Prayer of Recollection TERESIAN PRAYER EMMANUEL RENAULT, O.C.D. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Prayer of Recollection

TERESIAN PRAYER

EMMANUEL RENAULT, O.C.D.

JEAN ABIVEN, O.C.D.

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Import

• rtant

nt Dates es In

Saint Teresa’s Life

• 1515 (March 28): The birth of Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada.
• 1535 (November 2): Teresa enters the Incarnation Convent.
• 1554: Teresa’s Conversion (Saint Augustine, Christ’s

wounds…)

• 1562 (August 24): Foundation of Saint Joseph’s Carmel.

(December): Teresa begins The Way of Perfection.

• 1568 (November 28): The foundation of first male Discalced

Carmelite monastery with John of the Cross.

• 1572 (November 16): Teresa experiences the Grace of

Spiritual Marriage.

• 1582 (October 4/15): Teresa dies “Daughter of the Church”

in Alba de Tormes.

• 1614 (April 4): Teresa’s Beatification by Paul V.
• 1622 (March 12): Teresa’s Canonization by Gregory XV.
• 1970 (September 27): Teresa is named Doctor of the Church

by Paul VI.

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Introduction

Teresa of Avila developed a way of prayer usable by either beginners or those more advanced in the way of perfection. It took her a lot of time to identify the original characteristics

• f her manner of prayer –

situated between

• rdinary meditation and

supernatural prayer or contemplation.

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Interior Prayer is, in my opinion, simply an intimate exchange of friendship where we speak often, one on one, with God who we know loves us.

• St. Theresa of Avila (V 8, 5)

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…If we make the effort, practice this recollection for some days …the gain

will be clearly seen; we will understand, when beginning to pray, that the bees are approaching and entering beehive to make honey. (W 28 7)

At the beginning since the recollection is not so deep—for there are greater and lesser degrees of recollection… And this recollection(supernatural) will be effected without our effort because the Lord has desired that…the faculties are drawn inward… When the soul does no more than give a sign that it wishes to be recollected, the senses obey it and become recollected. Even though they go out again afterward, their having already surrendered is a great thing; for they go out as captives and subjects and do not cause the harm they did previously.

And when the will calls them back again, they come more quickly, until after many of these entries the Lord wills that they rest entirely in perfect contemplation.

Lord, teach us to pray….

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More people than you would think would be capable

• f practicing interior prayer, but no one taught
• them. And, without an interior life, the baptized run
• ut of breath, their actions become noisy gongs and

even their religious practice, when it exists, dries up.”

John Paul II September 29, 1982

Discursive Meditation

 Teresa received no special training in prayer during her novitiate in the Tradition of the Order. Moreover there wasn’t any obligation to have a personal prayer time. Teresa had to teach herself.  As a novice, she practiced discursive prayer or meditation using books of which there was no shortage of works on the subject. She would meditate on the Passion of Our Lord and on her sins. She considered what gave her insight into the briefness of everything in this world.

 At the time of her final vows, after reading many books and practicing many

hours, she still did not know how to proceed in prayer or how to be recollected.

(V 4, 7) She said that she had read a lot of things and didn’t understand anything of

what I read. (V 12 6) Her writings indicate that this method of prayer (meditation)

did not suit her.

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Osuna Method

 After having read many works on prayer Teresa finally found one that suited her- The Third Spiritual Alphabet by Francisco de Osuna , a Franciscan, who suggested finding union with God in prayer through the path of interior recollection.  He suggested becoming silent within, making oneself ‘deaf, blind and dumb’, emptying the intellect of all human thought of the created - to think of nothing- no pensar nada- in order to be attentive to God and His Divinity. Osuna said it was also important to make a big place in the ‘heart,’ for love.  This method completely agreed with Teresa’s temperament, leaning towards kindness and emotional activity and very little towards reasoning. Teresa completely gave herself to this method; in 6 months she experienced the prayer of union.

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Osuna Method

Teresa’ Objections to Osuna’s Method First Objection : no pensar Nada

Teresa realized that trying to find God by emptying the senses and the intellect only caused the soul to be idle…The intellect ceases to work because God suspends it…trying to keep the soul’s faculties busy and thinking you can make them be quiet is

• foolish. (V 12 5)

Second Objection: Christ’s Divinity

In order to attain contemplation, Osuna suggested eliminating from one’s thoughts the human nature of Christ in order to concentrate on His divinity. Teresa insisted on

attaching oneself strongly to Christ’s humanity that provides man a friendship

(W 26 2), a focal point for the faculties (V 22 9)… but mainly because if we are going to

please Him and receive His great favors, we must do so through the most sacred humanity of Christ in whom He takes His delight (V 22 6).

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The Prayer of Recollection

What is this Way of Prayer inspired by Osuna and distinct from Discursive or Methodical meditation?

