The church and the human body

Stanislaw Barszczak, Christ has no body on Earth but ours…(Teresa of Ávila Quotes) Let nothing perturb you, nothing frighten you. All things pass. God does not change. Patience achieves everything. May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us. Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices. It is love alone that gives worth to all things. Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours, Yours are the eyes through which to look out Christ’s compassion to the world, Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good; Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now. It is foolish to think that we will enter heaven without entering into ourselves. Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours. Thank God for the things that I do not own. Love turns work into rest. The closer one approaches to God, the simpler one becomes. You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him. The important thing is not to think much but to love much; and so do that which best stirs you to love. God save us from gloomy saints! For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God. Trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. This Beloved of ours is merciful and good. Besides, he so deeply longs for our love that he keeps calling us to come closer. This voice of his is so sweet that the poor soul falls apart in the face of her own inability to instantly do whatever he asks of her. And so you can see, hearing him hurts much more than not being able to hear him… For now, his voice reaches us through words spoken by good people, through listening to spiritual talks, and reading sacred literature. God calls to us in countless little ways all the time. Through illnesses and suffering and through sorrow he calls to us. Through a truth glimpsed fleetingly in a state of prayer he calls to us. No matter how halfhearted such insights may be, God rejoices whenever we learn what he is trying to teach us, Santa Teresa de Jesús in ‘Interior Castle’ has mentioned. I am quite sure I am more afraid of people who are themselves terrified of the devil than I am of the devil himself, Santa Teresa de Jesús in ‘The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself’ has written. Be gentle to all, and stern with yourself. . . it is presumptuous in me to wish to choose my path, because I cannot tell which path is best for me. I must leave it to the Lord, Who knows me, to lead me by the path which is best for me, so that in all things His will may be done. The devil frequently fills our thoughts with great schemes, so that instead of putting our hands to what work we can do to serve our Lord, we may rest satisfied with wishing to perform impossibilities… In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel… Untilled ground, however rich, will bring forth thistles and thorns; so also the mind of man… It is of great importance, when we begin to practise prayer, not to let ourselves be frightened by our own thoughts… Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul. God withholds Himself from no one who perseveres. But always when I was without a book, my soul at once became disturbed, and my thoughts wandered. For if the will has nothing to employ it and love has no present object with which to busy itself, the soul finds itself without either support or occupation, its solitude and aridity cause it great distress and its thoughts involve it in the severest conflict… The important thing is not to think much, but to love much. As I said let nothing disturb you, nothing frighten you, all things are passing, God is unchanging. Patience gains all; nothing is lacking to those who have God: God alone is sufficient. I live without really being alive… I die because I am not dying. In order that love be fully satisfied, It is necessary that It lower Itself and that It lower Itself to nothingness and transform this nothingness into fire. To have courage for whatever comes in life- everything lies in that. It is a great advantage for us to be able to consult someone who knows us, so that we may learn to know ourselves. I know a person who, though no poet, composed some verses in a very short time, which were full of feeling and admirably descriptive of her pain: they did not come from her understanding, but, in order the better to enjoy the bliss which came to her from such delectable pain, she complained of it to her God. She would have been so glad if she could have been cut to pieces, body and soul, to show what joy this pain caused her. What torments could have been set before her at such a time which she would not have found it delectable to endure for her Lord’s sake? All the trials we endure cannot be compared to these interior battles. Union is as if in a room there were two large windows through which the light streamed in it enters in diffrent places but it all becomes one… To reach something good, it is useful to have gone astray. All the way to heaven is heaven! At night a hooded monk passed by where there were no lamps. I could not see his face. I only heard these words he kept repeating: “Teach me, dear Lord, all that you know.” I knew instantly a great treasure had entered my soul. Mental prayer is, as I see it, simply a friendly intercourse and frequent solitary conversation with Him who, as we know, loves us. I used unexpectedly to experience a consciousness of the presence of God, or such a kind that I could not possibly doubt that He was within me or that I was wholly engulfed in Him. This was in no sense a vision: I believe it is called mystical theology. The soul is suspended in such a way that it seems to be completely outside itself. The will loves; the memory, I think, is almost lost; while the understanding, I believe, thought it is not lost, does not reason—I mean that it does not work, but is amazed at the extent of all it can understand; for God wills it to realize that it understands nothing of what His Majesty