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. 1

Import ortant 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. 2

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 of her manner of prayer – situated between ordinary meditation and supernatural prayer or contemplation. 3

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) 4

… 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 …. More people than you would think would be capable of practicing interior prayer, but no one taught them. And, without an interior life , the baptized run out of breath, their actions become noisy gongs and even their religious practice, when it exists, dries up .” John Paul II September 29, 1982 6

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. 7

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. 8

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). 9

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, of 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, our God and our Lord, present within me, and that was my way of prayer . (V 4 7) 10

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 one’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) 11

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. 12

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 . 13

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) 14

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 Lor d (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. 15