God, Teresa, and Luther: Is There Such a Thing as Passive Faith?

Carmelus 65 (2018) fasc. 1, 149-161 GOD, TERESA, AND LUTHER. IS THERE SUCH A THING AS PASSIVE FAITH? GLEN ATTARD O.CARM. “Any good thing we do has its source, not in ourselves but rather in that spring where this tree, which is the soul, is planted, and in that sun which sheds its radiance on our works”.1 1. INTRODUCTION Teresa of Jesus (1515-1582) could not have described her relationship with God any better than in her poem “Vuestra soy” (‘I am Thine’). In it, she so eloquently brings together three major aspects of her spirituality: God’s steadfast love which accompanies the soul’s “days of light and darkness through”, which is received through grace by the soul and disposes herself to say, “Sweetest Spouse Thou art / I have given myself to Thee”, and which, in turn, has the soul outstretch her arms in humble acceptance of those around her, “send me where Thou’d’st have me be”.2 Teresa’s love for God overflows into her concrete love for others. On the contrary, Martin Luther (1483-1546), although is willing to accept the possibility of the union of the soul with Christ, there is little agreement on what this union actually entails. According to some, this is the actual “indwelling of Christ [which] occurs sub- * Abbreviations: M (Moradas); V (Vida); C (Camino de perfeción); P (Poesías) – citations and pagination according to the following editions: TERESA DE JESÚS, Obras Completas, edited and introduced by Efren de la Madre de Dios, O.C.D., and Otger Steggink, O.Carm., Madrid, BAC, 92006; ID., Complete Works, 3 vols., translated and edited by E. Allison Peers, London, Burns & Oates, 2002; ND (JOSEF NEUNER S.J. – JACQUES DUPUIS S.J., The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church, New York, Alba House, 72001). 1 Ist M II:5. 2 P II:4, 8 (“I am Thine, and born for Thee”), in Complete Works, 279-281. 150 GLEN ATTARD, O.CARM. sequent to justification, as the power of God to transform the life of the Christian”, whilst others “fail to describe Christ’s presence as more than an experience of God” which means that union for them is only “the power of Christ on the believer’s heart, not the indwelling of Christ’s person in faith”.3 Despite such lack of clarity, it has been suggested that for the early Luther “the Christian is justified in receiving the righteousness of God through the indwelling of Christ. In union with Christ, the Christian then turns in love to her neighbour”.4 Such common belief of the possibility of the union of the soul with God or, more precisely, Christ (whatever this might then lead to) seems to put Teresa and Luther on a par. Both Teresa and – at least the early – Luther seem to understand justification or sanctification as a lived relationship with God which is concretely acted out in love for Christ and neighbour. Although it could be argued that the later Luther for whatever reason seemed to have lost this connection between faith and morality, Teresa certainly remained a daughter of the Church in giving equal importance to faith and what consequences this had on one’s moral life. She knows that faith alone is not enough to please God – not even after mystical marriage – for this must always be accompanied by one’s choices of cooperating in the working of one’s salvation. Also, in this essay I shall depart from Susan Zuger’s position who says that Teresa’s spirituality is a middle course between Luther and Trent,5 thus giving the impression that she was neither wholly in line with Luther nor wholly in line with Trent. I would say that Teresa’s position is a deeper and more concrete understanding of Trent’s Decree of Justification. Teresa was obsessed with wanting to die a daughter of the Church, meaning that she wanted to remain faithful – even though she did not agree with everything she saw happening – in the Church. Finally, since there is not enough space here to exhaust the comparison and contrast between Teresa and Luther, more importance will be given to Teresa’s spirituality which, admittedly, will sometimes draw comparisons or contrasts from Luther. Also, it is our impression that Teresa’s writings, produced at a later stage of her life after an incredible personal transformation in God’s love, have come down to 3 MARK TOTTEN, Luther on “Unio cum Christo”. Toward a Model for Integrating Faith and Ethics, in Journal of Religious Ethics, 31/3 (2003), 444. 4 TOTTEN, Luther, 443-444. 5 Cf. SUSAN ZUGER, A Theology of Grace in St Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle, in Spiritual Life, 49/3 (2003), 166-177. GOD, TERESA, AND LUTHER. 151 us more clearly than Luther’s views, also because interpretations of Lutheran views have varied significantly from one context to the other. 