represents to it… Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience turns a very short time into a long one… For though we know quite well that God is present in all that we do, our nature is such that it makes us lose sight of the fact; but when this favour is granted it can no longer do so, for the Lord, who is near at hand, awakens it. And even the favours aforementioned occur much more commonly, as the soul experiences a vivid and almost constant love for Him whom it sees or knows to be at its side… He has borne with thousands of foul and abominable sins which you have committed against Him, yet even they have not been enough to make Him cease looking upon you. Is it such a great matter, then, for you to avert the eyes of your soul from the outward things and sometimes to look at Him? But always when I was without a book, my soul would at once become disturbed, and my thoughts wandered. As I read, I began to call them together again and, as it were, laid a bait for my soul… Any true ecstast is a sign you are going in the right direction…don’t let any prude tell you otherwise… I would write a thousand foolish things that one might be to the point, if only it might make us praise God more. I believe, unless I had a new book, I was never happy. Amor saca amor. Prayer and comfortable living are incompatible. We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can – namely, surrender our will and fulfill God’s will in us. I cannot understand how humility exists, or can exist, without love, or love without humility… many people are good at talking and bad at understanding. . . you must not build upon foundations of prayer and contemplation alone, for, unless you strive after the virtues and practice them, you will never grow to be more than dwarfs. Reflect carefully on this, for it is so important that I can hardly lay too much stress on it. Fix your eyes on the Crucified and nothing else will be of much importance to you. I cannot think why we should be astonished at all the evils which exist in the Church, when those who ought to be models on which all may pattern their virtues are annulling the work wrought in the religious Orders by the spirit of the saints of old. It is a good proof and test of our love if we can bear with such faults and not be shocked by them. Others, in their turn, will bear with your faults, which, if you include those of which you are not aware, must be much more numerous… Since God has given it such great dignity, permitting it to wander at will through the rooms of the castle, from the lowest to the highest. Let it not force itself to remain for very long in the same mansion, even the one of self-knowledge… Never suppose that either the evil or the good that you do will remain secret, however strict may be your enclosure…it takes great humility to find oneself unjustly condemned and be silent, and to do this is to imitate the Lord Who set us free from all our sins. … The truly humble person will have a genuine desire to be thought little of, and persecuted, and condemned unjustly, even in serious matters. … It is a great help to meditate upon the great gain which in any case this is bound to bring us, and to realize how, properly speaking, we can never be blamed unjustly, since we are always full of faults, and a just man falls seven times a day, so that it would be a falsehood for us to say we have no sin. If, then, we are not to blame for the thing that we are accused of, we are never wholly without blame in the way that our good Jesus was. … Thou knowest, my Good, that if there is anything good in me it comes from no other hands than Thine own. For what is it to Thee, Lord, to give much instead of little? True, I do not deserve it, but neither have I deserved the favors which Thou hast shown me already. Can it be that I should wish a thing so evil as myself to be thought well of by anyone, when they have said such wicked things of Thee, Who art good above all other good? … Do Thou give me light and make me truly to desire that all should hate me, since I have so often let Thee, Who hast loved me with such faithfulness. … What does it matter to us if we are blamed by them all, provided we are without blame in the sight of the Lord? …meditate upon what is real and upon what is not. … Do you suppose, … that, if you do not make excuses for yourself, there will not be someone else who will defend you? Remember how the Lord took the Magdalen’s part in the Pharisee’s house and also when her sister blamed her. He will not treat you as rigorously as He treated Himself: it was not until He was on the Cross that He had even a thief to defend Him. His Majesty, then, will put it into somebody’s mind to defend you; if He does not, it will be because there is no need. …be glad when you are blamed, and in due time you will see what profit you experience in your souls. For it is in this way that you will begin to gain freedom; soon you will not care if they speak ill or well of you; it will seem like someone else’s business. … So here: it becomes such a habit with us not to reply that it seems as if they are not addressing us at all. This may seem impossible to those of us who are very sensitive and not capable of great mortification. It is indeed difficult at first, but I know that, with the Lord’s help, the gradual attainment of this freedom, and of renunciation and self-detachment, is quite possible, Saint Teresa of Avila said. God’s will is that no bounds should be set to His works. Souls without prayer are like people whose bodies or limbs are paralysed: they possess feet and hands but they cannot control them. But to get to know God’s friends is a very good way of “having” Him; Let the truth be in your hearts, as it will be if you practise meditation, and you will see clearly what love we are bound to have for our neighbors (see, Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection). You must know that weather or not you are practicing mental prayer has nothing to do with keeping