The Way of Perfection

treatise.¹³¹

INTRODUCTION

which contains the reasons for writing this book

The sisters of this convent of St. Joseph, having learnt that my confessor, Father Master Dominic Bañez, of the glorious Order of St. Dominic, had given me leave to write about prayer,¹⁴¹ of which I appeared capable because of having spoken with so many spiritual and devout persons, have so importuned me that I have decided on complying with their wishes. Faulty and imperfect as my style may be, I know that the sisters’ great love for me will give my words more influence with them than that of books far better written by those who know what they are writing about. Therefore I have determined to yield to the nuns’ wishes and persuasions. I rely upon their prayers and on humility; perhaps by these means God may give me grace to say something useful concerning the life that ought to be led in this house and helpful to my sisters, and He may teach me, so that I may teach them.

If I fail, Father Master, who is to read these writings first, will either correct them or throw them into the fire: thus I shall have lost nothing by obeying the wishes of these servants of God, and they will discover what I really am when His Majesty does not assist me.

I intend suggesting remedies for certain minor temptations of the devil, which, because they are slight, are often disregarded; also to explain my object in founding this house, namely, to restore the perfect observance of our Rule that had been mitigated elsewhere.¹⁵² I will also speak of other matters as our Lord may direct me, and as they occur to my mind. Not knowing of what things I shall treat, I cannot arrange them in proper order. I think, after all, that this is best, as it is quite incongruous for such a person as myself to speak about such subjects. May our Lord guide me in all I do, that it may be pleasing to His holy will, for this has always been my aim, faulty as my deeds may be!

I know that on my part there is no lack of love for my sisters, nor of a desire to do all I can to help their souls to make great progress in God’s service. This affection, my age, and my personal experience in various convents, may assist me to write of such lesser matters better than theologians, whose more important business and powerful minds make them overlook things, insignificant in themselves, yet which may do great harm to such weak creatures as we women are. The devil employs his most subtle wiles against strictly cloistered nuns, for he sees that he requires some new sort of weapon to injure them. Wicked as I am, I have been able to defend myself but ill against him, and I wish my sisters to take warning by me. I shall only speak of what I have learnt by my own experience, have witnessed in others, or that God has shown to me during prayer.

A short time ago I was told to write a history of my life, in which I have also treated of prayer: as perhaps my confessor may not permit you to read it, I shall repeat some of it here, besides adding other things which I believe are requisite. May God direct my work, as I have begged of Him, and may He order it all for His greater glory! Amen.

CHAPTER I

the reason why i founded this convent in such austere observance

1.      Why the Convent of St. Joseph at Avila was founded. 2. Reasons for the corporal austerities of this convent. 3. St. Teresa’s grief at sin and the eternal loss of sinners. 4. She begs the nuns to intercede against these evils. 5. This, and not worldly matters, should be the object of our petitions.

1. This convent was founded for the reasons already given in the work above mentioned,¹⁶¹ and also on account of certain favours that God showed me, in which He revealed that He would be served with great fervour in this house.¹⁷² I did not at first intend that such rigorous bodily austerities should be practised in it, nor that it should possess no income; on the contrary, I wished it to have sufficient means to prevent the possibility of want; which shows how weak and wicked I am, although I meant rather to do what was right than to seek for self-indulgence.¹⁸³

2. Just at this time I heard of the miseries France was suffering, of the havoc the Lutherans were making there, and how this wretched sect was increasing.¹⁹⁴ It grieved me bitterly, and as if I could have done anything, or had been of any consequence, I cried to God and begged Him to cure this terrible evil. I felt that I would have laid down a thousand lives to save one of the many souls perishing there. Yet, as I am but a woman, feeble and faulty, it was impossible for me to serve God in the way I wished—indeed, all I cared for then, as I do now, was that, as the enemies of God are so many and His friends so few, these latter might at least be good ones. Therefore I determined to do what little was in my power, which was to follow the Evangelical counsels as perfectly as I could and to see that the few nuns here should do the same.²⁰⁵ Trusting in the great mercy of God which never fails those who resolve to leave all things for His sake, I hoped that, as my sisters here are all that I ever wished them to be, their virtues would be strong enough to resist the influence of my defects and that I might be able to bring some comfort to our Lord. Thus, being all of us employed in interceding for the champions of the Church and the preachers and theologians who defend her we might, to our utmost, aid this Lord of mine Who is attacked with such cruelty by those on whom He has conferred great benefits that it seems as though they would fasten Him to the Cross again, leaving Him no place to lay His Head.

3. O my Redeemer! How it wearies my heart²¹⁶ to think of this! To what a state have Christians come! Must those who owe Thee most always treat Thee worst?—those souls to whom Thou hast shown the greatest goodness, whom Thou hast chosen for Thy friends, amongst whom Thou dost dwell, to whom Thou dost give Thyself in Thy Sacraments? Are not Thy torments at the hands of the Jews enough for them? Indeed, my Lord, we forfeit nothing in retiring from the world, for if [Christians] show Thee such disloyalty, what could we hope for? Do we merit better treatment from them? Have we done more for them than Thou hast done, that they should be friends to us? How is this? What do we hope for—we, who by the mercy of God have escaped this plague-spot? For these men are already the slaves of the devil. They have earned a bitter scourging from the hands of the fiend and have justly bought eternal fire with the pleasures he has given them. That must be their fate, though it breaks my heart to see so many souls lose themselves. Would that the evil were not so great: fain would I not see more and more ruined every day.²²⁷

4. O my sisters in Christ! help me to pray to our Lord for this! This is why we live here together, why the Lord has brought you here; it must be your work, the object of your longings; your tears and prayers must beg for this and not for any worldly matters. I laugh, and yet I grieve, at the intentions recommended to our prayers,—even such matters as to ask His Majesty for success in business matters and lawsuits concerning money, and this from people who I wish would beg God for grace to trample such things under foot. These people mean well; therefore, to tell the truth, I pray for them to God because of their piety in asking for it, although, for my part, I believe that He never listens to such prayers from me.