2. CONTEXT 2.1. Historical 6 Firstly, a look at the historical context in which Teresa lived, namely: (i) The Protestant Reformation: Although Luther was excommunicated when Teresa was still a child, the air that she breathed in Spain already contained traces of the Protestant ideologies – which were made known and public by the “letrados” 7 – even though books were hardly available to the common folk in those days. By 1546, when Luther died, Protestantism, including the ideas of Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin, were already spreading throughout most of Western Europe. (ii) The Council of Trent (1545-64): It sought to bring clarity and order to the ambiguities that emerged by the errant ideas of Luther and the lot. The Council was primarily a doctrinal one, seeking to consolidate the old faith, reconciling with great care those who had been somehow detached from the Church, and restoring the old religion.8 (iii) The Inquisition in Spain: The Spanish Inquisition was founded to purify the nation of heretics. Spain was home to a multitude of belief systems including Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism. The leaders of Spain wanted to unify the country into a strong nation for many reasons, but perhaps primarily because they were on the verge of becoming one of the wealthiest nations of the time. Ferdinand and Isabella chose Catholicism as the way to unite Spain and used the Spanish Inquisition as the purifying fire. They began by driving out Jews, Protestants, and other non-believers, but soon enough no Spaniard was safe. The Spanish Inquisition had taken a life of its own.9 6 Cf. DANIEL DE PABLO MARROTO, Teresa en oración. Historia, experiencia, doctrina, Madrid, Editorial de Espiritualidad, 2004, 71-95, 104-108. 7 The frequent term “letrados” in Teresa’s writings refers to the learned men of her time, particularly Catholic theologians who used to (perhaps unknowingly) expose Protestant ideas more by confuting them: see TERESA OF AVILA, C prol:3; III:5; V V:3, 10; Ist M II:6, Vth M I:7. 8 KARL BHILMEYER – HERMANN TUECHLE, Storia della Chiesa III/L’Epoca delle Riforme, Brescia, Morcelliana, 1969, 313. 9 The Columbia History of the World, edited by John A. Garraty and Peter Gay, New York, Harper & Row, 1972, 544. 152 GLEN ATTARD, O.CARM. 2.2. Theological Secondly, Teresa’s position is to be understood within the theological context of her time, namely: a) “Union” and “Love” in Luther’s Theology Essentially, grace was the issue that caused Luther to reassess his life as an Augustinian friar. For Luther, humanity is “curvatus in se” (‘curved in upon itself’); . his point of departure is that “as fallen creatures, humans are always striving for their own advantage, even in their loves” 10 because of the viciousness of original sin. For Augustine, there is a legitimate type of self-love “on account of Him who is to be enjoyed”,11 for which Luther replies by believing this is a “condition from which [man] will not be delivered unless you altogether cease loving yourself and, forgetting yourself, love your neighbour”.12 This means that everything a person does – even good works – is “curvatus” or directed towards one’s self, egoistic, sinful. However, this self that strives for its own advantage is the essence of what Luther calls the old nature, distinguished from the new nature a person receives in Christ. In “Freedom of a Christian” he explains that “man has a twofold nature, a spiritual and a bodily one. According to the spiritual nature, which men refer to as the soul, he is called a spiritual, inner, or new man. According to the bodily nature, which men refer to as flesh, he is called a carnal, outward, or old man”. The new does not simply replace the old, however, but is in conflict with the old until the “last day”. Until then, the Christian harbours a “contradiction”. The new person born in faith is marked not by a love that strives for a self-giving love.13 Luther eventually discovered he was unable to find peace in the traditional Catholic teachings, which gave equal weight to both faith and good works. “Luther was suffocated with the overwhelming sense that he was weak and impure and that every effort he made to satisfy God’s justice and righteousness, to merit salvation, was a failure”.14 He eventually found his solace and solution in St. Paul’s Epistle to the 10 MARTIN LUTHER, Lectures on Romans, edited by Hilton Oswald, translated by Jacob Preus, in Luther’s Works, XXV, St Louis/MO, Concordia, 1972, 291. 11 AUGUSTINE, On Christian Doctrine, I:21, translated by Durant Waite Robertson, Jr., New York, Macmillan, 1958. 12 LUTHER, Lectures on Romans, 513. 13 Cf. TOTTEN, Luther, 445-446. 14 Columbia History, 519. GOD, TERESA, AND LUTHER. 