your lips closed. If, while I am speaking with God, I am fully conscious of doing so, and if this is more real to me than the words I am uttering, then I am combining mental and vocal prayer. I am amazed when people tell me that you are speaking with God by reciting the Paternoster even while you are thinking of worldly things. When you speak with a Lord so great, you should think of Who it is you are addressing and what you yourself are, if only that you may speak to Him with proper respect. How can you address a king with the reverence he deserves unless you are clearly conscious of his position and yours? Either we are the brides of this great King or we are not. It is quite important to withdraw from all unnecessary cares and business, as far as compatible with the duties of one’s state of life, in order to enter the second mansion. True perfection consists in the love of God and our neighbor, and the better we keep both these commandments, the more perfect we shall be. As to what good qualities there may be in our souls, or Who dwells within them, or how precious they are – those are things which we seldom consider and so we trouble little about carefully preserving the soul’s beauty. All our interest is centred in the rough setting of the diamond, and in the outer wall of the castle – that is to say, in these bodies of ours… O infinite goodness of my God! It is thus that I seem to see both myself and Thee. O Joy of the angels, how I long, when I think of this, to be wholly consumed in love for Thee! How true it is that Thou dost bear with those who cannot bear Thee to be with them! Oh, how good a Friend art Thou, my Lord! How Thou dost comfort us and suffer us and wait until our nature becomes more like Thine and meanwhile dost bear with it as it is! Thou dost remember the times when we love Thee, my Lord, and, when for a moment we repent, Thou dost forget how we offended Thee. I have seen this clearly in my own life, and I cannot conceive, my Creator, why the whole world does not strive to draw near to Thee in this intimate friendship. Those of us who are wicked, and whose nature is not like Thine, ought to draw near to Thee so that Thou mayest make them good. They should allow Thee to be with them for at least two hours each day, even though they may not be with Thee, but are perplexed, as I was, with a thousand worldly cares and thoughts. In exchange for the effort which it costs them to desire to be in such good company (for Thou knowest, Lord, that at first this is as much as they can do and sometimes they can do no more at all) Thou dost prevent the devils from assaulting them so that each day they are able to do them less harm, and Thou givest them strength to conquer. Yea, Life of all lives, Thou slayest none of those that put their trust in Thee and desire Thee for their Friend; rather dost Thou sustain their bodily life with greater health and give strength to their souls… That name – my conception of Him – extended to me a hand that led to a place where even His divine name could not exist. Why? Theresa said. We are weakness itself, and unless He guards the city, in vain shall we labor to defend it… It is no small pity, and should cause us no little shame, that, through our own fault, we do not understand ourselves, or know who we are… But, as I know that strength arising from obedience has a way of simplifying things which seem impossible, my will very gladly resolves to attempt this task although the prospect seems to cause my physical nature great distress; for the Lord has not given me strength enough to enable me to wrestle continually both with sickness and with occupations of many kinds without feeling a great physical strain. May He Who has helped me by doing other and more difficult things for me help also in this: in His mercy I put my trust… Just these two words He spoke changed my life, “Enjoy Me” What a burden I thought I was to carry-a crucifix as did He… Love once said to me: “I know a song, would you like to hear it?” And laughter came from every brick in the street and from every pore in the sky. After a night of prayer, He changed my life when He sang “Enjoy me”. The mind’s continual keeping in the presence of God… For at times it happens that some trifle will cause as much suffering to one as a great trial will to another; little things can bring much distress to persons who have sensitive natures. If you are not like them, do not fail to be compassionate… Of the good things they do many will pass unnoticed, or will even not be considered good at all; but they need not fear that any evil or imperfect thing they do will be overlooked… Do not try to get so much that you achieve nothing. Look. When we proceed with all this caution, we find stumbling-blocks everywhere; for we are afraid of everything, and so dare not go farther, as if we could arrive at these Mansions by letting others make the journey for us! That is not possible, my sisters; so, for the love of the Lord, let us make a real effort: let us leave our reason and our fears in His hands and let us forget the weakness of our nature which is apt to cause us so much worry. Let our superiors see to the care of our bodies; that must be their concern: our own task is only to journey with good speed so that we may see the Lord. Although we get few or no comforts here, we shall be making a great mistake if we worry over our health, especially as it will not be improved by our anxiety about it — that I well know. I know, too, that our progress has nothing to do with the body, which is the thing that matters least. What the journey which I am referring to demands is great humility, and it is the lack of this, I think, if you see what I mean, which prevents us from making progress. We may think we have advanced only a few steps, and we should believe that this is so and that our sisters’ progress is much more rapid; and further we should not only want them to consider us worse than anyone else, but we should contrive to make