Mystic Monday #4

I have been stuck in with Teresa of Avila... ...she lived into her sixties and wrote a number of very dense works.  Her attitude towards her writing is funny to read; as she writes she is very self-depreciating and often refers to the fact that she has been compelled to write by others in authority over her.  And yet the writing is so insightful that it seems every time I return to a passage I am drawn deeper into the imagery.

I appreciate the fact that Teresa continues throughout her writing to say that prayer is work, in fact all spiritual disciplines take work and one should expect to have to grow into a deeper experience with time and labour.

One of the earlier images Teresa uses is that of watering a garden.  As Teresa travelled through Spain she established new convents.  Generally, she accepted whatever accommodations she was could acquire.  However, one of the first places she established with her newly founded order of nuns was in San Jose and it had garden space for flowers and vegetables as well as space for hermitages where a nun could retreat to for respite from the demands of the world.  The stone walled retreats were simple with very little adornment save a window with a view and occasionally paintings with religious themes.

From this place she wrote a short teaching on prayer.  

In the beginning we all start with a barren landscape, with a plot rife with weeds.  So the work starts with turning up the soil, pulling up weeds and digging up roots.  The Master aids us with removing the undesirable plants and choosing viable and healthy plants to put in.  The chosen plants are in place;  the soul has decided to pursue the practice of prayer.  Only the Creator can make a plant grow, but we too have a job, our responsibility is to water, to keep the weeds at bay.  

And Lord comes into the garden to meet us, and to enjoy the beauty of life emerging from the barren spaces.  But the work is not finished.  Diligence is required to maintain the budding life amidst the hostile landscape.  Our primary task is to water the garden.  That watering happens in a number of ways... ...each of these ways can teach us something about the stages of prayer.'

In the early stages water is carried by hand drawn up from a well.  Then we construct machinery to help us; a water wheel and buckets cranked by hand.  We are still labouring, but less intensely and more effectively.  If you have good fortune you might find a spring or stream that can be diverted to water your garden; after the initial work of implementing a system you are rewarded by more regular and thorough watering for your garden.  Finally, the ideal situation is when the Rain Maker does the watering for us; there is no work by us, just the pleasure of knowing our garden is provided for by the One who we cultivate it for.

Teresa goes on to explain in detail what the characteristics of each stage looks like.  She consistently encourages the reader to continue even when the well seems dry:  "This is how He tests the people who love Him.  First He shows them how useless they are, so that when they receive divine favors, they won't get puffed up with their own importance... ...The problem arises when people think that favors should come quickly."