3 Essential points:

1/ Recollect oneself 2/ Become aware, within oneself or near to oneself,

• f the Living Presence of Jesus Christ

3/ Nature of the Activity: the Look; the heart to heart with Him 4/ And…A few tips to recollect oneself will be added

I tried as hard as I could to keep Jesus Christ,

• ur God and our Lord, present within me,

and that was my way of prayer. (V 4 7)

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The Prayer of Recollection

1- Recollect Oneself:

 Preliminary Steps: examination of conscience, the act of contrition and the sign of the cross. (W 26 1) Self-knowledge: to come before God it is necessary to recognize

• ne’s misery, unworthiness and experience a real humility and admiration before

Our Lord… however sublime the contemplation, let your prayer always begin and end with self-knowledge. (W 39 5)  Effort of Recollection…getting accustomed to caring nothing at all about seeing or

• hearing. (V11 9) This prayer is called ‘recollection,’ because the soul collects its

faculties together and enters within itself to be with its God. (W 28 4)…It strives so as not to look at things here below. (W 28 6)  The Movement of the Soul to enter into itself can be sought anytime and anywhere since God is everywhere (W 28 2) It helped me also to look at fields, or water, or flowers (V 9 5)

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The Prayer of Recollection

In the beginning….

• habit of silence (W 4 9): exterior solitude and withdrawal to enable interior

silence and solitude.

• recollection is an effort of attention on God- absorbs the soul’s strength to the

point of evacuating everything that isn’t Him. Everyone can achieve this recollection with the help of ordinary grace.

…it is possible for us to acquire by our own means […]

in obtaining this initial devotion we can help ourselves in some way. This recollection is not something supernatural, it is something we can desire to achieve ourselves with the help of God….(W 29 4)

• supernatural prayer: we cannot procure through our own efforts (W 31 2)

depending on depth of recollection has various names.

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The Prayer of Recollection

2- Become aware of the Presence of Christ :

• To Realize that Our Lord is there (in front of me, beside me, within me) is

the most important step.

• Consideration: grasping the quality of the Lord compared to our situation

as creature and sinner, is essential for the soul.

…a person who is not aware to whom he is speaking, what he is asking,

who it is who is asking and of whom, I don’t call that prayer (C 1 7).

• To practice interior prayer it is not enough to ‘meditate on’ ---

intellect grows weary, there must be a Personal Relationship with the Lord, a direct face to face contact.

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The Prayer of Recollection

2- Become aware of the Presence of Christ : cont’d. How does one bring about this living contact?

Teresa tells us by a representation of Christ in His Humanity.

What sort of image does Teresa mean since she suggests this method for souls who, like herself, were incapable of using their imagination this way… Teresa could not achieve an image of Christ that was visual and continuous, in other words, like a painting or an image of Him …I was unable

to keep Him as engraved in my soul as I desired (F 5 2)

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The Prayer of Recollection

What does she mean?

 It was impossible for her to compose an image of Christ within herself…like an image seen with bodily eyes...she could only imagine in this way what she had seen with her senses.  The representation she proposed would not be an imaginative one but based on faith… a living faith perceived not seen …I was like one who is blind or in darkness;…he knows with certainty that He is there; such was the case with me when I thought of our Lord (V 9 6).  Teresa held an intermediary position between a vision of faith of the ‘pure divine essence’ of Osuna and the imaginative representation of methodical meditation.

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The Prayer of Recollection

 Teresa, leaning on the certainty by faith of the living proximity of Christ, appreciated the truth of the Incarnation which brings a warmth, consistency and dynamism to the relationship of Our Lord with man that the highest abstract elevations to the Divinity will never bring. This is why she insists on the physical reality of the Presence… however softly we speak, He is near enough to hear us (W 28 2).  Representation by faith (non-visual) plays a major role in interior prayer… Do you think it is of little importance to know what heaven is and where you must seek your most sacred Father? Well, I tell you that for wandering minds it is very important not only to believe these truths but to strive to understand them by experience. Doing this is one of the ways of greatly slowing down the mind and recollecting the soul (W 28 1).

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The Prayer of Recollection

The Representation of Christ…Teresa suggests that He be considered

sometimes next to you (V 13 22), sometimes in front of you (V 12 2) and, sometimes within you (W 28 4)

Yet, she insists that He is preferably represented in the most intimate part of the soul as such a thought is much more alluring and fruitful than thinking

• f Him as outside of oneself (V 40 6)…enter the paradise within itself to be

with its God (W29 4) or in the little heaven of our soul. ( W28 5) Teresa’s preference for the representation of Christ in the soul is doctrinal.

(Jn 15:4 Remain in me). She is insisting on a truth which constitutes a

fundamental principle of Teresian spirituality: Christ resides in the soul, at its center, as if in a mansion. This idea, present throughout Teresian writings, is developed in the Interior Castle.

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The Prayer of Recollection

3/ What is the Nature of the Activity of the Soul Recollected in the Presence

• f the Christ-Man going to be?

Represent the Lord Himself as close to you and behold how lovingly and humbly He is teaching you […] I’m not asking you now that you think about Him… I’m not asking you to do anything more than look at Him (W 26 3).