5. The world is in a fever;²³⁸ men wish, as it were, to condemn Christ again, for they suborn a thousand false witnesses against Him: they want to level the Church with the ground—and shall we waste our time in petitioning for that which, were it granted, might cost some soul its entrance into heaven? No, sisters, this is no time to ask God for what is of little moment. Were there no need to humour the weakness of human nature, which seeks for help everywhere (and, indeed, it would be well if we could help it in any way), I should wish it to be known that these are not the matters for which God is so fervently entreated within the convent of St. Joseph.

CHAPTER II

that the necessities of the body should be disregarded. of the advantages of poverty

1.      Nuns should leave the care of their health to Christ. 2. Perpetual poverty to be maintained in the Order. 3. Safeguards against loss of poverty of spirit. 4. Advantages of poverty. 5. Honours and riches are opposed to poverty. 6. Poverty always the badge of the Carmelite Order. 7. The convents, though poor, may possess hermitages. 8. Intercession to be made for benefactors.

1. Do not suppose, my sisters, that because you do not seek favour with the world you will be left to starve; I can reassure you about that. Never try to sustain yourselves by any human artifice, or you will perish of famine as you would deserve. Look to your Spouse; He must maintain you: if He is pleased with you, those who like you least will give you food even against their will, as you have learnt by experience.²⁴¹ If when you have done this, you should die of hunger, happy the nuns of St. Joseph! Thus our prayers will be pleasing to God and we shall have carried out what we professed. For the love of God, do not forget this: as you have given up your revenues, give up the care of your sustenance as well or all will be lost. People whom our Lord wishes to possess incomes are quite right in looking after such matters, for that is their vocation, but it is inconsistent in us. To calculate what we shall receive from others seems to me like reckoning up their riches, and all your care will not change their minds nor make them wish to give you alms. Leave your case in the hands of Him Who bends all wills, Who is the Lord of riches and of rich men. We came here at His bidding: His words are sure and cannot fail; heaven and earth will fail first; let us not forsake Him, and never fear that He will forsake us. If at any time He did so, it would be for our greater good, as life forsook the saints when they were slain and beheaded for our Lord, that their glory might be increased by their martyrdom. It would be a good exchange to finish this life quickly so as to enjoy eternal satiety.

2. Be certain, sisters, that this matter will be most important for you when I am dead, therefore I leave it you in writing. While I live, by the grace of God I will remind you of it, knowing by experience how great are its benefits. When I have least I am most free from anxiety, and God knows that, as far as I can tell, it grieves me far more when I am well cared for than when I am in want.²⁵² I am not sure whether this has happened because I have always found that our Lord supplies our wants at once. We should be deceiving the world if we acted otherwise; if, having embraced poverty, we were not poor in spirit but only in externals. My conscience would prick me, as the expression is; it would seem like rich people asking for alms: God forbid that this should ever be done! Those who are so over-anxious about what will be given them will, some day or other, out of custom, ask for what they do not want and perhaps from people more needy than themselves. Although the latter will gain rather than lose by this yet we shall be the losers.

3. May God prevent this ever happening, my daughters! If it were necessary, I should prefer your possessing an income. Never let your minds dwell on the subject: I ask this as an alms from you. Let the very last in the community, if she sees such a thing being done, cry out to God against it and go to the Prioress, humbly telling her that she is doing wrong.²⁶³ This is so important that otherwise, little by little, true poverty would be lost. I trust in God that it will never happen and that He will not abandon His handmaids: for this alone, if for no other reason, this book that you have bidden me write for you, wretched sinner as I am, may be of use by keeping you on the alert. I believe, my daughters, that it is for your sakes our Lord has taught me some of the benefits to be found in holy poverty, which those will discover who practise it, although perhaps not to the same extent as I have, for not only was I without poverty of spirit, although I had professed it, but I was prodigal in spirit.

4. Poverty includes in itself all the good things of this world and a great part of the advantages of all the virtues as well, I believe. This I dare not assert, not knowing the value of each virtue, so I will not discuss what I do not thoroughly understand. But, in my opinion, poverty comprises many virtues. It is a vast domain. I affirm that whoever despises all earthly goods holds dominion over them. What are kings and lords to me if I do not want their money, nor seek to please them if by so doing I should displease God in the very least? What care I for their honours, if I know that the honour of a poor man consists in true poverty? It seems to me that honours and riches nearly always go together: he who loves honour never hates riches, while he who hates riches seeks no honours.

5. You must understand this clearly; for I think that a thirst for honour always carries with it some regard for property and money; it is strange to see a poor man honoured by the world, for however much he may deserve it he generally remains unnoticed. True poverty, undertaken for the sake of God, bears with it a certain dignity in that he who professes it need seek to please no one but Him, and there is no doubt that the man who asks no help has many friends, as events have taught me. Much has been written on this matter that I could not understand, much less explain, but I confess that I was too engrossed by the subject to realise how foolish I was to discuss it. Now I am aware of it, I will be silent. But since I have said it, if it is well said, let it