Excerpts from The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila

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CHAPTER 4

Exhorts the nuns to keep their Rule and names three things which are important for the spiritual life, Describes the first of these three things, which is love of one's neighbor, and speaks of the harm which can be done by individual friendships.

Now, daughters, you have looked at the great enterprise which we are trying to carry out. What kind of persons shall we have to be if we are not to be considered over-bold in the eyes of God and of the world? It is clear that we need to labour hard and it will be a great help to us if we have sublime thoughts so that we may strive to make our actions sublime also. If we endeavour to observe our Rule and Constitutions in the fullest sense, and with great care, I hope in The Lord that he will grant our requests.  I am not asking anything new of you, my daughters - only that we should hold to our profession, which, as it is our vocation, we are bound to do, although there are many ways of holding to it.
     Our Primitive Rules tells us to pray without ceasing, Provided we do this with all possible care (and it is the most important thing of all) we shall not fail to observe the fasts, disciplines and periods of silence which the Order commands; for, as you know, if prayer is to be genuine it must be reinforced with these things- prayer cannot be accompanied by self indulgence.

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     It is about prayer that you have asked me to say something to you.

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Before speaking of the interior life - that is, of prayer - I shall speak of certain things which those who attempt to walk along the way of prayer most of necessity practice. So necessary are these that, even though not greatly given to contemplation, people who have them can advance a long way in the Lord's service, while, unless they have them, they cannot possible be great contemplatives, and, if they think they are, they are much mistaken. May The Lord help me in this task and teach me what I must say, so that it may be to His glory. Amen.

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There are only three things which I will explain at some length and which are taken from our Constitution itself. It is essential that we should understand how very important they are to us in helping us to preserve that peace, both inward and outward, which The Lord so earnestly
recommended to us. One of these things is love for each other; the second, detachment from all created things; the third, true humility, which, although I put it last, is the most important of the three and embraces all the rest.

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With regard to the first - namely, love for each other - this is of very great importance; for there is nothing, however annoying, that cannot easily be borne by those who love each other, and anything which causes annoyance must be quite exceptional. If this commandments were kept in the world, as it should be, I believe it would take us a long way towards the keeping of the rest.

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It may seem that for us to have too much love for each other cannot be wrong, but I do not think anyone who had not been an eye-witness of it would believe how much evil and how many imperfections can result from this. The devil sets many snares here which the conscious of those who aim only in a rough-and-ready way at pleasing God seldom observe-indeed, they think they are acting virtuously- but those aiming at perfection understand what they are very well: little by little they deprive the will of the strength which it needs if it is to employ itself wholly in the love of God.

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When a friendship has for it's object the service of His Majesty, it at once becomes clear that the will is devoid of passions and indeed is helping to conquer other passions.

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Let us love virtues and inward goodness, and let us always apply ourselves and take care to avoid attaching importance to externals.

[Shin]

Our Primitive Rules tells us to pray without ceasing, Provided we do this with all possible care (and it is the most important thing of all) we shall not fail to observe the fasts, disciplines and periods of silence which the Order commands; for, as you know, if prayer is to be genuine it must be reinforced with these things- prayer cannot be accompanied by self indulgence.

Prayer and mortification -- mortification and prayer!

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     There are two kinds of love which I am describing. The one is purely spiritual, and apparently has nothing to do with sensuality or the tenderness of our nature, either of which might stain it's purity. The other is spiritual, but mingled with it are our sensuality and weakness; yet it is a worthy love, which, as between relatives and friends, seems lawful. Of this I have already said sufficient.
     It is of the first kind of spiritual love that I would now speak. It is untainted by any sort of passion,  for such a thing would completely spoil its harmony.  If it leads us to treat virtuous people, especially confessors, with moderation and discretion, it is profitable; but if the confessor is seen to be tending in any way towards vanity, he should be regarded with grave suspicion, and in such a a case, conversation with him, however edifying, should be avoided, and the sister should make her confession briefly and say nothing more.

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I hope in The Lord that He will not allow persons who are to spend their lives in prayer to have any attachment save to one who is a great servant of God; and I am quite certain He will not, unless they have no love for prayer and for striving after perfection in the way we try to do here.

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If he is such a person, he will have very few opportunities of doing any harm, and unless he is very simple, he will not seek to disturb his own peace of mind and that of the servants of God. As I have begun to speak about this, I will repeat that the devil can do a great deal oh harm here, which will long remain undiscovered, and thus the soul that is striving after perfection can be gradually ruined without knowing how.

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The one is purely spiritual, and apparently has nothing to do with sensuality or the tenderness of our nature, either of which might stain it's purity.

This is the love we should aspire to!

We mortify our friendships and relationships to acquire it. And then what happy friendships we have!

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Appendix to chapter 4

The important thing is that these two kinds of love should be untainted by any sort of passion, for such a thing would completely spoil this harmony. If we exercise this love, of which I have spoken,  with moderation and discretion, it is wholly meritorious, because what seems to us sensuality is turned into virtue. But the two may be so closely intertwined with one another that it is sometimes impossible to distinguish them, especially where a confessor is concerned. For if persons who are practicing prayer find that their confessor is a holy man and understands the way they behave, they become greatly attached to him. And then forthwith the devil lets loose upon them a whole battery of scruples which produce a terrible disturbance within the soul, this being what he is aiming at. In particular, if the confessor is guiding such persons to greater perfection, they become so depressed that they will go so far as to leave him for another and yet another, only to be tormented by the same temptation every time.

What you can do here is not to let your minds dwell upon whether you like your confessor or not, but just to like him if you feel so inclined. For, if we grow fond of people who are kind to our bodies, why should we not love those who are always  striving  and toiling to help our souls? Actually, if my confessor is a holy and spiritual man and I see that he is taking great pains for the benefit of my soul, I think it will be a real help to my progress to like him, For so weak are we that such affection sometimes helps us a great deal to undertake very great things in God's service.

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I don't know how I missed it, but Poche has done a very thorough job on this book already! 

How embarrassing  

If anyone wants to check out "The Way of Perfection" ,  Poche has established a great thread! Thanks sir, I am done here; onto other projects!

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I am going to miss the thread.

St. Teresa of Jesus, pray for us!