靈魂的心堡-林順明神父主講
Sixth step: Spiritual graces, importance of the sacred humanity of Christ
Visions, locutions, ecstasy… These are the things that anyone wants to know when they read St Teresa. This is because they are supernatural phenomena that few have any experience of. This is the step where such supernatural occurrences can take place if the Lord so allows it. There is a need to discern if they are of divine origin, as they can be produced by psychological suggestion, or worse still, demonic forces.
Incidentally, there are eleven chapters in the Sixth Mansion, the longest of all the seven mansions. This can indicate that the material covered here is very important, as there is a greater need of care to tread carefully in this mansion so as not to be led astray: the soul is so near to its goal. The large number of chapters （in the sixth mansion） can conversely indicate St Teresa’s difficulty in adequately describing these supernatural experiences in simple terms; more than one analogy or image are needed to bring across the message.
While describing and knowing them is important, St Teresa cautioned against paying these supernatural phenomena too much attention, as they do not form the essence of prayer. They can potentially distract the soul and others from the Lord.
Regardless of the supernatural graces received, the fundamentals cannot be neglected. At this point, St Teresa reiterated that the foundation of prayer has to be Christ, the incarnate God. She stressed the importance of not forgoing the meditation of Christ’s sacred humanity, so as not to forget the sure way of prayer: it is because God has become man that man can aspire to be God.
Jesus is the Way to the Father, the Truth that sets us free and the eternal Life that we long for. The incarnation of Jesus bridged the impossible gap between the divine and the human, and thus the efforts placed in understanding and appreciating the humanity of Christ can never be wasted, regardless of how much advanced the soul already is on the inward journey. We must not forget who made it possible for us to begin with in the first place.
Therefore the context of this episode in the life of Confucius with one of his students is so apt in this context:
Ji Lu asked about serving the spirits of the dead. The Master said, “While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits？” Ji Lu added, “I venture to ask about death？” He was answered, “While you do not know life, how can you know about death？”
季路問事鬼神。子曰：「未能事人，焉能事鬼？」敢問死。曰：「未知生，焉知死？」先進
The prayer of union can take place in this step: the soul is so completely absorbed by its experience of God that it seemed to have died to the world so as to live more completely in God. All the faculties are asleep … to things of the world and itself. The presence of God is felt more clearly as the soul advances in prayer. God takes over the purified human faculties to be used in his service and allows the experience of the soul of the various gifts that the Lord so chooses to give to it.
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