153 Romans. He began to understand Paul’s reference to righteousness to mean “that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely faith”.15 Luther became convinced that salvation depends only on the freely given grace of God, which is accepted in faith. Human effort or merit is worthless. This doctrine of justification by grace through faith became a cornerstone of classical Lutheran theology.16 b) Trent’s Decree The doctrinal position of Trent stands in a middle way between two extremes: Pelagian self-sufficiency and Protestant diffidence regarding the human person’s wounded nature.17 The Decree on Justification stresses three important points: (i) The moment when justification is first attained: “free will, weakened and distorted as it was, was in no way extinct”; 18 “justification is through Christ”; 19 “we are said to be justified through faith because faith is the beginning of the human being’s salvation”; 20 (ii) The preservation and increase of this justification: “putting to death the members of their flesh and using them as instruments for righteousness”; 21 “sanctification by observing the commandments”; 22 “perseverance”; 23 and (iii) The recovery of justification after it has been lost: “make the effort to regain through the sacrament of penance and by the merits of Christ the grace they have lost”.24 Ibid., 520. For a concise explanation of Luther’s theology of grace, see REGINALD GARRIGOULAGRANGE, Predestination. The Meaning of Predestination in Scripture and the Church, translated by Dom Bede Rose, Illinois, TAN, 1998, 117-118. It is interesting to note that contemporary non-Catholic scholars, presenting Luther’s notion of justification by faith alone, balance the importance of objective and subjective grace. They emphasise that God’s freely-given grace needs the ground of good works to be able to bear fruit: See COLIN E. GUNTON, The Christian Faith. An Introduction to Christian Doctrine, Malden/MA, Blackwell, 2002, 139-145; ALISTER MCGRATH, Christian Theology. An Introduction, Malden/MA, Blackwell, 32001, 453-457. Whether this truly reflects the position of the later Luther is a discussion which we shall not enter here because the space does not provide us the length. 17 ND, 806. 18 ND, § 1925. 19 ND, § 1927. 20 ND, § 1935. 21 ND, § 1937. 22 ND, § 1938. 23 ND, § 1942. 24 ND, § 1943. 15 16 154 3. GLEN ATTARD, O.CARM. GOD’S SAVING GRACE Any discussion of man’s relationship to God, therefore, boils down to precisely those same two concepts, God and man, which is a very dear theme in Carmelite Spirituality. Bl. Titus Brandsma explains that in the relationship with God and humanity, Christ and Our Mother have a unique role in bringing humanity into divinity and viceversa, “We like to act and speak in images and similitudes. We like examples and memory helps. We have an image for developing our representation of God. Once there was a Virgin who became the Mother of God made man, who gave us God as the Emmanuel. He died on the cross to make us live in union with God and to fill us with his grace. Thus, he was also born in us in the order of grace, to bring into its own the union with God in the order of nature, to make that union even more interior and superabundant. Thus, the Mother of God gave us that interior union with God, while she presented herself as an example of the profoundest communion. Let us keep that example before our eyes. It is more than a mere example. She is called to direct our gaze to God. Just as we, led by revelation, recognize God in the Child in her arms, so may she lead us through our intellects to the contemplation of God in all that he has created, in order that, as he lived in her, he may also live in us, and through the deed born of us be revealed in us”.25 Our Mother directs our gaze to God whose grace man is given ‘interiorly’ and ‘superabundantly’ thus giving man the possibility to behold divinity in a still and eternal act of contemplation. Indeed, to a certain extent Carmelite Spirituality in particular – as does the Catholic Church in general – agrees with Luther’s claim, firstly, of the Pauline “contradiction” between the old and the new man (the man of the flesh as opposed to the man of the spirit) and, secondly, that full transformation in glory 26 takes place only after we behold God face to face in eternity.27 25 TITUS BRANDSMA, Godsbegrip (‘The Concept of God’), XVIII, Nijmegen, 1932, pro manuscripto. 26 “Transformation in glory” is a phrase coined by Kees Waaijman O.Carm. whilst describing the mystical journey of transformation in five steps, i.e. transformation in creation, transformation in recreation, transformation in conformation, transformation in love, and transformation in glory. All save the last are achievable (with God’s grace) in this life, but full transformation occurs only in the life to come (in glory). 27 “The goal of this life is twofold. One part we acquire by our own effort and the exercise of the virtues, assisted by divine grace. This is to offer God a pure and holy GOD, TERESA, AND LUTHER. 