, there is no
necessity for going about searching for reasons, on the strength
of which we may elicit acts of humility and of shame, because our
Lord Himself supplies them in a way very different from that by
which we could acquire them by our own poor reflections, which
are as nothing in comparison with that real humility arising out
of the light which our Lord here gives us, and which begets a
confusion of face that undoes us. The knowledge with which God
supplies us, in order that we may know that of ourselves we have
no good in us, is perfectly apprehended--and the more perfectly,
the greater the graces. It fills us with a great desire of
advancing in prayer, and of never giving it up, whatever troubles
may arise. The soul offers to suffer everything. A certain
security, joined with humility and fear concerning our salvation,
casts out servile fear at once from the soul, and in its place
plants a loyal fear [17] of more perfect growth. [18] There is a
visible beginning of a love of God, utterly divested of all
self-interest, together with a longing after seasons of solitude,
in order to obtain a greater fruition of this good.
23. In short, not to weary myself, it is the beginning of all
good; the flowers have so thriven, that they are on the point of
budding. And this the soul sees most clearly, and it is
impossible to persuade it now that God was not with it, till it
turns back upon itself, and beholds its own failings and
imperfections. Then it fears for everything; and it is well it
should do so--though there are souls whom the certain conviction
that God is with them benefits more than all the fear they may
ever have. If a soul love greatly, and is thankful naturally,
the remembrance of the mercies of God makes it turn to Him more
effectually than all the chastisements of hell it can ever
picture to itself--at least, it was so with me, though I am
so wicked.
24. As I shall speak at greater length of the signs of a good
spirit [19]--it has cost me much labour to be clear about them--I
do not treat of them here. I believe, too, that, with the help
of God, I shall be able to speak somewhat to the point,
because--setting aside the experience I have had, and by which I
learned much--I have had the help of some most learned men and
persons of great holiness, whom we may reasonably believe in the
matter. Souls, therefore, are not to weary themselves so much as
I did, when, by the goodness of our Lord, they may have come to
this state.
1. See Way of Perfection, ch. liii., but ch. xxxii of the
old edition.
2. St. Matt. xvii. 4: "Bonum est nos hic esse."
3. See ch. xvii. § 6.
4. Ch. x. § 1.
5. Ch. xiv. §§ 3, 4.
6. Ch. x. § 9.
7. Ch. xviii. § 4, and ch. xxi. § 9.
8. § 3.
9. § 5.
10. Ch. x. § 1.
11. St. Luke xviii. 13: "Nolebat nec oculos ad coelum levare."
12. Ch. xii. § 5.
13. "Firmeza en la verdad." Francisco de St. Thoma, in his
Medulla Mystica, p. 204, quoting this passage, has, "firmeza en
la voluntad." Philip a SS. Trinitate, Theolog. Mystic. p. 354,
and his Abbreviator, Anton. a Sp. Sancto, Direct. Mystic. tr. iv.
disp. i. § 11, n. 94, seem also to have preferred "voluntad" to
"verdad;" for the words they use are, "nec intellectui lux nec
voluntati firmitas;" and, "defectus lucis in intellectu, et
firmitatis in voluntate."
14. Ch. xi. § 16.
15. Ch. xiii. § 23.
16. St. Matt. xvi. 24: "Tollat crucem suam et sequatur Me."
17. "Fiel temor." In the previous editions it was filial.
18. Ch. xi. § 1.
19. See ch. xxv.