them do so… In fact, all of your theological concepts may only serve to cool the fire of love in the will… Let us desire that not our wills, but His will, be done. If we have not progressed as far as this, then, as I have said, let us practise humility, which is the ointment for our wounds; if we are truly humble, God, the Physician, will come in due course, even though He tarry, to heal us. Let us not fail him; do not fear that he will fail you. And if some time he should fail you, it will be for a greater good… But here the Lord asks only two things of us: love for His Majesty and love for our neighbour. It is for these two virtues that we must strive, and if we attain them perfectly we are doing His will and so shall be united with Him… An unrestrained infatuation with ecstasy and other extraordinary phenomena developed. These experiences were thought of as something to be obtained at all costs. Saint Teresa of Avila. Her monastery became a center of spirituality and high prayer; she herself wrote a book on prayer and contemplation. But soon the Master General of the Dominicans had to isolate her because of certain aberrations and prophetic revelations. No one in the order, with the exception of her confessor, was allowed to converse with her or administer the sacraments to her; nor was anyone allowed to speak about her prophecies, ecstasies, and raptures, except to the provincial. Another visionary, Magdalena de la Cruz, a Poor Clare with a reputation for holiness, severe fasts, and long vigils, also bearing the stigmata, let it be known that she no longer required any food except the consecrated Host in daily Communion. In an investigation by the Inquisition she confessed to being a secret devil worshiper. Inspired by two incubuses with whom she had made a pact, she became very skillful at all sorts of legerdemain. Through her success in fooling both bishops and kings, she brought the fear of being deceived to all of Spain… You see now and you perhaps say Teresa words with: Christ has no body now but mine. He prays in me, works in me, looks through my eyes, speaks through my words, works through my hands, walks with my feet and loves with my heart. So, Give me, if you will, prayers; Or let me know dryness, An abudance of devotion, Or if not, then barrenness. In you alone, Sovereign Majesty, I find my peace, What do you want of me? Yours I am, fo ryou I was born: What do you want of me? That you may reap humility from your dryness, instead of the disquietude the devil strives to cause by it. I believe that where true humility exists, although God should never bestow consolations, yet He gives a peace and resignation which make the soul happier than are others with sensible devotion… Do you suppose, daughters, that He is alone when He comes to us? Do you not see that His most holy Son says: “Who art in the Heavens”? Surely such a King would not be abandoned by His courtiers. They stay with Him and pray to Him on our behalf and for our welfare, for they are full of charity… Each partner, in fact, shares in the honor and dishonor of the other… For only the body would die, whereas the loss of a soul is a great loss which is apparently without end…Since in the centre of the soul there is a mansion reserved for God Himself… The soul is like a crystal in the sunshine over which a thick black cloth has been thrown so that however brightly the sun may shine the crystal can never reflect it… I was recently told by a great theologian that souls without prayer are like bodies, palsied and lame, having hands and feet they cannot use… We shall advance more by contemplating the Divinity than by keeping our eyes fixed on ourselves. Much harm may result from bad company and we are inclined by nature to follow what is worse rather than what is better. Perfection consists not in consolations, but in the increase of love… I believe we shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavouring to know God, for, beholding His greatness we are struck by our own baseness, His purity shows our foulness, and by meditating on His humility we find how very far we are from being humble. The happy result of detachment is inner freedom, freedom from worry about bodily comfort, honor, and wealth… I saw an angel close by me, on my left side, in bodily form. This I am not accustomed to see, unless very rarely. Though I have visions of angels frequently, yet I see them only by an intellectual vision, such as I have spoken of before. It was our Lord’s will that in this vision I should see the angel in this wise. He was not large, but small of stature, and most beautiful — his face burning, as if he were one of the highest angels, who seem to be all of fire: they must be those whom we call cherubim. Their names they never tell me; but I see very well that there is in heaven so great a difference between one angel and another, and between these and the others, that I cannot explain it… Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything passes away except God… We are fonder of spiritual sweetness than of crosses… It was her conviction that intelligent people can better be aware of their faults and, at the same time, see the need to be guided… Once, when she was travelling to one of her convents, St. Teresa of Ávila was knocked off her donkey and fell into the mud, injuring her leg. “Lord,” she said, “you couldn’t have picked a worse time for this to happen. Why would you let this happen?” And the response in prayer that she heard was, “That is how I treat my friends.” Teresa answered, “And that is why you have so few of them! As I see it, we shall never succeed in knowing ourselves unless we seek to know God… For, as I have already said, it is the ecclesiastical and not the secular arm which must defend us… Do you think, my daughters, that it is an easy matter to have to do business with the world, to live in the world, to engage in the affairs of the world, and, as I have said, to live as worldly men do, and yet inwardly to be strangers