• A. This mutual look…or loving attention expresses a personal, living relationship
• f reciprocal presence. It is about a simple activity. This bold act of faith

includes the hope, in the form of desire of union with God, mainly animated by love. Teresa’s significant formula… I tried as hard as I could to keep Jesus Christ, our God and our Lord,

present within me, and that was my way of prayer (V 4 7).

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The Prayer of Recollection

• B. Conversation with Christ can take one of two variable forms:

First Form: Heart to Heart

For not only will you desire to look at Him but you will also delight in speaking with Him, not with ready–made prayers but with those that come from the sorrow of your own heart, for He esteems them highly (W 26 6) Remain there in His presence with the intellect quiet. And if a person is able he should occupy himself in looking at Christ who is looking at Him, and he should speak and petition, and humble himself, and delight in the Lord’s presence, and remember that he is unworthy of being there. (V 13 22)

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The Prayer of Recollection

This One on One spontaneous exchange is characterized by

Truth, Liberty and Love:

Truth- that it hide nothing, knowing it is loved by the Lord in spite of everything. Liberty- It is about the simplicity of two friends. Love- the Heart of Teresian Prayer

… it is important not to think much but to love much (IC 4 1 7).

…bodily strength is not necessary but only love and a habit (V 7 12) …they are servants of love (V 11 1)

…If all imaginations are not capable of meditation, all souls are capable of loving (F 5 2)

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The Prayer of Recollection

Second Form : Conversation with an Evangelical theme:

• Teresa knew that the will often needs the help of the intellect so as

to be enkindled (IC 6 7, 7)

• We choose a Bible scene that we enter into … interpreting the words of Christ as

if spoken to us. St. Theresa’s preference was the Passion… It is from here that has come and continues to come every good (V 13 13). (Theater)

• In this Restrained Sense, she invites us into meditation but be careful not to

prolong this meditative conversation…one should not weary oneself (V 13 22)…once the soul is wakened to love (See V 22 14) come back to the free and spontaneous conversation or to the simple look.

• We alternate periods of silence with exchange…..He doesn’t want us to be

breaking our heads trying to speak a great deal to Him (W 29 6).

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The Prayer of Recollection

• St. Teresa’s manner of prayer allows much liberty provided the soul is

active or awakened to love.

• It is possible in one prayer session to go from the simple look to a

heart to heart and inversely, using at will the type of prayer that allows us to stay vigilante and loving.

• To preserve this interior liberty necessary for love, St. Teresa said that

...it is very helpful not to drag the soul along, as they say, but to lead it gently for the sake of its greater advantage (V 11 16).

(No forcing yourself) 22

The Prayer of Recollection

4/ Methods to Recollect Oneself: To establish or reestablish contact with the Lord

• St. Teresa suggests little ploys, skill (W26 10).

A Book

…a good book written in the vernacular to recollect one’s thoughts…

little by little accustom the soul with coaxing and skill not to grow discouraged (W26 10). For eighteen years, after Communion, I never dared to begin prayer without a book. For my soul was as fearful of being without it during prayer as it would have been should I have had to do battle with a lot of people. With this recourse, which was like a partner or a shield by which to sustain the blows of my many thoughts, I went about consoled (V4 9).

Reading offers a center of interest, something for my thoughts to focus on

...and even for some replaces mental prayer that they cannot achieve (V 4 8). In any case, for those who journey along this path, a book helps to promptly recollect oneself (V 9 5). I have always been fond of the words of the Gospels and found more recollection in them than in very cleverly written books (W21 3).

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The Prayer of Recollection

4/ Methods to Recollect Oneself cont’d.

Image or Painting of the Lord

…not so as to carry it about on your heart and never look at it but so as to speak often with Him (W 26 9).

Vocal Prayer

…Now, then, let us speak again to those souls I mentioned that

cannot recollect or tie their minds down in mental prayer

• r engage in reflection (W 24 1).

The intellect is recollected much more quickly with this kind

• f prayer even though it may be vocal;

it is prayer that brings with it many blessings (W 28 4).

I tell you that it is very possible that while you are reciting

the Our Father or some other vocal prayer, the Lord may raise you to perfect contemplation (W 25 1).

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A Last Objection

Teresa heard murmurings about the reality of her having a real conversation with the Lord. Even though we do not hear Him, He speaks well to the heart when we beseech Him from the heart (W 24 5). Concerning beginners and all those who begin, yet they never reach the end…thinking they are doing nothing, she remarks that it is then perhaps that their will is being strengthened and fortified, although they may not be aware of this (V 11 15).

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The Prayer of Recollection

The Prayer of Recollection

A Last Objection

Though He comes disguised, the disguise … does not prevent Him from being recognized in many ways, in conformity with the desire we have to see Him. And you can desire to see Him so much that He will reveal Himself to you entirely (W 34 12) if we prepare ourselves to receive Him, He never fails to give in many ways which we do not understand (W 35 1) The Lord’s answer may perhaps not be through words, but by His action in the most intimate part of the soul. By the feelings that He gives… Sometimes a silence full of love… Sometimes a feeling that He is there, that He is listening. More often nothing other than a reinforced will to serve Him whatever the cost.

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