Request for Question Clarification by
pinkfreud-ga
on
18 May 2004 15:52 PDT
Does this sound like an excerpt from the website that you seek? This
concerns St. Teresa of Avila, who devoted her life to achieving an
intimate, mystical union with God:
"This union with God makes the soul sleep the sleep of peace and love
and, brought into that state, it is no longer able to think of any
means to tear itself from this mystical suspension and dissolution in
God. The soul thus dissolved in God dies to the world and to itself in
the spiritual marriage which is celebrated in the sixth mansion and in
the seventh mansion it rises to a new life. In this state it devotes
itself fully to the services of its heavenly Bridegroom with Whom it
is united with an unbreakable tie of love. Let us explain these four
degrees a little more.
Note: The Night of the Senses, with the loss of pleasure in prayer in
thoughts about God, the Trinity, Jesus, or Mary, normally takes place
in the first part of the Fourth Mansion. After purification of the
senses, the love of thoughts and prayers involving God, the Trinity,
Jesus, and Mary, return in the Fourth Mansion, in the order in which
they are indicated here. Then the Night of the Spirit takes place in
the Sixth mansion. Often, during the months of purification, the soul
alternates between darkness and the light (indicated in the
descriptions below) because God lifts His purifying hand, and
manifests loving progress, so that the soul won't lose heart during
the long process of purification.
The Law Four Degrees of the Mystical Life.
First, in the fourth mansion of the Castle, St. Teresa speaks of
recollection, of the necessity of finding God in the centre of the
soul: God Who dwells in us. A most perfect union with Him must be
attained. For St. Teresa, that recollection leads to a state of quiet
and satisfaction, of enthrallment by that which the soul, after the
recollection, sees in itself as the greatest good, namely, its
Beloved, Who dwells in the soul and Who should not be sought
elsewhere. The knowledge of possessing the Beloved, of being in His
Presence, gives the soul a quiet pleasure, enthralls the powers of the
soul, carries all its attention to God.
In the fifth mansion, the faculties of the soul dare, as it were,
inaccessible to the impressions other things should like to make. It
seems that they are blunted to the external life and are carried away
in the contemplation of Him Who rises high above all others and claims
all contemplation. They seem as in a spiritual sleep, the soul dreams
of its Beloved and although the different impressions from the
external world still try to influence us and to disturb and to
interrupt this sleep and although the soul sometimes awakes from this
dream, still it is little accessible to all those impressions and it
does its best to subside into that gentle slumber and to devote itself
entirely to the contemplation of its Beloved. Often that spiritual
sleep overcomes it and it is no longer able to occupy itself with
earthly things or to tear itself from this slumber.
In the sixth mansion, the soul is altogether immersed in the
contemplation and the enjoyment of the object of its love and to the
world, it is as though dead and forlorn. It flings itself, as it were,
in the arms of its Beloved and becomes engaged to Him. It should like
to stay with Him. The world no longer appeals to it, it has no eye nor
ear for the world. God is its only good, in Him it will rest. In the
knowledge of its union with Him, the soul is so happy that never more
should it like to be separated from him. Its faithfulness in that
state being tried, the Beloved cements it in His love and celebrates
with the soul the spiritual marriage of unbreakable union and of the
most intimate intercourse.
In the seventh mansion, the soul is living only in and through the
Beloved. The soul has devoted itself entirely to its Bridegroom and is
a ready tool in God's hands, Whose hands it does not leave and from
Whose espousal it is not drawn away, even by contact with the world.
It has risen to a new life, a life in which the natural and the
supernatural are merged in a wonderful way. Nothing is able to
separate the soul from the contemplation of its Beloved, Whom it
worships within itself and embraces with expressions of its love; Whom
it sees in all things; Whose will it adores and glorifies; with Whom,
in a word, it lives in an intimate union and to Whom it has not only
devoted itself, but is also lovingly drawn, never to escape again."
Even if this does not sound like the exact site you're seeking, please
let me know whether or not this is the correct saint. I'll be glad to
research this further if I know I'm on the right track.