to the world, and enemies of the world, like persons who are in exile — to be, in short, not men but angels? Imagine that this Lord Himself is at your side and see how lovingly and how humbly He is teaching you – and, believe me, you should stay with so good a Friend for as long as you can before you leave Him. If you become accustomed to having Him at your side, and if He sees that you love Him to be there and are always trying to please Him, you will never be able to send Him away, nor will He ever fail you. He will help you in all your trials and you will have Him everywhere. Do you think it is a small thing to have such a Friend as that beside you? For, under the Lord, I owe it to such persons that I am not in hell; I was always very fond of asking them to commend me to God, and so I prevailed upon them to do so. Remember, my sisters, that if we are not good we are much more to blame than others… Their heart does not allow them to practise duplicity: if they see their friend straying from the road, or committing any faults, they will speak to her about it; they cannot allow themselves to do anything else. There are people whose nature it is to be very much cast down by small things. For the devil never slumbers. And the nearer we are to perfection, the more careful we must be, since his temptations are then much more cunning because there are no others that he dare send us… When I fear I have done wrong, when I look to those who are less wise, when I forget transcendence, and kneel in the meanings of colour and shadow, when I tell lies to my soul, I seek out water, I follow it’s charm – a river, a steam, a lake with its springs and currents. See how it offers life as it flawlessly flows and forms to the shape of this world, the contours of the land, the urge of earth, hear how it sings under the sun, of endless evaporation. For mental prayer is nothing else, in my opinion, but being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing in secret with Him Who, we know, loves us. Well, I cannot find, and have never found, any way of comforting such people, except to express great sorrow at their trouble, which, when I see them so miserable, I really do feel. It is useless to argue with them, for they brood over their woes and make up their minds that they are suffering for God’s sake, and thus never really understand that it is all due to their own imperfection. And Let us look at our own shortcomings and leave other people’s alone; for those who live carefully ordered lives are apt to be shocked at everything and we might well learn very important lessons from the persons who shock us. There is no reason why we should expect everyone else to travel by our own road, and will tell you, for I am not sure if you properly understand as yet how much we owe to the Lord for bringing us to a place where we are so free from business matters, occasions of sin and the society of worldly people. Alma mía, toma la cruz con gran consuelo, que ella sola es el camino para el cielo. It is a most certain truth that the richer we see ourselves to be, confessing at the same time our poverty, the greater will be our progress, and the more real our humility. The Lord knows everyone as he really is and gives each his work to do — according to what He sees to be most fitting for his soul, and for His own Self, and for the good of his neighbor. Authentic prayer changes us, unmasks us, strips us, indicates where growth is needed. If I were to give advice, I would say to parents that they ought to be very careful whom they allow to mix with their children when young; for much mischief thence ensues, and our natural inclinations are unto evil rather than unto good… Any unrest and any strife can be borne, as I have already said, if we find peace where we live; but if we would have rest from the thousand trials which afflict us in the world and the Lord is pleased to prepare such rest for us, and yet the cause of the trouble is in ourselves, the result cannot but be very painful, indeed almost unbearable. The soul of the righteous man is nothing but a paradise, in which, as God tells us, He takes His delight. At first it may cause a good deal of trouble, for the body insists on its rights, not understanding that if it refuses to admit defeat it is, as it were, cutting off its own head. Let us realize, my daughters, that true perfection consists in the love of God and of our neighbour, and the more nearly perfect is our observance of these two commandments, the nearer to perfection we shall be. I can find nothing with which to compare the great beauty of a soul and its great capacity. In fact, however acute our intellects may be, they will no more be able to attain to a comprehension of this than to an understanding of God; for, as He Himself says, He created us in His image and likeness. For the devil does not allow a single bad habit to disappear and the very weakness of our mortal nature destroys the virtues in us. We should pray most regularly for those who give us light. May the Lord lay His hand on all that I do so that it may be in accordance with His holy will; this is always my desire, although my actions may be as imperfect as I myself am. Never seem unable to find a reason for thinking I am being virtuous when I make excuses for myself. The truly humble person will have a genuine desire to be thought little of, and persecuted, and condemned unjustly, even in serious matters. For, if she desires to imitate the Lord, how can she do so better than in this? And no bodily strength is necessary here, nor the aid of anyone save God. By committing a mortal sin, instead of seeking to please God, it prefers to gratify the devil, the prince of darkness, and so comes to share his blackness. Reading is of great service towards procuring recollection in any one who proceeds in this way; and it is even necessary for him, however little it may be that he reads, if only as a substitute for the mental prayer which is beyond his reach. Amen.