155 But what is at stake here, it seems, is Teresa’s and Luther’s understanding of the contact that God chooses to keep with the soul, mainly through the sacraments but not just. Since, for Luther(anism), man is irreconcilably sinful, there is no action that a person – priest or not – could do to be capable of beholding God, not even celebrating the sacraments. However, to believe that God is present (or not) just because a person decides He should be present (or not) is very dangerous doctrine indeed for in the words of Joseph Chalmers O.Carm., “You can never outdo God in generosity”. God’s continued presence amidst man – independently of our being conscious or unconscious of it – comes from His own will of incarnating Himself in the first place and, by grace, leaving us the possibility to be “sparked” 28 by His flame of love. 4. RECEIVING GRACE As Teresa starts writing The Interior Castle, considered by many to be her magna carta, she does not have in mind the intention to expose any intellectualised theology of grace. Rather, she does this unconsciously. She is well aware of the currents that circulate her time and the importance that she gives, in the midst of this, to the intrinsic connection between the life of prayer and grace is telling of this. Teresa’s theology, which can at first seem sporadic and disjointed, springs from her own personal experience. Her spirituality was scattered heart, free from all stain of sin. We attain this goal when we are perfect and ‘in Carith’, that is, hidden in that love of which the Wiseman speaks, ‘love covers all offences’. Wishing Elijah to reach this goal, God said to him, ‘Hide in the wadi Carith’. The other goal of this life is granted to us as the free gift of God, namely, to taste somewhat in the heart and to experience in the mind the power of the divine presence and the sweetness of heavenly glory, not only after death but already in this mortal life. This is to drink of the torrent of the pleasure of God. God promised this to Elijah in the words, ‘And there you shall drink of the torrent’.”, see FELIPE RIBOT, The Ten Books on the Way of Life and Great Deeds of the Carmelites, I:2 (Early Carmelite Spirituality, vol. 1), edited and translated by Richard Copsey, Kent-Rome, St Albert’s Press-Edizioni Carmelitane, 2005, 9. 28 The idea of man being “sparked” comes from Jan van Ruusbroec who saw the Spirit as the “scintilla animae”, i.e. the spark of the soul; that spark with which man could, after a process of purification, illumination, and union, behold God. The Spirit, Ruusbroec believed, which we receive in Baptism is not just a metaphor of being open to the work of God in us, but is the actual trace of divinity, grace, divine image, Spirit (call it what you will) in, as St John of the Cross would later call it, “our most profound centre”. 156 GLEN ATTARD, O.CARM. around inside her and, as she writes, she was sceptical of her ability to gather it all together.29 Teresa describes the soul as a castle made of a single diamond or of very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms. Wandering through these rooms, then, becomes a symbol of the soul’s journey in receiving and cooperating with grace. This is no easy task for of his nature man is, she says, “centred in the rough setting of the diamond and in the outer wall, that is to say, these bodies of ours”.30 Hence, she sets out an itinerary of obtaining grace through prayer that can be followed by anyone who will devote the time and discipline that she believes is required. Mystical union with God made Teresa believe that, with the help of God’s grace, one could gradually mature and – even if in slight glimpses in this world – briefly be in union with God. A soul can cooperate in its own salvation through prayerful meditation and a complete conformation of its will to God’s will.31 Hence, the observance of commandments, which Trent had insisted on, was the skeleton that held together Teresa’s councils for the soul, which were then strengthened and bore the fruit of the gratuitous gifts given us by God through her experience. Teresa gives us the following criteria for receiving grace, (i) Faith is a primary component for Teresa. One must believe that God’s sanctifying or justifying grace is available to all souls who are properly disposed to receive it. One must also believe in the beauty and dignity of the human soul. She says, “The soul of the righteous person is nothing but a paradise, in which, as God tells us, He takes His delight”.32 (ii) Self-knowledge: God dwells in the centre of the self. We come to the knowledge of God through our efforts to know ourselves. As we seek knowledge of God we seek in self-knowledge and as we grow in selfknowledge we deepen our knowledge of God.33 Teresa insists on the importance of self-knowledge as a means for learning to exist in God’s grace. Indeed, she appreciates how difficult it is for the human soul to deal with self-knowledge. However, she does not abandon her directive just because it is difficult, nor does she mince words. (iii) Detachment: Beginners always find these first rooms of the castle difficult to dwell in because it involves a letting go of past habits to M prol. Ist M I:3. 31 ZUGER, Theology of Grace, 171. 32 Ist M I:2. 33 JOEL GIALLANZA, I Consider the Labour Well Spent. A mini-course on the Interior Castle, Rome, Edizioni Carmelitane, 2001, 14. 29 30 GOD, TERESA, AND LUTHER. 