Love's Surrender: The Prayer of Union According to St. Theresa of Avila

In this episode, Jessica sits down with Sr. Shawn Pauline to discuss the 3rd and 4th waters of prayer according to St. Theresa of Avila. Sr. Shawn Pauline and Jess discuss:

• The images of the river and the rain that St. Theresa uses to describe these deeper stages of prayer
• How the soul must wait for God's action within it, and how this waiting ties into the season of Advent

Sr. Shawn Pauline is a religious sister in the community of the Carmelites of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus of Los Angeles.

Here are Sr. Shawn Pauline's notes on the third and fourth waters of prayer:

3rd Water: Prayer of Inebriation

Teresa’s Image: The Stream or River 

Characteristics of this prayer:

• The garden is now irrigated by the water flowing from a stream or river, with much less labor (16.1)
• Some labor is required to direct the flow of the water (16.1)
• The Lord himself practically becomes the gardener and is the one who does everything (16.1) 
• The flowers of virtue in the soul are beginning to blossom and bring forth a fragrance (16.3)
• Sleep of the faculties: they neither fail entirely to function nor understand how they function (16.1)

Effects on the soul in this prayer:

• Only occupied with God- desires to only live in Him (16.4)
• Complete death to all earthy  things and an enjoyment of God (16.1)
• Great strength of the soul; stronger virtue
• Deep humility and detachment 
• Sometimes all the faculties are absorbed in God and sometimes restless

Work of the soul in this prayer:

• Abandon oneself completely in the hands of God (17.2)
• Pay no attention to the memory, suffer it with patience (17.7)
• The soul sees here that it did neither little no much other than consent to the Lord’s favors and embrace them with its will (17.3)
  
  4th Water: The Prayer of Union

Teresa’s Image: The Rain 

Characteristics of this prayer: 

• Total suspension of the faculties (intellect, memory, will)
• Absolute certitude that God was present in the soul and the soul in God

Effects on the soul in this prayer:

• Absence of distractions, since the faculties are suspended 
• Absence of fatigue (it’s raining- no effort for me!)
• An extraordinary experience of joy. The soul rejoices without understanding what it is rejoicing in (FULL of water)
• Obsessed with serving Him as much as it can (20.23), no longer speaks/does anything for itself (20.24)
• Spirit is completely detached from things (20.8)
• No longer fears dangers, rather desires them- as though they have assurance of their victory (20.22)

Work of the soul in this prayer:

• Humility- the foundation to the entire edifice 
• Always keep the Sacred Humanity of Christ before us… we become more human as we grow in holiness
• Mortification- more refined, delicate, and careful in little things