The Interior Castle Series, #4: Contemplation and States of Grace
This is the fourth in a series of contemplations on St. Teresa of Ávila’s spiritual masterpiece, The Interior Castle.
Many Christian mystics thought of contemplation as a state in which we are completely open to the immediate experience of God. It is a state of grace and not something we can make happen for ourselves. It is a place of being so completely in the experience of God that all thought drops away and we are drawn into a glimpse of true reality.
Mystics spend their time in this graced state. The mystic becomes familiar with how it feels to be in the immediate presence of God and allows themselves to be drawn into it. Many of us may have had glimpses of a contemplative state but pulled ourselves out of it quickly because it felt unfamiliar. Boundless. Unexpected. Still. Perhaps dark. It is up to us to notice these grace states as just what they are – Grace. The more we can recognize and notice that we are fully in the immediacy of God, the more we can let ourselves go into the experience without fear or drawing back.
For me, it is sometimes easier to notice the contemplative state when in a direction session with an individual or group. Often, it is in these deep moments of communication that the spirit draws us into a contemplative state together. I have learned that when it feels like real time no longer exists, and the session begins to take on a water-like energy – we are there. Our conversation is being fully directed by the Spirit, and I know enough now to leave it alone. It used to surprise and even shock me back into real time, but now I know it’s ok. We have gone deeper into contemplation. This is where the real work of transformation and healing can occur.
In The Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Ávila talks about the practices of prayer and meditation as ways to enter and begin the process of cultivating our soul. When we begin living into the mystery of the fourth mansion of the castle, the mansion in which we open our heart, we develop the potential to enter true contemplation. This is the mansion where we move from being all about ourselves—the I and Me—to being about the We. We have cultivated our hearts enough that they are opening, breaking from constraint, and flowering into mystical hearts.
St. Teresa introduces us to two types of contemplative prayers in the fourth mansion. They are the Prayer of Recollection and the Prayer of Quiet. In the Prayer of Recollection, our senses are drawn in as if by a supernatural force. She tells us, “This is supernatural recollection. It’s not about sitting in the dark or closing your eyes or being subject to any external thing. The eyes close of their own accord and the soul simply desires solitude.”1 She then explains how this is often the first graced state that leads to the next, the Prayer of Quiet. I shall let Teresa describe this graced contemplative state herself:
“When his majesty wishes to bless us with supernatural favor, the delight brings with it the greatest peace, quietude, and sweetness to our innermost selves. I don’t know where it comes from or how it comes. Earthly consolations are felt in the heart. This kind is not – at least not at first. Later, once the spiritual delight has filled every vessel in the soul, overflowing into all the faculties and each of the swellings, it reaches the body. That’s why it starts in God and ends in ourselves.”2
The Prayer of Quiet is a deeply graced experience offered only by the Grace of God that is truly available to all of us. Think of a moment in which you were completely surprised by a sudden expansion of your heart – this is often accompanied by tears. Moments like a glorious sunset that stops us in our tracks, or the touch of a newborn finger on ours, or witnessing the joy of a young child playing. In these moments, our hearts are so deeply touched that we are taken into the immediacy of an experience of God that is surprising and deeply moving. I think that these types of moments point to what the Prayer of Quiet is like. We are not making them happen. They happen to us.
This is where things start to get tricky and hard to describe by even St. Teresa herself. These graced states need to be experienced in order to truly understand their depth and potency. What is important to know is that yes, they are real. We all have the potential to experience them. The important thing is to believe they are possible and to practice and prepare.
My teacher often talks about how, when we are practicing and making things happen through our will or imagination, if we notice that we are no longer making anything happen, but things are happening, let them go. You are now being worked on by Grace. Let it happen and notice.
And give thanks.
If you desire support for your prayer life or to know more about journeying into The Interior Castle, I am here to walk with you. Please reach out to me at leigh@leighamurray.com or sign up at www.leighamurray.com to set up a complimentary session to learn more.
References
1. Teresa of Avila. The Interior Castle. Riverhead Books, 2003, p.104.
2. Teresa of Avila. The Interior Castle. Riverhead Books, 2003, p.98.