157 give space for new, holier habits. Teresa spends much time explaining the suffering that the soul undergoes as the radiance of God’s truth shows her who she really is. The soul is filled with dismay that it could ever have thought so highly of itself. The soul may indeed be aware of the many gifts and talents it has received from God and might even think them holy at a first glance. However, none is safe for the soul until it has been redeemed through God’s grace.34 “To him who has been given much, much will be expected” (Lk 12:48). (iv) Humility: In such a state of grace, the soul sees clearly that it is not good because of anything it has become or because of any good works it has been able to accomplish. It begins to see that a humble love is all that matters. Teresa believes that with the grace given in self-knowledge one cannot help but be graced with true humility as well. Therefore, humility is a way of “think[ing] of His greatness and then come back to our own baseness; by looking at His purity we shall see our foulness; by meditating upon His humility, we shall see how far we are from being humble”.35 5. BEARING THE FRUITS By the end of the First Mansion, Teresa has laid the groundwork for her spirituality. She has outlined how one ought to dispose himself to receive God’s grace. She says that the soul must be willing to labour, be resolute, and prepare herself with diligence to bring its will into conformity with the will of God. It is clear that Teresa believes that the only way to gain this grace is through prayer. It is in this prayer and meditation that the soul will receive the grace that will allow it to be transformed.36 Teresa says, “The door by which we must enter this castle is prayer”.37 As we can observe, there is an element in Teresa’s doctrine of grace that appears to augment the definition of grace handed down at the Council of Trent. Teresa’s attitude about grace and good works is articulated when she says that we must realise “that any good thing we do has its source, not in ourselves, but rather in that spring where this tree, which is the soul, is planted, and in that sun which sheds its radiance on our works”.38 It is quite clear, then, that Te- 34 35 36 37 38 Cf. Ist M I-II. Ist M II:10. ZUGER, Theology of Grace, 175. IInd M 19. Ist M II:5. 158 GLEN ATTARD, O.CARM. resa does not believe that the performance of good works can be accomplished without God’s grace. She believes, rather, that any good works the soul might perform must be rooted in this indwelling presence of God. Elsewhere, Teresa writes a small treatise to her sisters in Carmel more directly about the utmost need to pray and how this must be accompanied by love for neighbour. In The Way of Perfection Teresa writes, “I determined to do the little that was in me – namely, to follow the evangelical counsels as perfectly as I could, and to see that these few nuns who are here should do the same, confiding in the great goodness of God, Who never fails to help those who resolve to forsake everything for His sake […] this is your vocation, this must be your business, these must be your desires, these your tears, these your petitions […] the world is on fire”.39 Surely enough, Teresa is aware of the dangers of closing oneself in one’s “room” – taken literally or metaphorically – using prayer or meditation as an excuse to be detached from neighbourly love. Later in The Way of Perfection, she has a concrete word to say about pure love, i.e. that “love without any degree whatsoever of self-interest; all that the soul wishes and desires is to see the soul [it loves] enriched with blessings from Heaven”.40 As a matter of fact, even Luther would agree with Teresa that “[divine] love stands in contrast to natural human love, which is always striving for its own advantage”.41 However, Luther’s only way of accepting the soul’s relationship with pure divine love is not “mutual”, as for Teresa, but only in the passivity of faith. “Even in the absence of sin, however, a person could still only receive God’s love in the passivity of faith. Coram Deo, faith is necessarily passive”.42 Moreover, Teresa is clear on how one ought to cooperate with the good Lord to dispose the soul to be increasingly perfected by Him, (i) “At first it may be mingled with emotion, but this as a rule will do no harm. It is sometimes good and necessary to show emotion in our love, and also to feel it and be distressed by some of our sisters’ C I:2, 5. C VII:1. 41 MARTIN LUTHER, Heidelberg Disputations, translated by W. A. Lambert, in Luther’s Works, XXXI, Philadelphia/PA, Fortress, 1957, 57. 42 TOTTEN, Luther, 447. 39 40 GOD, TERESA, AND LUTHER. (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) 43 159 trials and weaknesses […] We must not judge others by ourselves, nor think of ourselves as we have been at some time when, perhaps without any effort on our part, the Lord made us stronger than they; let us think of what we were like at the times when we have been weakest”. “Note the importance of this advice for those of us who would learn to sympathise with our neighbours’ trials […] must be careful and alert for the devil never slumbers. And the nearer we are to perfection, the more careful we must be since the temptations are then much more cunning […] In short we must always watch and pray for there is no better way than prayer of revealing these hidden wiles of the devil and making him declare his presence”. “Contrive always, even if you do not care for it, to take part in your sisters’ necessary recreation and to do so for the whole of the allotted time, for all considerable treatment of them is perfect love. It is a very good thing for us to take compassion of each other’s needs […] Get to know what are the things in your sisters which you should be sorry to see and those about which you should sympathise with them; and always show your grief in any notorious fault which you may seem in one of them”. “Often commend to God any sister who is at fault and strive for your own part to practise the virtue which is the opposite of her fault with great perfection. Make determined efforts to do this so that you may teach your sister by your deeds what perhaps she could never learn by words nor gain by punishment”. “This will be a much truer kind of friendship than one which uses every possible loving expression (such as are not used, and must not be used, in this house): ‘My life!’, ‘My love!’, ‘My darling!’ and suchlike things, one or another of which people are always saying. Let such endearing words be kept for your Spouse, for you will be so often and so much alone with Him that you will want to make use of them all, and this His Majesty permits you”. “It is also a very clear sign of love to try to spare others household work by taking it upon oneself and also to rejoice and give praise to the Lord if you see any increase in their virtues”. Finally, “if one of you should be cross with another because of some hasty word, the matter must at once be put right and must betake yourselves in earnest prayer. The same applies to the harbouring of any grudge, or to party strife, or to the desire to be greatest, or to any nice point concerning your honour”.43 C VII. 160 6. GLEN ATTARD, O.CARM. CONCLUSION On the surface, Teresa’s spirituality appears to be a simple method or, even better, an analysis of the prayer journey. It requires only that the soul have faith that the Holy Spirit dwells within it, that it be willing to enter itself in order to find the Divine Presence. In the end, the soul must surrender its will to God’s will and be transformed. However, Teresa’s spirituality is new in that it develops an applied and more concrete understanding of “good works” which appears in Trent’s Decree of Justification. Teresa demonstrates that the soul must be willing to allow God to transform it through grace so that all of its good works will be rooted in Truth. She believes that this can happen honestly only through prayer and the disposition of the soul’s will to God’s will. Teresa demonstrates that grace is not gained through the addition of good works but rather through the union of one’s will with God. If one truly knows oneself as being graced by God, then one realises that even one’s good works are graced. Clearly, for Teresa the fact that man is redeemed of his sinful nature with sacramental grace (manifesting, through a visible sign, the invisible grace) means that “although the [mystical] night veils in darkness the face of the Good Shepherd, He is nevertheless present and is more than ever active. He it is who illumines, purifies, enkindles the soul, and unites it with Himself. The night is so dark and painful only because the Shepherd is leading the soul in the paths of justice, for his own name’s sake”.44 God being the agent and the soul His recipient, makes Teresa determined to show her readers the necessity of: a) abandoning ourselves to God in faith (therefore, agreeing on this point with Luther); and b) disposing ourselves or making ourselves available, “vacare Deo” to let God start transforming us already in this life in preparation for the definite transformation in the life to come. As we saw, through the contrasting figures – to a certain extent – of Teresa and Luther our intention was to show that man’s quest for giving an identity to himself is intimately connected to the way we look at God, and, on the basis of this, to giving an identity to one’s neighbour. To identify someone or something is to give it a name, to 44 MARIE-EUGENE OF THE CHILD JESUS, I am a Daughter of the Church. A practical synthesis of Carmelite Spirituality, II, translated by M. Verda Clare, C.S.C., Notre Dame/IN, Fides-Claretian, 1997, 206. GOD, TERESA, AND LUTHER. 161 assert its existence. To be clear, when this someone, then, happens to be God, the identification process makes a radical shift. It is no longer man who gives meaning but he is given meaning by God, his life becomes ‘godly’. Whether through faith or grace alone, or whether this should be accompanied by one’s works, both Teresa and Luther agree on the fact that God is the one from whom every good comes, disposing us to ask, “What, o good and loving Lord / wilt Thou have this creature do?” 45 45 P II.